The Battle for Ascendancy
by Darth Selendis
Summary: AU: Light vs Dark, Biju vs Humanity, Village vs Village. Wars of all types have existed in the world as far as anyone can remember. Naruto is born with a soul of purity, a strong human spirit, and a bond with the embodiment of hatred, a biju name Kurama. What side will Naruto choose when each side actively manipulates his life to gain him on their side?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

 **AN:** This is my first fanfic attempt so, please forgive any common newbie mistakes.

This story is set in an Alternate Universe story so while some key events will follow the same timeline of canon, to some degree, many of the characters will behave contrary to how they normally do because of modified events and circumstances in this story.

I don't plan on having too many authors notes appearing in each chapter unless something grossly problematic is found and I decide to make some edits.

The central pairing will be NaruHina, but the development will be slow. There are many challenges, obstacles, and major events that need to be overcome before they can even expect to settle down. Don't expect this pairing to pick up any steam until my version of the Shippuden Arc begins.

 **Warning:** This story is intended for readers age 17+ There will be occasional depictions of graphic violence and adult situations. I will include the warning on all chapters that I have deemed graphic for readers under 17.

Edited 3/2/16

 **The Battle for Ascendancy**

 **Prologue**

* * *

 **as·cend·an·cy** : the occupation of a position of dominant power or influence.

In the elemental nations, most people revere the Shinto pantheon of Kami like Amaterasu, Susanoo, Tsukiyomi, and Inari. Others might follow the path of Buddhism in an attempt to reach the Pure Land and break the cycle of resurrection.

Humanity worships these deities or follows the path of enlightenment believing it triggers direct responses from the higher beings. In reality, the Kami that mankind worship no longer have direct influence over the world since they had almost destroyed the mortal realms due to their battles and rivalries against each other.

The Kami, barred from waging war in the divine realm, turned to the newly created mortal realm to fight against their celestial rivals with massive skirmishes and displays of power using the natural chakra that existed within the land until the cycle was threatened and the mortal realm nearly destroyed.

Izanagi determined that his children were incapable of being trusted with direct influence of the mortal plane without destroying it. He barred all direct access to the and removed all the previously controlled creatures from the world leaving only the land, plants, and chakra to be used as a base for reestablishing new life in the world.

The twin essences of Light and Darkness were created to be the proxies of which all divine will is enacted within the realm of mortals. The Kami would dictate their desires to the Essence, which suited their desired outcome and Light, or Darkness would be the ones to determine the course of action.

All actions they take are subtle so that no single deity gains more exposure than the other and that there is no threat of destruction to the realm itself. The essences then would take on dictates of all the Kami, who began to play a shadow game against their rival Kami by rewarding their loyal champions, or undermining the pawns of their opponents to gain more influence in the mortal plane through mortal followers and worship.

The Essence of Light was tasked with rewarding mortals deserving of gifts or benefits for pleasing one of the Kami. Most of the Light's time is spent establishing times of bountiful harvests and riches throughout the world, and guiding the various champions of the Kami with love and happiness.

The Essence of Darkness was responsible for distributing the punishment or displeasure of a Kami to any mortals that either failed them or served a rival Kami. The Darkness accomplished this task by manipulating events around the targeted mortal causing suffering or even death. Most of the Darkness' time is spent manipulating events to cause catastrophes in the world, or driving champions off of their desired path through suffering or death.

In this way, the balance of influence was ensured as the Light's rewards and gifts were counterbalanced by the punishments or harm rendered by the Darkness'.

Once these essences were created and their purposes defined, Izanagi then seeded the mortal plane with numerous types of creatures and granted them the capability to evolve on their own. These changes would allow the different Kami to pick and choose their mortal pawns and set them against each other as they developed, eliminating the necessity for physical warfare with each other. Since the creatures were simple and at the beginning of the evolutionary ladder, however, there were still massive reserves of natural chakra flowing throughout the world unused.

With the overabundance of natural chakra the potential for mortals to establish more power than dictated by the first gods remained. The essences determined that the safest course to maintain balance was to create massive constructs of chakra to keep this chakra from being utilized by the mortals and upsetting the balance of power. Thus, the nine immortal bijū were created to guard this excess chakra and regulate the flow of natural chakra in the world.

While the bijū started out as formless constructs of chakra, since they resided on the mortal plane, the will of Izanagi granted them the capability of evolution. The bijū began to evolve and eventually developed sentience. Being massive constructs of chakra, the bijū had no need for sustenance and instead roamed freely throughout the lands at their leisure, changing their forms and elemental natures to suit their current environments. As their sentience evolved, the bijū began to settle in different areas of the world based on their individual preferences. Eventually, they adopted physical forms to suit their personalities and newly adopted habitats, choosing to focus on controlling specific elements preferable to their selected natures.

Humanity, in the mean time, had evolved and began to flourish. Living a nomadic and balanced lifestyle, they would encounter the massive forms of the bijū and would either fear or worship them, passing down folktales and stories about the mysterious giant creatures. Being incapable of understanding the true nature of the bijū, the stories about their creation varied widely on how the bijū came to exist, what they looked like, and their purpose in the world. The only common themes that legends and folklore agreed on are that the bijū are forces of nature capable of devastating power beyond imagination.

For a time humanity was able to exist peacefully with the immortal bijū. The bijū would remain in their chosen territories, and the tribes of newly evolved humans would either stay away from those places through fear or settle nearby at a healthy distance and submit offerings out of respect. Fathers would pass down their knowledge to their sons, and the tales began to grow more exaggerated. The legends of the bijū would start to turn into cautionary tales, meant to scare children into obeying their parents lest the bijū come and devour them for wandering off.

As time passed humanity evolved even further, and instead of wandering in their nomadic lifestyle, they began to settle and grow. The stories of the bijū became more rare and obscure, with their chosen territories being forgotten after merely four generations had passed. Their real dispositions became unknown to humanity as storytellers altered the tales even further to suit their own goals and fit the lessons they wanted to move onto the future. Soon the existence of the bijū was thought to be simply a myth and humanity forgot their existence except for long lost tales from history that lacked any consistency.

With the nomadic lifestyle fading, humanity began to favor agriculture and technology, resulting in the population of humanity growing exponentially. The conflict began to rise as humans began fighting over land and resources. Soon humanity would experience a state of constant warfare between the various tribes or "clans" until the creation of the Hidden Villages.

For the most part, the bijū would steer clear of these conflicts until they spilled over into their preferred territory. Once the humans began to trespass, some bijū would simply relocate while others would retaliate with ferocity. As the populations grew, the bijū would lose more and more ground until all the bijū were forced to defend their territories with violence.

With the apparent "reemergence" of the bijū, word of their awesome power spread quickly throughout the newly established villages. Humanity began to see the bijū as mindless monsters or demons and sought to destroy them. The bijū began to develop a hatred for humanity as they attacked for, what they believed, was no apparent reason.

Using his Mokuton abilities, Hashirama captured and contained the bijū to prevent them from wiping out humanity. To end the constant state of war, Hashirama distributed the bijū evenly to the other established villages to prevent a power struggle. Since each village could potentially unleash the bijū on each other, he believed this would serve as a deterrent to massive open warfare with each other.

Hashirama's gamble appeared to work, and peace returned to the world for a time. However, the Kami and both Essences knew that with the bijū sealed and incapable of maintaining the balance of chakra, the world had suddenly become threatened with destruction. With the threat of destruction of the mortal realm, the Kami began to seek out ways to manipulate events to their favor so their champions could be the one to save the realms and gain them more influence and control over their living game world. The Light and Darkness, however, had begun to form their plans to maintain the balance.

The essence of Light determined that saving the immortal bijū from their imprisonment, and cleansing them of their dark emotions was necessary to maintain the natural flow of chakra. The Light decided that only a champion with a pure soul would be capable of cleansing the dark emotions that had built up in bijū over thousands of years of conflict with humanity. The problem arose in finding that soul since the souls of all living beings have existed in a constant cycle throughout all existence.

Souls enter the mortal plane when a new life is created and combine with the spirit of the newly created body. The spirit governs how much good (light) or evil (dark) actions that are committed throughout their life. The soul collects these experiences and accumulates them with the rest of the previous lives determining how pure or tainted the soul becomes. When the mortal life ends, the total accumulation of good and evil within the soul, and the actions were taken by the spirit in the current lifetime determine if spirit enters the Pure Land (a.k.a afterlife) or the Impure Land (a.k.a underworld.). The soul then returns to the soul plane unless it is completely tainted and becomes a demonic entity, or is completely purified and becomes a lesser deity.

The Essence of Light had a new soul created for the first time since Izanagi's decree was passed down over several millennia ago. This soul of unequaled purity entered the mortal realm and bonded with the spirit of the newly created child of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.

The Essence of Darkness, however, viewed mortal's accessing chakra as a threat to the realm. The fact that they had sealed the bijū in an attempt to gain more access to the natural energy of the world was proof that chakra needed to be eliminated or restricted from all the creatures on the mortal plane. Especially humanity. If the Light's plan were to succeed, the power the child would gain would be too much of a threat to the balance and would only encourage the mortals to continue to seek out such power.

Instead, the Darkness felt the best course of action would be to disperse the bijū completely. Mortals would also have to be dissuaded in their attempts at harnessing more power from chakra by a catastrophe so devastating that they would never seek to gain power from the natural energy of the world ever again. If a disaster so severe could be successfully engineered, even Izanagi might intervene and seal all mortal's access to chakra completely, and the mortal realm would remain safe from destruction.

The Essence of Darkness found it's opportunity, surprisingly, in the very child that the Light had put it's faith into. The Darkness knew that Kushina contained a bijū that hated humanity more than anything else, and the Darkness was certain that the pure soul would already become corrupted with dark emotions even before the child was self-aware and capable of defending itself.

The Darkness set out to manipulate events surrounding the child to ensure he would be ostracized and hated to the point where the child would seek out to retaliate against the world and create the very catastrophe it desired. With the power of the Kyūbi at his disposal, the child would be more than capable of bringing the world to the brink of destruction and forcing Izanami's hand in saving the realm once more. Then the Darkness could push to seal off chakra completely and free itself from the endless task of curtailing the power of mortals and maintaining the balance of the world.

In ten months, the mortal realm would become the stage for the Kami, the bijū, and humanity's battle for ascendancy.


	2. A Legend Fades

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edited 4/20/16

 **Chapter 1**

 **A Legend Fades**

 **Outskirts of Konoha**

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi former Hokage of Konohagakure no sato (Hidden Village in the Leaves) clutched an oddly quiet newborn boy to his chest while listening to the last words of his successor and now predecessor.

"Sandaime-sama, please look after Naruto and keep him safe. He is the only one who can *cough* who can stop that man..." Minato gasped out before coughing up some blood.

Hiruzen knelt next Minato and asked, "Stop who Minato? What man?"

Minato only coughed up more blood as he tried to speak further but was only able to mouth a few unintelligible words before he gasped out his last breath and his life ended.

Hiruzen let out a weary sigh and allowed himself a moment to mourn the loss of this bright young man. Hiruzen never felt older than he had at this moment in his life looking down on the bodies of Minato and his wife, Kushina. Two powerful and caring ninja who represented the Will of Fire that Konoha was famous for.

Hiruzen sensed that his Anbu guard and a few other ninjas were closing on his position and decided that for now he should try to keep Naruto hidden while tensions were still high in the village. Anbu team Tora, Baku, and Washi were the first to arrive, and Hiruzen quickly called for their attention before they could study the scene for too long.

"Tora, Baku, Washi, I have a final mission request from the Yondaime for you to complete immediately. This is an S-Rank secret which you can not reveal to anyone and you must make certain that no one can trace this back to you. Do you accept this mission?" Sarutobi asked.

"Yes Sandaime-sama, we will not fail!" they responded in unison.

Hiruzen handed Naruto to Tora who hesitantly grabbed the child.

"You are to infiltrate the civilian evacuation center and insert this child into the unclaimed infants and children section. Ensure that his parents are listed as deceased and his name is unknown. Then you will note who his primary caregiver is." ordered Sarutobi.

The Anbu team bowed and Shunshin (Body Flicker) away.

The Hokage Guard Platoon Raidō, Genma, and Iwashi were the next to arrive and became distraught at seeing Minato and the pregnant Kushina already dead.

Genma seeing the huge gash in Kushina's torso asked, "Sandaime-sama what about Kushina's child? Didn't she go into labor earlier in the day?"

Hiruzen sighed sadly and replied, "I'm afraid that Minato's child is no longer with us."

Genma and his squad were stricken with grief as they felt responsible for failing their charge. The Hokage Guard Platoon was in charge of keeping the Hokage and their families safe. Chosen by the newly appointed Hokage, the guard members were typically close confidantes and friends of the Hokage. Minato, due to the circumstances around Kushina's birth, ordered them to defend a different location to misdirect the general populace from the secret birthplace.

As more groups of ninja arrived, the news began to spread among the new arrivals and everyone began mourning the loss of the well-liked Yondaime and his family.

Hiruzen began directing everyone into search and rescue of the destroyed buildings and eventually clean up while one team took Minato and Kushina's body to the morgue.

Once Hiruzen was satisfied that all first response teams and Jōnins were properly assigned to tasks, he proceeded to the Hokage tower and began to plot his strategy to keep Naruto safe from the council and clan leaders.

 **4 Hours Later - Konoha Council Chamber**

* * *

Waiting in the council chamber for the former Hokage sat the Konoha Council and The current heads of all the Shinobi clans of Konoha.

Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, and Danzō Shimura were seated near the Hokage seat while the remaining clans sat around the room in a half moon formation.

Hiruzen entered the chamber and stood in the center of the room which caused the small talk to stop as all the Clan heads and council members gave him their attention.

Once Hiruzen saw he had their attention he cleared his throat and began "I am here to announce that the Yondaime Hokage Minato Namikaze has fallen in battle against the Kyūbi no Yoko."

The chamber fell silent as the clan heads and council members took the news in. Hiruzen let the moment of silence last a little longer in memoriam of Minato before continuing.

"The threat of the Kyūbi is something we no longer need to concern ourselves with at this time as Minato gave his soul to the Shinigami using theShiki Fūjin (Reaper Death Seal) to seal the Kyūbi away..."

Danzō cut Hiruzen off and asked, "Where has the Kyūbi been sealed? What are our plans to utilize the Kyūbi?"

"We no longer need to concern ourselves with the Kyubi's location at this time like I said before. We have other matters that are more important to account for such as casualties as well as the status of our standing forces." retorted Hiruzen.

Koharu glanced at Homura for a second before fixing her gaze on Hiruzen. "Surely we should be concerned about securing the Kyūbi for the sake of the village? Especially if we need to find a new jinchūriki."

Hiruzen looked over at his so-called advisers "Invoking the Shinigami himself assures us that the seal is fool proof. The Kyūbi is secured and we need to worry about our defenses and casualties first."

"I would need to know the numbers for the forces we lost tonight in the attack, how many Academy students we will have ready in the near future before I can determine the best course of action for the Kyūbi. If the Hokage says the Kyūbi is secure for now I say we move onto more pressing issues," said Shikaku Nara, Jōnin Commander and Head of the Nara Clan.

"I disagree with the commander, the Kyūbi is something we should be discussing above all else. This is the optimal time to ensure that we are able to utilize the Kyūbi's power in a logical manner. Currently, all other villages have their bijū contained within jinchūriki. With Kumo and Iwa having two jinchūriki, it would be prudent to have our own and develop a training program as well." noted Shibi Aburame Head of the Aburame Clan.

"While Kumo is rumored to have trained jinchūriki, one of them is merely the Nibi. According to tales from the First Hokage and his wife Mito Uzumaki, the Kyūbi could be almost exponentially stronger than the Hachibi even," commented Hiashi Hyūga Head of the Hyūga clan.

Hiruzen remained silent but was discreetly observing the council and the clan heads determine if they would become a threat to Naruto. He had hoped to just blitz through and continue onto the more mundane matters, but he knew that was a fool's hope at best.

While the other clan heads were wild cards in this matter, Fugaku and Hiashi would be the most likely to use Naruto as a means to garner more power for their clans. The other clans might only seek to acquire Naruto to counter balance the other clans, or because they might genuinely like to care for the boy. Danzō would relentlessly pursue acquiring Naruto to turn him into a weapon.

While Danzō would train Naruto to be a powerful shinobi, Hiruzen did not think it would be worth the emotional and physical trauma Naruto would have to endure. There was no way he would let Minato's son experience that. Sadly he knew that his old teammates Koharu and Homura would most likely side with Danzō as well.

"If needed, the Uchiha clan will offer one of our children to be the jinchūriki. It could help us develop the ability to control the bijū as reported in the past," stated Fugaku Head of the Uchiha Clan.

"I think it would be better to keep the beast sealed away as it was before. Though we should be looking into why the Kyūbi appeared so suddenly and why it escaped." Said Tsume Inuzuka Head of the Inuzuka Clan.

"If we did have a jinchūriki, it would be best to keep their identity a secret. With all the damage the Kyūbi caused, the villagers could potentially turn the jinchūriki against us." Inoichi Yamanaka Head of the Yamanaka Clan.

"The damage the Kyūbi caused was immense. Even if we had prepared for it to attack, I have to wonder if we would have been able to contain it so easily. What matters now is that the beast is contained, not what it has been contained in." Stated Chōza Head of the Akimichi clan.

Homura shook his head "There is no way we can afford not to have a jinchūriki! At least we can draw something positive from this dark event." Homura paused before looking at the other council members to study their reactions to his statement. "We now have the opportunity to ensure the Kyūbi's power for the defense of Konoha. The losses we have suffered tonight must be significant, but I suspect they are likely substantial."

Danzō nodded "Most of us agree that a jinchūriki is required. If Minato did not already seal the Kyūbi into a child, we should begin searching for appropriate candidates now. If we establish the child in Root early, we will have no concerns about his loyalty to Konoha." Danzō looked at Hiruzen and added, "Kushina was due to give birth to her child soon. Who better to serve as the jinchūriki than a descendant of an Uzumaki."

Hiruzen looked back at Danzō stone-faced "You mean you would want the Kyūbi under _your_ control." the Sandaime growled out before he turned his attention back to the council. "In any case, it is not necessary at this point, Minato's child is no longer with us, and the Kyūbi has been sealed into a new jinchūriki."

Hiruzen took note of the reactions from the other members of the council. Danzō, Homura, and Koharu looked almost pleased with the turn of events.

Hiashi, Tsume, and surprisingly Fugaku looked devastated at the news about Naruto. Hiruzen pondered letting them know about Naruto secretly, but he would have to play it by ear.

Inoichi, Chōza, Shibi and Shikaku looked like they were contemplating the situation.

Danzō cleared his throat to get everyone's attention "At this point our next step is clear then, we must ensure the proper rearing and training of the jinchūriki at once."

"Correct, we must ensure the jinchūriki is properly molded to be a loyal shinobi as soon as possible," Homura said nodding his head.

"I'm afraid that is not possible," Hiruzen cut in before his former teammates could get carried away with their attempts to manipulate things in their favor. "Minato's last order to me was that the jinchūriki's identity be kept safe. The child has been sent away to a safe location, as he instructed." Hiruzen added smugly

The council room was silent for a moment as that information was digested before an eruption of protests could be heard. Hiruzen inwardly simply smirked at Danzō's subtle look of displeasure before he flared his chakra to silence everyone in the room.

"As the last order of the Yondaime Hokage, the location and identity of the newest jinchūriki is a Kage level secret. Therefore, I will not reveal anything about the child or the child's location until the child has either reached the age of maturity or the child has obtained the rank of Chūnin and gives consent." Hiruzen leaked some of his killing intent to show everyone that he was serious.

"Be reasonable Hiruzen! Is it not a bigger risk to have the jinchūriki running freely? You can't be serious about this." Homura said with a scowl.

"It was the Yondaime's last order and even though I can potentially overrule his decision, I agree with him completely. The child, if raised amongst the others, will present no greater threat to the village than a regular child would." Hiruzen snapped.

Koharu shook her head in disappointment "You give us no choice Hiruzen. When we meet with the Fire Daimyō and his council, we will strongly recommend someone who will do the _right_ thing for Konoha as the replacement Hokage."

"Do as you will," HIruzen said dismissively, "but the only people you could get the Fire Daimyō to consider seriously would be Jiraiya and Tsunade. Both of them will refuse as Jiraiya travels for his spy network while Tsunade is busy updating and training the clinics and hospitals in Hi no Kuni." Hiruzen bluffed.

Jiraiya would definitely decline, but Tsunade would take the position, if offered, with no questions asked out of a sense of duty.

"Now we should move onto our standing forces and casualty lists so we can ensure we don't have any major security lapses and are capable of clearing our current mission log," Hiruzen stated. "We can't afford to show too much weakness after such an event after all."

As the meeting droned on Hiruzen mentally prepared his argument for the Daimyō, he would have to pull some strings ensure that the nomination is in his favor. Danzō had enough pull to try and manipulate the vote in his favor but if someone offered up Tsunade the Daimyō would probably lean towards her since she was younger than both himself and Danzō. He didn't think Tsunade would be a bad Hokage, but she was not ready to deal with the likes of Danzō.

Unknown to Hiruzen a few other members of the shinobi clans were also planning on ensuring the Daimyō chose the Sandaime as the Hokage. With the backing of the Hyūga and the Akimichi Clans who do major business with several of the Fire Daimyō's council, the Hokage seat would be safe from Danzō.

 **5 Hours Earlier - Konoha Civilian Shelter B**

* * *

Tora and Baku both sneaked into the Missing Children department to observe the workers there while. Shorty afterward Washi, henged into a construction worker, approached the registration desk. After standing in a short line, Washi was finally able to speak to the lady.

"Excuse me miss, we found this child buried in the rubble of an apartment building but there was no one else found in the building," Washi says

The lady took the child and noticed the odd marks on his cheeks. "That is strange I've never seen things like this on a child. I wonder if this child has some kind of bloodline limit?"

"Well that building was known to house shinobi, and that area was hit pretty badly by the Kyūbi, not many survived."

The lady cooed at Naruto and replied, "That's just terrible! The poor thing, he is such a cutie too! I hope his parents are okay."

Washi receives a signal from Tora and asks the lady if she needs anything else, but she waves him off and tells him she will take care of it from here. Washi walks out and prepares for the next stage of the plan.

Tora enters the reception area henged as a doctor who just got finished with his voluntary shift. "Hey I am off shift now, but I need to report to the Hospital anyways. Need anything before I go?"

"Oh, Shinji! If you could take a sample from this child real quick, to test for paternity, that would be great. I would hate to keep the parents from a newborn like this especially if they are from some powerful clan." The lady responded.

While the woman filled out the paperwork, Tora took Naruto to the back and set him down in the confirmed orphaned children section. He walked over to the unidentified children and applied a quick genjutsu onto one of the children to look like Naruto. He removed the previous paperwork and handed it off to Baku, who was hidden nearby. Afterward, he drew a sample of his blood and went back to the reception area.

"I got the sample, and I already set him down with the other infants that require identification for you," Tora told the lady.

The lady thanked Tora and continued filling out the description and information provided by Washi. Once complete she walked back into the unidentified infants section and taped the information she took down onto the crib that Tora applied the genjutsu on. She stroked the child's head one more time before she left the room.

Baku dropped his Meisaigakure no Jutsu (Hiding with Camouflage) technique and moved towards the crib. After removing the genjutsu, he took Naruto's paperwork and put the other child's paperwork back. He then moved into the next room with the confirmed orphaned children and attached Naruto's proper paperwork.

* * *

Name: Nanashi

Parents: Unknown

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Blood Type: B

Length: 18.5"

Weight: 8 lbs. 5 oz

Birthmarks: Three horizontal lines on each cheek.

* * *

With their mission complete, Washi, Tora, and Baku left to stake out the Orphanage and verify that their cover for the child was set and to complete their final objective.

 **Current time - Inside Naruto's Mindscape**

* * *

A tiny infant can be seen on the ground of a dank and wet sewer in front of a colossal cage. Within the cage lie the Kyūbi no Yoko in a forced hibernation. A small glowing white light can be seen emitting from the child. Small spots in the dark red malevolent chakra of the Kyūbi seem to resonate with the white light and begin to lighten slightly. At the same time, the white light around the infant begins to adopt a faint golden hue.

 **Next Morning - Konoha Orphanage**

* * *

A Jōnin sensei and her genin team arrive at the Orphanage to complete a D ranked mission and report to Nonō one of the caretakers.

"Good Morning Mai! Your team is here quite early," says Nonō as she walks towards the Jōnin and her team.

"Good Morning Nonō, our team was fortunate that the Kyūbi did not cause any damage to our homes. We heard that there was a large influx of orphans that arrived today, and you know how my girls love working with the young ones," said Mai as she gestured to her all kunoichi genin team.

"Oh, I have not had the opportunity to see the new arrivals yet. Why don't we head towards the infants first and get them sorted out."

Nonō led the team into the newly arrived infant ward and quickly assigned Mai to prepare the formula while the genins went through changing the recently orphaned children. While that occurred, she reviewed the paperwork for each infant looking for potential Root recruits.

As one genin begins to remove Naruto's blanket, to change his diaper, she notices a small red rattle drum, with shuriken painted on the face, wrapped up in his blanket. Thinking it odd that no one removed the toy beforehand she studies it closely and notices that the handle has the word "Naruto" written in pen. Mai walks up with a bottle for Naruto and looks at the rattle drum that the genin is holding.

"Sensei, I found this wrapped up with this baby. I think it may have his name on it, but I noticed his paperwork says he has no name."

Mai studied the drum and the paperwork and was about to call Nonō over, but as she looks up to find Nonō, she sees Kanpu one of the elder caretakers walking by her and flags him down."

"Good morning Kanpu, I found this rattle drum wrapped in this child's blankets and it appears that there is a name listed." the genin replied handing the rattle to Kanpu.

Kanpu looks at the rattle drum closely then picks up the paperwork from the child's crib and reviews it. "I suppose Naruto is a better name than Nanashi or Taro after all, even if it is an uncommon name. We will call him that for now since we have several unknown children at this time."

Kanpu takes a good look at Naruto and notices his odd whisker marks. He looks back at the rattle drum again and addresses the genin. "I will take him off your hands. It is possible that he maybe identified now that this toy has been found."

The genin finishes changing Naruto, and once he is swaddled in the blanket again, she hands him over to Kanpu, who puts Naruto's paperwork under his arm.

He takes Naruto from the genin's arms and grabs the bottle from Mai. Kanpu nodded at the others before he moved out of the room towards the long-term infant section.

As he feeds Naruto, Tora henged as Kanpu breaths a sigh of relief. Glad that he was able to stop the Jōnin from gaining Nonō's attention. It is well known that she was in Root and would probably tag Naruto as a recruit.

He wonders how Washi could have missed the rattle drum being wrapped up with Naruto, but he didn't notice it either so he can't reprimand him for it. Tora only hopes he can keep Naruto a secret now that his name has been revealed.

Secretly Tora was relieved. He didn't want Minato's son to lose one of the only things his father gave him, even if it could make his life more difficult. On the positive side, he can now easily sneak this child into the civilian child ward overlooked by the real Kanpu, which would help keep Nonō's interest off of him.

Tora looked down at the rattle drum and decided it would be too much of a risk to leave it with Naruto for now, but he could always easily infiltrate the place and give it to him. Perhaps on his 2nd birthday would be appropriate. He will just have to make sure his name is labeled more clearly.

Tora set Naruto down in a crib once he was fed and burped properly. He would have to hurry since Washi had probably delayed the real Kanpu long enough. Leaving the updated paperwork behind, Tora left with a Shunshin to report to the Sandaime.

Baku remained behind and observed Nonō and the genin team from a distance making sure that Tora's cover remained intact. He was satisfied when Nonō listed all new arrivals as accounted for.

The Genin team and their sensei never mentioned Naruto or the rattle drum, and it seemed like no one was the wiser. Baku then switched his focus and watched over Naruto for the rest of the night into the next day to make sure that the orphanage did not recognize any discrepancies.

 **Midnight - Sarutobi Compound - Konoha**

* * *

Hiruzen entered his private study and activated his privacy seals once Tora appeared.

"Sandaime-sama, I am here to report that the mission has appeared to be successful. Baku, Washi, and I were able to gain access to the civilian shelter and successfully insert the target into the acknowledged orphans group."

Hiruzen nodded and began to fill his pipe with tobacco.

"Once the target was transferred to the orphanage, we were able to divert the attention of Nonō and successfully insert the target into the civilian infant group monitored by caretaker Kanpu, but we ran into a complication." Tora continued.

"What kind of complication?" Hiruzen paused in lighting his pipe as he focused on Tora.

"This item was discovered when the target was unwrapped by a genin team who were assisting the newly arrived orphans." Tora handed the rattle drum to Hiruzen. "The Jōnin sensei of the genin approached at that same moment and saw the item as well. I was able to intercept and avoid the other caretakers attention being drawn, however, I felt it best that his name was recorded on the paperwork since all of the infants in the civilian group were already assigned a name."

Hiruzen studied the drum with a melancholy look on his face as he thought the situation over.

"Strange that even I did not notice this when I found Naruto-kun. It seems almost fate that his name could not be forgotten." Hiruzen let loose a sigh "Have Baku and Washi take turns to monitor the situation, for the next five days, to ensure that the target was integrated successfully."

"What about the toy sir? I thought I might infiltrate the orphanage in a few years and give it to him." Tora asked

"Don't worry about that Tora; I will make sure he receives it. It is not unusual for the Hokage to hand out toys to the orphans so I will give this to him myself."

Hiruzen dismissed Tora and walked over to his desk and sat down with a weary sigh. He finally lit his pipe and pondered over the recent events and what would happen if the Daimyō reinstated him.

On one hand he could resolve some of the problems that have plagued him in the twilight of his life. His relationship with his son Asuma was strained over a conflict of beliefs but, there was not much he could do to reconcile while his son is away with the Twelve Guardians even if he wasn't the Hokage.

His beautiful and loving wife Biwako murdered. Not much was discovered by the Anbu, who investigated the site where Kushina was to give birth. How Biwako and her assistant were cut down without any apparent fight still had him puzzled.

Who could be skilled enough to cut through an Anbu guard and two talented kunoichis without Minato noticing? Minato was the fastest shinobi alive it didn't seem possible. Perhaps the Kyūbi had been in the process of escaping, and he was too distracted by it? Yet, the Kyūbi appeared in the middle of the village almost as if it were summoned!

On top of that, some rumors have begun to spread about the Kyūbi's eyes displaying the Sharingan of all things. So far no one could positively say that they saw Fugaku or Mikoto during the battle which cast suspicion on the Uchiha clan.

Minato's last request came to mind next. The evidence of Naruto's birth could not be denied either but, he felt confident that the chaos of the Kyūbi attack and Kushina's presence on the field, his disappearance could still be explained away.

He could take Naruto and raise him as his own. That would be ideal, but the thought of leaving the village to someone like Danzō caused him to shudder. Plus raising Naruto would put a big target on his back for all the other clans as well as other villages as well. He had no doubts that had he taken Naruto in himself he would be constantly fending off assassination attempts from Iwa and kidnapping attempts from Root.

Probably a lot of the foolish villagers thinking he was the Kyūbi reborn as well. The God of Shinobi taking in a supposed orphan would be too high profile, and he truly believed it would cause Naruto more problems than not.

No the more he thought about the benefits of not being Hokage; he realized it would not matter. Even if he could focus and find his wife's killer, the answer to that question would directly involve the Hokage anyways seeing how someone that capable is an obvious threat to the village as a whole.

Leaving Danzō in charge would lead to war without any doubt. Something that could not be afforded now and shouldn't be afforded at all if possible. While Root proved invaluable during the war, Root's effectiveness has only proven to be more of a liability during peace time. Coupled with the fact that they were rumored to use horrible training practices, Hiruzen could only guess at what other twisted things his old companion has gotten involved In. Especially with Koharu and Homura practically in his pocket, there would be nothing to stop Danzō short of a coup.

Hiruzen played with the rattle drum Tora gave him briefly and thought of young Naruto again. The Fire Daimyō would likely have his decision within a week since the amount of taxes he would lose from the lack of mission pay would be too irksome to him.

Whatever his choice however Hiruzen decided he would have to keep his distance from Naruto to keep him safe. If only that didn't fill him with regret.


	3. Shadows Dispersed

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

Edited 4/20/16

 **Chapter 2**

 **Shadows Dispersed**

 **5 Years Later – Konoha Orphanage**

* * *

Five year old Naruto sat in the playground waiting for his three friends. Unfortunately for him, out of all the other children in the orphanage these three were the only ones who would bother with him.

His odd whisker marked cheeks, unique sunshine yellow hair, and cerulean blue eyes caused him to stand out from the other children immensely. This often resulted in him being overlooked as a potential candidate for adoption as most caretakers recommended adopting a child with similar traits with the parents to ensure a smooth transition.

While Naruto was never mistreated severely, and caretaker Kanpu seemed to care for him, he was always busy with the numerous children and infants the orphanage housed. Most of the volunteer nannies from the village always looked at him oddly and made comments about his cheeks. Due to this, he was always overlooked or outright ignored by most of them. It also didn't help that he would have strange feelings or urges for no reason.

Naruto never knew how to describe it, but he always had this sense of something bad inside of him. Not only that, sometimes he would feel like crying for no reason or he would feel really angry to the point that he would want to hurt something and he was afraid to tell anyone about it.

As a toddler, he used to just act out these feelings but that led to the other kids being scared of him. Sometimes he would get punished by Kanpu, which would oddly make the feelings worse until he was left alone after his punishment, then most of the feelings would disappear. After some time, Naruto learned how to squash the strange feelings down until they went away but there was always that lingering feeling.

Once he learned how to control or ignore the strange feelings, things got a little better for him. He learned not to draw too much attention to himself, he gained three friends, and he was no longer punished for acting out on his feelings.

All of his friends were in a different group in the orphanage. Naruto wasn't sure why, but his friends told him that were told that they had ninja parents while Naruto's group had civilian parents.

Naruto wished he had ninja parents since none of the children in his group would talk to him now. Very few of the kids in his group wanted to become ninjas of the village, being more concerned about having a family and a normal life. Naruto, however, wanted to become a shinobi. This resulted in an even larger separation with the rest of the children in his group since they had nothing in common.

When Naruto compared himself with the rest of the children in his group, he stood out even more. While Naruto was physically shorter than the kids in his group, he was much faster, stronger, could play longer, and learned things much faster than the rest of his group. This only caused him to be isolated even further.

Due to this isolation, Naruto would do whatever he could to group together with his friends. Whenever they managed to group up, they would all talk about how they were going to become a powerful ninja team and defeat powerful enemies. Naruto liked the idea of becoming a powerful ninja who walks on water and throws fireballs at the bad guys. They would also play ninja tag and try to sneak into places they were not allowed to hone their ninja skills.

Naruto was drawn out of his thoughts as he was approached by three other kids his age. The first to greet him was a girl named Makoto. She had shoulder length black hair with straight cut bangs and pretty emerald green eyes. She was wearing a white t-shirt and a gray sleeveless dress that just passed her knees with black sandals on her feet.

The next to greet him was a boy named Taro, who had cropped brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a long black t-shirt and red knee length shorts with red ankle length ninja sandals.

The final child simply nodded his head at Naruto in acknowledgment. He had spiky black hair similar to Naruto, but it was much shorter. His eyes were black and he wore a long sleeve white shirt and baggy black pants along with black sandals. His name was Ren.

"Hey, guys! How's it going?" Naruto asked with a cheery smile.

"Sorry we were late, Nonō-sama was having us do some tests, but some of the kids were too dumb to understand it." Taro replied.

Ren chuckled at that statement "It wasn't that they were too dumb! It was because they can't be ninjas."

Naruto perked up at this thought. If there was a test to be a ninja, he would have to take it. He just had to pass! He wondered if they would let him take this test too.

"What kind of test was it? Do you think they will let me take the test also?" Naruto asked tentatively.

Makoto replied, "I don't know if they were going to let you take it, but you need one of these papers that Nonō-sama said was to unlock something she called chakra. After that she told us how to channel chakra and if it showed around your body, she said we could be ninjas."

Naruto looked down at that thought. Nonō never interacted with anyone in his group he only saw her in passing. He started to feel strange again but before he could wonder about it Ren spoke up.

"Hey Naruto, I stole some of those papers from Nonō-sama. I could give you one of them, but you will have to do whatever I say for a week."

"Really Ren! Do you always have to mess with Naruto like this?" Taro asked.

"Hey! We all know that Nonō-sama doesn't bother with Naruto's group." Ren said indignantly. "This is his only opportunity for him to find out. Who knows? "Ren added with a shrug before a smirk grew on his face. "Maybe if he passes and we tell Nonō-sama about it, he will get moved to our group."

"Oh come on Ren! If that is true, then you should just let Naruto-kun try it now so he can get away from those losers," whined Makoto.

Ren looked at Makoto who narrowed her eyes at him. "Okay, fine! I'll give you the paper and tell you what to do, but you have to save me your dessert for two days." Ren relented, "If they move you to our group then you have to give me your next present from the toy donations." he added slyly.

Makoto scowled at Ren but remained silent. She turned a hopeful gaze back to Naruto as she saw his demeanor perk up.

"Really? I'll do it! You guys won't regret helping me I promise ** _!_** " Naruto exclaimed.

Inwardly he was relieved. Ren always made him do embarrassing things or things that would get him into trouble, but Naruto was always willing to do them anyways, to please his precious friends.

They were his only friends and whenever he was willing to do their bidding, it would always bring a smile to their faces. Their smiles always made it easier to deal with the strange feeling he would get around them. It also helped reduce the bad feeling he always felt inside of him.

"Here is what we have to do Naruto. I will put this paper on your forehead with the writing facing out just like Nonō-sama did. She said you will feel a little strange." Ren said.

He pulled the paper out of his pocket and studied it for a bit, then flipped it over when Makoto pointed out it was upside down. Then he stuck it to Naruto's forehead and channeled some chakra to his hand like Nonō taught them.

Naruto felt a searing pain go throughout his body and gritted his teeth to prevent himself from crying out. He wouldn't scream and get his friends in trouble for helping him. After what seemed like an hour, the pain went away and he opened his eyes.

"Man that really hurt ** _!_** Did I mess something up, guys?" That was when Naruto noticed the looks of shock on their faces.

"Guys? What's wrong? What happened?" Naruto asked while waving his hands in their faces.

"Well, I don't think we need to do the second part at all." Makoto said with a chuckle, "maybe we should try it just in case." she added as an afterthought.

"Are you kidding me Makoto? Didn't you see that?" Taro said in disbelief, "That was way more than Nonō-sama did and that was when she was channeling it."

"What do you mean guys? C'mon tell me! What are you talking about?" Naruto whined.

Ren ignored him "I want to see him do it anyways. If he showed that much, imagine how much he could do if he actually channeled it like Nonō-sama said." Ren turned to Naruto, "I'll explain the second part of the test to you now, so pay attention."

Naruto nodded and waited, anxious to find out what his friends were talking about. He hoped it didn't hurt like the paper did.

"You are going to hold your hands like this, make sure you copy it exactly or it won't work," Ren said before demonstrating the Ram seal. "Once you have your hands like this you gotta close your eyes. See if you can feel something inside of you moving through your body."

Ren did a brief demonstration, and a subtle blue glow surrounded him before he continued with his explanation. "Once you can feel it you have to imagine pushing it outside of your body," Ren concluded before giving Naruto a serious look. "Do you understand?"

"Okay. I think I got it. Here goes." Naruto took a deep breath put his hands together like Ren demonstrated and closed his eyes.

He wasn't sure if the bad feeling he always felt inside is what Ren was talking about but since it felt bad he decided not to focus on that. He did notice he felt something else inside of him that felt calm and warm so he focused on that instead and then imagined pushing it outside of his body as much as he could.

Ren, Taro, and Makoto were blown over by Naruto's chakra flare. Naruto, who inadvertently expelled most of his chakra reserves, passed out completely.

Nonō and a regular patrol team, that was heading towards the border, were immediately on alert since the flare was so large it could easily be mistaken for someone casting an offensive jutsu.

The patrol team arrived to see Nonō scolding three children and one child laying unconscious on the ground.

"What happened here? Is there an intruder?" one of the Chūnin asked.

Nonō turned towards the patrol team and replied "No sorry, there was no intruder these foolish children tried to instruct this poor civilian child how to unlock and channel his chakra without supervision." Nonō looked down at Naruto before adding, "The poor thing obviously overdid it."

"Are you kidding me?" the Chūnin replied incredulously "That chakra flare felt like a B rank jutsu being cast." The Chūnin team looked at the unconscious child with amazement.

"As you can see, though, the child probably expended his entire reserve," Nonō replied nonchalantly, "You could be right, but it was obviously beyond his limit." she demurred, but secretly she was trying to downplay the situation.

Nonō shook her head and said, "We are simply lucky this child didn't end his own life."

She looked back at Naruto and narrowed her eyes. 'Could this be the child that Danzō has been searching for this entire time?' Nonō thought.

"Well, if you say so. I still believe that it was impressive but we are running late for our patrol mission. Are you going to file the incident report?" the chūnin looked up from Naruto and towards her.

Nonō seemed to think it over for a minute. "Of course, I'll take care of everything. Good luck on your patrol," she added in a cheery tone.

'If this is the jinchūriki then Root would have to seize him immediately, especially now that he has accessed his chakra.' thought Nonō. 'He even appears to be the perfect age for recruitment regardless if he isn't the jinchūriki.'

Nonō was no seal expert, but she had read a sealing scroll that mentioned a proper seal would ensure that the bijū would hibernate until either their chakra was accessed or a traumatic event occurred. She wasn't sure which chakra the child used but at this point but it was better to be safe than sorry.

She would mark this boy for immediate recruitment regardless if her investigation didn't reveal anything special. If worse came to worse, he would serve as a suitable sacrifice for a qualified candidate to advance. First things first, though...

"Ren, Taro, Makoto if you don't want to lose your desserts and outside privileges for the next 3 months you will tell me what you did, and what you saw when you told this child how to channel his chakra," Nonō said sternly.

All three children gulped and Taro replied, "Well, Ren put the paper on his head and channeled his chakra into it. Naruto started glowing really brightly and for a long time too!" Taro gestured wildly before continuing. "After that, he said it really hurt. Ren then told him how to feel for his chakra and once he felt it, he pushed it out. After that, the blue glow became really bright and it pushed us over."

Ren glared at Taro for ratting him out to Nonō while Makoto looked worried. "Is Naruto-kun okay Nonō-sama?"

"Yes Makoto, Naruto will be fine. He just pushed out too much chakra and it made him tired." Nonō said in a caring tone before switching into lecture mode. "This is why you should not use chakra like this unless you have an adult supervising. If Naruto pushed out any more chakra he could have been hurt badly."

Nonō noticed that while Taro and Ren didn't seem too disturbed by that revelation, Makoto displayed guilt and concern.

'Seems those two boys would be good candidates for Root also. They could be paired together for their emotional testing. The girl will probably be best for this Naruto kid, even if he isn't the jinchūriki, the amount of chakra they described only means he will have very high reserves with the proper training.'

"You three report to your rooms and remain there until I call for you. I will decide your punishment for this." Nonō said sternly.

"Wait for Nonō-sama, will Naruto-kun be moved into our group now since he can use chakra?" Makoto asked.

"I'm not sure Makoto." Nonō gave her a fake smile, "I will discuss it with Kanpu and see what he says but even if he uses chakra, he is supposedly from civilian parents and would have to remain on the civilian side."

The three children trudged into the orphanage while Nonō picked up Naruto and headed towards Kanpu's office. As she studied him closely she noticed the resemblance to the Yondaime right away, as well as the whisker marks. She wondered if that meant the Kyūbi had become active.

Overall he seemed to be a little small for his age, which wasn't too big of an issue. His weight, at least, appeared on target for his size and he didn't seem to be malnourished, but not well fed either. That was not unusual for most of the civilian orphans since they received less funding than the shinobi orphans.

She entered Kanpu's office and noticed he was not in at the moment. Nonō quickly checked the hallway then set Naruto down on top of his desk.

'One way to verify for sure if he is the one we are looking for.' Nonō thought.

She lifted Naruto's shirt up and placed her hand on this torso, then channeled her chakra. Right away the seal appeared and Nonō was impressed and excited at the same time.

The seal was a masterpiece! She couldn't even begin to decipher most of the complexities to it. She was no slouch at fūinjutsu but obviously the Yondaime was leagues beyond her to design a seal such as this.

She was distracted from her musings by the sound of footsteps approaching. She quickly put Naruto's shirt back down and picked him up again. A few seconds later the door opened, and Nonō turned to face the doorway.

"Ah Kanpu, just the person I need to talk to," Nonō said with a smile. "It seems one of your charges may have been improperly identified."

"Is that so Nonō?" Kanpu replied with suspicion.

Kanpu knew that Nonō was involved in Root and though he had no evidence that her "adoption matches" were illegal, it could not be a coincidence that most of the strong shinobi children would be adopted out of the village where it would be difficult to keep tabs on them.

'If only the Hokage would give us more funding. We are struggling enough as it is after the Kyūbi event.' Kanpu thought.

"This child displayed a large amount of chakra for a civilian child. If it wasn't for some of his overzealous friends, we might not have ever discovered his potential." Nonō answered.

"How is this even possible?" Kanpu glared at Nonō. "How could his friends gain access to chakra unlocking tags and be able to teach him how to channel at this age?"

Nonō was stone faced "My apologizes Kanpu but as you know we often test the shinobi children to ensure that parents adopting children are confident that the children they select are capable of continuing their legacy. His friend on the shinobi side managed to steal one of the papers and instructed Naruto on using it."

Kanpu shook his head then moved over to his filing cabinet and began to look up the paperwork for Naruto. "Well, it says here that he was discovered in a collapsed apartment building in the civilian sector by construction workers and his blood test revealed no known relations within the shinobi database. Since his test shows no connections to shinobi, I am inclined to keep him with the civilian classification and simply offer him the ability to join the academy in three years." Kanpu concluded.

"Very well. I will leave Naruto to you then." Nonō handed Naruto over to Kanpu once he returned the paperwork to the filing cabinet and closed the drawer.

"Don't worry about his friends, I will see to their punishment and ensure steps are taken to prevent this from occurring again," Nonō said as she turned and left Kanpu's office.

'I will have to copy Naruto's files and report to Ryota verbally. What I have discovered is too important to leave a paper trail.' Nonō decided as she set her plans into motion.

Kanpu looked down at Naruto and sighed. He hoped that Nonō didn't drag this poor boy into Root. He knew it was mostly wishful thinking, but he was just a mere caretaker while Nonō was a trained Jōnin.

While Naruto seemed to have had some issues early on in life, they were nothing out of the ordinary for most toddlers in his situation and he grew out of them quickly. He was a sweet boy who was usually well behaved, but a little more reserved than usual and a little too willing to please his friends.

Kanpu suspected that any trouble Naruto got into was due to Ren. He had noticed that boy had no reservations on manipulating Naruto, but Naruto was too naive to realize it. Trying to warn the boy about it, however, caused him to almost viciously defend his friends. It was a lose-lose situation.

Kanpu left his office and entered the room where Naruto was assigned. He took off Naruto's shoes and set him down on the bed. He would probably wake up in time for dinner, so Kanpu didn't bother to cover him up.

Kanpu left the room and closed the door behind him.

 **Current Time - Inside Naruto's Mindscape**

* * *

5 year old Naruto lies on the ground in front of a massive cage, as he has done every night since the day he was born. His now light orange soul aura continues to steadily merge with the Kyūbi's now red-orange chakra form. The Kyūbi's ears and tails began to twitch slightly, showing that the great Kyūbi no Yoko was starting to awaken for the first time in 5 years.

The pawns sent by the essences of Light and Darkness will begin to move like a game of shogi. The pieces are arrayed, traps are set, and strategies determined. To what end? Not even the forces who started this game would be able to guarantee what would happen.

Soon the soul of purity would meet the self-proclaimed embodiment of hatred.

 **14 hours later – Root Secret Headquarters – Konoha**

* * *

In an office shrouded in shadows, a small desk lamp illuminated an ornate wooden desk and the bandaged face of the Yami no Shinobi, Danzō Shimura. The Black Ops leader of Root sat reviewing intelligence and mission reports in his darkened office when he was disturbed by a knock at his door. While this was normally the designated time for him to remain undisturbed, he knew his Root officers were too well trained to allow something trivial to interrupt him during his plotting time.

"Enter," he barked out and went back to reviewing the latest report on Iwa border movements. Since the Kyūbi attack, Iwa had gotten more bold and had led several "covert incursions" into Hi no Kuni through Kusa no Kuni (Land of Grass).

Danzō believed that it was the Tsuchikage's attempt to establish invasion roots. Of course, Hiruzen was too soft to make any firm movements against Iwa for these transgressions, so it relied on him to ensure Konoha's security. Danzō was surprised that Hiruzen had stood up to Kumo like he did when the Hyūga event occurred a few years ago.

Danzō looked up and saw one of his spy handlers waiting patiently to be acknowledged."What news do you have Ryota?" he turned his focus back to the reports, looking for a potential pattern.

"Danzō-sama, I have received word from Nonō that she has located the Kyūbi jinchūriki" Ryota reported.

That got Danzō's attention, and he looked up quickly. "Give me all the details."

Ryota handed over the copies of Naruto's paperwork, that Nonō provided, and began reciting the information she provided. Besides the standard stats such as age and description, Ryota relayed her belief that the child was indeed the son of Minato. She was also able to verify that the child was a jinchūriki by examining the seal, as well as the accounts of the child flaring enough chakra for a B level jutsu just after having his chakra unlocked.

Needless to say, Danzō was pleased, though it would never show on his face or body language. When he heard that Nonō was unable to have the child relocated to the shinobi section of the orphanage, Danzō knew it would take a sophisticated operation to ensure that the child would end up in his hands. He had to proceed carefully before Hiruzen could counter any of his movements.

A plan quickly came to mind, but it would take at least a year before it bore any fruit. He would need to make the child an outcast, so he could not have a peaceful life within the usual confines of the village. If he was isolated and threatened, Hiruzen would have no choice but to let the jinchūriki disappear into the ranks of Root to prevent unrest amongst the villagers.

Danzō would prefer to simply capture the jinchūriki, but he knew that Hiruzen would be onto him if the child suddenly disappeared. That would bring too much scrutiny onto his black ops organization and might pull all official support from Root. Danzō had to ensure that Hiruzen was forced to turn over the child to him. Only then could his goals of Konoha dominating the continent come to fruition.

"Ryota, you may leave and instruct Nonō to avoid any further interaction with the child unless a physical threat appears," Danzō said dismissively before pausing and adding, "Send in Torune and Fū on your way out." Ryota bowed and exited the room. Shortly afterward Torune and Fū entered.

"You called for us Danzō-sama?" Torune and Fū knelt waiting to be acknowledged.

Danzō held out Naruto's most current photo to Torune. "You must study that picture carefully then proceed with a public propaganda campaign labeling that boy as the Kyūbi jinchūriki. You will plant this memory into random civilians and in a portion of the chūnin level shinobi." Danzō looked at Torune with his uncovered eye before elaborating. "Make sure that seeing this boy invokes a sense of hatred but is subtle enough that the memory is only triggered once they lay eyes on the boy. We need the village to see this boy as the Kyūbi reborn so that he will be ostracized and vilified but not to the point where they seek him out without the right prompts. This mission should be completed before the Kyūbi festival next year."

"I will start right away Danzō-sama." Torune bowed and left the room.

Danzō turned his attention to his second most trusted operative. "Fū, I want you to observe those who visit the graveyards and memorial stone regularly, that also spend time drinking in bars. Once you have identified targets who are still mourning and are regular heavy drinkers, you will begin spreading rumors about the jinchūriki. I want them to start believing that the child is a demon brat with the soul of the Kyūbi or that he is being influenced by the Kyūbi to attack the village. They should also be convinced that killing the boy would get revenge against the Kyūbi." Danzō paused for a moment before coming to a decision, "Do not reveal any details about the child or his location until we near the Kyūbi festival next year. Make sure you start out subtle at first, then ramp up the propaganda as we near the Kyūbi festival."

"As you command Danzō-sama." Fū bowed and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

'Hopefully, this will isolate the child and prevent him from gaining any more friends, which will also help for his emotional conditioning. Once the village and the shinobi turn against the boy, Hiruzen will have no choice but to turn the boy over to me for his safety. Then, I will have the perfect weapon to make Konoha the dominant village of the world.'

Danzō debated bringing in Koharu and Homura into the plan as well but thought it unnecessary at this time. He would reveal his plan to them once he was certain the propaganda campaign was successful.

Danzō figured he would probably need to hire additional mercenaries to ensure that the attack on the orphanage was a success and to make the situation appear worse for Naruto's safety while redirecting attention away from his Root operatives.

With the threat of mob attack, the orphanage would have no choice but to expel Naruto and with pressure from the council, he was certain he would have the jinchūriki in his hands soon. Hiruzen would not be able to adopt Naruto now if he wanted the boy to go through the standard academy, and the clan heads would be against any adoption efforts since they would fight to gain the jinchūriki into their own clans.

Danzō almost laughed at how simple Hiruzen's ploy was. How he managed to keep the boy a secret this long was a miracle. It was almost an embarrassment that he hadn't discovered the jinchūriki until now.

To think that if it wasn't for some measly orphans, the jinchūriki might have ended up as a regular civilian! That would have been unbelievable. Konoha would be the laughing stock of the Elemental nations and at a severe disadvantage. At least this way he would have the boy right when he was at the ripe age to begin training. He would just have to ensure he had extra emotional conditioning.

Looking back at the reports from Iwa, another thought entered Danzō's mind. If the boy truly was Minato's son that could put a severe dent into his propaganda campaign. Danzō narrowed his eyes in thought. Hiruzen could use that against him, but would he? In the end, Danzō believed that Hiruzen would not release the information since Iwa would definitely try to kill the boy.

Kumo might be on the fence about it. The current Raikage, A, had clashed with Minato quite a bit. Currently, Kumo only seemed to be interested in obtaining bloodlines. If the child was indeed the son of Minato and Kushina, then Kumo could become an issue if that information got out. The child's mother was a target for Kumo in the past, so it would not be a stretch that they would take him for that alone, if not for the Kyūbi.

Danzō would have to arrange for Minato and Kushina's records to be acquired from the hospital and run a genetic test on the jinchūriki once he had him in his hands. If he received confirmation, then he would need to select several females of the right age to bear his children once he completed Root's puberty acceleration training.

If the jinchūriki was Minato's son, then the child had limitless potential. With the endless chakra of the Kyūbi at his command and his father's genius for developing and modifying jutsu, he would be unstoppable. If he inherited his mother's unique chakra properties that would simply be a bonus.

Danzo smirked internally as he thought over his other plans that were currently in their preliminary stages. Once those plans begin to bear fruit, Hiruzen would be dead, and Danzō would use Naruto to establish a new Uzumaki or Namikaze clan to strike fear into the other villages.

After all, it was Kumo, Iwa, and Kiri that attacked Uzushiogakure (Village Hidden by Whirling Tides) and all but wiped out the Uzumaki clan. To learn that the Uzumaki clan is flourishing within Konoha would be a substantial boon. Hopefully, some other living Uzumaki seal masters remained hidden in the world and could be lured back to Konoha to provide their knowledge and strength to the new clan head. A clan head that would be firmly under his control.

Danzō let his mind wander through his grand plans for a short time before turning back to his reports. He had to be diligent lest his plans fall apart. It was up to him to ensure Konoha flourished after all.


	4. A Legacy Revealed

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

 **Warning: Graphic depictions of violence are present in this chapter.**

Edit 4/20/16

 **Chapter 3**

 **A Legacy Revealed**

 **1 year Later – Hokage Tower - Konoha**

* * *

Hiruzen pondered the latest Anbu reports he received that morning as he prepared for the Kyūbi festival that would start in a few hours.

So far it seemed that Naruto's identity was safe. The rumors going around the populace seemed to have various different descriptions and none of them had mentioned that the child lived in the orphanage. The Konoha Military Police Force (KMPF) had not reported any mob gatherings or threats to the orphanage, and there had been no attacks on any children or the orphanage itself.

The tension in the village, however, was at an all-time high. Hiruzen feared a single spark was all that was needed to set off a violent response. For the first four years after the attack, it had seemed that the village had been steadily recovering and Hiruzen started to relax thinking Naruto would be safe. Suddenly, within the last year, the grief had suddenly escalated and somehow manifested into anger.

If not for the fact that Naruto and the orphanage had been untouched, Hiruzen would suspect Danzō was involved somehow. This was not a typical move his old comrade would make, however, since Danzō had always moved to quell any unrest in the village itself. Danzō would usually suggest that any unrest is put down violently, which Hiruzen always shot down.

Now, he feared he may have to authorize the Anbu to retaliate with lethal force if a violent mob was formed. Something that had not been authorized since the Shodaime founded the village over 100 years ago.

Inoichi had determined that the mood in the village should not foment a large mob seeking revenge. While it was true that most of the villagers had reacted with some anger and fear to the rumors of the jinchūriki being within the village, most of their anger was negligible. The most dangerous feelings came from a troubled minority who had never properly handled their grief.

Unfortunately, that minority was still a significant number. Add to the fact that most of them were comprised of Chūnin level shinobi and villagers who were known to be heavy drinkers made them more of a threat than one would expect. It was almost a guarantee that something would occur tonight given the glaring reminders of the Kyūbi attack and the increased consumption of alcohol by the entire village.

Hiruzen had ordered two additional Anbu units to be on standby just in case the KMPF would need assistance with a mob. The police would already have their hands full with the large crowds in the village for the Kyūbi festival since a lot of outlying villagers and merchants had arrived to join the celebration.

Hiruzen looked in on Naruto through his crystal ball for a moment and smiled as he saw the child playing one of the orphanage's festival games with a small group of children. A twinge of guilt struck him again as he had no active role in Naruto's life. He had not even checked in on Naruto that often until the rumors started picking up speed.

From what Hiruzen had observed this past year, it seemed that the child was mostly calm and calculating like Minato but was capable of having a stormy temper like Kushina if pushed far enough. A healthy mix he supposed though the child did not seem to have the same charisma as Minato. He only had a very select group of friends like Kushina did.

Hiruzen had heard that the child desired to be a shinobi, along with his friends, while he was viewing him one day and it only caused his guilt to grow. That Naruto would already be at such a disadvantage when he started the academy would only make things harder on the boy. Depending on how things played out, he may be able to provide help covertly. It would probably cause no end of problems with the council if the Hokage was seen helping out a civilian child but it might be worth the headache if Naruto's future was secured.

Hiruzen put his crystal ball back into the desk drawer and sealed it. Donning the Hokage robes, he proceeded towards the village center to kick off the start of the Kyūbi Festival with a memorial speech.

 **Root Secret Outpost – Hi no Kuni (Fire country)**

* * *

Torune walked toward the assembled team of Root Anbu to begin the operation briefing. As he entered the room the other Root members bowed at the waist then snapped to attention.

"Our mission parameters are as follows, In exactly two hours, Team Hyō and Team Dajimu will proceed to escort the hired bandits through the Konoha village barrier and into the village proper. Once the bandits are in their target location, you will Henge into the predetermined disguises and begin to gather the disgruntled villagers and shinobi to reveal the location of the jinchūriki." Torune said, as he walked down the line of Root members and handed each one a large sum of ryō.

"Verify that all the targets are significantly inebriated before revealing the location. Then lead the targets to the small lake in Zone 5 to begin staging the assault on the orphanage. Team Hyō will be responsible for the capture of targets Ren, Taro, and Makoto." Torune handed pictures to the three-member team for them to study.

"Team Dajimu will be responsible for guiding the mob into destroying non-essential outbuildings and infrastructure as well as disabling the caretakers. While that occurs, one of you will find and attack the boy using a genjutsu to make the boy believe he was attacked by the mob. Ensure that you cause enough damage to the child to make the assault look real but the damage must not be permanent or crippling." Torune gave the team a picture of Naruto.

"You are dismissed to begin your preparations." The Root teams both bowed and left the room.

Torune reviewed the mission plan one last time before lighting it on fire with a candle.

The operation would begin once the fireworks went off. The hired bandits were to begin rioting within the village proper causing the KMPF to be distracted from the movement of the attacking mob.

During this time, the mob of drunken shinobi and villagers would begin their assault on the orphanage. Even if the Hokage had Anbu teams on standby, it would take some time for them to be notified of the attack. By then both Root teams will have completed their mission objectives and will have left the mob to be dealt with.

Torune left once the mission plan was completely burned and began to prepare for his part in the operation.

 **Anbu HQ – Konoha**

* * *

Tora, Washi, and Baku were geared up and waiting in the break room of headquarters discussing recent rumors that had been circulating throughout the village.

"I don't like this taichou," Washi said emphatically, "I think we should move out now and watch over the orphanage. If there is an attack it would take us almost fifteen minutes to reach them." Washi said with a shake of his head. "Too much can happen in that amount of time if we are notified too late."

Baku nodded "These rumors are too efficient. This can only be Root at work, to have riled up the village so much in a year."

Tora sighed and looked between Washi and Baku. "I agree, but the Hokage ordered us to be on standby. What if we draw attention to him inadvertently?"

"We can still remain in a holding pattern away from sensing range of the orphanage. If nothing happens, we return and no one is wiser." Washi replied.

Tora sighed in exasperation. "Fine, but if we are discovered I will kick your asses when I recover from the Hokage's ass kicking."

Tora, Washi, and Baku left HQ and quickly traveled towards the orphanage.

 **4 hours later – Konoha Orphanage**

* * *

All the orphanage children were beginning to settle down as the celebrations began to draw to a close. Since there were not enough caretakers to oversee the children in the official festival within the village, the orphanage set up its own mock festival in the playgrounds for the children to enjoy.

Naruto, Ren, Taro, and Makoto were going over and trading their prizes from the festival games and bartering with candies and trinkets. Naruto didn't have much since he preferred to give away most of his things to Ren, Taro, and Makoto, to keep them happy.

Naruto suddenly had a very bad feeling. Instead, of the normal bad feeling inside of him, this seemed to be coming from the forest and was a lot worse than he had ever felt. Naruto tried to push the feeling down like he did at other times but this time, it only seemed to grow. Naruto began to tremble as the feeling grew stronger and more severe.

"Oi Naruto, your trembling worse then when you thought you saw a ghost last year. What's wrong with you?" Taro asked.

"S-Something really bad is going to happen, guys. I can feel it. We need to get out of here ** _!_** " Naruto shakily replied.

Ren snorted "Give me a break, do you think you are psychic now and can tell the future?"

"Well... remember when Keiri-sama was angry about the stolen cookies? Naruto-kun had the same feeling then and we were able to hide in the woods and eat them all without getting caught." Makoto said.

"That is true," Taro said as he recalled that adventure in mischief, "plus we got to make our awesome ninja hideout by the lake. We haven't been there for awhile." Taro added with a fond smile.

"Well... if we do decide to go we will have to wait for the fireworks to start, otherwise, Nonō-sama will notice us missing," Ren whispered conspiratorially.

Naruto nodded "They already did headcount for us, and they never do light's out on the festival nights for our group since we usually stay on the roof to watch the fireworks." Naruto whispered back, "I bet all our caretakers besides Kanpu-sama have left already."

Makoto looked around "It looks like Nonō-sama has already started to gather our group for the fireworks. Why don't you go ahead Naruto-kun, and we will meet up with you at the hideout."

Naruto bit his lip and looked back out towards the forest. The bad feeling seemed to come from the same direction as their hideout but maybe if he went around he could avoid it. At the same time, the bad feeling seemed to be getting stronger and heading directly towards them. Naruto decided to take his chances out in the forest.

"Okay, guys and don't take too long. I've never felt anything this bad before." Naruto said shakily.

Naruto got up and started to head towards the civilian dorms. As he neared the entrance he ducked around the corner and pressed himself against the wall to hide in the shadows. He shimmied along the wall towards the storage shed that held the gardening tools.

Naruto looked around and, so far, no one appeared to notice him. He turned the handle on the door of the storage shed and lifted up with all his strength, slowly opening the door to avoid it from squeaking. Sliding through the gap he slowly closed and latched the door.

Letting his eyes adjust to the darkness for a bit, he tiptoed to the back corner and found the two loose boards that lead outside of the orphanage walls. Taro had seen some of the older kids use this to sneak out of the orphanage to play in the woods and showed it to the rest of the group.

Naruto crept through the gap and spurred on by the strength of the bad feeling began running into the forest far away from it.

 **Outskirts of Konoha**

* * *

A chūnin border patrol team was moving at speed through the treetops as they tried to make it back to the village in time for the celebration. As they began to near the village, however, one of the chūnin who was a sensor called the others to a halt.

"Whats the big idea, Nanami! We are almost home!" one of the chūnin groused.

"Shut up Daiki. What's wrong Nanami?" asked the leader Aoto.

Nanami's face had a look of concentration for a moment then she replied, "I sense a large group of people heading towards the village from the woods. There is, at least, several Chūnin level shinobi in the group based on their chakra levels."

"That makes no sense? Why would they be out in the forest while the celebration is in town? The fireworks are gonna start soon so everyone should be at the Hokage monument." Daiki said.

The leader flew through five hand seals and called out Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu) a cloud of smoke appeared before a woodpecker appeared.

" **You summoned me, Aoto?"** the woodpecker asked.

"Yushi, I believe there may be hostile forces approaching the village from the south in Sector 5. Can you please fly and notify the Anbu on standby for reinforcements?" Aoto requested.

" **Right away, Aoto."** the woodpecker flew off towards the village.

"Well. At least, that summon contract proved useful for something," Daiki said snidely

"Shut up Daiki-baka, (idiot) at least Aoto has a summoning contract." Nanami retorted.

Aoto interrupted Daiki before he could argue "That is enough! Nanami, please track the mob. We will approach as quietly as possible and perform reconnaissance until the Anbu team arrives."

The chūnin team turned and moved towards the orphanage at a slower rate to try and keep themselves from being noticed.

 **Outskirts of Konoha - Tora Anbu Team**

* * *

Tora, Washi, and Baku were hidden in the trees two miles north of the orphanage. With their speed, it would take them less than five minutes to cover the distance.

Soon the fireworks began to go off over the village and the Anbu team took some time to watch the various colored streaks travel across the sky.

Suddenly, the Anbu team stiffened as a report from H.Q came in across their headsets.

Washi's eye widened "Shit! The orphanage will be directly in their path. I fucking knew it!"

"Let's move out!" Tora replied as he leaped off towards the south with Baku and Washi hot on his heels.

 **With Naruto**

* * *

As the bad feeling began to lessen, Naruto began to calm a bit. He then remembered that the others would meet him at their hideout by the lake, so he began making his way towards the lake. He had run pretty far out and felt that he should be safe from the bad feeling. It wasn't growing any stronger as he neared the lake so he started to calm down.

Naruto hoped that his feelings were wrong and nothing really bad would happen to the orphanage or his friends. It would be worth the trouble he would get into if he was wrong and everyone was safe, but he just couldn't shake the thought that something really bad was going to happen.

As Naruto neared the lake he began to hear some voices and thinking it was his friends he dashed into the clearing enthusiastically.

Naruto came to an abrupt halt when he saw a group of strange men sitting around the clearing drinking. As the men looked up and took notice of him, the bad feeling intensified to the point where Naruto was frozen in fear.

"Well look who it is guys! If it isn't the demon brat himself. Looks like we didn't have to travel with those bossy idiots after all." One of the drunk men exclaimed.

The other drunks began jeering and swearing at Naruto who was paralyzed with fear and confusion. The men began to encircle Naruto while shouting and cursing at him. Naruto couldn't understand half of what they were saying because they were all yelling over each other and drunkenly slurring their speech.

The next thing Naruto knew, he was flying through the air and his stomach hurt badly. Naruto's back slammed into a tree and he slid down towards the ground gasping for breath.

His stomach and sides hurt really badly and trying to breathe seemed to make it worse. Before he could think any further he was picked up and thrown back into the center of the group.

The men began to kick and stomp him as he curled up into a ball to try and hide away from them. He kept his eyes closed since he couldn't tell which direction was up as they were picking him up and hitting him, throwing or kicking him into trees and the boulders. Some of the men even broke their bottles on him causing shards of glass to cut him.

His body hurt all over and tears were streaming down his cheeks, but he couldn't scream. He could barely breathe because his sides hurt badly when he tried to do more than gasp for air.

Naruto couldn't understand why these men were hurting him. He could feel that the bad feeling was strong with all of them as well and wondered if it was the bad feeling that made them do this.

He never did anything wrong to these men but that bad feeling was so strong and they were hurting him so badly. Then Naruto felt something sharp stab deep into his chest and warmth came flooding out of his body and down his shirt. His mind came to a halt and everything around him seemed to still before something heavy hit his head and the world faded to black.

 **Inside Naruto's Mindscape**

* * *

Naruto awoke with a start and noticed that he didn't hurt anymore. The bad feeling didn't go away completely, but it was not nearly as strong as it was a minute ago. This felt more like the bad feeling he has always noticed inside of him. As he looked around he saw a gigantic cage but it was too dark to see what was inside of it.

Naruto got up and began to creep towards the cage slowly. Something told him that he should ignore the bad feeling from the cage. That whatever was behind the cage was important.

Suddenly a large glowing red light appeared in the darkness but as Naruto looked at it closely he realized it wasn't a light but a giant eye. The first eye was soon followed by another giant eye and then a row of giant sharp and scary teeth appeared.

As the giant creature moved closer to the cage doors, Naruto was able to get a good look at it and realized that this giant creature looked just like the demon that the Yondaime defeated in his storybook.

" **So, I have finally awakened to find myself jailed in a puny little mortal. How disappointing."** The creature stated in a deep and gravely voice as it lowered its head closer to the ground to look over Naruto closely.

 ** _'Hmmm, this mortal's soul appears to be innocent. I do not sense the usual malice and greed that are typical of the filth called humanity. I wonder If it is because he is simply young or if there is another reason."_** Kyūbi thought.

"A-are you the Kyūbi?" Naruto asked timidly.

Naruto was very scared and confused. His mind couldn't think of anything else to ask besides the obvious. The Kyūbi seemed to be studying him which also made him nervous on top of everything else.

" **Are you that much of a fool that you are unaware of the situation? Why else would I have awoken to save your life? I would prefer to spare myself the trouble of reforming because those disgusting humans decided to kill the jinchūriki of the great Kyūbi no Yoko ."** the Kyūbi replied with derision.

Naruto trembled at the booming voice of the Kyūbi, "I- I- I d-don't know, Kyūbi-sama, what any of that means. All I know is that I have no parents and have been raised in the orphanage for my whole life."

Naruto took a deep shuddering breath and asked, "Where am I Kyūbi-sama? Why am I here?"

" **Kyūbi-sama eh? This amuses me. None of your ilk has ever deemed to treat me with the respect I deserve. Perhaps I will lower myself to answer your useless questions after all. Consider yourself lucky, for people who normally demand answers from me usually meet my teeth or claws."** the Kyubi said before flashing Naruto a large grin to display his large fangs.

 **"We are currently located in your mindscape, created by the seal that was used to trap me inside your body. As for why you are here, it was necessary for me to drag you here in order to heal the damage to your body caused by that ignorant slime."**

Naruto barely understood what the Kyūbi explained, but he didn't want to push him too far. The Kyūbi had the bad feeling like those men who hurt him. Unknown to Naruto, the Kyūbi was fully aware of his thoughts and became slightly less disdainful of him because of it.

 ** _'So the child has gained my innate negative emotion sensing. At least, this child seems to have some common sense not to annoy me as well.'_**

"Thank you for saving my life, Kyūbi-sama. I am grateful." Naruto bowed to the Kyūbi much to Kyūbi's amusement.

 ** _'Odd I should be furious at this, but it seems my hibernation this time around has lowered my rage. It must be something about this mortal as my rage remained intact when I was sealed in this mortal's mother and that filthy bitch that helped seal me away in the first place.'_**

" **Tell me mortal. Do you think I care about your gratitude? Mortals are full of greed and hatred. You constantly war with each other killing innocents and nature alike for your own selfish reasons. What makes you think I would want the gratitude of a filthy human?"** Kyūbi sneered.

Naruto fidgeted under the Kyūbi's gaze and looked down while he tried to figure out how to explain what he wanted to say. After he collected his thoughts he looked back up at the Kyūbi with fiery determination.

"I don't know what it is but I sense the bad feeling in you that has been with me all my life and I think this bad feeling is what causes all the problems." Naruto took a deep breath before he continued, "When I was younger I would always act out on those feelings and it caused me nothing but trouble and pain. When I found friends, that bad feeling started to fade away and when my friends were grateful for the things I did, then it was like that feeling disappeared."

Naruto took a step closer to the cage and looked the Kyūbi directly in the eye while standing tall.

"I want to make that feeling disappear for good, but not just for me but for you as well. I think maybe some of your problems would go away if you didn't have that bad feeling as well." Naruto took a breath before he mustered his courage and pressed forward with his idea. "If I can prove myself worthy would you accept me as your friend as well? Then we can make that feeling go away together."

The Kyūbi stood silent for some time and its eyes narrowed as it looked Naruto in the eyes. Naruto continued to stand tall, refusing to falter.

" ** _This mortal doesn't have the slightest clue of what he is talking about and yet he has already surmised the answer. Truly there is much more to this mortal then I thought. Perhaps I will test this brat for now and see if he is worthy, otherwise, he is most likely gullible enough to open the seal and release me if he fails."_** **The Kyūbi mused.**

" **Hmph. The great Kyūbi no Yoko friends with a mortal? Don't make me laugh. Since you amuse me so much I will make a deal with you. I will increase my link with your senses to help with the bad feelings and allow you to speak to me with your thoughts. I will watch your actions, and if you prove that are not full of greed and deception like the rest of your filthy race, then I will consider tolerating your presence."** the Kyūbi said with a sneer.

"I promise, Kyūbi-sama. I won't let you down. I will prove myself worthy ** _!_** " Naruto said with a smile.

" **Begone now. You have slept for two nights and there are others awaiting you."** the Kyūbi settled itself back down and appeared to go back to sleep.

Before Naruto could ask what the Kyūbi meant, he saw the cage and the Kyūbi began to fade away.

 **2 days later - Konoha Hospital**

* * *

As Naruto began to wake up he heard voices but none that he could recognize. His body didn't hurt all over and the bad feeling that was always inside of him was gone. Naruto realized that the bad feeling inside of him must have been from the Kyūbi.

Naruto partially opened his eyes but the light bothered him and he had to close them quickly. He groaned at the pain and began to blink his eyes to try and adjust to the light.

"Hokage-sama! It appears the child is waking up." A woman said.

Naruto finally opened his eyes and saw a woman with short black hair and black eyes looking down at him on his right. On his left was the Hokage himself.

Naruto blinked at the Hokage stupidly, wondering why someone as important as the Hokage would be here to see an unknown orphan.

"How are you feeling Naruto-kun?" The Hokage asked him.

"I feel much better now, Hokage-sama, but where am I?" Naruto asked.

The Hokage placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder gently. "You are at the hospital Naruto-kun, can you tell me what you remember before you woke up?"

Naruto closed his eyes and thought for a moment. He definitely remembered talking with the Kyūbi, but he felt the bad feelings become stronger when he thought about telling that to the Hokage.

He remembered those men that attacked him were calling him demon brat and saying he was plotting with the Kyūbi to destroy the village. Would the Hokage think the same of him if he said he had spoken with the Kyūbi?

How could he explain why he ran from the orphanage without explaining the bad feeling? Trying to explain the bad feeling always caused him problems in the past. Naruto decided that he would leave out the bad feelings also just to avoid any problems.

"I remember there were people who came to attack and I ran into the forest. I went to go hide by the lake but some of the men found me and began to hurt me." Naruto released a sigh, "I don't know why they were hurting me, but there were shouting things at me. They were calling me a monster and a demon, but I don't understand it."

It was worse then Hiruzen feared. Apparently the villagers knew that Naruto was the jinchūriki somehow. How Naruto was discovered Hiruzen didn't know but now things were going to get a lot trickier.

Naruto drew Hiruzen out of his thoughts. "Hokage-sama what happened to the orphanage? Were any of the others hurt?"

"No Naruto-kun, the orphanage took some damage, but none of the other children or caretakers were injured." The Hokage said reassuringly. "We were fortunate that an Anbu team was notified and assisted by a patrol team. They were able to defend the orphanage and punish the men that hurt you." The Hokage said with a serious expression.

Naruto was relieved. He felt a little guilty that he forgot about his friends after his talk with the Kyūbi, but now that he knew they were safe he could feel better.

"Thank you Hokage-sama, I am glad to know that my friends are okay. When will I be going back to the orphanage?" Naruto asked.

The Hokage shook his head "Naruto-kun, you will not be going back to the orphanage. After what happened during the attack, I feel it is safer for you to live in a secure apartment by the Hokage tower."

"I'm going to live by myself!? I can't live by myself ** _!_** How will I get food?" Naruto was starting to panic.

"Calm down Naruto-kun. You are a smart young man I am certain you will be fine." The Hokage said with a gentle squeeze of his shoulder he continued, "I will have someone to help teach you how to care for yourself. The village already provides ryō to the orphanage for your care. Instead, you will come visit me in the Hokage tower each month and I will give you an allowance of ryō to pay for your food and other things. I also have an Anbu team ready to watch over you, in case any more of those troublemakers try to hurt you." the Hokage explained.

Naruto was silent for a moment as he digested the news. He couldn't understand why the Hokage of all people would go through all this trouble for a lowly orphan like himself. He wasn't even listed as shinobi orphan but a regular civilian.

It must be because of what the Kyūbi told him. That was the only possible reason. Since those men attacking him were calling him demon and monster it must have gotten around the village that he was this jinchūriki thing the Kyūbi had called him. He decided he might as well bite the kunai and ask about this jinchūriki thing.

Naruto looked at the Hokage and asked, "Is it because I am a jinchūriki?" Naruto's face was scrunched as he tried to make sure he said the word properly.

The look of shock on both the Hokage and the nurse lady's face would have been funny to Naruto in the past, but right now his head was swimming with all the changes in his life.

The Hokage quickly gained a stern look and asked: "Naruto-kun, where did you hear that from?"

The bad feeling intensified and Naruto stammered out "Those men who were hurting me, one of them said I was one and he said that made me the Kyūbi reborn."

He was really nervous that the Hokage would notice that he lied but luckily for him, Hiruzen chalked it up to Naruto being worried about his future.

The Hokage squeezed Naruto's shoulder again and his stern visage changed into a tender one. "Listen to me Naruto-kun, you are not the Kyūbi, your are not a monster or a demon."

He pulled out a scroll and showed it to Naruto. "Do you know what this is Naruto-kun?"

"A scroll," Naruto said with a flat look on his face.

"Ah, but it's not just any scroll. This is a sealing scroll." The Hokage clarified before spreading the scroll out on the built-in tray on the hospital bed. "Now watch what happens when I channel my chakra into this scroll."

The Hokage showed the seal to Naruto before he placed his hand on the seal and channeled his chakra into it. With a poof of smoke, a wallet that looked like a frog appeared.

"Wow! That was cool ** _!_** How did that happen?" Naruto looked at the wallet amazed at how it appeared out of thin air.

"A sealing scroll holds the object inside of it until the seal is opened with chakra. When chakra is applied then the object comes out. The act of putting an object inside the scroll is called sealing." Hiruzen resealed the frog wallet to demonstrate. Then he channeled more chakra to make the wallet reappear and handed it to Naruto.

"You see Naruto-kun, I was able to put the object back inside the seal using chakra. Do you understand?" The Hokage asked.

Naruto nodded "I understand, but what does this have to do with that jinchūriki thing?"

"Lift up your shirt." The Hokage commanded.

Naruto did and when the Hokage channeled chakra onto his stomach the seal array was revealed. Naruto gasped at the sight. This seal was on his belly the whole time and he never noticed it before.

"You see Naruto-kun, the Kyūbi is a being of chakra and because of this, he cannot simply be defeated. Instead, to protect the village, the Yondaime trusted you to keep the Kyūbi sealed inside. Just like the scroll kept the toad wallet you saw earlier." Hiruzen held his breath and hoped Naruto could handle this news well.

The fact that the boy deduced what the villagers were attacking him for, based off drunken ramblings, could either mean he was exceptionally smart or extremely naive. From what Kanpu told him, it was most likely half of each. The boy was not stupid, but he was extremely trusting of people. Hopefully, if the boy wished to continue to follow the path of the shinobi this event would help him lose some of that naivety.

Naruto for his part remained silent as the Hokage confirmed what the Kyūbi eluded to earlier. His gaze would slowly move from the scroll where the now labeled toad wallet came from, and the seal on his stomach.

He looked back up at the Hokage and took a deep breath. "I think I understand but does this mean that since you channeled chakra on my belly the Kyūbi will come out now?"

"No. Naruto-kun, the seal that the Yondaime made requires much more than that in order for the Kyūbi to come out. You do not need to worry about that." Hiruzen said with some amusement.

Naruto nodded as he expelled the breath he had been holding in relief. He studied the wallet some more. For some reason, the wallet had a good feeling to it. Usually, Naruto could only notice bad feelings from things but like his old rattle drum, this toad wallet had a good feeling to it.

He reluctantly held it out to the Hokage to give it back to him.

"You keep that Naruto-kun. It was meant for you, after all." The Hokage said with a strange smile that quickly disappeared. "You can also keep that sealing scroll if you like. The wallet already has your ryō allowance for this month and some extra to buy things for your apartment."

"Really? Thanks, Hokage-sama, I really like it ** _!_** " Naruto replied cheerily with a big smile on his face as he cradled the toad wallet in his hands.

The Hokage breathed a sigh of relief. He really dodged a kunai on that subject. They boy took the news extremely well. Maybe a little too well, now that he thought about it more. He would have to monitor Naruto more often now. Especially since he would be on his own.

At least now that Naruto was aware of the truth, he could play a more active role in his life as he had desired before. He won't be able to fully adopt him, but visitation and providing things to him for his shinobi career will certainly be within his rights now.

"Naruto-kun, this lady here is named Shizune and she will show you to your new apartment, and help you buy what you need to take care of yourself. She will help you make a budget, which will help you make sure you have enough ryō to feed yourself properly." Hiruzen pointed towards Shizune who bobbed her head quickly.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama. I won't let your efforts go to waste." Naruto replied.

Hiruzen turned and left the Hospital room. As he wandered around the village to survey the damage from the riots, he pondered the events of the night and his next moves to protect Naruto. He had to get back to the tower soon and read the situation reports on how the riot in the village proper and the mob that attacked orphanage were handled.

If it wasn't for that patrol arriving late coupled with Team Tora taking initiative, he feared that Naruto would have been dead.

The riot in the village and the mob gathering outside of the village stunk of Danzō but letting the fools have free reign over attacking Naruto made no sense at all. It was a miracle that Naruto survived a kunai to the chest and that he wasn't crippled by the beating he received.

It had to have been the Kyūbi that kept Naruto alive. Hiruzen wondered if he had made contact with Naruto yet. It might explain him knowing about being a jinchūriki, but it could have easily been those drunken idiots. Too bad Team Tora killed all those drunken idiots, he would have loved to have Ibiki put them through the ringer a few times.

No one reported any malicious chakra being used and the only parts of Naruto that showed traces of the Kyūbi's chakra were areas where wounds were present, indicating that the Kyūbi was simply healing the damage.

He would need to pass a law to enact the death penalty for harassing or assaulting the jinchūriki for safety purposes. Perhaps if those fools believed the Kyūbi would be freed in the middle of the village if Naruto died, they would leave him alone.

He would also need to pass a law preventing the revelation of Naruto's status to the younger generations if it wasn't too late. Currently, it seemed the rumors only targeted those old enough to have fought against the Kyūbi itself.

He wouldn't be able to stop parents from warning their children away from Naruto for more nebulous reasons but, at least, they wouldn't be able to provide a tangible excuse to avoid him. The children would eventually make a decision on their own once they entered the academy and interacted with him directly.


	5. Senses and Intrigue

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

Edit 4/20/16

 **Chapter 4**

 **Senses and Intrigue**

 **1 day after the attack - Root Secret Headquarters – Konoha**

* * *

Danzō Shimura read the updated report on his latest operation and was disturbed by how his meticulously planned operation could have gone sideways.

Somehow, the jinchūriki escaped the confines of the orphanage and ended up in the staging area where the mob rejects remained after disregarding the orders of his Root operatives. He would have to discipline Team Hyō and Team Dajimu for not maintaining control of those drunken idiots.

It was a miracle his teams were able to avoid being detected by that chūnin patrol and that damn Anbu team Tora. That team was one of the few that didn't have at least one mole involved in it. The only way that team could have responded so quickly is if they were staged near the orphanage beforehand.

There could only be two possibilities for that team to be staged near the orphanage in advance. Either Hiruzen had suspected his involvement and staged the team there as a precaution or he had a leak somewhere and Hiruzen reacted accordingly. Both of those thoughts were disturbing. The chūnin patrol could be written off as usual outside factors interfering, but his intelligence reports stated that Anbu team Tora was to be on standby inside the H.Q, not on patrol or stationed at the orphanage.

Even more disturbing was the fact that those mob idiots almost killed the jinchūriki. The injury reports showed that the jinchūriki should have been crippled by his injuries. The power of the Kyūbi was amazing indeed. The child was expected to make a full recovery in the next few days based on his rate of healing.

The mission to capture the three children had to be aborted as well, to avoid being spotted. That shouldn't be a problem, however, he had already begun the process to recruit them into Root in less than a day. They would be a part of his next plan to lure the jinchūriki to him.

The only bright side to this whole dilemma was that the Anbu team annihilated the mob so there were no witnesses. The hatred in the village was festering and growing which meant that the jinchūriki would be sufficiently ostracized soon. Hiruzen couldn't place the jinchūriki back in the orphanage now as his presence would endanger the other children. With the current propaganda campaign being run by Homura and Koharu, the villagers will show the jinchūriki nothing but disdain and hatred making his life unbearable.

The child would be distraught and confused. He would be ready to be turned into an emotionless weapon in order to escape the pain of being hated by an entire village. Once he was conditioned, it would be easy for Danzō to control the Kyūbi since the boy would obviously heed his every word.

Danzō began to prepare the arguments he would share with Homura and Koharu. He would call a council meeting once the child had recovered, and set his plans into motion.

 **Current Time – Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Shizune looked on with a small smile on her face as Naruto bounded around the apartment excitedly. He truly was such an adorable little boy. Of course, his golden yellow hair was the first thing she noticed with their stubborn spikes. His large sapphire blue eyes sparkled with life and emotion. Who could overlook those whisker marks on his pinchable little cheeks?

It took most of the woman's resolve not to just grab him and squeeze him for days. Especially since he was such a bundle of joy. Even after that vicious attack on him, he was just full of boundless energy but still well behaved in public.

Once they looked through what was needed for his apartment, Shizune lead him out into the village to buy the things that were missing. It wasn't too much, just bedding for the futon, dishes, cleaning supplies, and a set of pots and pans for him to use when he was old enough to cook for himself.

Shizune and Naruto both noticed that he was receiving some nasty looks from the villagers, but it didn't seem like they were going to do anything violent towards him, thankfully. Once they entered a store and began picking things out Shizune noticed that the female shopkeepers couldn't keep glaring at him for long since he was such a cute little thing.

Naruto was excited to be able to explore the different shops and to look through all the various clothing and items for his apartment. As an orphan, it was unusual that he would have the option to choose. Usually, they just gave him things, and he accepted them without question. He managed to control his excitement and put his best manners forward, however, since he was getting the bad feelings again and didn't want to draw attention to himself.

" **That's because those idiots are filled with hatred, as I told you. Humans really are disgusting creatures."** The Kyūbi's voice startled him and he dropped the shirt he was looking at.

He quickly picked the shirt back up and noticed the shopkeeper eyeing him with dismay. He smiled at her sheepishly and placed the shirt in his basket for purchase.

'Was that the Kyūbi I just heard? Is that what the bad feeling is? Hatred? I had this same feeling before, but I wasn't hating anyone, was I?' Naruto thought.

He was surprised when he received an answer.

" **I suppose I must explain everything to you, after all."** The Kyūbi said with a snort, **"and here I thought you were a smart child."** The Kyūbi grumbled.

" **What you have known as the "bad feeling" is really a group of feelings, or emotions, that are called negative emotions. These can be anger, hatred, greed, lust, jealousy, or deception."**

Before Naruto could ask, the Kyūbi cut him off, **"And yes I can hear your thoughts, did you not remember when I mentioned our deal? That you can speak to me through your thoughts? If you are clever enough, you will be able to figure out how to filter your real thoughts and how to reply to me directly, but don't even think of deceiving me. After all, I can sense those emotions as well."**

 _'So how can I tell the difference between something like hate or greed? People can be greedy without hating, can't they?'_ Naruto thought.

" **You are right, in a sense, that you can be greedy without hating. Sometimes greed is a result of fools who are envious or hate you for having something you don't. If you manage to amuse me enough, I might help you learn how to tell the difference. For now, you will just have to trust me when I tell you what it means."** The Kyūbi replied.

Naruto thought about what the Kyūbi said for a moment then asked. _'How can I tell the difference between what you are feeling and what the others are feeling? I mean, I always had a bad feeling before, which meant I was sensing your feelings. How do I know the difference between your feelings and others feelings?'_

" **Hah, you already did notice the difference, did you not? Have you forgotten what caused you to run from your den? We will discuss this later; your caretaker is trying to get your attention."** the Kyūbi advised

Naruto looked up and noticed that Shizune was staring at him.

"Are you alright, Naruto-kun?" Shizune asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Yea. I'm fine." Naruto smiled at her.

"Are you sure? You were kind of spacing out there earlier." Shizune said softly. She hoped he wouldn't develop post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I was just thinking about some things." Naruto turned back to pick out a few more sets of clothing for himself to hide his nervousness.

The bad feeling was getting stronger and he hated to lie to the nice lady, but he didn't want any more trouble.

" **Feh, you are human. You should be used to deception are you not?"** the Kyūbi snarled.

 _'I don't know about deception, but I don't like to lie. It makes me feel bad. At the same time, more bad things happen to me when I try to talk about the bad feelings. Maybe I should try and tell her or the Hokage about them.'_ Naruto said sadly.

" **Foolish human. Deception is another term for lying. You are correct about one thing, however. Since you are incapable of explaining those emotions properly, they will probably think that the big evil demon has control and will hurt you even more."** the Kyūbi said in a mocking tone.

Naruto pondered what the Kyūbi said for a moment. _'So you are saying that by lying to them I am protecting myself.'_

 ** _'Now to see if this child begins to enjoy deceiving people like all the other filth.'_** the Kyūbi thought

" **Yes, by lying to them not only can you protect yourself, but you can also get things easier. You can lie about not eating and you will get food for it. You can lie about a lot of things to make your life easier."** the Kyūbi replied in a coercive tone.

 _'I don't like the sound of that. Lying is wrong, but I think that if I have to lie to protect someone else then maybe it's not so bad.'_ Naruto relented.

The Kyūbi huffed in contempt **"Still trying to play the noble act, brat? Fine. I will play along, but you will reveal your true nature. That, I am sure of."**

Shizune had to take Naruto to a few more stores in order to purchase everything that he needed. By the time they had finished shopping for essentials it was late in the evening. Dropping the items off at his apartment, Shizune and Naruto went to look for a place to eat.

"So, what do you want to eat Naruto-kun?" Shizune asked

"I don't know. I never had a choice before, we just ate what they put in front of us." Naruto said as he looked around at the restaurants.

"Well you still have plenty of ryō left, for now, but you will have to be careful if you eat out too much." schooled Shizune. "Hokage-sama gave you more than the usual amount, so you can buy things for your apartment. Next time, however, you will have less money, so you have to choose carefully."

Naruto spotted the Yakiniku-Q restaurant and saw that they had an all you can eat special. Naruto had never heard of yakiniku and it smelled pretty good so Shizune and Naruto went in and were seated at a table.

Naruto looked at the menu entranced by the different selection of meats available. He had a hard time deciding what he wanted to order, so Shizune suggested a few items from the all you can eat menu and added an order of vegetables, much to Naruto's chagrin.

The vegetables turned out to be edible if he grilled them and dipped them in the ponzu sauce, so he managed to eat all the ones that Shizune gave him. Naruto enjoyed himself, for the most part, but he probably wouldn't come back till he was older. Shizune had to end up cooking all the meat since Naruto wasn't sure about when to take the meat off the grill leaving his meat burned or undercooked.

After they were done, Shizune took Naruto to a grocery store near his apartment that was known to make onigiri and precooked meals to be heated in the microwave. The old couple who ran the shop didn't seem to have any problems with Naruto and he was able to stock up on items that wouldn't go bad or didn't require cooking like instant ramen, tea, cereal and milk, and snack items.

Shizune outlined a system for Naruto to follow on his own when it came to food. Cereal and Milk for breakfast, onigiri and some snack items for lunch, and one of the precooked meals for dinner or cup ramen if he didn't go out to eat.

A couple of well-pinched cheeks from the elderly shopkeeper's wife later, a thoroughly annoyed Naruto left for his apartment with a grinning Shizune and a few bags of groceries. At least, the old couple was friendly and he didn't sense any of the negative emotions the Kyūbi told him about.

Once everything was put away in his apartment, Shizune sat down with Naruto and outlined a schedule for him to keep for the month. Besides a cost limit on food per day, she also drew up a cleaning schedule and several lists to ensure that everything else he would need to take care of on his own was outlined and displayed on the walls. Shizune also wrote down and posted the rules on how to properly behave in an apartment building.

Most of what Shizune outlined was not much of a stretch for Naruto as the orphanage required them to clean their rooms and perform other chores based on their age groups. Cleaning the toilets and sinks would be new to him and he wasn't looking forward to it, but the dusting and sweeping were not a problem. He wasn't a noisy child either and he could save his playing for the playground like he did at the orphanage.

Afterward, Shizune reviewed where the laundry room was, where to put his garbage when it was full, and what he should do in case of emergency situations.

He met the Landlord and some of his neighbors while he was observing the laundry room, and while they weren't pleased he was there, Naruto did not sense anything really bad from them.

Shizune explained that it was most likely because he was a young child moving into an apartment building that didn't have any young children. She also told him that as long as he followed the rules, that the neighbors wouldn't bother him and that he might eventually make friends with some of them when he grew older. Naruto felt that they were more like the civilian children in his group, who just didn't care about him since they had nothing in common. He didn't believe that he would make friends with any of them in the future either.

After getting Naruto acquainted with his apartment, Shizune introduced the excitable boy to his Anbu guards Neko, Karasu, and Saru. Naruto didn't sense anything from the Anbu guards, so he bowed and thanked them for protecting him. Karasu and Saru merely nodded and vanished while Neko waved before she vanished as well.

"Don't feel bad if they don't speak with you Naruto-kun. The Anbu are required to keep their identity a secret. You should not need to call on them but, at least, one of them will always be nearby to watch over you if needed." Shizune told him.

"What is next for me to learn, Shizune?" Naruto asked.

Shizune went through her mental checklist real quick. "I believe that is everything. I will try to stop in and check on you when I can, but when Tsunade-sama returns to the village, I will become very busy. Shizune explained before kneeling down to look Naruto in the eye. "and please feel free to call me Shizune-nee."

Naruto gave Shizune a foxy grin before replying. "Okay, Shizune-nee thank you for all your help ** _!_** "

'So cute!' Shizune thought as she ruffled his hair before taking her leave.

Naruto entered his apartment and locked the door. He looked around and thought about going out to do more exploring but it was starting to get late and he didn't want to cause any trouble.

He then remembered that the Kyūbi said he would explain some things to him later so he made himself comfortable on the couch.

 _'Kyūbi-sama, are you awake?'_ Naruto said tentatively.

The Kyūbi growled his response. **"Yes, brat. I suppose your den is all settled and your caretaker is gone as well?"**

 _'Yea. There are some Anbu guards watching me now, but they are outside.'_ Naruto said as he looked around the room.

 ** _'This boy, his innocence still astounds me. If I couldn't sense any better I would be certain it was all an act.'_**

" **Very well. As I asked you earlier, what caused you to run from your den into the woods before you were attacked?"** The Kyūbi questioned.

Naruto thought back to the night of the festival. _'I felt the really bad feeling coming from the woods. It was worse than I have ever remembered.'_

" **What you had sensed was the negative emotions of the group of filthy humans who attacked you. Since you were their target, the emotions you felt were stronger and they were mixed in with this feeling that a shinobi is capable of sending out which is called killing intent."** the Kyūbi said in a bored tone.

 _'So that group of people were angry and wanted to kill me. That's why I had that feeling'_ Naruto sighed internally at that thought.

He could understand why they might be confused. Until the Hokage explained it to him in detail, he was also confused about having the Kyūbi inside him. Maybe he just needed to explain it to everyone the way the Hokage did? That way they wouldn't hate him anymore and all their negative emotions would go away.

" **Don't be foolish."** The Kyūbi said with a huff. **"Most of those stupid mortals will simply believe that you are the demon trying to manipulate them. You would not be capable of explaining it and even if you were able to explain it clearly, they are too stupid to understand. Did you not notice the feelings of others as you walked around the village?"** The Kyūbi said.

 _'I sensed some of the negative emotions around me in the village, but they didn't do anything. When I was shopping the young lady had those emotions, but as I was looking at the clothes some of it went away. There was also the old couple in the grocery store they didn't have any negative feelings or the Anbu team.'_ Naruto replied.

" **That is because those people are not as foolish as the others. Fools will automatically attack things they do not understand, whether out of fear or hate. That is why I call all mortals fools because they always attack things because of their stupidity. If it confuses their little pebble brains then they will make up stories to try and stop themselves from feeling like stupid insignificant fools. "** the Kyūbi snarled.

Naruto was silent for a moment. _'Kyūbi-sama, if I may ask, why do you hate all humans so much?'_

" **You will have to earn that story, brat."** The Kyūbi said with a growl, **"I will not trust you with my secrets so easily. For now, be grateful that I will control your negative emotion sensing for you."** The Kyūbi said vainly, **"I would rather not have my jinchūriki go crazy. When you prove yourself I will let you experience the full power of those senses, so you better grow strong, brat. I will not suffer a weak container."** the Kyūbi threatened.

 _'I won't go back on my word, I promised you I would prove that I am worthy to be your friend. If that means I have to grow stronger then I will_ ** _!_** _. Wait for me Kyūbi-sama! You won't regret it.'_ Naruto said with a nod.

 ** _'We shall see, brat. I can't wait to test how resilient your soul truly is. Let us see if you have a truly pure soul or if I can draw out the greed and corruption all you filthy humans are infested with.'_** The Kyūbi thought.

Naruto looked out the window and was surprised that not a lot of time had passed. He went into the kitchen to boil himself some water for tea and maybe one of those instant ramen cups that he purchased. He filled the tea kettle carefully and turned on the stove so that the fire wasn't touching the tea kettle, just as Shizune showed him.

He had never had ramen before. The orphanage tended to stick with the same formula for most meals. Rice, meat, vegetables, and occasionally, some fruit. The package certainly looked interesting and it wasn't very large so it should be perfect since he wasn't very hungry after the Yakiniku-Q restaurant.

In fifteen minutes, Naruto would be introduced to the first thing to bring him true joy.

 **Konoha Council Chamber – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hiruzen sat smoking his pipe idly while he listened to Fugaku Uchiha's report on how the riots started during the Kyūbi festival and the damage reports from the business and villagers.

Thankfully, there were very few reports of villagers being hurt. The bad news was that there was more property damage than a typical riot. Fortunately, a lot of the guilty members were captured and have been going through interrogation. Hopefully, they could gleam more information from those interrogations in addition to restitution.

Currently, it appeared that riot was triggered mostly by bandits and hired mercenaries from outlying areas. The fact that they were given the incentive to cause a riot and were capable of sneaking into the village caused some alarm.

As Fugaku was discussing his recommendations for updating the village barrier to prevent this from occurring in the future, Hiruzen discreetly cast a glance over to Danzō who was sitting stone-faced as usual. He now had no doubt in his mind that Danzō was the one who orchestrated the attack on the orphanage.

After interviewing Kanpu about the attack to try and discover why Naruto was targeted, he also believed he figured out how Naruto was discovered.

To think a group of five-year-old kids would somehow manage to steal a chakra unlocking seal and teach him how to channel his chakra after one attempt. Especially when one considered they managed to do all this mere moments after they learned how to do it themselves. It seemed almost unreal that such a thing could occur.

He also had an Anbu operative infiltrate the orphanage to investigate Nonō Yakushi since Kanpu had mentioned her suspicious behavior. Hiruzen was now considering ending the segregation of civilian and shinobi children in the orphanage to make it harder for Danzō to exploit, but that was something to worry about at another time.

As Fugaku sat down, Hiruzen prepared himself for the battle of wills that was to come. He could almost sense Koharu and Homura chomping at the bit. His only hope lied with the Clan heads who were always the wild cards.

Danzō stood up to deliver his opening salvo. "Now, I believe it is time to discuss the very reason that this violence has spread throughout our village."

"Yes, the fact that someone successfully lured a large group of bandits into the village, while bypassing our security system, is troublesome indeed." Shikaku Nara stated dryly. "Not including the fact that they led a mob of drunken villagers and shinobi to the outskirts just to attack a soft target." Shikaku looked directly at Danzō. "This is simply too sophisticated to be mere coincidence."

'Obviously, Shikaku suspects Danzō as well.' Hiruzen thought with amusement.

Danzō made no move to appear affected by the snide comment. "The only known factor for the unrest at this time is the discovery of the jinchūriki. The villagers were willing to go up in arms to attack the child and were nearly successful in killing him." Danzō paused dramatically before pressing his suit, "It is obvious the child must be taken in for his own safety."

"With the amount of unrest, it would be best if the child were to disappear for awhile," Koharu added quickly.

"We were fortunate that the child did not call on the Kyūbi's power when distressed," Homura interjected, "We can not leave that to chance again. With the villagers being agitated we must begin training the child now." Homura added.

Hiruzen merely puffed on his pipe with an almost smug expression on his face knowing that Danzō was expecting him to either jump in or fold to the pressure. Studying the expression on Danzō's face, he was certain Danzō believed it would be the latter. He couldn't wait to shatter Danzō's expectations.

"Well, if we are talking about taking the child in then we should obviously have a clan adopt him, so he has the proper support and family structure to ensure he is mentally sound and remains loyal to the village." Inoichi Yamanaka replied succinctly.

"Which clan would be able to take him in without causing an upset in the balance of power?" Hiashi Hyūga asked.

"I suppose what we should be asking is, who would be willing to take the little tyke in given the circumstances?" Tsume said with a thoughtful look on her face. "If the ninkens aren't too bothered by the fox then the Inuzuka clan would have no problem taking him in," Tsume suggested.

"My wife, Hana, would be willing to take him in. She has been wanting a little boy to look after." Inoichi suggested. "We can also monitor his mental health closely and heal any psychological wounds he might have from the attack."

Fugaku looked over at Danzō for a moment then added. "I am willing to take him in. He is just the right age to grow up with Sasuke and with Itachi as an older role model, we can be certain to make him an excellent shinobi."

Shikaku and Chōza looked at each other then over to Inoichi for a moment before they both voiced their willingness to take Naruto in.

Hiruzen had to do his best to keep his face steady. This series of events had played out better than he expected.

He knew Tsume would be willing to adopt Naruto regardless. The Inuzuka pack mentality was infamous and Tsume wouldn't be able to resist a "young pup" in need.

He also suspected Fugaku would throw his hat in since the tension between the Uchiha and Danzō was thick. Fugaku would do just about anything to screw Danzō over. Plus with the Uchiha's status in the village on the decline, the Uchiha watching over the jinchūriki would be seen as a good thing by those stupid villagers.

He also expected Shikaku to step up and offer to take Naruto in with Inoichi and Chōza remaining neutral, but Inoichi being the first to offer of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio was a pleasant surprise.

Hiashi remaining out of the running was surprising. If Hiashi knew Naruto's true origins, however, he would be chomping at the bit to take Naruto in. Hiashi was dear friends with Minato and would never let his son be left alone.

Shibi remaining out of the running didn't surprise him at all since the Aburame Clan wouldn't be capable of raising Naruto in their usual manner.

Now it was time to set Danzō up for the fall.

"It appears the adoption of the Jinchūriki is too much of a controversial issue to settle without causing some strife among the clans." Hiruzen drawled out with a bored tone.

"There needs to be no controversy. The boy can enter Root and Konoha benefits as a whole." Danzō insisted.

Tsume snorted "Right... and let the controversial black ops organization have the only access to the greatest potential shinobi the village has? No thanks."

"If anything, after my reports on the attack during the Kyūbi festival, as well as the information gathered from the interrogations, it would be highly questionable to let Root gain access to him. None of the clans have orchestrated an attack on the very village itself." Fugaku said sternly.

"You have no proof that Root or Danzō were involved in the riots that occurred during the festival, so you can not bring that argument up without facing possible sanctions." Koharu shouted as she banged her fist on the table.

"What about the reports of the Kyūbi being under the influence of the Sharingan during the attack on the village and your noticeable lack of presence on the battlefield against it?" Homura added.

"As Koharu stated you have no proof that I was not present on the battlefield or that the Sharingan was controlling the Kyūbi during the attack. Will you submit yourself to sanctions?" retorted Fugaku. "Besides the only member who has ever reported to be able to control the Kyūbi was Madara. Without access to the jinchūriki, we can't begin to determine if such a feat is truth or mere legend."

"The jinchūriki is not some object to be experimented on, he is a living child with feelings just like any other." snapped Hiruzen.

"Forgive me Hokage-sama. I was merely providing suppositions. I am not requesting to adopt the child for that purpose." Fugaku bowed his head.

"No. The best course of action, I feel, is to leave the child as a ward of the village in a protected shinobi housing complex and allow him to join the Academy when he comes of age. This will put him in the same class as most of the future clan heirs and will lead to greater bonds with all clans, as well as the village." Hiruzen threw down the gauntlet.

"This is unacceptable Hiruzen, the jinchūriki must be trained in isolation in order control the demon and ensure that the village is safe from possible retaliation by the demon." Koharu said.

"It is said that all jinchūriki are greatly affected by their emotions. If we cannot properly train him to completely control those emotions, it is possible the Kyūbi will gain control." Danzō said.

Hiruzen shook his head "That is not true Danzō. My spies in Kumo reported to me recently that both the Nibi and the Hachibi jinchūriki do not go through any emotional training and both are reported to have attained perfect jinchūriki status. In fact, one of my spies witnessed the Hachibi jinchūriki obtain the full bijū form and maintain complete control over it."

Hiruzen knew that would rub Danzō the wrong way. Root always had problems infiltrating Kumo, but what Danzō didn't know was that Jiraiya had actually befriended the Hachibi jinchūriki and was able to learn some things from him.

Homura and Koharu both looked at Danzō with some surprise while Danzō remained stone-faced.

'Apparently he had them convinced that the jinchūriki would only be a threat if it wasn't an emotionless tool.' thought Hiruzen.

"What about the child's status itself, surely we should keep him isolated to prevent him from learning about the Kyūbi. He might begin to communicate with it and begin plotting against the village." Koharu added feebly.

Inoichi nodded "That much is true. If this information is not revealed in the proper way it could be devastating to the boy's self-identity. As for contacting the Kyūbi, I would not know for sure unless I use Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch) and analyze his memories, but I am not certain what would occur if I were to perform the jutsu on a jinchūriki."

"Performing the Shintenshin on him might not be a bad idea after all. With what the child went through with the attack, it might be better to make sure there is no damage. Let us schedule it for tomorrow if you can Inoichi. Shizune is available in case something dire was to happen while you used that jutsu." Hiruzen nodded.

It would be a good idea and Hiruzen wanted to make sure Naruto was safe from the Kyūbi. After all, it would not be good for a child that innocent to be exposed to such a malevolent being at this tender age.

Inoichi merely nodded. He remembered how the Kyūbi's chakra and killing intent felt. No young boy should be exposed to it.

"That is all well and good, but that still does not take care of the fact that the child may be irreparably damaged if he discovers he is a jinchūriki from some drunken villagers," Koharu complained.

"I'm afraid that is no longer an issue to be concerned about," Hiruzen replied. It was make it or break it time. 'The council and clan heads could go either way on this.' Hiruzen thought.

"Do you mean that the child has already discovered this fact, Hokage-sama?" Shikaku asked.

"That is correct. When he awoke in the hospital, I asked him how he felt and if he remembered what happened to him. Once he finished recounting the events that lead up to his hospitalization, he actually asked me if he was a jinchūriki. When I questioned him on where he heard that word, he said that one of the men that attacked him called him a jinchūriki and told him that it meant that he was the Kyūbi reborn." Hiruzen responded.

Hiruzen studied the various reactions around the room.

Tsume, Inoichi, and Chōza looked pissed off that someone would say such a thing to a child.

Shikaku and Shibi looked like they were pondering the repercussions of such a statement.

Hiashi and Fugaku had no outward expression.

Danzō actually looked angry for once but for many different reasons. Hiruzen was certain he was angry that one of his pawns revealed such a thing.

Koharu and Homura were just looking at each other and Danzō. 'Almost like lost children' Hiruzen inwardly chuckled at that thought.

"Hokage-sama, since you said he was aware that he was the jinchūriki it is evident you told him the truth. What did you say to him? How did he react to the news?" Inoichi looked concerned.

"His first thought was to ask me if he was actually the Kyūbi itself like those idiots were saying," Hiruzen replied.

Hiruzen heard a growl come from Tsume while the rest of the clan heads were shaking their heads at the foolishness of the villagers.

"So I made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that he was not a demon, monster, or the Kyūbi in any way. After that, I showed him a sealing scroll with an item sealed inside and demonstrated how to seal and unseal the item." Hiruzen explained.

"And the boy actually understood this?" Hiashi asked with a raised eyebrow. "He can't be any older than seven years old if my knowledge is correct,"

"I made certain he understood and you are correct, the child is only 6 years old," Hiruzen replied before he continued with his explanation. "Once he said that he understood how the scroll worked, I used my chakra on his seal and let him observe the Kyūbi's seal while I explained that the Kyūbi was sealed inside of him like the item was sealed inside the scroll."

"How did he react to that?" Shikaku asked as he leaned in with interest.

Hiruzen chuckled "Actually he was quite concerned since he saw me channel chakra to unseal the item in the scroll, he had thought that the Kyūbi would be let out since I channeled my chakra onto his stomach. I explained to him the Kyūbi wouldn't get out so easily since the seal on his belly was more complicated than a regular sealing scroll."

"That is quite interesting Hokage-sama, a child that age would not typically be able to apply that degree of cause and effect thinking on that scale. It may be wise to test his IQ to ensure that his schooling and training are at an appropriate level." Shikaku said.

"I agree," Inoichi added, "The orphanage, while sufficient, is not known for its quality of education. It is possible the boy has been held back from a higher rate of growth and his true intelligence is actually stunted."

"We are getting off track here! We cannot allow a child to live on his own especially a jinchūriki!" Koharu cried out.

"On the contrary, we are still on track," Shikaku said with a bored expression on his face. "If the child is at a higher rate of development than he would be able to care for himself and enter the academy earlier than expected," the Nara pointed out.

"I will agree to the testing and see if I can have some tutoring added to his lessons before the academy, if necessary," Hiruzen said as he scrawled a quick reminder to himself. "However, I do not want to push the child into the academy early. I would rather he enter the class at the same time as the other clan heirs." Hiruzen said before he finished writing his note and looked back up at the council.

"The child will also not be alone entirely. Since I removed him from the orphanage, I will be his direct contact for any issues he has and the source of his monthly stipend. It is common for all jinchūriki to report directly to the Kage after all." Hiruzen paused in his speech for a moment to see if there would be any interruptions. Seeing that the others were waiting for him to lay out his plans entirely, he forged ahead with stating his plans.

"Second, the child will have a three-man Anbu squad to watch over him with proper rotations and rest periods. Last, but not least, Tsunade's apprentice, Shizune, has already created a monthly schedule to ensure that all his needs are met within his monthly allotment. Shizune will also visit with him on occasion to check in and adjust his schedule if necessary." Hiruzen concluded before folding his hands and waiting to see what reactions he would receive from the council.

Danzō, Homura, and Koharu of course objected, but they were unable to counter with anything significant. The clan heads were willing to accept the proposal on the condition that the Shintenshin and the IQ test showed positive results along with monthly reports on his status until he reached the academy where he could be monitored by the teachers.

"On top of that, I am introducing two new laws regarding the Kyūbi," Hiruzen announced gaining a few raised eyebrows from the assembled clan heads.

"First, anyone who is found harassing the jinchūriki or assaulting the jinchūriki will face execution," Hiruzen said in a firm tone.

Pausing to see if there were any objections, Hiruzen scanned the room to try and pick up any subtle clues from the posture and facial expressions of the people around him. He knew Danzō would want to object, but he couldn't openly do so without outright revealing his involvement in the propaganda war that caused the attack on the orphanage.

With no signs of dissent, Hiruzen continued. "Second, anyone discussing the jinchūriki in public, or revealing the identity of the jinchūriki to any child who has not graduated from the Academy as of last year, will also face execution."

"Hiruzen that is too dangerous!" Homura burst out while rising to his feet. "The children should be warned in case he loses control!" Homura said while pounding his fist on the table.

"No!" Hiruzen said while glaring at Homura for his outburst. "Having the children avoid or fear him will _not_ solidify his bonds towards the village. The child needs to have friends within the village to ensure he remains loyal. I will not back down on this." Hiruzen finished as he from his seat to emphasize that the new laws were not up for discussion.

"I have already forwarded copies to my secretary. They will be posted in all common areas throughout the village as well as updated in the books." Hiruzen said as he made his way out of the council chambers, preventing his advisors or the other clan heads from debating the issue any further.

With the Sandaime leaving the room, the meeting was officially adjourned. Hiruzen headed back towards his office to check in on Naruto and finish his paperwork.

Hiruzen would get to experience the joy of watching Naruto devour his first cup of ramen, even if it was the instant variety, and smirked as he watched Naruto blow through 6 more cups before the child settled down in his bed.

Tomorrow he would have the pleasure to take Naruto to Ichiraku's for the first time and, he imagined, continue the Uzumaki family tradition of ramen worship.

On that note, he would have to give Naruto a last name before he entered the academy but he wasn't sure how he should go about doing it.

He decided he would let the child pick from the registrar for now and when it came time to reveal his heritage, hope that Naruto wouldn't be too upset with him. He did take the news about the Kyūbi fairly well.


	6. The Bond Acknowledged

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

Edited 4/20/16

 **Chapter 5**

 **The Bond Acknowledged**

 **The Next Morning – Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Naruto awoke fairly early as he was still used to the orphanage schedule. At this time, he would usually be in line to wash up and brush his teeth. He was happy with the fact that he could take his time in the shower instead of being on a time limit. Once he finished his morning ritual, Naruto decided to try the cereal Shizune had mentioned was good to eat for breakfast and made his way into the kitchen.

He had eaten a large amount of his ramen reserve last night and decided he would need to ration it carefully, like when he got extra candy in the orphanage. Candy in the orphanage was more valuable than ryō and was bartered or traded carefully.

He was reminded of his friends again and felt sad. Here was here living it up while his friends still had to stay in the orphanage. He would have to ask about visiting them if he could.

Right after Naruto finished his cereal he went to wash his bowl like Shizune taught him when he heard a knock on his door. He turned off the sink, hopped down from his stepping stool, and rushed over towards the door.

Outside the door stood the Anbu named Neko. "Good morning Naruto, I have been instructed to bring you to Hokage's office in the tower."

"Oh! Let me check to make sure I turned everything off first; Shizune-nee said I have to make sure." Naruto dashed back into the apartment and looked at one of the lists Shizune had posted.

Lights are Off

Stove is Off

Water is Off

Fridge is closed

Windows are locked.

After Naruto had finished dashing around his apartment, checking off the items on the list, he grabbed his key and his newly dubbed Gama-chan wallet. He put his shoes on and locked the door behind him.

Naruto looked up at Neko with his foxy smile and said, "I'm ready Neko."

"Okay, Naruto. Today we will walk there, so you know how to go and speak to the Hokage whenever you need. Make sure you remember the way carefully." Neko replied.

Inwardly Neko was imagining cuddling Naruto like he was a stuffed animal as they made their way towards the Hokage tower. Naruto and Neko arrived after a fifteen-minute walk and entered the Sandaime's office shortly afterward.

 **Hokage's Office - Hokage Tower**

* * *

"Hokage-sama, I have brought you Naruto as requested." Neko and Naruto both bowed.

"Naruto-kun, come over here. I have a registrar book with a list of all the last names used in the village. Since you do not know your last name, I will allow you to pick one out that you like." Hiruzen beckoned Naruto over towards him.

Naruto moved over behind the desk and after some encouragement from the Hokage clambered up onto his lap to look at the book. As he began to browse through the list of names, the Kyūbi decided to have a little fun.

" **Oi, brat, I know the perfect name for you to choose."** The Kyūbi called out.

Naruto held his breath to stop himself from visibly startling before he asked. _'Really? Why would you want to choose my last name?'_

" **You want to earn my trust and become my friend, do you not?"** The Kyūbi said smugly.

 _'I do, but there has to be a reason why you want to pick for me.'_ Naruto said with suspicion.

The Kyūbi grinned before replying. **"Prove your determination to me by showing your trust in me and I promise you won't regret it."**

 _'Okay, Kyūbi-sama.'_ _Naruto relented,_ _'What name do you want me to pick?'_

 ** _'Namikaze would be much too obvious. I think Uzumaki is good enough to be a subtle jab to that old monkey goat.'_** The Kyūbi thought.

" **Pick Uzumaki. It is close enough to the end that your name will likely be the last one heard by others."** The Kyūbi said before deciding to add more incentive for the boy. **"The Uzumaki clan was also famous for its sealing techniques, a fitting name for our situation, don't you think?"**

 _'Uzumaki, Hmm, that actually sounds like a great name_ ** _!_** _Thanks, Kyūbi-sama!'_

Naruto looked for the name on the list and just like the Kyūbi said, Uzumaki was close to the bottom of the list. There weren't many people listed under that name, which meant that he probably wouldn't anger anyone by taking the name. The names he read were both female too. Uzumaki, Kushina, and Uzumaki, Mito.

Naruto turned his head back towards the Hokage and looked up at him with a big grin. "I know what I want my last name to be Hokage-sama."

"Oh? Which name is that?" Hiruzen replied with his own smile.

"Uzumaki ** _!_** " Naruto replied while shooting his fists up into the air excitedly.

Hiruzen was stunned. The combination of him choosing that particular name and the verbal tic that Kushina was famous for was almost too much for him. His mouth was agape, and his eyes wide.

Kyūbi was laughing hysterically. The brat could not have picked a better time to let that verbal tic slip and the look on the old monkey goat's face was priceless.

Only a few days with the brat and already he has been more entertained than he has in decades. His other containers barely interacted with him and Kushina's sealing method was downright cruel, as he had come to expect from the lowly filth called humans.

This brat quite openly interacts with him at his own peril. He could have easily slain him or had him open the seal and free himself causing the brat's death. If the brat didn't amuse him so much he would probably be finishing off the rest of the villagers by now.

On top of that, the seal the Yondaime used allowed him a tremendous amount of freedom which he found odd. He could easily see how this seal was almost guaranteed to fail the more his chakra flowed through the brat, and yet the seal allowed his chakra to flow freely.

"Hokage-sama, is there something wrong with that name?" Naruto asked the Hokage, worried that he picked a cursed name.

The Hokage looked like he had seen a ghost and Naruto could sense some negative emotions from him, but it wasn't like something he had sensed before.

Hiruzen coughed a bit to regain his composure and asked: "Why did you pick that name Naruto-kun?"

Naruto thought for a minute "Well, I saw that there weren't a lot of Uzumaki listed in the book, and the name sounded cool." He didn't lie directly, but he still felt guilty.

 ** _'That this boy can still feel so guilty about deception, it's abnormal.'_** the Kyūbi thought.

Hiruzen was nervous; that name struck a little too close to home. It was almost like the Kami, or Fate was playing with him. He didn't want Naruto to feel bad, but he knew that having that name would only lead to revealing his heritage.

In the end, he decided that it would be worse if he dissuaded Naruto from using that name now, only for him to discover the truth regarding his parents later. It would be less of a hassle if he simply allowed him to use it now. Hiruzen sighed, he was really getting too old for this.

"That name is fine, Naruto-kun. It was just surprising to me since that was a famous clan that came from the village of Uzushiogakure." Hiruzen said in a calming tone before he began giving the blond his first, and most important, history lesson. "The Uzumaki clan was so famous for its Fūinjutsu that they were attacked by Kiri, Kumo, and Iwa during the start of the 3rd Shinobi War. The Uzumaki clan alone held off the forces of three shinobi villages for three weeks before they were overrun. Konoha tried to come to their aid, but we were unable to break the defensive lines that Kumo and Kiri established, and Iwa decided to attack us from behind at the same time."

Hiruzen pulled out a scroll from his desk drawer and unsealed a Jōnin vest.

"I'm sure you have seen this symbol throughout the village and on all our standard uniforms." Hiruzen pointed to the red swirl on the back of the vest and Naruto nodded.

"This is the symbol of the Uzumaki clan but instead of it being light gray; we decided to use the color red to remember our lost allies and our failure to aid them. This symbol was added to strengthen our resolve to work harder for our allies, so we do not fail them again." Hiruzen resealed the vest into the storage scroll and placed it back in his desk drawer.

Naruto had a look of wonder on his face. "I really want to use that name now, Hokage-sama. They sound really cool. I want to learn fūinjutsu like they did so everyone can remember their name ** _!_** "

Hiruzen smiled at Naruto's enthusiasm. "Well, Naruto-kun, Fūinjutsu is very hard and dangerous to learn. If you want to do well, you will have to work hard on your writing and learn traditional calligraphy. The slightest mistake when creating a seal could lead to very bad results. I have seen a simple seal become explosive because the student made a mistake on a single line."

"I already started learning how to write before I left the orphanage. I'll practice my writing every day ** _!_** " Naruto said with enthusiasm.

Naruto was practically hopping in his seat with excitement but stopped as he thought about his friends and became very subdued.

"Ummm, Hokage-sama, I was wondering if I could go see my friends at the orphanage soon," Naruto asked quietly.

"Well, I need you to do a few things here first. After that, I will have Neko here take you to see your friends afterward." The aged Hokage said with a smile. It seemed that the boy already had the foundation necessary to establish the Will of Fire in him.

Naruto perked up after that. "What do I need to do?"

Hiruzen channeled some chakra into a seal on his desk to notify his assistant to enter the room. Channeling chakra into this seal would cause the other seal to light up and notify his assistant to that his attention was required. The assistant entered the room and stood at attention.

"Please send in Inoichi, Shizune, and Shikaku as soon as they arrive." The assistant nodded and left the room.

"Now Naruto-kun, after the event that occurred to you it is okay to have bad thoughts or nightmares, and we want to make sure your head was not damaged. We will have Inoichi come in and use a jutsu to make sure that your mind was not hurt."

Naruto nodded and did not appear to be concerned. The Kyūbi, however, was instantly on alert when he heard this.

 ** _'They must be concerned about the brat interacting with me. The brat is too innocent to be killed for nothing more than foolish paranoia.'_** the Kyūbi thought.

He had to ensure that they remained unaware without causing too much suspicion. The last thing he wanted was to be extracted and sealed into something else. Besides, the brat was beginning to grow on him.

"After that Shikaku will give you a test to see how smart you are, which will help us determine what you need to learn to prepare for the Academy if you decide to join in two years," Hiruzen added.

Naruto nodded enthusiastically "I definitely want to join the Academy Hokage-sama. All I would talk about with my friends was about becoming super cool ninjas."

"Very well. While I update your paperwork with your new last name, why don't you take a seat over there while we wait for the others." Hiruzen pointed to a chair by the window with some scrolls and books nearby. "It shouldn't take too much longer and after that, I have a special treat for you."

Naruto slid down off the Hokage's lap and moved to the seat, After settling himself down on it, he began looking through the scrolls for something interesting.

" **Listen up brat; we need to be careful of that mind jutsu."** the Kyūbi warned.

Naruto listened carefully _'What do you mean, Kyūbi-sama? Is it dangerous?'_

" **It can be. If they wanted to, they could erase your memories making you forget things."** The Kyūbi said in a frightening tone.

 _'Why would they do something like that? Hokage-sama said they are trying to help me.'_ Naruto thought.

The Kyūbi growled. **"Think about it brat. If they learn you have been talking to me, what do you think they will do?"**

Naruto thought over what Kyūbi told him. If they made him forget talking with Kyūbi, then he would forget everything he learned about the negative emotions and the deal he made. He remembered how confused he always was when he was younger and how all the other kids didn't like him. He didn't want to go back to that.

" **Now you are starting to think."** The Kyūbi snorted.

Naruto gulped. _'What do I do Kyūbi-sama? I just started to learn about those emotions! I don't want to go back to how it was before.'_

" **Calm down brat before the old monkey goat notices. He is a sly one, and you need to be careful around him. For a human he is no fool."** the Kyūbi snapped.

Naruto closed his eyes for a minute while he held his breath then slowly let it out like a sigh. _'Okay, I am calm. What should I do?'_

" **First thing you need to do is make sure that you never tell them anything I said unless I tell you to. The second thing is that unless you are talking to me in the mindscape or alone, you need to be careful about how you react to what I say. The third and most important thing is, no matter what happens, you do not tell them that you have spoken with me, ever."** The Kyūbi said in a serious tone.

 _'That would mean I would have to lie to them even more, wouldn't it?'_ Naruto had to fight hard not to frown at that thought. Lying was one of the negative emotions how could he make them disappear if he was always lying.

" **You are going to have to learn when to use such emotions to your advantage if you plan on becoming a ninja. Sometimes you are going to use your killing intent to scare someone else while you are fighting them. You remember that night how the killing intent felt when they were thinking about attacking you?** The Kyūbi asked.

 _'Yea, that was really scary. I guess using them on bad guys is okay, but the Hokage is a good guy I don't like the thought of using that kind of stuff on the good guys.'_ Naruto said shakily.

The Kyūbi sighed. **"Okay brat, think of it this way. How do you think they are going to feel when they find out you have been talking to a demon and promised to become his friend?"**

 _'I think they would trust me, wouldn't they?'_ The more Naruto thought about it, the more he became worried.

" **See, your instinct is telling you to be worried. You should listen to it."** The Kyūbi advised, **"It would not take much for them to think like all those other fools who attacked you. "** The Kyūbi said with a little growl, **"Remember what some of them said to you while they were hurting you?"**

Naruto thought back to the night of the attack with nervousness. He remembered bits and pieces of what some of the drunken men were saying before they attacked him. Then he remembered one of the men had said that he had been plotting with the Kyūbi to destroy the village before he kicked Naruto into a tree.

As he continued to remember that night and the aftermath, Naruto realized that he already had lied about how he heard about being a jinchūriki, and felt a wave of guilt.

 ** _'Perhaps I will be able to convince him to protect himself if I play up on his mistrust of the Hokage.'_** The Kyūbi thought.

" **Don't be concerned, brat. You were only hiding things to protect yourself after all. I know for a fact that the Hokage is also hiding things from you."** The Kyūbi said slyly.

 _'What do you mean he is hiding things from me?'_ Naruto said in a scandalized tone.

" **Think brat!"** The Kyūbi said with a snarl. **"Why would he just suddenly take such an interest in you? He obviously knew you were a jinchūriki, so he had to be there when I was sealed inside of you. How many other things does he know and hasn't told you?"** the Kyūbi grumbled.

 _'Of course, he had to know he is the Hokage_ ** _!_** _He is supposed to know everything, right? I don't like that I have to keep lying to him. I promised to get rid of the negative emotions, but now all these lies are adding up and making more of them. What if I can't stop lying to people?'_ Naruto rationalized.

Kyūbi smashed his paw against the cage in frustration. Naruto slightly winced at the sensation which Kyūbi took note of. At the moment, he was in disbelief at the brat and his naivety. It looked like he would have to play dirty.

" **Fine brat, but you promised you would prove that you could be my friend and get rid of my negative emotions. If you tell that old monkey goat, or anyone else, about me talking with you without my permission, I will be very angry and never forgive you."** Kyūbi snarled.

Naruto went still at that thought. He did make a promise to the Kyūbi, and here he was only thinking about himself and how he felt this whole time. He didn't like to lie, but he had to remember that it wasn't only about him now. Everything that happened to him now also happened to the Kyūbi.

For some reason that made him feel worse then when he lied to the Hokage. Naruto realized that he could lie to protect Kyūbi because Kyūbi couldn't protect himself.

 _'I'm sorry Kyūbi-sama, I was being selfish and didn't think about your feelings. I won't tell them anything.'_ Naruto said sadly.

Kyūbi was stunned by his last thoughts and apology. All his attempts to convince the child to keep his secret for the benefit of himself utterly failed, and he refused to deviate. He was so stunned that he didn't even consider disputing the fact that the boy thought he couldn't protect himself.

The second he presented an argument that affected only himself. The kit believed that he was selfish and was willing to break his moral code. The Kyūbi had to admit his last attempt at persuading the brat was petty, but the substance of it was focused entirely on the kit's own benefit.

While other humans had no excuse for their behavior, this kit was actually pure but was being tainted by him instead. He would need to clamp down on his negative emotions more to prevent turning the kit against himself.

Suddenly the Kyūbi had an epiphany. With a jinchūriki, this pure and naive, all he needed to do was be honest and keep the kit out of danger, and he could become the very thing required to free himself and his brethren.

The filthy apes would dig their own graves with their tainted ways, and the kit would have no choice but to trust him over everyone else. Once the kit relied on him completely, it would be simple to guide the pure and naive kit down that path he needed. He would have to take it slowly, though, the kit was still young, but he wasn't entirely stupid.

With his course of action determined, the Kyūbi decided it would be best for him to play the neutral role and subtly guide the kit towards the path he wanted while highlighting the corruption of humanity.

He would have to establish some methods of testing him throughout different stages of his life to ensure he remained uncorrupted. Hopefully, his plan would ensure that the kit distanced himself from his filthy and immoral race.

" **Don't worry about it, brat. You are young still and have much to learn."** the Kyūbi said reassuringly, **"Now get ready. They are coming."**

Naruto heard the door open shortly after Kyūbi spoke and he looked up from the scroll he was pretending to read. Behind Shizune, he saw a man with long blond hair tied in a ponytail, wearing the standard Konoha uniform shirt and pants with a red vest over it.

He was followed by another man who was wearing the standard Konoha Jōnin outfit. This man had black hair tied in a spiky ponytail and two scars on his face.

Naruto rolled the scroll back up and set it down. He stood and walked over towards the Hokage.

"Naruto-kun, this man is Inoichi Yamanaka" the Hokage gestured to the blonde man. "The other man is Shikaku Nara."

"Inoichi, Shikaku allow me to introduce you to Naruto Uzumaki," Hiruzen said with a smirk.

Now that Hiruzen thought it over, Naruto choosing this last name may actually play to his advantage. If the clan heads suspected his true heritage, then they would actively work to ensure that Naruto remained safe from Danzō. Both men gave the Hokage an incredulous glance when he announced Naruto's name and both took note of Hiruzen's visible smirk.

"Nice to meet you, Naruto." Both men greeted Naruto.

Shizune waved at Naruto and moved next to him with a smile on her face.

Naruto bowed to both of them. "It's nice to meet you too Inoichi, Shikaku." He then looked up and greeted Shizune, "Good morning Shizune-nee."

"Inoichi here will perform the jutsu that I told you about first. After that, Shikaku will give you the IQ test." Hiruzen stated.

"Please have a seat on the chair Naruto, and don't be concerned, this won't hurt you at all," Inoichi said.

Naruto sat down in the chair and watched the man make a hand sign and murmured Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch). Everything went black for Naruto.

 **Inside Naruto's Mindscape**

* * *

Inoichi entered the mindscape and immediately found it odd that it appeared to be a dank kind of industrial basement or sewer. The next things he noticed were the large blue and red pipes running along the ceilings. Inoichi determined that those must be the boy's chakra pathways. He studied the pipelines closely for a minute and took note of how the Kyūbi's pathways were closely intertwined with them. He didn't see any of the usual doors or symbolic items that are typically associated with a person's memories, so he walked down the hallway.

After a short journey down the hallway, the darkness began to let up, and he spotted a giant metal cage blocking further progression down the hall. Inoichi looked up and noticed that there was a tag labeled with the kanji for "Seal" on it over the lock. Once Inoichi saw that seal tag it became apparent to him where he was. Deciding that it was better for him to move away, Inoichi began to back up and turn away from the cage when a blast of malevolent chakra nearly knocked him off his feet and lit the room up in a sinister red glow. Inoichi was frozen in place by the blast of killing intent leveled at him, and he could only watch as the Kyūbi lifted its head up from a resting position and fixed its gaze on him with a growl that rumbled the mindscape.

" **You foolish, arrogant mortal. How dare you disturb my slumber!"** The Kyūbi rumbled

Inoichi was too distracted by flashbacks from the night of the Kyūbi attack to respond, and it took all his willpower to keep from collapsing to his knees in fear.

" **That's right. Cower before me you stupid ape. Do not think yourself safe because I am behind this cage! You are but an annoying and insignificant insect. Answer me now or I will fry your brain!"** the Kyūbi roared as rose to it's feet and peered down at the trembling Yamanaka.

Inoichi took a deep breath and decided he better be firm with the demon.

"I am here to analyze the jinchūriki's mind for damage," Inoichi replied shakily.

" **Why should I allow filthy trash like you to poke around inside here? Since I was sealed here, this became my territory, and you are nothing but an annoying little maggot trespassing where he doesn't belong. Tell me why I should not simply destroy your worthless and feeble mind."** The Kyūbi sneered.

"I don't mean to trespass on your territory and bother you, but we need to make sure the child is healthy. If I can analyze him now, it will mean less interference on our part later on." Inoichi said reassuringly.

The Kyūbi snorted **"What you arrogant pebble brains do to the brat also affects me. Since I am sealed in the kit, I also claim him as my property. I will not allow you ignorant fools to manipulate me in any way."**

Inoichi didn't like the sound of that. If the Kyūbi thought of the child as his property, then it would have no qualms about manipulating Naruto for its own uses.

The fact that the Kyūbi claimed it did not like to be manipulated through the child gave him some hope, however, for that would most likely mean that he wouldn't like the child to be drawing on or using his chakra for purposes not to its own liking.

It might be possible to convince the Kyūbi not to allow the child to draw on his power at all and keep the child safe from his influence.

The Kyūbi narrowed its eyes at Inoichi; he could sense the manipulation forming within the man already. He gave that last statement as a warning to them not to mess with the kit. Now he needed to direct them into thinking that he had no reason to contact the kit.

"If you would allow it, I can analyze the child's memories to make sure he is in no danger of losing his sanity. Then we can ensure that the child will not draw on your chakra against your will by using the Gogyō Fūin (Five Elements Seal) to block his access to your chakra." Inoichi reasoned.

 ** _'Hmm, this human is trickier than I thought. If I deny the use of the_** ** _ **Gogyō Fūin**_** ** _, then they have reason to believe that I am manipulating the child.'_**

" **Don't insult me you insignificant fool! You think I am incapable of understanding Fūinjutsu? I will not allow you cowardly filth to damage my container with your pathetic attempts at control."** The Kyūbi snarled leaking more killing intent and some of his chakra.

Inoichi began to tremble slightly at the increased intent.

" **My container has already been attacked and if not for my efforts, would be dead. I will not be forced to go through the painful reformation process by lowly mortal trash such as yourself. The** ** **Gogyō Fūin**** **would make the child even weaker and more useless than he is now!"** The Kyūbi punctuated that reply by making a show of trying to reach for Inoichi through the bars of the cage while snarling viciously.

Inoichi jumped back startled even though he was out of range of the claws.

The Kyūbi growled loudly. **"If any of you tainted scum dare put that seal on him, I will simply break it by flooding him with as much of my chakra as possible. I guarantee it will cause my container a lot of pain. Now, begone! I have already lowered myself by speaking to useless human filth such as yourself and I have no desire to speak to any other mortal pebble brains."**

The Kyūbi let loose another massive flare of its chakra and violently expelled Inoichi from Naruto's mindscape.

 ** _'Now to see if those filthy mortals are gonna plot against the boy.'_** the Kyūbi thought.

Kyūbi pulled Naruto's consciousness into his mindscape before he woke up, to ensure he would remain unconscious in the real world. He was confident that his massive flare of chakra was felt by the humans, and they would simply think the child was unconscious because of the damaging properties of his chakra.

"Kyūbi-sama, what is going on?" Naruto looked around confused.

" **I have expelled that useless fool from our mindscape. Now, we will listen in on the old monkey goat and the others to see if they will plot against us."** The Kyūbi said sharply, **"Be silent and listen carefully."**

Kyūbi let a small tendril of his chakra wrap around Naruto, so he could hear what the Hokage and the others discussed.

 **Hokage's Office - Konoha**

* * *

Hiruzen watched with baited breath as Inoichi cast his jutsu and slumped over unconscious. Shikaku quickly grabbed him before he fell and propped him up in another chair.

A few minutes after he cast the jutsu, a significant amount of the Kyūbi's chakra flared out of Naruto alerting the nearby Anbu and shinobi within the Hokage Tower. Inoichi's body flew over the back of the chair and landed on the ground roughly. Shikaku and Shizune ran over to Inoichi to check on him and were relieved when he groaned and stood up.

Hiruzen went and picked up Naruto to check him over. The child seemed to be fine but he wasn't waking up yet, and Hiruzen was alarmed.

"Naruto-kun wake up! Can you hear me? Naruto-kun!" Hiruzen gently shook Naruto.

Inoichi groaned and shook his head before he replied: "He will be fine Hokage-sama, the Kyūbi expelled me with more force than necessary and since Naruto's chakra coils are closely entwined with the Kyūbi's it most likely just used up all his reserves."

Shizune ran a quick scan over Naruto and replied. "I don't see any damage at all Hokage-sama, he appears to be simply unconscious."

Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief and sat down back behind his desk while he held Naruto in his lap. He began to run his hand through the boy's hair. "I hope you are right. Inoichi. I will never forgive myself if Naruto-kun gets hurt anymore. I already failed him once; I won't let it happen again."

"Hokage-sama really cares about me?!" Naruto said with a shocked expression. "It can't be just because I am the jinchūriki and was attacked, can it?"

" **As I told you before, the Hokage is hiding things from you as well. Whether he is hiding them for good reasons or bad reasons will have to be discovered at another time."** Kyūbi replied.

Shikaku and Inoichi exchanged side glances with each other but Hiruzen was too distracted to notice. There was apparently a lot more to the boy than the Hokage was letting on.

"What happened, Inoichi? It seemed you were only there for a few minutes before the Kyūbi expelled you." Hiruzen asked.

"Well, Hokage-sama, I can tell you that attempting to enter his mind in the future would be a mistake. The Kyūbi seemed to have only been tolerating my presence out of curiosity." Inoichi said shakily, "I have no doubt that he will just expel any future attempts immediately. I was lucky that he only forcefully expelled me in a show of power. He could have easily killed me instead."

"That means one of our best tools for ensuring the boy's sanity is out the window." Shikaku stated with a frown before sighing. "This is not a positive development."

"Well the news I have for you, unfortunately, is very bad, bad, and not good," Inoichi said grimly.

Inoichi took a breath before he clarified. "For the very bad news, The Kyūbi is very much awake and aware of what is going on. Also, what we know about the Kyūbi simply being a rampaging being of malice and destruction is completely wrong. In fact, the Kyūbi let slip the knowledge that he was familiar with the intricacies of how the Gogyō Fūin worked and how the boy's chakra system would be affected by it. This means the Kyūbi is actually a highly intelligent being which is capable of forming complex plans and countering our attempts to reduce his potential influence." Inoichi paused to let that sink in for a minute.

Hiruzen subconsciously tightened his grip on Naruto as if trying to shield him. Shizune was wringing her hands with worry and Shikaku seemed troubled by this news as well. All the information they had on the Kyūbi was now useless.

"The bad news is that the Kyūbi stated, quite clearly, that it views Naruto as his property. This leads me to believe that it would have no qualms about manipulating Naruto for his own means. He also threatened to painfully dispel the Gogyō Fūin if we try and seal away the boy's access to it's chakra." Inoichi continued.

Hiruzen and Shikaku both grimaced at the thought.

Naruto looked sad when he heard that Kyūbi thought of him as property. "I guess I should have known it would take more to prove myself to you, but I won't give up ** _!_** "

" **Do not take everything he says as truth, brat. Remember, I was trying to make sure he doesn't realize that we are speaking with each other."**

Naruto smiled at Kyūbi's statement. The Kyūbi actually tried to make him feel better so he must be close to proving himself and helping the Kyūbi. Kyūbi merely grumbled lowly and returned his focus to listening in on the conversation.

Hiruzen looked down at Naruto's face. Naruto was such an innocent child he would be easy prey to the Kyūbi. Hiruzen looked back up at Inoichi "So we have heard the very bad and bad news. What is the not good news then?"

"The not good news is that the Kyūbi really disdains humanity and has nothing but hatred and contempt for us. He always used multiple derogatory terms when speaking about humans, in general, but not about Naruto." Inoichi paused while Shikaku paled as he connected the dots. Hiruzen was just staring at him expectantly, so Inoichi clarified. "This tells me that the Kyūbi has established some level of interest in the boy already. Maybe even a great deal of interest if the sense I was getting from the beast was correct." Inoichi said with a sigh.

Hiruzen paled at that thought. Did that mean the Kyūbi had already begun manipulating the boy?

"It is my belief that the Kyūbi has not established contact, _yet_. It considers Naruto as property but somehow Naruto has gained its interest. I believe Naruto won't have to do too much in order for the Kyūbi to establish contact with the boy for its own means." Inoichi replied.

"Now I think I know why you hate humans so much. You didn't ever ask anything of me you only healed me. Even that deal we made has only been helping me as well." Naruto sighed "...and yet they only think that you are out to cause me harm, or you are only doing things for yourself."

" **Oh? Do you think me so selfless as to not get any benefit from this? I healed you so I wouldn't have to reform and to give you my chakra allowed me not to be bored, even if I have to speak with a foolish boy like yourself."** Kyūbi said.

"But even if you had to reform it couldn't be worse then being caged, would it? You didn't really have a choice being trapped in this cage." Naruto said sadly.

" **Well, since you put it that way, how about you remove that seal paper on the door and let me out. I won't have to reform that way."** Kyubi said sarcastically, but Naruto was not familiar enough with sarcasm to take note of it.

"You didn't deserve to be caged. If you promise not to hurt the village, then I will do it." Naruto looked down at his feet with tears in his eyes, he felt nervous and had a sinking feeling in his stomach when he thought about removing the seal, but it wasn't enough to drown out the guilt he felt that the Kyūbi was trapped. It wasn't his fault that the Kyūbi was trapped, but he could do something about it.

" **Hmph. You truly are a fool. What about your promise to me? Are you going back on your word now?"** Kyūbi narrowed his eyes even though he couldn't sense deceit there was no way this could be genuine.

"I don't want to go back on my word, but you don't deserve to be kept in a cage so I can keep my promises." Naruto sniffled and tried to keep the tears back, but he was failing miserably. He was scared, but he had to do the right thing, he just hoped the Kyūbi wouldn't hurt anyone else.

Kyūbi stared at him for a long time and decided that his decision to be neutral towards the kit was the correct one. He would put his hope in this kit for now.

" **Don't be a fool."** Kyūbisnapped. **"You know if you set me loose I will revel in destroying all the human filth in this village anyways,"** Kyūbi said with a growl. **"You just worry about keeping your promises."**

Naruto nodded and wiped the tears from his eyes. He felt a little guilty about keeping the Kyūbi caged, but if Kyūbi wanted him to keep his promise, then he would put all his efforts into doing so. He would work hard so he could make it up to Kyūbi.

" **It is time for you to wake up. We will learn nothing more of importance for now. I am intrigued to see what these foolish apes think is a test of intelligence."** Kyūbi stated before he unwrapped the tendril of chakra around Naruto and pushed him out of the mindscape.

" ** _Tonight I will teach the brat how to do that on his own. Perhaps I will have a little fun with this test."_** Kyūbi thought with a smirk.

Naruto opened his eyes and saw that he was laid out on the Hokage's lap. His back was braced by the Hokage's left arm, and he was running his right hand through his hair. Even though he saw other kids get annoyed when people did that to them, Naruto found it felt nice and helped to calm him.

The Hokage looked down while he thought over what Inoichi said and noticed Naruto was awake.

"Ah! You are awake. Do you feel alright Naruto-kun?" he asked.

Naruto simply nodded, his emotions were in turmoil, and he couldn't think of a response. He was feeling overwhelmed with all the new information and his discussion with the Kyūbi.

" **Tell him you don't understand what happened. It's not a lie since you don't."** Kyūbi said knowing that the boy still had trouble with lying. He wasn't proud of the fact that he was making it easier for him either.

"I'm fine Hokage-sama, but I don't understand what happened," Naruto repeated. His voice cracked a little, but he was able to keep a straight face.

The Hokage helped Naruto stand up before he spoke: "Inoichi used his jutsu to try and make sure your mind was not injured, but it seemed the Kyūbi interfered and prevented him from entering your mind."

Naruto fidgeted and looked down. "What is going to happen to me now?"

"Look at me Naruto-kun" Naruto looked up towards the Hokage. "The Kyūbi will probably start talking to you at some point, to make you release it or tell you to do bad things. Do you understand?"

Naruto fidgeted some more and nodded before looking back down at the ground again. The Hokage put his hand under Naruto's chin and gently brought his face up to look into his eyes.

"I want you to promise me that if the Kyūbi talks to you about anything regarding the seal, or doing bad things, you will not listen to it, and you will tell me right away."

"I promise, Hokage-sama," Naruto said.

Inwardly he was relieved. Lying to the man was bad enough but to break a promise? He couldn't do that. At least, he could keep the Hokage's promise and still keep his promise to Kyūbi.

Kyūbi was also relieved that the old monkey goat didn't make the child promise to tell him if he spoke to him at all. He knew the child would have folded then, and that would have caused problems. Kyūbi was amused that humanity's bias against the bijū actually served a noble purpose for once.

"Good Naruto-kun, now don't worry yourself about this too much. It may be possible that the Kyūbi will not try to make you do things for a long time. Now we will have you take the test that Shikaku here has. After that, we will eat at a special place, and you can visit your friends at the orphanage." The Hokage said as he ruffled Naruto's hair once more and smiled at him.

Naruto's mood picked up a little at the thought of meeting his friends. He moved over to the side table and chair that Shikaku was standing next to.

"Okay Naruto this test has a time limit, and you need to answer as many of the questions as you can before the time runs out. Don't worry if there are some you can't understand, just skip those and answer all the ones you can." Shikaku explained.

Naruto nodded and picked up the pencil ready to begin. Shikaku set the timer then flipped the test over and started the timer.

As Naruto went through the questions, he found that most of the questions were easy, but some of the questions were really hard. Some of the questions had words he couldn't understand, but once Kyūbi explained them to him, he would try to answer it. Other questions Kyūbi would give him the answer since he was curious, but he wouldn't mark it down because he felt that was cheating.

When the timer went off, he was able to answer a large amount of the questions on the paper, and he felt happy. Shikaku collected the paper and began to tally the results.

"Well, I am happy to say that Naruto here has an IQ of 145 which is highly gifted," Shikaku announced.

Naruto just stared at him blankly. It sounded like it was a good result.

"I would say that it will be necessary to supplement his education with extra reading materials, extra taijutsu styles, or maybe chakra control exercises to ensure he has something to focus on once he finishes the academy homework. He would be capable of skipping, at least, a year if not two but if you want him to remain with his grade year then the extra reading and other exercises will make sure that his grades don't begin to suffer because of boredom." Shikaku explained.

"What about fūinjutsu can I learn about that?" Naruto asked

"Fūinjutsu is too dangerous for you to learn right now, Naruto-kun. If you do well at the Academy, I will look into getting you some basic scrolls for your final year." The Hokage said.

Naruto nodded but didn't say anything else.

"Thank you Inoichi, Shikaku for your time. I would like to get together an hour before the next council meeting to discuss the results more." The Hokage said.

Knowing they had been dismissed, both Inoichi and Shikaku bowed and left the office.

Hiruzen turned to Naruto. "Well, Naruto-kun I think its time we get some lunch, don't you think?"

Naruto followed Hiruzen and Shizune out of the office into the village proper. He noticed they stopped at this small little place not too far from his apartment called Ichiraku's Ramen. Naruto began bouncing in his seat excitedly. If this was a ramen restaurant, it had to be way better that the ramen cups. He couldn't wait to try it.

A man was working at the pots, and a young woman came up to take their order.

"Oh, Hokage-sama! It is an honor to see you! Who is your little friend here? The woman said as she eyed Naruto like a predator.

"Good Afternoon, Ayame. This here is Naruto-kun. I have recently moved him out of the orphanage and into his own apartment to prepare him for the academy." Hiruzen said.

Naruto was nervous at the way the lady was looking at him and greeted her bashfully which only resulted in her predatory look intensifying. The last time he saw that look the old lady at the grocery store wound up pinching his cheeks for what seemed like hours.

Seeing his timid reply just sent Ayame into cuddle mode but she didn't want to possibly offend the Hokage by snatching Naruto up and dragging him off.

"Aww, aren't you just the most adorable little thing. What can I get for you today, cutie?" Ayame gushed with stars in her eyes.

Naruto studied the menu for a minute and thought about getting chicken like the cup ramen he had, but the picture of the Miso ramen with roasted pork looked good too. In the end, Naruto ordered the Miso ramen with pork while the Hokage ordered the Salt ramen.

When his ramen arrived, Naruto was practically drooling at the scent alone. He tasted some of the broth with his spoon and closed his eye in bliss. He began to eat slowly savoring all the various items in the ramen. First, he ate the noodles and pork pieces. Next was the egg and bamboo shoots, then he would pick out and eat every remaining ingredient, even the individual green onion pieces weren't spared. Once he felt he had fished out every last piece from the broth, he drank the broth up slowly and sighed with happiness.

Hiruzen was quite surprised at how Naruto ate his ramen almost methodically. Kushina had always inhaled her ramen and would have easily inhaled at least four bowls in the same amount of time. Naruto approached it like a solemn and traditional ritual that would be blasphemed by hasty and disgraceful actions.

"Thanks, Hokage-sama, that was the best thing I have ever had ** _!_** " Naruto exclaimed, but he was still hungry for more.

Hiruzen suddenly had a sense of foreboding. This day would go down in infamy for the Sandaime Hokage because this was the day that Naruto would learn about the power of the Kawaī koinu no me (Cute Puppy Dog Eyes).

Naruto turned the power of those big blue eyes to Hiruzen and said, "Can I please have another one?" Hiruzen was caught, and he could have sworn he heard a squeal from behind the counter. He couldn't even speak as the eyes had him enthralled, he could only gesture to Ayame to retrieve another bowl.

"Thank you very much," Naruto said with a smile completely unaware he just unlocked the deadliest of kinjutsus. If Naruto were not such an innocent child, he would realize the true power of those eyes.

Kawaī koinu no me, the bane of all grandma and grandpa figures throughout the world. It is also highly effective on 89% of women ages 16 – 45. Fortunately, for those two demographic groups, the ability has diminishing returns once the user surpasses the age of 10.

Naruto waited for his next bowl with his eyes closed in contentment and was swinging his dangling feet. He had some really bad moments today. Arguing with Kyūbi, realizing how bad things were for Kyūbi, and having to hide things from the Hokage still made him feel really bad. He felt trapped in a way. If he told the truth, he and Kyūbi would have a lot of problems and maybe even die. If he didn't tell the truth, he would have to constantly lie to the only people who had shown any care for him.

The Hokage was being really nice to him, even if he had his hidden reasons, but like Kyūbi told him he couldn't worry about that now. He was going to see his friends soon, and they always helped the bad feelings disappear.

Like with Kyūbi, he would have to make it up to the Hokage later. Especially since he introduced him to the wonder that is Ichiraku's. He would definitely save his ryō to make sure he could get ramen from here, at least, a few times a week.

Hiruzen watched as Naruto methodically went through his ramen ritual again and thought that maybe this is how Minato would have been had ramen been his favorite dish. He always did like studying and breaking down ninjutsu. There was no other way he could have taken the Nidaime's Hiraishin and improved it to the extent that he did without that kind of mindset.

Even with the pressure from the council to have Naruto trained to utilize the Kyūbi's chakra, Hiruzen could only hope Naruto would be able to fulfill his potential without too much interference from the Kyūbi.


	7. The General's Game Begins

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

Edited 4/20/16

 **Chapter 6**

 **The General's Game Begins**

 **Outskirts of Konoha**

* * *

Naruto followed after Neko with his hands behind his head and a content smile on his face. After he had finished his ramen, the Hokage and Shizune had bid him farewell and returned to the Hokage tower and hospital respectively. Neko had led Naruto out of the massive gates of the village and began walking towards the orphanage at a sedated pace.

It was a relatively warm day considering it was late in the fall season. Naruto pondered if he would need to do anything extra to prepare for the winter. He knew he would need a coat since he outgrew his old one and it was passed down to the younger kids last year. He would have to check the lists that Shizune gave him and see if he could think of anything else he would need.

He thought he would be more afraid of living on his own. Most children his age had someone to care for them, and while he had the Anbu team to protect him, they wouldn't actually be involved in his care.

The Hokage told him he was always welcome to go to him if he needed anything but he was the Hokage. The Hokage had to be busy most of the time and Naruto didn't want to bother him too much. He guessed he was less afraid because he would always have Kyūbi at least, even if they weren't friends yet.

Naruto sometimes wondered why he wanted to become friendly with the Kyūbi since the storybook he read said that the Kyūbi had killed a lot of people and caused damage to the village. Then he remembered when he first met Kyūbi after he was hurt. He felt drawn to the Kyūbi like he did with Makoto, Taro, and Ren.

Something inside of him told him he had to be friends with Kyūbi, and while these emotions had caused him problems in the past, he was learning that the emotions were only trying to help him. He just couldn't understand them since he was still just a little kid.

'At least, Kyūbi said he will help me with the negative emotions and feelings now; maybe they won't cause me any more problems soon.' Naruto thought.

Naruto started to think about ways to become Kyūbi's friend. All he really knew about Kyūbi was that he was very smart, he really hated humans, and that the Kyūbi could feel negative emotions just like him. Kyūbi also seemed to be pretty grumpy and sleep a lot, but he decided he would be grumpy and sleepy too if he were stuck in a cage.

Thinking about the cage made him wonder if he could find a way to put things in the mindscape Kyūbi told him about. Maybe the Kyūbi would like some books to read? He doubted Kyūbi would want any toys; he seemed like he was a grown up. He wondered how old Kyūbi was.

Naruto broke from his thoughts as they neared the entrance to the orphanage. He saw Kanpu and Nonō waiting for him at the entrance.

"Good Afternoon Kanpu-sama, Nonō-sama!" Naruto greeted and bowed.

"Hello Naruto, it's nice to see you are well, after all your injuries," Kanpu replied, "I have something here for you."

Kanpu handed Naruto a bag which Naruto quickly opened. Inside the bag were his extra clothes, his storybook about Kyūbi, and the old rattle drum he had for as long as he could remember.

"Thanks, Kanpu-sama! I didn't think I would see these again," Naruto said with a bow.

"So Naruto, what brings you here, if it wasn't to collect your things?" asked Kanpu.

"I came to see if I could visit Makoto-chan, Taro, and Ren," Naruto asked.

"I'm sorry Naruto. Makoto, Taro, and Ren are no longer at the orphanage either," Nonō replied.

"Really!? They all got adopted already? Wow, they got real lucky ** _!_** " Naruto exclaimed. "Do you know where they live Nonō-sama?"

Neko was immediately suspicious that all of Naruto's friends happened to be adopted right after the attack, it was much too convenient. She would have to warn Saru about her suspicions as she was certain Karasu had heard from his vantage point.

"Hmm, I think Makoto's new parents said she would be moving near the Hokage Monument Park," Nonō replied.

"I guess I will just have to look for them there. Thank you for telling me Nonō-sama." Naruto said with a slight bow.

"It was no problem, Naruto," Nonō said with a strange smile.

"Well. I'm glad I got to see you one last time, Naruto. I'm sure once you join the academy you will be really busy, but if you like, you can come and still take the classes here until the academy starts." Kanpu said.

Naruto thought about it for a moment. "I will have to ask Hokage-sama first Kanpu-sama. He gave me this test and my score was 145. He said I would need extra lessons to study, so I don't get bored in the academy. I'm not sure when he wanted me to start those lessons."

Kanpu smiled "Ah, that must have been an IQ test with a score that high. That means you are very smart, Naruto, but remember this 'A mind is like a kunai, you must work hard to keep it sharp, or it will not be as effective.'"

"Hmm, I think I understand what you are saying. I need to practice with my mind like I practice my writing and reading, right?" Naruto said.

"That is correct. Now, I am glad you came to visit, but it is almost time for afternoon classes, so I must say goodbye now. Feel free to visit anytime Naruto." Kanpu waved.

Naruto waved back before Kanpu turned to enter the orphanage.

"I wish you luck as well, Naruto. I hope you find Makoto soon." Nonō said with an eerie smile on her face." Perhaps you can learn together before you enter the academy since shinobi parents adopted Makoto. If you are lucky, you can join Makoto and the others." Nonō smile grew bigger. "Wouldn't it be fun to join your friends?"

Naruto had a strange feeling when Nonō smiled at him, and it made him feel a little nervous. "Umm... Yes, it would be really fun to join Makoto-chan and the others. I hope I can find them so we can all prepare for the Academy together."

"That would be the best idea, Naruto. It is always important to stick with your friends after all." Nonō said with a nod, "I hope you come and visit sometime." Nonō added quickly.

Naruto merely nodded at Nonō while trying to understand what exactly he was feeling at the moment.

Naruto looked up at Neko when he noticed that he was feeling negative emotions from Neko as well. He saw that Neko was staring at Nonō and seemed to be focusing her emotions on her.

" **It is because the cat faced guard suspects that brown haired monkey of deception and she is correct. That feeling you sensed from the brown haired one was deception."** Kyūbi's voice rang out suddenly, causing Naruto to tense a little.

 ** _'_** _So Neko was mad because Nonō was lying?'_ Naruto asked.

" **Yes, the cat faced guard is responsible for your protection, so she should be suspicious of that brown-haired fool. Perhaps the cat faced guard will prove herself to be useful."**

"Do you want to go anywhere else Naruto?" Neko asked.

"I think I will need to buy a coat soon, but I don't know how much ryō it would cost me, or if I need anything else for winter," Naruto said.

"Well, we can go back to your apartment and see what you need, after that I can take you to the consignment store," Neko replied.

"Whats consignment mean?" Naruto asked with a scrunched face and his head tilted to the side.

Neko squealed internally at his cute little face. "The consignment store is a place you go if you need to get ryō quickly but can't do a mission or have to wait long to get paid from your job. People will bring items they don't want or need anymore and sell it for less ryō than normal. Once they get paid, they can come back and buy the item back, if it's still there. Because of this, the consignment store will sell things for lower prices then if you bought something new."

"Okay. Can you take me there, please?" Naruto asked.

"Of course, Naruto. Let's go back and check what you might need." Neko said.

Neko led Naruto through the forest back towards the village and made their way towards his apartment. Once they entered the apartment, Neko helped Naruto review the lists Shizune gave him and found that most of what he needed had already been purchased.

The only thing Neko actually suggested he buy is a heavier blanket and some long sleeve shirts besides the coat he had mentioned.

 **1 hour later – Konoha Merchant District**

* * *

Neko lead Naruto to the shop and when he entered he felt some negative emotions when the owner stared at him, but he felt Neko release some killing intent, and the owner stopped.

Naruto was walking past a shelf of books and scrolls when Kyūbi got his attention. **"Hey brat, go back to that shelf you passed."**

Naruto went back to the shelf and stood in front of it. 'I guess that answers if Kyūbi wants some books to read.'

" **Hmph. None of these foolish books would be of any worth to me, brat, but there is a book and a few scrolls that will be of use to you."** Kyūbi said.

 _'Which ones should I get?'_ Naruto asked sheepishly. He forgot that Kyūbi could still read his thoughts.

" **The book called the basics of sealing, and below it to the right there is the green and white scroll. If that scroll is what I think it is, then it will be very useful. Open the scroll and check it."**

Naruto grabbed the book that Kyūbi mentioned and put it under his arm. Next, he picked up the scroll and opened it. On the scroll were a lot of strange marks he was unfamiliar with and some words he was able to read, but they weren't written like normal. They were all in strange shapes and patterns.

" **Excellent, this will be very useful indeed."** Naruto imagined that Kyūbi was grinning.

 _'What is this Kyūbi-sama?'_ Naruto asked.

" **This scroll contains instructions on creating gravity and barrier seals. I imagine something of value like this is only found here because of the laziness or stupidity of a foolish ape, no doubt. They probably failed at creating these seals correctly and sold these items for cheap."** Kyūbi said with a huff.

 _'Hmm, I hope they aren't expensive.'_ Naruto looked at the prices on the shelf. _'500 ryō for the book and 1000 ryō for the scroll. That doesn't seem very expensive at all; I can buy ramen that costs more than that.'_

Kyūbi snorted **"Hah! Definitely a stupid ape then. That scroll is worth a lot more than a mere meal."**

"What have you found there that is so interesting?" Neko asked.

Naruto was startled by Neko's voice. "Oh! I saw these books on learning fūinjutsu and a scroll with instructions for making seals. I really want to learn it ** _!_** "

"Well, I suppose it's okay for you buy them now while they are still here, but you shouldn't try to make any of those seals without someone helping you," Neko said sternly.

Naruto nodded "I won't. I just want to get them now before someone else does, like you said."

Naruto looked over the other books, but none of them garnered his or Kyūbi's interest. He was able to find another scroll that Kyūbi said was the instructions on security and privacy seals. He didn't know what those were, but Kyūbi seemed pleased, so he took it. Looking at the scrolls started to excite Naruto as fūinjutsu looked really cool and he couldn't wait until he could try it.

Naruto went over to the coats and immediately picked up an orange and blue jacket that had a thick white heavy wool collar. It was, at least, three sizes too big for him, but he was used to that from the orphanage. It was thick enough that he could wear a long sleeve shirt under it in the winter but light enough that he could probably even wear it during summer with just a t-shirt. It even came with matching pants!

" **No brat! Don't even think of wearing that monstrosity."** Kyūbi growled.

 _'...but I really like it, and it's perfect_ ** _!_** _'_ Naruto whined.

" **I refuse to be seen in that thing, put it back."**

 _'No one can see you but me anyways. Besides, you should like it because it's orange.'_ Naruto said with a smirk.

" **Just when I start to think you are not a fool, you go and prove yourself to be an even greater fool than I originally thought,"** Kyūbi grumbled

Neko just shook her head at Naruto's choice, but he was young and could get away with it for now. She hoped he would grow out of wearing things like that. It seemed like he was already reconsidering his choice because his bright smile faded to an odd look while he continued to stare at the coat.

 _'Well. I still like it. It gives me a good feeling like Gama-chan did, and the rattle drum I always had. Not a lot of things have given me this feeling, so I am gonna buy it. If I have to feel the negative emotions from everyone, then I might as well get things that have good feelings.'_ Naruto said resolutely.

Kurama snorted **"I thought you wanted to be a ninja? Ninjas would never wear something that foolish. The enemy would find you and kill you right away."**

 _'I do want to be a ninja, but I'm not going to be a ninja for a long time.'_ Naruto whined.

" **Fine, brat, if you want to run around looking like a fool, then go right ahead. Maybe you will detect less negative emotions around you since people will be laughing at your foolishness instead."** Kyūbi replied snidely.

 _'I'm just a kid still Kyūbi-sama, I'm supposed to be foolish and if I can make everyone laugh that means I'm making their negative emotions disappear right? '_ _Naruto thought._

" **Bah. People can laugh at you and still hate you. Making them laugh at you because you are a fool won't eliminate their hate."** **Kyūbi grumbled.**

 _'How about I don't wear the pants, and when I graduate from the Academy I will get a ninja outfit you approve of?'_ _Naruto bargained._

" **If it makes you feel better than do what you want. It's not like I care either way."** Kyūbi grumbled

Naruto took that as Kyūbi's approval, and he managed to find some pairs of matching blue pants of the same material to wear with it. Once that was settled, Naruto picked out some long sleeve shirts of various colors.

As Naruto went towards where the blankets were located, he saw a box full of patches. His attention was drawn to the stack of red Uzumaki clan symbols, and he picked up a few to add to his new awesome coat. He noticed that there were a few gray clan symbols buried at the bottom. Remembering what the Hokage told him about the original clan symbol, Naruto decided he would buy those up too. He saw a little sewing kit and picked that up. He would have to see if there was a book on sewing or go to the library.

As he laid his items out to be rung up, Neko decided to speak up about the coat "You aren't really gonna buy that coat, are you?"

" **See? Even the cat faced guard thinks that coat is ridiculous."** **Kyūbi said with a snort.**

 _'I thought you said you didn't care.'_ Naruto internally had anime tears in his eyes.

Kyūbi just growled lightly then went silent.

"Whats wrong with the coat, Neko? It's my favorite color, I can wear it all the time, and it is big enough to last a long time." Naruto pouted.

"Well. At least, it will be easier to keep an eye on you then," Neko said dryly.

Naruto just stuck his tongue out at Neko.

Once everything was done and Gama-chan was a bit lighter, Naruto walked home with Neko. They made a quick stop at the old couple's grocery store to pick up a few onigiri for dinner at the cost of a few ryō and several minutes of cheek pinching.

Once safely ensconced in his apartment, He looked over the book he purchased as he ate and saw that Kyūbi was right. He could barely read the book as the terminology was too advanced for him to understand. He studied the pictures and saw that he would really need to work on his writing. All the characters written in the pictures were perfect and stylized in a certain pattern. There were also a lot of characters he didn't recognize at all.

" **When you are done eating, brat, it is time for me to teach you how to access your mindscape, so I don't have to do it for you all the time,"** **Kyūbi stated.**

Naruto closed the book. _'Okay. What do I need to do?'_

" **You will need to find a place to sit comfortably and begin to meditate,"** **Kyūbi instructed.**

 _'What does meditate mean?'_ _Naruto asked with his trademark look of confusion._

Kyūbi sighed. He should have expected that. **"You have to slow your breathing, relax your body, and clear your mind of all thoughts. If you do it properly, you should feel the path into the mindscape."**

Naruto looked out the window and saw it was starting to get dark, so he decided to get ready for bed and try to meditate there. Once he finished brushing his teeth and dressed in his pajamas, he lied down on his futon and pulled the covers up to his chest.

He closed his eyes and relaxed as if he was going to sleep. Taking long slow breaths and after some time, he felt as if he was falling.

 **Naruto's Mindscape**

* * *

Naruto jolted upright and opened his eyes to see the Kyūbi in a resting position with his head on his paws and one eye lazily cracked open looking at him.

" **You managed that pretty quickly I see. Leaving this place is very similar. When you want to leave you should reach for that path in your mind and you will appear back in reality."** **Kyūbi explained.**

"I thought this place was real," Naruto said in wonder.

 **Kyūbi shook his head at Naruto's innocent naivety.** " **This place is a space within your mind that was created as a representation of the seal to contain me. Like when the old monkey goat showed you the sealing scroll, this place acts as the "scroll" between the place where I am, and the seal on your stomach."**

"So my mind is the scroll and the seal are like the door to where you are?" Naruto said in a confused tone.

" **Not exactly, but that is a sufficient way to get you to understand my point, for now. Fūinjutsu is complicated and requires understanding a lot of complex theories. That is why there are very few filthy humans capable of using it correctly."** Kyūbi said in a serious tone. **"It was one of the main reasons why the Uzumaki clan was destroyed, as you learned from the old monkey goat. Ignorant and cowardly fools were unable to comprehend the power of fūinjutsu and feared it like the bijū, so they sought to destroy it if they can't control it."** Kyūbi said with a huff. **"It was quite fortunate. Really. The Uzumaki seals were exceptional, and since the clan was destroyed, that means that knowledge was lost. The less power you foolish apes have, the better."** Kyūbi grumbled.

"Is there a way I can change the cage into something else?" Naruto looked around the mindscape. "I think you would be less grumpy if you were at least stuck in a forest instead," Naruto said pointedly.

Kyūbi only swished his tails at the comment before responding. **"You won't be able to change it permanently without changing the seal itself. You will need access to the key for this seal, and I am unaware where this key is stored."**

"You know a lot about sealing, can't you just show me how to make a new key?" Naruto thought.

" **No. The key is tied specifically to a certain chakra signature stored within the ink most likely. This seal is unique in that there are several custom modifications that I have not seen before."** Kyūbi said before humming in thought. **"I believe I know what they could be, but I can't know for sure without the key itself."**

Naruto felt bad for Kyūbi having to be stuck in the cage. He would have to find a way to get the key, but he didn't have any idea how to do that. The Hokage would probably know, but then he would get suspicious.

"You said I can't change it permanently. Does that mean I can change it, but it goes away after a little while?" Naruto asked.

" **You can imagine the changes you want while you are in here, and they will remain as long as you stay in the mindscape, but you won't be able to change certain things. You could replace the floor, ceiling, and add other things but the cage will remain the same."** Kyūbi said in a disinterested tone.

Kyūbi paused as he saw Naruto's dejected look before he added. **"Such things are trivial to me, however, once you begin training it will become useful for you."**

"I can use this place to train?" Naruto asked excitedly.

" **Yes. While you are resting like you are now, you can train certain things in here. Anything that requires your mind to process you can train here. Time also passes slower while you are here so you can learn easier than you could in reality."**

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "Does that mean I could practice ninjutsu in here?"

" **You could train with them here, but it would not be accurate to how they work in reality since this is your mind. Here you have absolute control to command the chakra to obey. Using chakra, in fact, is much harder because you have to channel the chakra through your pathways and tenketsu."** Kyūbi replied.

"Whats a tenketsu" Naruto asked with a scrunched face.

Kyūbi just swished his tails briefly. **"Don't worry about that now. You will learn about that in the academy. The only thing you need to know is that you can train taijutsu stances and forms, fūinjutsu, hand seals, and strategy. You can't train chakra control, strength training, or bukijutsu effectively. You could practice those here, but it is less effective because the mindscape lacks the effects of wind and gravity which have a significant impact."**

"Well, you said if I can imagine what I want then it would appear, so I can imagine the wind to practice in, right?" As Naruto made that statement, he pictured a moderate breeze blowing and shortly afterward Naruto felt the breeze blowing towards Kyūbi as he imagined.

" **While you can imagine and feel the wind just like it feels in reality, it still won't work right for training because when you decide to do something in here, it will happen exactly as you imagine it. To prove my point I want you to imagine a target against the wall over there and that you have a kunai in your hand."** Kyūbi said.

Naruto focused on what Kyūbi requested, and soon a target appeared, and he suddenly felt a kunai in his hand.

" **Now turn around and face away from the target. Once you do that, focus on throwing the kunai towards the target without turning around to face the target."** Kyūbi instructed.

Naruto pictured throwing the kunai and it hitting the target. He then threw the kunai, and it disappeared from his view. When he turned around, he saw the kunai had hit the target dead center.

"Whoa! That was cool," said with a look of wonder on his face.

Kyūbi snorted **"Yes. But you see my point? If you are trying to train in throwing kunai then, it won't help you in here because if you focus on hitting the target, the kunai will always hit the target. You didn't even hold or throw the kunai correctly, and it still hit the target."**

"How am I supposed to know that! I've never even touched a real kunai before." Naruto said indignantly.

" **At least, the kunai you imagined was accurate,"** Kyūbi said with an amused snort.

Naruto just shook his head and grumbled to himself about grumpy foxes.

"How come I can train things like taijutsu and fūinjutsu? Won't they just appear correct if I am trying to punch correctly or write properly?" Naruto asked.

" **Those aspects of your training are not impacted by external sources,"** Kyūbi explained. **"Taijutsu forms and stances only require your mind to train your muscles on natural movement and to retain the memory of these actions until they are natural to your body without thinking. Fūinjutsu just requires you to memorize how to write and combine the different calligraphy that makes up a seal."**

"I understand, thank you for teaching me about all this Kyūbi-sama," Naruto said with a bow.

Kyūbi simply closed his eye and appeared to be sleeping again.

Naruto decided to play around with the mindscape a bit by imagining trees and grass. He did try to make some changes to the cage, but he was only able to modify the ceiling, walls around the cage, and floor of the cage. He made the ceiling look like the sky at night since it was late. The walls he altered to look like a dense forest of trees and the floor he made out of grass. The gates remained and Kyūbi was still surrounded by bars but now it, at least, looked like his cage sat in the woods instead.

Kyūbi opened his eyes and lifted his head when he noticed the changes. He didn't say anything but merely huffed before he rolled onto his side and went back to sleep.

Naruto smiled to himself. He was sure that Kyūbi was pleased, even if he didn't say anything. He studied the Kyūbi for a bit as he slept and it certainly looked like he was more comfortable. While he could still sense some negative emotions from him, they didn't seem as strong. Ever since he started talking with Kyūbi, they had appeared to weaken, but he could tell they were still there. It was like Kyūbi was hiding them from him.

That brought a frown to his face. He didn't want Kyūbi to hide his emotions if he was suffering. Was it because of the argument they had about his new coat?

Naruto's eyes widened. He had mentioned how little he felt the good feelings from things and after that Kyūbi had backed off in his grouchy fashion. Maybe the Kyūbi was hiding it because he was trying to help in his own way! Kyūbi let out a slight snort but didn't stir more than that.

Naruto looked abashed; his thoughts must be disturbing Kyūbi. He began to play with the mindscape more and become more familiar with how each aspect worked. He would have to try it tomorrow when Kyūbi woke up, but he believed he could keep his thoughts separate from his mind talking. Hopefully, that meant that when he was talking with Kyūbi, people would not be able to notice.

Naruto started to get sleepy and decided to leave his mindscape, unaware of the fact that he would just reappear in his mindscape once he fell asleep. He closed his eyes and searched out for that feeling that brought him here. It took him a little time, but he found it and reached out towards it. He then noticed that something was touching his back and opened his eyes.

He was still lying in bed and from looking at his alarm clock it had only been a few hours that he was talking with Kyūbi in his mindscape. Naruto yawned again, he snuggled into his pillow and let sleep claim him.

 **With Neko**

* * *

Neko kept watch until Saru arrived to take over for the rest of the night. As she began to head towards Anbu HQ, Karasu fell in next to her.

Karasu remained silent like usual, so Neko decided to voice her suspicions. "You think Root is going to make a move using his friends too, don't you."

"It would fit in with how Danzō operates. Kanpu mentioned to us that the girl called Makoto was probably the only one who was really genuine about being Naruto's friend. Ren was reported to enjoy manipulating Naruto for his own ends while the one named Taro seemingly just followed Ren. However, they are all suspicious because none of them ever approached Naruto alone."

Neko shook her head at that revelation. "I don't understand how a sweet little boy like him could be ignored like that. Only three somewhat friends? Those kids weren't even in his group."

"It is likely that the civilian children were frightened by his altered appearance. Also, in his history file, it mentioned that he did have some behavior issues in his early years, which resulted in a lot of disciplinary actions as a toddler." Karasu replied.

"That's normal for two and three-year-old kids, especially an orphaned child. Plus, the other kids probably teased him for his looks." Neko defended. "Anyways, do you want to report our suspicions to the Hokage or shall I?"

Karasu looked up at the moon to gauge the time. If he was quick, he could make it to his clan meeting and see what the situation there was. Things had started to get tense between the village and the Uchiha clan. "If you could report it please, I would like to hurry home for dinner. My mother has been bugging me about missing dinner a lot lately."

"Sure it's not a problem, you go ahead," Neko replied. As Karasu sped away towards the clan district homes, Neko was reminded that Itachi Uchiha was still technically a child as well. If it weren't for his smaller stature, however, you would never know it. The word was that Itachi would most likely be promoted to Anbu Captain next year. An Anbu captain at 13! Only Kakashi had managed such a feat.

Neko entered the Hokage tower and was notified that the Hokage was still at a council meeting. Neko was concerned that the council was going to give poor Naruto more grief. He didn't deserve it at all. The poor child had enough to deal with and regardless of what others said she could tell he was a gentle soul. Sure it sounded foolish as she barely knew the child but he simply had this aura of innocence around him. Sadly it seemed that aura seemed to attract the vultures and wolves of humanity who wanted to take advantage of it.

Neko clenched her fist. She wouldn't allow that poor child to be traumatized anymore. He already had experienced more than he should at his tender age.

 **Konoha Council Chamber – Hokage Tower**

* * *

The council members had been going back and forth for the past hour arguing about the results of Naruto's IQ test and the incident with Inoichi and the Kyūbi.

Hiruzen had hoped he had climbed the hill regarding the battle for Naruto's freedom, but it seemed he had just reached the foot of the mountain instead. Hiruzen already confirmed Naruto's heritage to Shikaku and Inoichi making them swear to secrecy before they entered the meeting.

He should reign in his affections towards the child in front of others but with him being out of the orphanage Hiruzen feared for Naruto's emotional health. The last thing he wanted was for Minato's son to end up as emotionless as Itachi. Hiruzen knew that Danzō had his hooks into Itachi at an early age and because of that, he was adamant that Naruto is spared.

Currently, the Danzō trio were going against Tsume, Shikaku, and Fugaku. So far Shibi, Chōza, and Hiashi had not inputted anything regarding the findings of the Kyūbi's intelligence and his apparent interest in the Naruto.

Hiruzen flared his chakra to get everyone settled down.

"Inoichi, you have remained silent after your report. Now that you have heard the arguments of the others, what do you think?" Hiruzen prompted.

Inoichi reviewed the situation again. Once Shikaku and himself had questioned the Hokage about Naruto's heritage and discovered he was Minato's son he felt conflicted. He did feel that the Kyūbi was a greater threat than they realized and that the Kyūbi would not take long to try and manipulate Naruto.

Shikaku argued that a child with his intelligence could easily be guided to avoid falling prey to the Kyūbi's manipulations and that his naivety was simply due to his lack of interactions with others.

In truth, he, at first, had some belief that the Kyūbi had contacted the child already when he was in the mindscape with it. After seeing how the child behaved and looking up his past behavior reports at the orphanage made him reconsider that thought.

If anything, his aggressive behavior would have increased, and he wouldn't be as trusting or cheery since the Kyūbi would try to isolate him from everyone else to ensure its success. It was that final thought that made his decision.

"While it is true that the Kyūbi is much more of a threat than we realized, and that I initially reported that Naruto's mindset made him an easier target. When I reconsider his IQ and his past behavioral reports from the orphanage, I have come to believe that emotional conditioning and isolation will only aid the Kyūbi in gaining control of the child." Inoichi concluded.

"If the conditioning is applied correctly then the child will have no reason to believe the Kyūbi unless it benefits Konoha, and isolating the child is essential to the safety of the village." argued Danzō.

"That is not the case in this instance," Inoichi said firmly. "If the Kyūbi were in full hibernation and had not taken notice, it might have been possible. Even that is not certain, however, because the child would have to go through a traumatic event to complete your emotional conditioning. At that moment, the Kyūbi would become aware and immediately take steps against any influence you had over the child." Inoichi replied.

"It would not have mattered since we could seal the Kyūbi's chakra away and apply seals to the child to prevent him from listening to anyone but his handlers." Danzō insisted.

Hiruzen had to clench his fist under the table to keep his nonchalant facade up. He couldn't give Danzō and those other doddering fools any ammunition to take to the Fire Daimyō by lashing out.

"You are wrong again on that front, Danzō. The Kyūbi proved it was quite capable of not only removing the chakra inhibiting seals, but also any mental blocks or seals applied on Naruto." Inoichi retorted, "In fact, the Kyūbi would most likely reverse the seal so that Naruto would only be able to listen to the Kyūbi. As I said in my report before, the Kyūbi is highly intelligent, and you are underestimating it." Inoichi snapped.

Danzō was not convinced. "There is no way that demon would be capable of manipulating those kinds of seals from within his prison the Shiki Fūjin (Reaper Death Seal)should have guaranteed that. I can still ensure that the child becomes a loyal weapon, but he must enter Root for it to be successful."

Hiruzen interjected at that point. "If it were a simple Shiki Fūjin (Reaper Death Seal) then you would be correct. However, Minato chose to give the child a highly modified Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Seal). This means that the Kyūbi's chakra and the child's chakra are intertwined in a very sophisticated manner. Due to this seal, the Kyūbi would easily be able to bypass and break any seal with ease."

Koharu stood and shouted out "This is too dangerous! We should extract the Kyūbi and reseal it into another child with a more appropriate seal. The Yondaime was reckless!"

The usually stoic Hiashi had a look of anger on his face and replied scathingly "How dare you call Minato reckless! Your skills are like a peasant farmer when compared to him."

"Minato knew what he was doing. If you have any knowledge about fūinjutsu, you would know that the Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Seal) is more stable and secure than any other bijū seal." Hiruzen stated with an insulting tone. "On top of that, Minato heavily modified the seal with multiple fail safes. I suspect Kushina and Minato chose this seal because they may have been aware that the Kyūbi was more intelligent then it lead people to believe." Hiruzen stated firmly. "Remember that it was Mito who instructed Kushina on sealing the Kyūbi and how to deal with its machinations, and Mito had the Kyūbi within her for over 90 years."

"We all know that Minato and Kushina were masters of sealing, however, this does not discount that fact that we can just extract the Kyūbi and apply a seal onto a new child that could ensure that the Kyūbi is unable to interfere with our attempts to ensure our safety," Homura replied.

Surprisingly it was Danzō that countered Homura. "No. If what Inoichi stated is true then Minato obviously chose this seal because the Kyūbi would be capable of breaking any other seal that we know of at present. None of us are close to the skill that Minato and Kushina were, especially with Mito Uzumaki's guidance. Our only other option would ensure the Kyūbi would be out of our reach for eternity. We can not afford that with the news that Kumo has two perfect jinchūriki."

Danzō realized that his best shot to obtain the jinchūriki at the moment would be to coerce the boy through ordinary means and apply some incentive or use leverage to ensure his control since his current seals were out of the question. It made things more difficult but if he was successful it would be worth it. He already had his hands on the three friends so it would only require laying out a plan for them to follow.

The Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Seal) was already growing the child's massive chakra reserves every day by converting the Kyūbi's excess chakra into normal chakra and injecting it into the boy's chakra system. With proper chakra control exercises and ninjutsu training, the child could easily hit Kage level chakra reserves before he reaches maturity. That was not even counting the use of the Kyūbi's chakra itself, which would be more accessible because of the seal. Minato truly was a genius.

'It was obvious Minato wanted the child to utilize the Kyūbi's chakra to the fullest.' Danzō thought to himself. 'I must not drop my bid to force him into Root just yet, however, or that will draw too many suspicions.'

"I still propose inducting the child into Root. I will have a modified program that will exclude the regular emotional conditioning. I will create a specialized group to grow alongside the child, and they will all train together. I can also teach the others in the group in bijū suppression tactics, in case, the boy loses control." Danzō proposed.

"While this new proposal sounds like the most logical choice, there is still an inherent flaw with that plan," Shibi replied. "The child would still not interact with the village overall and would essentially only end up loyal to the others in the group. Given that the child is borderline genius level, he would quickly deduce that the others were trained in suppression tactics and would probably lose trust with that group. Especially if the Kyūbi starts to actively speak to the child."

"I agree it would be best to have the child continue to interact with the village frequently. This should eventually reduce his naivety as he interacts with others. We should also begin having him train in strategies and tactics as well. This will help him to become capable of discerning multiple views of a subject and will help him become less vulnerable to manipulation." Shikaku added.

Homura and Koharu looked towards Danzō, who gave a subtle nod of his head.

"I suppose there is no other choice than to simply monitor the child," Koharu stated.

"I will work on scheduling time for Naruto to come to me regularly, on top of his monthly meeting, to collect his stipend. This should suffice for monitoring him on top of the Anbu." Hiruzen said.

"I have begun teaching Shikamaru and Choji tactics and strategy through shogi. If you would like, Hokage-sama, you can have Naruto come and join us." Shikaku offered.

"It might be wise to begin introducing him to the other clan heirs as well. Perhaps Hokage-sama, you would bring him with you to Hinata's birthday party in two months time. I will ensure that you receive an invitation for him, as well. If anything, we can begin his etiquette training which I imagine is sorely lacking in the orphanage." Hiashi offered.

"That is an excellent idea. I will arrange for Naruto to receive some training beforehand. However, he is a well-behaved boy. I do not expect any problems with him." Hiruzen said.

"If that is all I will consider this meeting adjourned." Hiruzen rose and left the room with the other members trailing after him.

Danzō left to go to his personal library and try to study up on potential seals to restrict the Kyūbi. He still believed he could manage a seal to accomplish all his goals, but for now, that would be his fail safe.

Instead, he would begin training Ren, Taro, and Makoto for the sole purpose of luring Naruto into Root before he can join the academy. With the information he received from his operative, he believed he would need approximately two months time to lay out the strategy for Ren, Taro, and Makoto to use on Naruto to make him willingly submit to Root training.

Yes. This plan could succeed. He would allow them access outside of the Root compound to meet with Naruto and strengthen their bonds. After a few months time, the boy would practically be begging to join.

To ensure that his plan succeeded, the three new recruits would begin their subterfuge training immediately and be tempted with incentives to convince Naruto to join. If they somehow managed to fail to his plan in place, he could find numerous different ways to use the girl as a potential lure.


	8. Losing the Path

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original(Translation)

 **Biju/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

edited 4/20/16

 **Chapter 7**

 **Losing the Path**

 **2 months later – Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Naruto woke up and stretched briefly before getting out of his futon and scurrying into the bathroom quickly. Winter was in full swing, and Konoha had received a heavy dusting of snow.

The mornings were quite cold, and Naruto was a little scared about using the heater when he heard stories of people dying from bad air coming from heaters. Kyūbi still laughed at him for believing such foolishness, as he put it. Naruto decided he would just use heavier blankets to sleep. Plus he was now able to wear his coat, even more, much to Kyūbi's chagrin.

Naruto rushed through his morning ritual and dressed quickly, donning his precious coat. It had taken several attempts and lots of pricked fingers to sew the patches onto the jacket, but he was happy with the result. The Uzumaki Clan Symbol was now proudly displayed on his left arm right below the shoulder while he added the memorial symbol on his back just like he saw on the Jōnin vest that the Hokage showed him.

Naruto had become close to the Hokage and affectionately referred to him as Jichan (grandpa) or jiji (old man). He would spend a half day with him on Sunday and would occasionally spend a few hours with him throughout the week, either at the park or to eat at Ichiraku's. The Hokage would tell him amazing stories about his battles in the past or the times he spent with the Nidaime Hokage during the war.

His relationship with Kyūbi had improved a little more. Kyūbi would not always insult him now and had not called him a fool or other mean things for some time, which was good. Naruto could tell that Kyūbi was still hiding his negative emotions from him, but he didn't want to bother Kyūbi too much and risk him getting mad at him.

Naruto was starting to figure out how to discern between the different negative emotions and whether they were targeted at him or were just in general, based on clues from Kyūbi. Mostly Kyūbi would identify a particular emotion when it would cause problems for Naruto only, and would disregard any other negative emotions around them. Essentially, this ensured that Naruto would have to try to figure out the other emotions he was feeling, where they were coming from, and who those emotions were targeting. Naruto was a little frustrated that he still couldn't understand the different emotions he was sensing, but Kyūbi would just explain that it was due to him not having enough of something called life experience.

He also got to play shogi with his new friend Shikamaru once a week as well. On Saturday, he would spend the day with Shikamaru and Shikaku playing shogi. Shikamaru's friend Choji would be there sometimes, but he didn't play very often.

It wasn't fun playing against Shikaku at all because Naruto could tell that the man wasn't taking him seriously, and the older Nara _always_ won. Naruto would beat Shikamaru sometimes, but Naruto could tell that Shikamaru wasn't always trying his hardest. When Shikamaru was trying his best, he would put his hands together and form a circle while thinking. He used that a lot against his father, but Shikamaru didn't do that when playing Naruto nearly as often. When Naruto played Choji, he always won. Easily. So, Naruto imagined Choji felt the same way Naruto would when he played against Shikaku. While he felt bad that he always beat Choji, at least Naruto was always trying his hardest to beat him.

The most exciting parts of the week were when he was able to learn things from Ren, Taro, and Makoto. He had been going to the park every day for two weeks when he heard they had been adopted and began to lose hope of meeting them again until Monday on the third week. He saw all three of the lying on the ground ringed around a tree.

 **Flashback 1 month 2 weeks - Hokage Monument Playground**

* * *

Naruto ran up to his friends and practically shouted, "Hey guys, it's me! I have been looking for you guys forever _ **!** " _a puzzled expression crossed his face at their actions causing Naruto to ask, "What are you guys doing?"

Naruto skidded to a stop near the prone children with his head cocked to the side and a curious expression on his face.

Ren, Taro, and Makoto would place their feet on the tree then remove it only to repeat it again. Ren and Taro rolled their heads back to greet him quickly then went back to what they were doing.

Makoto sprung up when she heard Naruto and began speaking rapidly at him. "Naruto-kun! I've missed you! What happened to you? Did you get adopted? We heard you were hurt!"

"Well I was hurt, but Hokage-jiji said I didn't have to go back to the orphanage anymore. He got me this cool apartment all to myself, and he gives me ryō to buy things! I even go and eat with him all the time!" Naruto said boastfully.

"Wow, Naruto-kun! You are so lucky! You get to meet with the Hokage! I can't believe you live all by yourself. Isn't it scary?" Makoto asked.

"It was a little scary, at first, but there is always Neko, Saru, and Karasu to help me," Naruto said.

He looked back towards Saru, who was watching him for the day. Saru wasn't as friendly as Neko and Karasu, but he also didn't sense any negative emotions from him. Saru always kept within sight but would keep his distance from Naruto.

Makoto followed Naruto's gaze and noticed the Anbu with the monkey mask watching them at a distance.

She was a little nervous since Danzō said they had to hide their plans from the Anbu. She really wanted Naruto to join them so they could be together again. Then they would all be a super cool ninja team fighting to protect Konoha.

Danzō had told her that Naruto had a special chakra that was very powerful and because of that the other clans and the Hokage were fighting over who can train Naruto. Danzō wanted to train Naruto too, but since everyone was too busy fighting over who could train him it was up to her, Ren, and Taro to have Naruto choose to join them before he fell behind. If Naruto decided to join them, even the Hokage couldn't stop him.

"What's wrong, Makoto-chan?" Naruto's question interrupted her thoughts.

"It's that man with the mask. Is he following you?" Makoto asked quietly.

"Oh! Don't worry about Saru; he is just assigned to watch me like Neko and Karasu," Naruto replied with a smile.

Internally Naruto was wondering why he was sensing negative emotions from his friends. He never noticed sensing those emotions from them before but back then he was always sensing Kyūbi's emotions. He wasn't sure what these emotions were either.

Naruto subtly peeked into his mindscape for a second and noticed that Kyūbi was asleep, so he kept his thoughts hidden so that he didn't bother his snoozing companion.

"So, what are you guys doing?" Naruto asked.

"We learned that if you channel chakra to your feet you can stick it onto a tree. What Torune-sama told us to practice is sticking your foot to the tree with chakra, then try to pull your foot off while channeling chakra and see how long you can keep your foot stuck. If you get strong enough, you can eventually walk up the tree without your hands," Taro said excitedly before deflating, "but we just started, so we can't do anything cool like that yet."

"Wow, that still sounds cool, though ** _!_** I never heard anything about that." Naruto plopped himself down next to where Makoto had lain earlier and tried to copy what they were doing.

While he was trying it, he began to ask more questions. "So, I heard you guys all got adopted! Are your parents nice? Did they teach you how to do this?"

Ren replied. "We were all adopted by this guy named Torune-sama. He finds orphans that are strong and trains them to be a special team for Konoha."

Taro replied, "Yea. Torune-sama is super cool! He can do all kinds of crazy ninja stuff."

Makoto remained silent as she continued trying to stick her feet to the tree.

Naruto was not having any success; it seemed that when he moved to put his foot on the tree while channeling chakra to it, his foot would get pushed away instead of sticking. Sometimes even pieces of bark would fly off as well.

Ren had been watching Naruto from the corner of his eye and saw what Naruto was doing wrong. "Oi, stupid! You are putting too much chakra. You have to use less chakra to stick to the tree and your supposed to take turns with each foot not only use one foot."

"Hey! I'm not stupid! Hokage-jiji said I'm really smart ** _!_** " Naruto tried again, channeling less chakra, but his foot was still pushed away. He was still trying to figure out how to just channel the chakra to the bottom of his foot instead of his whole foot.

"He was just kidding, calm down," Taro said before he sent a sly glance towards Ren. "It's not your fault that you aren't learning about these things yet."

"Yea! You better be grateful, Naruto. Torune-sama said we weren't supposed to teach other kids this yet. If you tell anyone, we will get in big trouble. Worse then when we took Keiri's candy box." Ren said

"I am grateful!" Naruto said quickly. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about it," Naruto said with a nod, "You guys are my friends, I won't get you in trouble."

He felt a surge of negative emotions from Makoto when he said that and was going to ask her about it but changed his mind since he could tell that it wasn't towards him. She was probably worried about getting in trouble if this Torune found out.

Naruto rolled his head back slightly and peeked over at Saru, who was still watching from a distance. He didn't think Saru heard them talking, but he couldn't be sure. He turned his attention back and tried to stick his feet to the tree again.

Afterward, they planned to meet him at the playground every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

 **Flashback End**

* * *

After he finished his breakfast he wrapped a scarf around his neck that Shizune had given him. It was black with small orange dots on it, and he _loved_ it. The orange dots were plentiful enough that he was satisfied with the level of orangeness, but they were also small enough to be subtle instead of standing out brightly. It almost looked like a starry sky was tied around his neck.

Shizune had not approved of his orange coat, but Naruto refused to budge on it. She had given him this scarf to show that he could still wear more appropriate colors without sacrificing his beloved orange.

He grabbed his gloves, keys, and Gama-chan and put his snow boots on. Saru met him outside, and they made their way to the park.

 **Hokage Monument Playground**

* * *

As Ren, Taro, and Makoto were waiting for Naruto's arrival and were discussing the plan that Danzō had told them. So far, they had been successful in completing the milestone objectives and, according to Danzō, if they continued as they were, Naruto would join them next month, and they would all receive special chakra weapons.

Ren only really cared for the weapon and was getting impatient. He knew he could simply boss Naruto around into doing what he wanted. Naruto always did what Ren demanded in the past. It was the only reason why he hung out with Taro or Naruto in the first place. Ren was going to be the leader while Naruto and Taro were his sidekicks. Makoto would follow him because she always followed them when they went to meet with Naruto.

"I'm going to push the final plan on Naruto today guys, so be ready!" Ren said.

Makoto frowned. "...but Danzō-sama said we were not to proceed until we have reached milestone 5."

"It won't matter. We both know that Naruto will do as Ren says. Why wouldn't he?" Taro said with a scoff. "He already knows that we are learning cool things and are getting stronger than him. you can tell he is jealous."

Ren nodded in agreement with Taro but didn't comment any further. Everything Taro had said about Naruto was true, so there was no need to say anything else.

"If you are sure you can convince him then fine. I don't care about the weapon; I just want Naruto-kun to join Root like us." Makoto said quietly.

"Just stick to my plan. If he refuses, we all have to agree that we won't be his friends anymore. That always works on Naruto. Danzō-sama just doesn't know him like we do." Ren stated with certainty.

"What about his Anbu guard? If they hear then, Danzō-sama will be furious!" Taro asked.

"Don't worry about it. The Anbu guard today will be Saru, and he always stays at the far edge of the playground. We will bring Naruto to the trees and continue practicing the leaf sticking with him. Shin and Taka will make sure to play between us and Saru, and make enough noise to block his hearing."

Makoto was worried but nodded her agreement. She hoped Naruto would join them. She would always feel happier and less alone when she was near Naruto, more than any of her other friends.

Naruto's excitement grew as he neared the park. Kyūbi had started to help him with the chakra exercises that his friends were teaching him, and he couldn't wait to show them how strong he was getting. Thanks to Kyūbi, he could stick his feet to the tree, and he was also able to keep the leaf stuck to his forehead for almost an hour. He wanted to try climbing the tree, but Kyūbi told him that his chakra reserves were too small still, because of his age.

" **Calm down, brat or your chakra control will suffer. You can't maintain control unless you stay calm."** Kyūbi snapped.

 _'Your right Kyūbi-sama, but I can't help it! Those guys are probably learning all kinds of cool things that I don't even know about. I don't want to be left behind.'_ Naruto took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to force himself to calm down.

" **I don't know why you bother with this group of mortals. The only one who is kind to you is the green eyed vixen."** **Kyūbi said with a huff.**

 _'Taro is nice to me, and Ren, he's just grumpy like you are.'_ Naruto said slyly.

" **Don't make me laugh, brat. That spiky-haired fool can't compare to me."** Kyūbi said with a growl.

 _'You are right about that, Kyūbi-sama. Ren is nowhere near as grumpy as you are.'_ Naruto replied with a smirk

Kyūbi growled lowly **"Do not mock me if you want my assistance, brat, or I will simply go back to sleep again."**

 _'I was just joking Kyūbi_ - _sama, please don't take it seriously.'_ Naruto replied with anime tears

" **Hmph. I don't think its possible for me to take you seriously, brat."** Kyūbi said in amusement.

Naruto had to stop himself from physically sticking his tongue out in response to Kyūbi's dig on him. He was getting better at not responding physically when speaking to Kyūbi outside of his mindscape. Luckily, Kyūbi didn't talk to him in front of other people very much unless it was something important. He had gotten a few weird looks from strangers, though. He held back replying to Kyūbi since he was nearing where his friends were waiting for him. He waved to them as he walked up.

"Hey, guys what's the plan today? Want to play snow forts? Or are we gonna play ninja like last week?" Naruto asked with a smile.

Ren shook his head "Nah, we want to train today. We won't become strong ninjas by playing games all the time."

"C'mon, let's practice, Naruto," Taro said.

"Here Naruto-kun, I brought you a leaf to practice with from our garden," Makoto said.

"Thanks, Makoto-chan!" Naruto followed, but he had a slight frown on his face.

The Hokage told him it was important to play games as they helped develop skills that you couldn't get from training. Shogi trained you in strategy and tactics. Playing ninja helped develop tracking and hiding skills. Snowball fights helped with accuracy and evasion. If his friends were being trained to form a special group wouldn't their trainer know these things as well? The Hokage was the most powerful ninja in the village; he would know what to do to become strong.

Also, he was sensing a lot of negative emotions from all three of his friends, and they were all targeted at him specifically. He had a really bad feeling and was unsure what to do. These were his friends, and he trusted them but he wasn't sure what emotions these were. Are they mad at him about something? Maybe they were mad because he wanted to play instead of train, that must be it.

Kyūbi sighed at Naruto's naivety. **_'This will be a painful lesson for him, but it is necessary. I wonder how he will handle it.'_**

The group sat around the base of a tree where the snow was unable to accumulate. Ren and Taro were looking at him with a grave expression on their faces while Makoto had a worried look on her face.

"What's going on guys?" Naruto asked nervously. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong Naruto. In fact, it's your lucky day! We convinced Torune-sama that you were strong enough to join our secret group." Ren said.

"Yea. Naruto, you don't have to worry about the Hokage holding you back until the Academy. You can start training with our group now if you want to." Taro said.

"That's right! You don't want to join the stupid Academy with the rest of the losers. They don't even learn the chakra sticking techniques that we showed you. Root is much better, and we got you a special invitation to it. You will be rewarded with a special weapon if you join us." Ren added.

"Please consider joining Root Naruto-kun. They even said we will all be on a special team and do all the most important missions to protect Konoha." Makoto pleaded.

"Wait. You guys aren't going to join the Academy? I thought everyone had to join the Academy to become ninjas." Naruto asked.

"Well... Root is a secret group of ninjas who do the really cool and dangerous missions because they are trained to be the best." Ren said confidently. "Instead of waiting to join the Academy and graduate when you are 12, Root ninjas go through special training and are finished with their training by age 10. Root ninjas are always better than Academy ninjas." Ren finished with a nod.

"Root only looks for the strongest kids to join them," Taro added. "If you aren't strong enough, then they send you to the Academy instead."

"And you guys said I could join Root with you guys? Is that where you have been learning all this cool stuff?" Naruto asked.

"Yea. Torune-sama works for Danzō-sama, the head of Root and one of the Hokage's advisers. He was the Hokage's rival. Danzō-sama always gets the best weapons for ninjas and can learn every jutsu possible." Makoto said with a smile.

She felt that Naruto was almost convinced and decided to make Root sound even better than it was. She didn't like a lot of the training, but she could easily bear it with Naruto there.

Naruto had stars in his eyes as he thought about it. Learning all the cool jutsu and fighting all the bad guys with his friends. It would be just like they all dreamed about in the orphanage.

Ren saw the look on Naruto's face and knew that he was close to agreeing to join. He acted just like he would back at the orphanage. All he would need to do now was make Naruto think that Root was the only option he had.

"Danzō-sama said that you have special chakra, and if you join Root, Danzō-sama will show you how to use your true strength," Ren said seriously, "The Academy can't teach you how to use it. Root is the only one who knows how to train your special chakra." Ren whispered.

Normally that would have Naruto jumping to join but the moment Ren mentioned special chakra, Naruto visibly stiffened, and he was overcome with a terrible feeling deep inside him. Did he have really have special chakra? Or was this Danzō guy after Kyūbi?

" **You are correct, brat. Your group of mortals is in league with the one called Danzō to try and use us as a weapon."** Kyūbi snarled in disgust, **"Those arrogant fools! Do not trouble yourself with these fools no longer. Can't you sense their deception?"**

 _'They wouldn't do that, would they? These are my friends! Would they lie to me like that?'_ _Naruto said in denial._

" **You have sensed their negative emotions towards you have you not?"** Kyubi said coldly before taking a softer tone. **"That bad feeling deep inside you is your instincts warning you, do not ignore it. That is more than enough evidence that these so-called friends of yours are false."**

"I don't know about this guys," Naruto said with a frown. "I think I should ask Hokage-jiji about this first." Naruto glanced over at Saru, but he didn't seem to have heard their discussion.

"No! You can't tell the Hokage, its a secret! Don't you remember anything I told you!" Ren shouted.

"Yea Naruto! You said you wouldn't tell anyone about this!" Taro said indignantly.

"Please just join, Naruto-kun." Makoto pleaded, "You won't regret it! We will all be a special ninja team protecting Konoha every day." Makoto said as she clutched Naruto's sleeve.

"You think you are too good for us now because you're all buddy, buddy with the Hokage is that it?" Taro said scathingly.

"No, I don't think that at all ** _!_** I just have a bad feeling about this, and you know that I have always been right when I get that feeling." Naruto justified.

"Whatever, Naruto. I see how it is." Ren said with a sneer. "I can't accept your answer. You are just doing whatever you want because you're selfish. If you don't join us, then I can't consider you a friend anymore and neither will the others!" Ren stood up and turned his back on Naruto.

Taro followed his example standing next to Ren while Mikoto fidgeted nervously.

"C'mon Naruto-kun, won't you just do as we say? We promise you won't regret it." Makoto begged with a soft tug on his coat sleeve.

" **Well, brat. Will you just do as they say? Just like you have always done in the past? Or will you finally make a stand for your own decisions?"** Kyūbi said testily.

Naruto was distraught when his friends turned their backs on him and called him selfishly. He always did whatever he could to make them happy like, he believed, a good friend should. When Makoto begged Naruto to go along with them and looked at him with her mesmerizing green eyes, he was about to fold to their demands, again, until he thought over the last thing Kyūbi said.

As he looked back through his memories with his friends, he realized that Kyūbi was right. His friends always demanded that he go along with them, and they would only do what Naruto said when it would benefit themselves. They always took more of his candy or desserts. They always left him behind to get in trouble and would always tease him about it. Only Makoto didn't take things from him, but she still always went along with the others. Just like he did too.

Naruto clenched his teeth and balled his hands into fists; his eyes were starting to water with tears. He didn't like this feeling he had. It was like he was angry, sad, and hurting at the same time. It was... confusing.

While he didn't know much about negative emotions, yet, this was one he knew he hadn't felt before because it was by far the worst. Even when those men wanted to attack him, it didn't feel as bad as this. This feeling seemed to hurt him deep inside. Like that sharp pain that he felt in his chest before he woke up in the hospital, but it was still worse than that.

 **"** **That, Naruto, is the feeling of betrayal. These fools have betrayed your trust and used you as a tool. This filth never cared about you unless you could help with their own selfish wants and as soon as you try to take care of yourself, they want to discard you like trash."**

 _'So this is what betrayal feels like, huh. Now I see why people get so angry and full of hate after this. This feeling hurts so much, Kyūbi-sama. It makes me want to cry, yell, hurt them, and run away at the same time."_ _Naruto said in a pained tone,_ _"What should I do?'_

 **"** **Reject those fools as your friends,"** Kyubi said immediately. **"If they are so willing to cast you aside you should cast them aside first. You should never forgive them, even if the throw themselves at your feet and beg."**

 _'I don't know if I can do that. I won't be their friends anymore, but if they beg me to forgive them, and I don't sense anything negative from them, I will forgive them."_ _Naruto said sadly._ _"It hurts, but maybe they don't understand, maybe this Danzō guy tricked them. They weren't the best of friends when I look back, but they never did something like this before.'_

" **Hmph. You take a risk allowing snakes in your den. The rewards for them were higher this time, which is why they were willing to betray you."** **Kyūbi said with a huff.** **"That is how all corrupt and greedy humans justify their betrayal, but at least, you aren't foolish about it by forgiving them unconditionally,"** **Kyūbi grumbled.** **"I still say that it would be a mistake if you do."**

 ** _'The boy begins to grow up and so far he has not deviated from his moral path, even right after a traumatic experience such as this. You have earned my respect, Naruto.'_**

Makoto was worried; Naruto hadn't said anything, and he looked like he was about to cry. "Naruto-kun, please won't you go with us."

Naruto stood up and wiped his eyes. He looked up at Makoto with a look she had never seen on his face before. His face was stern, and his normally sparkling eyes were dark and stony.

"No! I won't be joining you. I won't do what you say anymore! I am not some lowly follower for you to throw out like trash because I don't agree with you ** _!_** You say you won't be my friend anymore well I don't care because I don't consider you my friends anymore either. You call me selfish when you are the ones being selfish ** _!_** " Naruto's voice kept rising with each statement almost to the point where he was shouting.

Makoto looked hurt by what Naruto said while Ren and Taro turned around with a shocked look on their face. This was not how Naruto was supposed to react. Danzō was going to be pissed if they didn't turn this around somehow.

Naruto turned and began to walk towards Saru with tears in his eyes. Ren tried to grab him, but Naruto only threw his hand off and kept walking. They were calling out for him to come back, but he ignored them and walked out of the park towards his apartment. He didn't look back once.

Karasu listened in on the three Root recruits for a little while longer until they left. They were in a panic, but since they didn't know where Naruto lived and Saru was with him, they couldn't pursue. With a small smile on his face, he departed with Shunshin (Body Flicker) to report to the Hokage. He was glad Danzō's little ploy failed on Naruto.

He wished he had been as wise at that age and avoided Danzō, but he was determined to protect Konoha at any cost and Danzō had been very convincing. Now he found himself trapped in an entangled web of deceit that he couldn't escape. The Hokage was trying to help him by assigning this detail, but Itachi knew that it was only a matter of time before he was caught between a rock and a hard place.

 **Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Naruto just plopped down on his couch and curled up into a ball. The pain of betrayal from his closest friends left him feeling abandoned and alone. He replayed the events at the park and took note of the negative emotions he was feeling from them at the time. He wanted imprint those feelings in his mind so he could learn the differences and memorize them. He never wanted to experience that again.

Then he remembered something that made him feel a lot better. Kyūbi had used his name! He didn't call him a brat, or mortal but actually called him by his name. He would never really be alone; he would always have Kyūbi with him. He could visit jiji once a week, he could play with Shikamaru and Choji on Saturdays, but Kyūbi was always there, even when he was sleeping. He would make sure Kyūbi realized how much he appreciated him. He closed his eyes to thank Kyūbi face to face.

 **Naruto's Mindscape**

* * *

As soon as Naruto entered his mindscape he began to change the surroundings again to match the weather outside. The sky was clear and crisp with winter. The trees and ground were covered with clean powdery snow. Kyūbi was already waiting for him with his head rested on his paws but both his eyes were open and fixed on Naruto.

Naruto didn't say anything. He simply walked towards the cage and Kyūbi just remained silent watching as he progressed closer to the gates. Naruto walked right up to the gate then slipped through the bars without hesitation and approached Kyūbi's muzzle. Kyūbi swished a few of his tails, but Naruto did not falter. He stopped when he was a small distance away from Kyūbi's muzzle and directly in front of his right eye.

" ** _The boy is more emotional than I thought."_** Kyūbi mused, **_"I wonder what his intentions are with this display."_**

Naruto just stared into Kyūbi's eye with a watery gaze then bowed low. "Thank you, Kyūbi for showing me the truth. We may not be friends yet, but you have helped me so much, and I will always trust you no matter what."

" **You are right. I do not trust you quite yet, kit, but you have earned my respect for now. Do not do something stupid to lose it."** Kyūbi said in warning, but his tone was softer than normal.

Naruto bowed again before he quietly moved to sit down against a tree he created as close as possible to Kyūbi and closed his eyes. He wasn't tired, but he simply felt that he needed to rest and Kyūbi's presence, which had always held a bad feeling for him, had suddenly become a good feeling like Gama-chan or his coat. Naruto decided just to bask in the feeling to try to ease the pain he felt deep inside.

Kyūbi also had undergone some changes in his beliefs. Feeling the pain of betrayal on Naruto's innocent soul had been a revelation. The pain he had experienced through his link with Naruto had been worse than anything he remembered over his vast life. He surmised that having inherent purity must have resulted in amplifying the inherent negativity in an emotion like a betrayal.

Yet, even after a wound that grievous, he was still willing to forgive those fools. Granted he stipulated that he would only trust them if he couldn't feel negative emotions, but that was only logical. He didn't think any humans were capable of that kind of forgiveness.

Every time he ran across a mortal on the revenge trip they were always just full of hate. Willing to commit unforgivable acts. This incident was nowhere near as severe as someone backstabbing a friend with a dagger, but the emotions were just as strong and raw. Kyūbi had no doubt that Naruto would even forgive those fools if they had tried to kill him, as long as they were genuine in their remorse.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hiruzen was making his way through his usual paperwork and was clearing through them at a steady clip. It would soon be time for him to observe Naruto through his crystal ball, one of his favorite past times.

Itachi's sudden arrival in his office suddenly sparked his concern. The only reason they would Shunshin directly in is if something happened involving Naruto.

Itachi approached the Sandaime's desk and spoke. "I have some news you might find important."

Hiruzen motioned Itachi to continue and began to prepare his tobacco pipe for a smoke.

"Naruto-kun's former friends from the orphanage approached Naruto-kun today and tried to encourage him to join Root," Itachi said in his typical monotone.

A look of rage came across Hiruzen's face as he heard the news. 'That manipulative bastard! How dare he make a play like this.' Hiruzen thought. "How did Naruto-kun respond?"

Itachi replied "Naruto-kun asked his friends some questions about Root and, at first, it seemed that they had convinced him to join them. When one of his friends mentioned that Danzō told them that Naruto-kun had special chakra, and only Root could train him, Naruto-kun appeared to become... suspicious and wanted to speak with you before deciding." Itachi paused as if gathering his throughs before continuing. "The boys then issued an ultimatum that he join, or they would break off their friendship while the girl tried to coerce him to join instead. Naruto-kun was silent for some time before he shouted at them, declaring that they were not his friends. At that point, I remained behind to listen to the three children and discovered that Danzō enacted this plan, but the children went against his plans and moved the timetable of the operation up on their own. I then left and proceeded here directly once I was certain they would not pursue him any further. Saru remained with Naruto-kun."

Hiruzen already had his crystal ball up and was viewing Naruto before Itachi had finished his report.

Naruto appeared to be curled up on his couch asleep. Hiruzen was proud that Naruto had seen through their deception. He must have put together that "special chakra" meant the Kyūbi, but the proud feeling changed to sadness when he studied Naruto's face closer. He could tell that he had cried himself to sleep based on the tear tracks and the wet spots on his coat.

Hopefully, Hinata's birthday party in a few weeks would provide him with the chance for some new friends. He seemed to be amiable towards Shikamaru and Choji, but neither of those children shared common interests with Naruto. Shikamaru, besides playing shogi, would rather sit around staring at the sky, and Choji was just happy if he was eating something. Occasionally, he would see them play around, but not at the level he had seen Naruto play with those three snakes in the past.

"I'm afraid there is nothing much that can be done at this time about Danzō but leave him to me," Hiruzen said with a sigh. "Thank you Itachi, you are dismissed."

Itachi left with a Shunshin and settled down on a roof near Naruto's apartment to keep watch until Neko relieved him. Once Neko arrived to replace him, he filled Neko in on the details of what happened on the playground and what he saw in the Hokage's crystal ball. Neko couldn't help herself and went to go comfort Naruto. Neko knocked on the door and waited for Naruto to answer.

Naruto was still resting against the tree absorbing the new feeling he noticed from Kyūbi when he was jolted out of his mindscape. He sat up and looked around but didn't know what happened to pull him away from Kyūbi. He was about to go back into his mindscape when he heard knocking at the door.

He walked over and answered the door to see Neko standing there. Before he could even say anything, Neko enveloped him in a hug and carted him off to the couch. Naruto stiffened as he had never been grabbed like this, as far as he remembered. Neko, on the other hand, was lost in cuddling bliss. Eventually, Naruto relaxed and decided that he found this feeling to be quite enjoyable.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun. I heard what your friends did to you." Neko said while she rubbed his back gently with her chin resting on his head. Protocol be damned, she would not let him suffer that kind of betrayal alone.

"It's okay Neko-chan, I guess they were never really my friends after all," Naruto replied sadly. He wouldn't cry over those people anymore if he could help it, but the pain was still there.

Neko hummed in sympathy and replied. "You don't have to hide your feelings, Naruto-kun. It's better to let them out. I had a so called friend who did something similar to me when I was your age, and I remember how much it hurt."

"It did hurt, a lot, but I don't want to cry over them. They don't deserve it." Naruto said vehemently as he leaned into Neko's embrace. "I was just following them because I was weak and scared of being alone, but I'm not going to be weak or scared anymore. I will find my own path and leave them behind to be forgotten."

Neko squeezed him a little tighter. "You are not weak or scared Naruto-kun. It's natural for a boy your age to look for friends. Most boys your age wouldn't be able to live on their own or even be separated from their mother for half a day without crying.

Neko moved back a little so she could look at Naruto's face. Once she saw his big blue eyes looking up at her, she spoke again. "You are much braver than other boys your age, but you are right about finding your own way. Everyone has to find their own path. You will meet other kids at the Academy, some of those kids will become friends who will remain with you for life. Some of those friends will be close at first but time will change them as they grow and eventually, you drift apart even without arguments and betrayal."

Neko hugged him tighter to emphasized her point. "Guard your heart Naruto-kun, but don't build walls around it or you will miss having true friends."

"I will, Neko-chan, and thank you. I feel much better now." Naruto said as continued to enjoy the embrace. It was similar to the feeling he got from Kyūbi earlier but much stronger. It felt nice to have Neko's arms around him.

The moment was interrupted when his stomach growled a few minutes later. Neko reluctantly broke the hug and after some convincing, she managed to get him to go out to Ichiraku's for lunch.

As Naruto ate his miso ramen slowly, he thought about what Neko and the Kyūbi had told him. He always had wanted to become a ninja with his friends because that was what those three also wanted. Now he had to wonder if that was even what he wanted to be anymore. It was so confusing to him now, and he had to wonder just what he wanted to do.

After thinking it over more, he decided that he did still want to become a ninja. There was someone out there who wanted to hurt him and Kyūbi. He wouldn't be able to always rely on other people to protect him, and he wanted to be able to protect himself and Kyūbi.

As for having more friends, he didn't really know what to think about that right now. Maybe someday he would be able to find more but, right now, he wasn't certain that he wanted any besides Kyūbi.


	9. Seven of Twelve

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

edit 4/20/16

 **Chapter 8**

 **Seven of Twelve**

 **3 Weeks Later - Hyūga Clan Compound - Konoha**

* * *

Naruto was a little wary about going to Hinata Hyūga's birthday party. It was only two weeks ago that the three people, he believed, were his friends betrayed him. That had made him reluctant to trust anyone else besides the Hokage and Kyūbi, for the time being. He still needed to find his path in life before he got others involved.

He also didn't like all the etiquette training he had to undergo for a birthday party. Naruto had never had a birthday party since the orphanage couldn't afford to have practically year round parties. They just had a small little group event at the start of the month with some flat cake and that was that.

The Hokage seemed dejected when Naruto couldn't tell him when his birthday was and that he didn't really care that much about it. Naruto thought it was no big loss if he had to behave like a stiff board the whole time. He was under the belief that parties were supposed to be fun.

Naruto entered the compound dressed in formal attire with the Hokage. In his arms was a carefully wrapped present he had bought at the consignment store. He had no idea what a clan heiress would want and he had also blown a lot of his ryō on mochi and ramen to try and cope with the events of his first betrayal. The Hokage mentioned that Hinata's late mother had been a fan of flowers and that Hinata herself was reported to be similar to her mother.

Naruto had gone to the store to check if any more fūinjutsu scrolls or books turned up, at Kyūbi's request, when he found a book that was filled with pressed flowers that were exotic or very rare.

The book caught Kyūbi's attention because of the storage seal on the cover which revealed a scroll on medical uses of herbs and flowers, and a scroll with recipes for cooking with edible flowers. He decided to buy it for the heiress and hoped it was a sufficient gift.

He cheered up a little more when he was able to find a book on calligraphy complete with an ink and brush kit that could be used for fūinjutsu. Sadly, there was no ink with the kit and he didn't know where he would go to purchase ink or what type he should buy.

Resigned to a stuffy and unwelcome formal affair, Naruto put on his best behavior and went through the motions. The Hokage had told him that the party was mostly a way for the Clan heads to come together and show off their Heirs and Heiresses, but there was always a few hours set aside near the end of the event where children were allowed to mingle with each other.

Naruto was seated next to the Hokage near the head table in the formal dining area, which drew a lot of attention to him, something he really didn't want at the time. Naruto sat stoically with his back straight and shoulders back, as he was taught. He relaxed a little once everyone had finished studying him and he didn't sense any negative emotions.

Once all the guests were seated at their locations, Hiashi Hyūga entered the room and welcomed everyone. He then introduced Hinata as the future clan head and opened the sliding door.

A young girl around his age with short blue hair and the pale lavender eyes of the Hyūga clan bowed and entered the room. She was wearing an elaborate three layer kimono that had a white, light yellow, and lavender layers with flowers on it. She bowed once more and thanked everyone for attending with a quiet voice before taking her seat at the head table.

Hiashi announced that dinner would be served shortly, followed by the gift presentation and then tea service afterward. A few minutes later an army of Hyūga came out and began setting down the plates of food as well as pots of tea, bottles of sake, and pitchers of water and juice.

Naruto thought it odd that all the Hyūga that were bringing the food and drinks all had some kind of hat or band covering their foreheads. He also was sensing a very slight negative emotion from them, but none of those emotions were towards him.

 **"** **You are sensing a curse seal of some sort on those servants."** Kyūbi's voice cut into Naruto's thoughts. **"The Hyūga are your typical arrogant and greedy examples of humanity. They use that curse seal to force their own family members, that are deemed unworthy, into servitude."** Kyūbi said with contempt, **"All in the name of protecting the honor and secrets of their clan. With a single hand seal they can cause pain or death to those marked."**

Naruto was stuck between shock that Kyūbi bothered to be awake for this event and anger at what he just learned. Naruto stiffened his posture to help keep his stoic expression on his face.

 _'That is horrible, Kyūbi. How could they do that to their own family?'_ Naruto asked before shooting a quick glance at the Hokage.

" **The seal was designed to prevent their bloodline, the Byakugan, from falling into enemy hands when a Hyūga was captured or slain. Their Byakugan eyes allow the Hyūga to see in a complete circle around them when active. They can see through walls, objects, as well as chakra pathways and tenketsu. It can also see long distances as well."** Kyūbi said in an almost bored tone as it lectured Naruto. **"The Hyūga are also famous for their Jūken taijutsu because they can disrupt your chakra pathways and prevent you from channeling chakra or attack your insides directly with chakra powered attacks. Their Byakugan eyes are so powerful and desired; the other greedy mortals would hunt down the Hyūga only to steal their eyes. The seal makes it so that the Byakugan becomes useless when the marked Hyūga dies."** Kyūbi finished with a huff. Naruto could almost picture Kyūbi swishing his tails in displeasure.

 _'Wow, that Byakugan sounds pretty cool."_ Naruto replied as he discreetly eyed a group of Hyūga seated next to Hinata. _"...but I see a lot of other Hyūga here that don't have the mark. Doesn't that mean that they could just take their eyes instead?'_

" **Of course,"** Kyūbi said in amusement. **"That is why I said they are typical examples of humanity. They are arrogant, greedy, and cruel hypocrites claiming noble reasons for applying the seal."** Kyubi's tone took on a deeper tone typical of when he discussed things that disgusted him. **"In truth, the unmarked Hyūga call themselves the Main Family. They rule over the Branch Family who is all marked. The Main family decides all the rules for the clan, and they are the ones who decide what the Branch family is able to do. If the Branch family disagrees, they punish them by using the seal."**

 _'So they just use the seal to make the Branch family do whatever they say?'_ Naruto thought in disbelief. _"That is unbelievable! How can jiji allow this?'_

 **"** **The old monkey goat doesn't have a choice,"** Kyūbi replied. **"When the village was formed, clans were invited to join and they were allowed to make their own rules within the clan. You will learn more about this when you enter the academy."**

 _'Well thanks for telling me about the Hyūga, I learned a lot.'_

Naruto listened with half an ear as he was largely left to his own devices. The Hokage was busy talking with Shikaku and Inoichi who were sitting near him. He almost wished Kyūbi did give him the history lesson because he was bored out of his mind.

The food was pretty good, at least. He especially liked the roasted eel and the egg omelet. He let out a sigh and began to eat the stir fried vegetables. They were bland with very little seasoning, but the Hokage had reminded him that it was rude to leave food on your plate unless it could make you sick. To Naruto, that always meant he had to eat everything because he hadn't run into anything that could make him sick.

" **You can thank me for that, kit, you could probably eat most poisons and feel nothing more than a headache or a stomach ache for a few hours,"** Kyūbi said with a yawn.

 _'Well. That is pretty cool, but I will try to avoid testing that out.'_ _Naruto said with a smile._ _'It would be foolish to eat poison right?'_

Kyūbi just snorted in amusement but remained silent.

"Do you find the vegetables that good Naruto-kun?" Inoichi's voice almost caused Naruto to drop his food. "I haven't ever seen a kid smile like that eating bok choy," Inoichi said in amusement.

Naruto looked up quickly, caught by surprise, and replied "Umm... Well. They tasted like they were very... fresh." Naruto replied sheepishly, he couldn't think of anything good to say about them and hoped he didn't offend anyone.

"May I ask what had you smiling so much?" Inoichi asked curiously.

"Oh! When I went to get Hinata's birthday present, I found a fūinjutsu ink and brush set for sale. I was just thinking about how I'm gonna make all these cool seals ** _!_** " Naruto said excitedly. Not exactly a lie since his mind drifted to that book every five minutes it seemed.

"Naruto-kun, you aren't trying to make any of those seals from that book you bought earlier, right?" The Hokage asked sternly.

"No. I haven't tried to make anything, jiji. Honest." Naruto said quickly. "I did try to read the book, but I didn't understand most of it. Instead, I've just been practicing writing with a pencil. I wanted to practice with a brush, but I don't know where to get regular ink, and the set I bought didn't have any." Naruto said with a small pout.

"Good. I will find some ink for you, but only if you promise not to copy anything from the book with it. Only to practice writing with a brush." The Hokage replied.

Naruto nodded vigorously "I promise, jiji. I won't copy anything from the book."

"Fūinjutsu eh? That is quite the challenge to take on. Most people don't make it past level 2 before they give up." Inoichi said.

"I don't mind if its hard. Since I decided to take the Uzumaki name, I won't give up until I can learn all I can about Fūinjutsu." Naruto said with determination.

The conversation was halted by Hiashi calling everyone to attention. The Branch members came in and cleared all the plates and refilled all the drinks before leaving. Hiashi then announced that the gift presentation would begin.

Naruto straightened out his formal wear and got the wrapped book ready to present. Since he was a guest of the Hokage, he would have to present the gift right after him. He went over the routine in his head.

Step 1: Bow

Step 2: State his name and what the gift was

Step 3: Hand the gift with both hands in a bow

Step 4: Rise and return to his seat when the gift was taken from his hands and she accepted the gift.

Hiruzen got ready to present his gift. He wouldn't need to be so formal since his station was above Hinata, but he couldn't wait to see the reaction of everyone when Naruto revealed his last name. He would catch a lot of grief at the next council meeting; that much was certain, but seeing the reaction on everyone faces would be worth it. He also thought it would serve as a good way to subtly protect Naruto from Danzō with the threat of revealing his true heritage. Danzō knew that the village opinion would be greatly swayed against him if the idiot villagers learned the truth. Of course, the threat of Iwa and possibly Kumo might negate that protection, but the threat might be enough to force the war hawk to back off.

Hiruzen wished Hinata a happy birthday and handed her a small parcel which she accepted and thanked him for.

Naruto walked up next and bowed.

"I, Naruto Uzumaki, present to you a book of pressed rare and exotic flowers. There are also two scrolls sealed on the cover. One which has medical uses for flowers and herbs, and one for cooking with flowers." Naruto said in, what he imagined, was a very serious and proper voice.

Naruto held the book out to Hinata and waited.

Hinata was stunned that this boy happened to give her exactly what she wanted for her birthday. Hinata preferred simple things, and she was expecting to receive elaborate gifts that she would have to label and bring out for clan visits. Her mother had told her once about visiting the gardens in a foreign village and seeing some of the rare flowers there. Hinata loved flowers, and she couldn't wait to see what kinds of flowers were in the book.

"Thank you, Naruto Uzumaki. I accept this gift." Hinata reached out and grabbed the book and gave Naruto a big smile.

Naruto smiled back and returned to his seat. He let out a breath of relief, he didn't screw it up too badly and embarrass the Hokage. He thought he did something bad when he presented his gift because of all the gasps of shock and whispers that began once he presented his gift to Hinata. There were even some negative emotions from people, but he couldn't tell who because he was bowing to Hinata at the time. He figured he was okay since she smiled and accepted the gift.

" **Relax, kit. They were surprised by your name, not because of your gift."** Kyūbi said in a calming tone. **"Remember, I told you that the Uzumaki name was powerful and feared."**

' _Oh man, I thought no one would get mad about that.'_ Naruto replied nervously

" **Bah, who cares what those fools think. Don't forget that following other fools beliefs it is what caused you problems with those betraying trash."** Kyūbi said in a serious tone.

 _'I know, Kyūbi. I will become a strong shinobi and fūinjutsu master to honor the Uzumaki name, but until I am strong, I have to be careful.'_ Naruto replied softly. _'I don't want to get attacked again until I can protect myself.'_

" **The old monkey goat will not allow it to happen. Plus you have the cat masked, crow masked, and human masked guards."** Kyūbi said in a reassuring tone.

 _'Human masked? You mean Saru? ….Oh, I get it that was really funny Kyūbi.'_ Naruto replied flatly

" **Humans are nothing more than slightly smarter monkeys. Disgusting creatures made worse by how they almost joyfully embrace of foul traits like greed, deception, and violence."** Kyūbi said as he started his usual rant against humanity.

Naruto just sighed and blocked his thoughts for a moment. Kyūbi had so much hatred for humans. Naruto wondered if he would ever be able to stop him from doing so. He didn't seem to hate him anymore, so he guessed it was working, but it looked like he would have to work a lot harder.

 _'Well. You don't hate me anymore, right? Maybe someday you won't hate other humans too?'_ Naruto said hopefully. _'There are a lot of humans in the world. There have to be some that you won't hate right away.'_

 **"** **You are correct.** ** _You_** **have earned my respect and as such I do not despise you any longer, but do not be so foolish to believe that I will extend that same courtesy to any others."** Kyūbi said adamantly before he added, **"Our situation is a special case."**

Meanwhile, Hiruzen was observing the reactions of all the Clan heads and members present to take note of any potential hostilities towards Naruto.

Danzō didn't show anything, as usual, but he was studying the boy out of the corner of his eye.

Homura and Koharu had exchanged brief conversation with each other in whispers and were now openly staring at Naruto.

Fugaku exchanged words with his wife Mikoto, who studied Naruto for a few moments then whispered something back. It was likely Fugaku knew for sure now since Mikoto was close to Kushina. He wasn't letting anything show on his face, however. Hiruzen was surprised that young Sasuke Uchiha wasn't at the party.

Chōza had looked at Inoichi and Shikaku for a moment. Both of the men merely nodded and Chōza left it at that. That was usually how it worked with the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Chōza wasn't stupid by any means, but he usually left most of the strategies and deduction to Shikaku or Inoichi while he defended them. The same thing applied to politics, for the most part.

Shibi didn't appear to respond at all, but Hiruzen knew that he was running through the probabilities in his mind. Shibi was just as analytical as Shikaku was for the most part.

Tsume had eyed the boy as well, then began scolding Kiba for not sitting up straight and fidgeting around. Hiruzen surmised that Tsume had probably analyzed his scent and learned the truth as well, if not she certainly would after the gift exchange.

Hiruzen looked over at Naruto. He was impressed that they boy had remained so still and well-behaved. Naruto had been quite stoic, for the most part, but that face had slipped more and more as he was overcome by his boredom.

He appeared to be looking at Hinata but had a far off look on his face. Hiruzen was certain he was daydreaming about fūinjutsu again. At least, he was remaining still instead of fidgeting with things or making faces like most other children did. Hiruzen's attention was drawn away when Shikaku began speaking to him.

Naruto, unaware that Hiruzen had been watching him, had decided to try and jump into his mindscape without closing his eyes or meditating due to a typical moment of childishness triggered by excessive boredom.

He successfully entered the mindscape to see Kyūbi studying him with one eye open before promptly snorting at his foolishness and closing his eye. Naruto was starting to be able to understand the meaning of the different snorts from Kyūbi.

"I'm surprised you aren't growling at me to go back out or something. Aren't you worried about me getting caught?" Naruto asked. He started to change his mindscape into a forest scene.

 **"** **Hmph. It is good training for you to be able to do this, however, when the old monkey goat catches you staring off into space mindlessly, I will not assist you in trying to explain it. You are the one who has the promise to keep."** Kyūbi said snidely.

"I know, it's just so boring out there right now. Even you have to admit how bad it is." Naruto whined.

Kyubi just flicked his tails briefly before wrapping them around his body once more.

"Oh well, I guess I'll just go back out then. Did you want to sleep? I will practice blocking my thoughts if you want." Naruto asked.

" **Hah! I am quite capable of ignoring you if I wish, kit."** Kyūbi said with a huff. **"Don't flatter yourself."**

"I know, but that doesn't mean I won't do it anyways." Naruto replied with a grin and waved as he disappeared.

Kyūbi just huffed once more in amusement.

Naruto exited the mindscape and peeked around. Most people were focused on Hinata and it looked like nobody noticed his little trip. He just sighed and decided to have some tea to keep himself occupied.

Then he realized he had been lucky that he was facing towards Hinata when he entered the mindscape. He frowned into his teacup with that thought. He didn't even think about that before trying. He had to remember to think about where he was facing the next time he did something like that. It was hard trying to hide all these different things from people all the time, but he made a promise to Kyūbi.

He then wondered what he looked like when he did that. He was sure his eyes weren't closed but did something weird happen when he did it? Kyūbi had reminded him that time went slower while he was in the mindscape, so maybe people couldn't notice what he was doing. He wondered if he could enter his mindscape while moving. If time was slower inside the mindscape, did that mean he would walk slower too? That would probably look really funny.

After a few more hours passed, the gift presentations were finished and Hiashi announced the final tea service of the evening. Several branch member ladies came out to perform Tea Ceremony for each table of guests while other branch members placed down plates of various desserts.

Naruto had never seen or heard of most of the desserts and managed to polish off most of the communal plate, much to Hiruzen's amusement. Once the woman at their table finished making his cup of tea, he received it and thanked the woman. He drank it slowly as his nervousness came back. Soon he and the other kids would be excused into the gardens while the adults remained to talk with each other.

A few Branch member Hyūga entered the room and stood at attention. Once all the tables had received their tea service, they announced that they were setting up games for the children in the gardens. Naruto looked over at the Hokage, who gave him a nod of encouragement. Naruto stood and followed the other kids outside.

He immediately went towards Shikamaru who was standing with Choji and another kid he hadn't seen before. This kid had wild brown hair and two red marks under his eyes that traveled down toward his chin. Naruto perked up when he saw that, it meant one less kid to pick on his whisker marks.

"Hi Shikamaru, Choji!" Naruto greeted. He turned towards the other kid. "Hi, my name is Naruto, what is yours?"

"Hi Naruto, my name is Kiba, clan heir of the Inuzuka clan," Kiba replied.

Naruto didn't sense anything bad from Kiba and was relieved. "It was nice to meet you Kiba. What do you guys think of the party?"

"The food was really good, for the most part, and the cakes, but there wasn't nearly enough," Choji replied.

"Yea. Hokage-jiji even gave me most of the desserts at our table and I am still hungry." Naruto agreed.

Shikamaru merely yawned "I really hate these formal affairs. I just hope the games are fun."

"Yea. I rather go back home too. I just got my ninken Akamaru and they wouldn't let me bring him. He's going to be my ninja partner, so he should have been allowed." Kiba said.

"Wow! That's really cool ** _!_** You got a ninken already?" Naruto asked.

"Yea!" Kiba puffed up with pride "I got Akamaru a little earlier than I usually would, but Akamaru came from some of the best ninken and my mom said I could use more responsibilities, whatever that means." Kiba finished with a shrug.

"Troublesome. That just means you have more work to do." Shikamaru said

"I don't mind if it's for Akamaru," Kiba replied. "Once he grows up he will be able to help me out on a lot of things."

A young girl with long blond hair, wearing a purple kimono, approached the group.

"Hi Ino." Shikamaru and Choji said in unison.

"Hi guys, who are these guys with you?" the girl Ino said before looking over Naruto and Kiba.

"Ino, this is Naruto," Shikamaru pointed at Naruto who bowed slightly. "and this is Kiba." Kiba just nodded his head.

"This is Ino Yamanaka, Inoichi is her dad," Shikamaru said.

Ino studied them for a moment then asked, "What is with those weird markings on your faces?"

Naruto frowned, he hoped she wasn't one of _those_ people.

Kiba seemed indignant. "Hey! They aren't weird, these are my clan marks! All the Inuzuka clan heads and heirs have them."

"What about you then?" Ino said as she turned towards Naruto.

"I don't know. I was told that I was born with them," Naruto said curtly.

"Well? Is it some kinda bloodline? I've never seen someone with marks like that before." Ino said in a demanding tone.

"I don't know," Naruto replied shortly. He was starting to get annoyed by this girl.

Ino didn't like Naruto's tone of voice and was getting annoyed as well. How could she gossip about this boy to Sakura if he didn't give her any information!

"Wouldn't your parents know? Why didn't you ask them? Do they have them too?" Ino said with her hands on her hips.

"I wouldn't know. I don't have any parents. They died when I was born." Naruto said in a cold tone.

"Oh. Sorry about that," Ino said offhandedly.

" **Quite the rude and selfish creature, isn't she. Much different than the stupid fool who entered your mind and thought to barter with me as if he were an equal."** Kyūbi said with a growl.

 _'Yea, I don't like her very much either.'_ Naruto said in agreement. _'She acts like she is better than me or something and she doesn't even know me.'_

The group was then approached by Hinata and a branch member she introduced as her cousin Neji who greeted everyone politely. She thanked them for attending and bowed. It looked like she was going to say something else when another Branch member came up and interrupted her.

"Hinata-sama! Hiashi-sama said that I was not allowed to let you remain outside for long at night." The Branch lady said while bowing.

Neji glared at the woman and looked ready to reply before Hinata placed her hand on his forearm.

Hinata looked a little sad "Thank you again for attending. I'm sorry I didn't get to speak with you guys more." Hinata turned towards the branch member. "It's okay, Tomi, I will return to the main hall." Hinata left with Neji and the branch member right afterward.

"Wow. They didn't even let us talk to them for a minute. That's kinda messed up!" Kiba remarked.

"Yea, my dad says that the Hyūga are real sticks in the mud. They always have to be proper and noble in front of everyone because they care more about what people think of them than anything else." Choji said.

"That sounds boring. Don't they get to play and have fun at all?" Naruto asked.

"They probably only play in the clan compound with other clan children. My dad told me that some ninjas from Kumo came and tried to kidnap Hinata when she was younger. Maybe they don't let her out because they might try and take her again." Shikamaru said.

Naruto felt somewhat sorry for Hinata. He didn't know what he would do if he couldn't, at least, go out and play.

Naruto noticed one kid standing off by himself with brown hair and black glasses. He couldn't see his face because of the high collar on his coat. Naruto decided to walk over and introduce himself.

"Hi, my name is Naruto, what is yours?" He asked cheerily.

The boy looked at him a moment then replied. "My name is Shino."

"Nice to meet you Shino, what are you doing over here by yourself.?" Naruto asked.

The boy was silent for a few minutes which began to make Naruto think he didn't hear him or something. He was also sensing some negative emotions for the kid directed towards him, but it was another feeling he had not had directed at him before either which made him a little nervous.

"My kikaichū are telling me that you are dangerous and that I should avoid contact," Shino said before he walked away.

'Well then. That was a first.' Naruto thought as he watched Shino move away. 'At least, he wasn't mean about it. I guess that feeling I sensed was him being scared?'

" **The insect hive boy was not scared of you directly. The bugs that live within his body sensed me and were afraid. The Aburame clan are known for having chakra draining bugs that live within their bodies. The bugs defend their host bodies and provide lots of different jutsu for them to use, as well as tracking and spying capabilities. In return, the host bodies provide safety for the bugs and chakra for them to eat.** Kyūbi interjected.

 _'So the bugs are their weapons and they can talk with bugs, that's kinda cool I guess. I don't know how I would feel about the bugs crawling around inside of me, though.'_ Naruto replied with some interest.

" **The Aburame listen closely to their bugs. Since that one was still a young kit, he is probably still greatly affected by the emotions of his bugs. They would fear me greatly as my chakra is corrosive and would kill their entire hive easily."** Kyūbi replied.

 _'Right. So Shino probably won't be friends with me, but he won't be an enemy either.'_

Naruto played some of the games with the others and overall the night was somewhat fun. Ino wouldn't say anything else to Naruto for the rest of the night. Naruto was actually happy about that for once she was really rude to him and Kiba, but she seemed to be friends with Shikamaru and Choji.

They would not see Hinata for the rest of the night, either. He couldn't believe that she wouldn't be able to play the games they set up. Naruto guessed that it must be because it was a formal party since The Hokage told him that most people have fun celebrations on their birthdays.

The Hokage came over and greeted the group of kids asking them what they thought of the party and if they had fun. After some small talk, the Hokage told Naruto that it was time for them to leave. Naruto said his farewells to everyone and followed the Hokage towards the compound entrance.

He didn't notice the look of surprise on Ino's face when the Hokage patted Naruto's head affectionately as they were leaving or Hinata watching him from her bedroom window as he departed the compound.

 **1 hour later - Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

As Naruto settled down for bed, he reviewed how things went for the night. The party wasn't as much of a waste of time as thought it would be.

He got to meet Kiba, who seemed like he could be a friend. He also had fun with Shikamaru and Choji, even if he was practically ignored by Ino the whole time. He didn't know what her problem was. Her dad seemed really nice to him. He never really understood girls anyways.

The only girl who he really interacted with was Makoto and that just made him feel the pain of her betrayal again, so he just squashed that thought.

He needed to worry about his path in life more than what other people thought about him. He wouldn't seek out friends like he did in the past. He would be himself and if people wanted to be friends with him then he would.

 **"** **Now you are starting to understand, kit,"** Kyūbi said in approval. **"You don't need to be friends with that lowly filth, they simply need to treat you with respect."**

Naruto entered the mindscape and plopped down on the grass that started to appear next to Kyūbi.

Kyūbi shifted his head from his left paw to rest on his right paw and looked at Naruto.

"I use to worry so much about what everyone thought about me," Naruto said with a shake of his head. "In the end, it just caused me so much pain and for what?"

" **What about your grand quest to remove all the negative emotions in the world,"** Kyūbi asked with a raised brow. **"Have you forgotten that already?"**

"I never said I would get rid of all the negative emotions." Naruto pointed out. "I said that the bad feeling I had all my life is what caused all my problems. In a way, I was right about that since that bad feeling was actually you being sealed in me and your negative emotions." Naruto explained.

" **So, you are gonna lay the blame at my feet for all your problems, is that it?"** Kyūbi raised his head and snarled.

Naruto shot up from the ground. "No! I know it's not your fault ** _!_** "

Naruto looked down at the ground and fidgeted with the bottom of his pajama shirt.

"When I was little, I acted out on those feelings because I didn't understand what they were, but even if I didn't understand, it was still my fault for doing those things. Once I learned it was wrong I stopped but that didn't matter. There were still people who didn't like me for no reason." Naruto shook his head.

"As I got older I tried to be friends with everyone to get rid of that bad feeling. I was willing to do things I didn't really want to do, just so that other people would think good things about me." Naruto clenched his fist. "It helped the feeling go away for a little while, but it never went away for good and look what it led me to."

Naruto took a breath to squelch the anger that was about to rise and continued "The only thing that made that feeling go away, in the end, was earning your respect. The only way I did that was by standing up for myself and finally deciding to start worrying more about myself instead of others for a change."

Naruto sat back down on the grass and looked Kyūbi in the eyes. "I don't have to become selfish, but I am not going to worry about what others think either. I can't change others by doing what they want. Only they can decide if they want to change in the end. "

Naruto closed his eyes and smirked, "Maybe you are right about humans after all. It seems that we need to be selfish to some degree in order to be happy." Naruto concluded before shrugging. "I guess it's just how we are."

" **Hah. You have learned quite quickly there kit, but do not compare yourself to the rest of the scum of humanity. You do have me inside of you, after all, which makes you exponentially greater."** Kyūbi said in amusement as he swished his tails lazily.

" **However, you left out some things in your little speech. Tell me how the old monkey goat and the short haired vixen you call your neechan factor into your little theory. There is also the cause of the attack on your person that lead to our meeting and the situation you are in now."**

"Well, Hokage-jiji has to care for me since he is the Hokage, after all. I know having you inside me is apart of it, but sometimes I see sadness when he looks at me. Like you told me a few times, he has been hiding things from me but I don't think he's doing it to be mean. I probably have to prove to him that he can trust me with those things."

"Shizune-nee was ordered by the Hokage to care for me, but I think she is just a nice lady overall and since shes not one of the stupid ones, she doesn't hate me because I haven't done anything bad to her," Naruto added.

Naruto bit his lip in thought for a few minutes before speaking again. "As for why I was attacked, I don't know for sure. A lot of people hate me because I have you inside of me, but I have a feeling that it started because of Nonō. People weren't kind to me, but they never were angry or hated me. Then those three helped me to unlock my chakra and told me that Nonō noticed it." Naruto sighed before he continued. "The next year people began to hate me all of the sudden and I noticed Nonō would be watching me with the other three a lot when she wouldn't even look at me before. Then when I went to visit the orphanage, she told me where to find them after they were adopted. That's when I noticed the negative emotions coming from her.

 **"** **You are correct,"** Kyūbi stated. **"Even the cat masked guard sensed something from her when she told you that. I would say that all those events were caused by this Danzō fool and that group called Root."**

"Do you think I should talk to Hokage-jiji about it?" Naruto asked.

 **"** **The old monkey goat is aware of the situation,"** Kyūbi said nonchalantly. **"You and the others did not notice that the human masked guard was not the only one watching you on the day of your betrayal. The crow masked guard was hidden in the trees listening."**

"I forgot all about that!" Naruto exclaimed before he palmed his face. "Neko told me there was always two Anbu with me at all times."

" **Remember that. You have to be more careful about speaking with me in public. They are still suspicious of you, even if they are kind. This is how ninjas work in this world. If you plan to become a shinobi you will need to be capable of the same thing."** Kyūbi lectured.

Naruto yawned sleepily. "Yea I know, I still have problems with it but if it's to protect someone or to stop something bad from happening, I guess its okay to do so. I don't have to like it, though."

Kyūbi lowered his head and closed his eyes as he sensed Naruto beginning to drift off.


	10. The Sojourn of Youth

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

edit 4/20/16

 **Chapter 9**

 **The Sojourn of Youth**

 **6 years later – Konoha Shinobi Academy**

* * *

12 year old Naruto entered the classroom an hour early and sat near the back corner or the room, plopping down in the seat closest to the windows. He always arrived early to claim his spot in order to avoid as much confrontation with the civilian kids as possible.

Most of the people in the village still held disdain towards him, but their hatred had seemed to cool since he kept mostly to himself. Naruto had adopted a stoic and serious demeanor as time progressed, which he felt contributed to the change in the village's overall behavior.

If they saw the "damn Kyūbi brat" jumping for joy that would only fuel their anger, but if said Kyūbi brat was beneath their notice, most of the idiots would be capable of finally moving on past their grief. There were still clusters of idiots throughout the village who hated his very being with a passion, but the Kyūbi laws prevented any open hostilities against him.

He could still be cheery on occasion when he was with his close friends in a private setting. If they were anywhere in public, however, he would tone himself down so he could avoid attracting attention. While he would give a big grin and a laugh at a joke inside of his friend's home, that same joke in a restaurant would equate to a soft smile.

He had grown quite a bit over the past six years. He was now sitting at 5' even with the promise of even more growth. His golden yellow hair was still wildly spiky but he wore it a little bit longer than before and he now had two side bangs that hung down in front of his ears to frame his face. It was a shorter version of the style he had seen on a picture of the Yondaime, with thinner side bangs. His sapphire blue eyes were still large, but they were sharper than before and his whisker marks were a little more defined.

He still wore his precious orange coat with blue ¾ length pants and blue combat sandals. Sadly, his coat was to get replaced after today, as promised. He knew it didn't really match his impassive nature now, but he still loved orange with a passion and he would admit he had his stubborn streaks.

His relationship with Kurama, aka Kyūbi, had progressed by leaps and bounds once he entered the academy and begin training four years ago. Kurama had started helping him to identify the negative emotions he was sensing around him and he was now starting to become proficient at sensing the negative emotions between other people.

Kurama still mostly controlled that aspect of his senses, fortunately. He had handed control over to Naruto one morning when Naruto asked Kurama why he needed to control it. That was quite an interesting but overwhelming experience.

Interesting because he could tell that his neighbor's wife was pissed at her husband and her husband was lying to her about something. Overwhelming because he could also sense every bad thing that everyone was feeling throughout the village, at the same time.

After that event, Naruto was glad that Kurama had been controlling it. Kurama had been slowly handing control over to Naruto over the past 4 years and would officially hand control over to him if he graduates today.

Kurama had also improved his overall senses, gradually, over the years. Now he could see much further and was able to see in low light conditions. He could hear things clearer and from further away. Plus, he could smell things in such detail and follow them for some distance.

He still needed Kurama's help to identify most sounds and scents that he would pick up, and Kurama had to filter stronger sounds and scents so that Naruto wouldn't become overwhelmed by them. Kurama had been helping fine tune his control of those senses as well. He was getting better, but would still get caught off guard by his heightened senses from time to time.

Kurama had told him about his parents at the end of his second year at the academy, and what happened on the night of his birth. This had been the main reason his for his change in behavior over the years from cheery to stoic and serious.

Naruto now viewed most of the villagers with contempt. Kurama's constant degradation and disdain of humanity in general probably wasn't helping either, but he couldn't help it when the villagers held his father in such high regard but treated his son as some lesser being if not with outright hatred.

Learning the truth about his parents had also strained his relationship with the Hokage. Naruto was pissed at him for a few weeks but Kurama had helped him put things in perspective and eventually Naruto forgave the man. He still saw him as a grandfatherly figure, but Naruto no longer craved his attention like he did in the past. His guilt at deceiving the man about Kurama and other things had also lessened to a degree. He still didn't like lying to the man, but he no longer stressed out about it.

Naruto had been successful in keeping the knowledge about his contact with Kurama a secret. He had some tense meetings with the Hokage and Inoichi in the past two years when his attitude changed. With Kurama's help, he had been able to convince them that his changes in demeanor were just due to him growing up and his experiences at the academy.

If he had to mention Kurama for some reason, he would still refer to him as "the Kyūbi". It irked Naruto that they referred to Kurama as an object. Kurama was the one being he trusted completely and being able to sense his emotions proved to Naruto that he was more than just some "thing" instead of a sentient being.

Kurama, with some help from the Hokage, had greatly helped Naruto with his Fūinjutsu training. Naruto felt he was progressing nicely, even if some of his other skills had suffered for it at first. He was now able to make storage seals, gravity seals (for weight training), barrier seal tags, light seals, and he was in the early stages of explosive tags which would right now only created a blinding flash.

He had also just started learning how to create seal arrays with his chakra, instead of requiring ink and paper, but he still needed to practice applying them to objects and people. Kurama wouldn't let him write any seals on his skin just yet since he needed a way to test them on living beings first, which Naruto wasn't too keen on.

There wasn't much he was learning in the Academy that Kurama could help him on anyways. Kurama didn't know any ninjutsu since he was a being of chakra that could simply manipulate it into any element or shape he desired.

The taijutsu that Kurama could show him was only useful for fox shaped beings with tails and wouldn't help Naruto at all at this time. Until he was capable of bonding with Kurama to the point that he could enter his bijū form, he wouldn't be capable of learning the most advanced moves Kurama had invented on his own. According to Kurama, it wasn't possible for him because he was too young to use that much of Kurama's chakra and he needed the key in order to open the seal and bond his chakra with Kurama's completely.

Kurama theorized that some of his taijutsu might be useful for when Naruto managed to manifest a chakra cloak with multiple tails, but he hadn't even had the chance to train using Kurama's chakra for fear of discovery.

Kurama estimated that his body could probably handle one tail worth for about 10 minutes before Naruto would start taking severe damage. While Kurama could heal that damage easily, it would still leave Naruto vulnerable afterward he dispersed the cloak. The only way to increase that would be to channel his chakra more often leading to the village going into a panic.

Really all he had to show for ninja skills from the academy was his Academy taijutsu style, bukijutsu, trap making, ninja tool usage, and basic knowledge he had learned from books the Hokage had given to him and quizzed him on.

He wasn't the greatest at taijutsu or bukijutsu because of all the sabotage attempts on his education during his first two years at the academy.

That bastard teacher had tried his best to screw Naruto over by putting genjutsu on him or his papers during quizzes and exams. If it wasn't for Kurama dispelling them, he would have failed on those tests badly. The bastard would still give him detention for stupid reasons or if he tried to defend himself against the civilian kids who tried to bully him.

The taijutsu instructor would constantly teach him the wrong katas and stances. This went on for a few months until one of his normal Sunday visits with the Hokage. The Hokage asked Naruto to show him what he had learned so far and Naruto started to display his taijutsu forms. His stances and katas were so wrong that they were completely unrecognizable to the Hokage. When Naruto showed the Hokage his notes and explained what the instructor showed him, the Hokage was furious.

When school started the next week, the class was introduced to a new taijutsu instructor and Naruto's scores began to improve in that area, with some help from Karasu.

The bukijutsu instructor would give him faulty and unbalanced shuriken and kunai to use, which would damage his accuracy tests badly. Karasu gave him two scrolls full of training shuriken and kunai to use once he had seen what the instructor was trying to do. After a few weeks of tutoring after class, Karasu had helped him improve enough that his final score wasn't affected.

Naruto reminisced about Karasu with those thoughts. Baku had suddenly been assigned to his Anbu guard in the middle of his first year, and Naruto never saw Karasu again. Naruto was quite saddened when he found out because Karasu would sometimes "play" hide and seek with him when he didn't have anyone to meet with for the day.

Naruto would "stumble" across his hiding location and look at him for a moment before Karasu would vanish and reappear somewhere else and Naruto would try to find him again, much to Neko's amusement.

While he was not as openly friendly as Neko, he still helped Naruto with his taijutsu and bukijutsu. Naruto knew he wouldn't have received a passing score that first year if it wasn't for him.

It took Naruto two years to correlate Karasu's disappearance with the Uchiha Incident. He hoped that Karasu was simply reassigned but when asked, the Hokage would just tell him he couldn't discuss Anbu secrets with him.

The last thing he had to remember Karasu by was a scroll he had found in his apartment the day Karasu disappeared. It had a note that told him to open the scroll on the day of his graduation test. Naruto eagerly opened the scroll this morning to reveal a note wishing him luck on his test, and a storage scroll full with live kunai, shuriken, and various ninja tools he would need. Neko would arrive that morning with a set of weapons for him to use as well, but Naruto decided to use the ones Karasu gave him instead.

Overall, Naruto placed 3rd below Sasuke Uchiha and Shino Aburame for the male students when the first two years came to an end. Last year, however, his ranking got worse. Naruto had trouble with the Henge no Jutsu (Transformation) for most of the year and outright failed to perform the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone technique).

No matter what Naruto did his Bunshin always came out dead and pale looking. He practiced all throughout the year and during the break before this year started but he still couldn't Bunshin if his life depended on it. Because of that damn Bunshin, he had fallen in ranking to 4th place for the boys. Which meant that he was just above the dead last spot if you ignored the civilian kids.

The Hokage and Kurama had started him on chakra control exercises that he shouldn't have learned, yet, and it helped improve his Henge, but he still wasn't good enough to get the Bunshin down. Kurama said it would probably require high-level elemental chakra control exercises before he could manage a regular Bunshin.

Lucky for him, the Hokage had told him that he could use his seals for extra credit and still pass the exam today. If he scored high enough on all his other tests, his seals should provide him with more than enough points. He brought his brush set and some blank tags and scrolls just for that reason.

The teacher who took over their class last year, Iruka Umino, seemed to be a kind man in contrast with the large scar across his nose. He treated Naruto with indifference, for the most part. His assistant was Mizuki Shin, whom Naruto regarded with suspicion because he had always sensed something negative from him last year but this year he didn't sense anything from him at all. He couldn't be sure if he had simply shifted his opinion or if Kurama had blocked his emotions for a reason.

Naruto knew that Kurama would test his senses on occasion, to make sure he kept up with his observational skills, but he wasn't certain if Mizuki was planning anything negative towards him since he never acted strangely around him.

His attention was drawn to the front of the class when Iruka arrived and called for everyone's attention. The room had filled with the remaining students while he was reminiscing and all that was left was the introduction and attendance.

"Good Morning, class! Welcome to the graduation exam for the Shinobi Academy for Groups A through D. I will begin with attendance, please respond when you hear your name called." Iruka said.

"Aburame, Shino," Iruka said.

"Present," Shino replied.

Naruto's first interaction with Shino had been strange, to say the least, but during his first year at the academy, Shino had approached him during recess one day and apologized for his behavior. Naruto didn't sense any fear or disdain from him so he accepted the apology and while they weren't exactly friends, they treated each other with mutual respect which was fine with Naruto.

"Akimichi, Choji"

"Here sensei," Choji replied.

Naruto's relationship with Choji was friendly. He would hang out with Choji and Shikamaru on the weekends, sometimes, and either join Shikamaru on his cloud watching, or go to the all you can eat special at Yakiniku-Q with Choji.

Occasionally, he would even convince them to play ninja for a few hours. Sometimes when the class was really boring, or in Naruto's case the teachers were being particularly malicious, he would skip class with Shikamaru and Choji.

"Haruno, Sakura"

"Here Iruka-sensei." the rabid pink haired banshee replied.

Naruto was particularly amused by the name Kurama had given her. His introduction to Sakura had been really bad and his relationship with her was worse. Naruto sensed nothing but hatred and loathing from her towards him.

The reason for it all? The so-called smartest kunoichi didn't even question her mother at all when she was told that Naruto, at the tender age of 6, had made her father disappear during the Kyūbi festival. While her mother had been careful not to reveal his jinchūriki status, she had made this elaborate story, placing all the blame on Naruto, about how her daddy dearest had vanished without a trace.

Naruto was hurt at first by the accusations, but no matter how he tried to convince her that he had never even met her father, Sakura refused to believe him and would constantly belittle him and insult him whenever she could.

He eventually just started to avoid her by the start of the second year.

"Hyūga, Hinata"

"Here sensei," Hinata replied.

Hinata was friendly to Naruto if a little shy.

Naruto was naturally inclined towards her since she had regularly beat out Sakura for the top kunoichi spot. It pleased him to see Sakura get all worked up when the scores were posted. It was fun to watch Hinata wipe the floor with Sakura or Ino during taijutsu spars, but he also recognized that she would probably beat him pretty badly as well. Hinata was really good with her family style.

He didn't get to interact with her too often because she was always escorted to and from the Hyūga compound by the Branch slaves (as Naruto called them).

When they had group projects or ran into each other in class or during recess, she was always cordial to him. She had mentioned, once, that the book he had given her on her birthday was still her favorite present to date, much to his surprise. Apparently the scrolls that had come with them had some rare knowledge and the book held her late mother's favorite flower.

"Inuzuka, Kiba"

"Here!" Kiba replied.

Kiba was a casualty of the Sakura club it seemed. While Naruto did not sense outright hatred from him, he sensed disdain and aggression for some reason. Kurama had hinted that it was an emotion that revolved around how dogs worked in groups but Naruto couldn't understand why that would matter so much.

Kiba, who had been friendly with Naruto since Hinata's party, began to mock and tease him after the start of the second year at the academy. Once the new taijutsu teacher came in and Karasu began to help him during practice, he started to become capable of going toe to toe with Kiba during a sparring match. After that, Kiba became hostile towards him. He would also tease and mock him about his problems with Bunshin and Henge.

Interestingly enough, Akamaru would still come up to Naruto on odd occasions for a pat on the head. Usually, when Kiba was too distracted to notice, but sometimes Akamaru would come over to him when Kiba was watching as if he wanted to piss him off. It seemed whatever emotion regarding dogs Kurama was talking about didn't apply to the actual dog itself.

A few groups of civilian children were called on for attendance. Naruto would be surprised if they passed. Half the civilian kids dropped out after last year and there were only a dozen or so of them left in their group. The rabid pink haired banshee being the most capable of them.

"Nara, Shikamaru"

"Here sensei," Shikamaru replied.

Shikamaru still regularly defeated him at shogi, but Naruto would occasionally beat him. He even started to use his thinking pose against Naruto more. Shikamaru would have probably beaten him in ranking if he didn't skip out on class or sleep through most of it.

"Uchiha, Sasuke."

"Here" Sasuke replied.

Naruto was neutral toward Sasuke. He sensed a lot of anger and hatred from Sasuke, but it was never directed at him so he just left him alone.

He couldn't feel too surprised that he was full of anger and hatred. When your clan was reported to be wiped out by your own brother, leaving you alive only to be tormented with a sophisticated genjutsu that replayed the killings for three days. Naruto felt that Sasuke had a right to be pissed.

Sasuke actually reminded him a lot about how Kurama was filled with hate when he first met him. Naruto would never let Kurama hear that thought unless he wanted to another rant about the damn Uchiha and their eyes. Kurama really hated any Uchiha and he couldn't blame him since it was two different Uchiha that had screwed him over.

"Uzumaki, Naruto"

"Here sensei," Naruto called out.

"Yamanaka, Ino"

"I'm here," Ino called out.

His first meeting with Ino had been bad, but after Hinata's party, Ino had started to show up on Saturdays and had at least been polite to him. That changed after the Academy started when Sakura revealed her sob story. Ino was Sakura's best friend and immediately took Sakura's side.

She eventually had a falling out with Sakura over Sasuke, and hadn't really bothered Naruto anymore, but she also hadn't apologized. Naruto just ignored her for the most part.

"Okay, that concludes roll call for today. The first part of the graduation exam is being handed out by Mizuki right now when I say start, you will have one hour to complete as much of the test as you can. Any talking or other disturbance during this time will be viewed as an attempt at cheating and you will be disqualified." Iruka said.

"Once you feel you have completed your test, raise your hand and Mizuki or I will come by and collect your exam. You will then proceed to the target range and wait for the bukijutsu exam. You may not practice any throwing at this time. The targets are fresh so we will notice." Iruka said.

Mizuki quickly handed out the papers to everyone and then moved to the back of the classroom to observe.

"Okay everyone, the test starts now," Iruka said as he started a timer.

Naruto went through his test and was feeling pretty confident. He hadn't run into anything that required him to pause and think for a long time. He had always scored really well on written exams and quizzes. Naruto completed his test shortly after Shino did. They both raised their hands for Iruka to come claim their exams.

Once that was done, they both walked out towards the target range. Without a word Shino went off towards a nearby tree and sat down at the base. Naruto spotted Shikamaru laid out on one of the hay bales used to catch stray shuriken and kunai.

'Probably cloud watching' Naruto thought. He moved over to sit next to him and pulled out his notebook to start working on some Reverse Gravity seal arrays he was attempting to create.

One of the lessons he had found in the fūinjutsu book he bought long ago were techniques on reversing and linking seals together. He didn't really have any seals he could attempt to link, just yet, so that just left him with attempting to reverse a seal. Sensor seals, privacy seals, security seals were beyond his range of talents at the moment and those were the ones that were most commonly linked.

Shikamaru looked over and saw Naruto scribbling away in his notebook. "What are you up to, Naruto?"

"Huh?" Naruto looked up from his notebook and saw Shikamaru looking at him.

"I asked, what are you are up to?" Shikamaru repeated.

"Oh sorry," Naruto said sheepishly, "I have been working on reversing a gravity seal to see if I could make objects less affected by gravity in some way."

"Ah. No wonder you didn't hear me." Shikamaru replied before turning his gaze back up to the sky. "You always seem to zone out when you're working on your crazy seals."

Naruto chuckled "Yea. It's funny how circular your thoughts can get when you're working on seals. Maybe that's why all seals have a circular pattern to them to some degree." Naruto said with a shrug, "Here I am working on reversing a seal while I'm thinking about the theory behind linking two seals together and then eventually reversing them. If it works, I could do some really interesting things."

"What kind of things were you thinking about?" Shikamaru asked. Shikamaru found some of the concepts Naruto described regarding fūinjutsu intriguing. He didn't feel like going through all the work of writing and testing, but the theories were always fun to analyze.

"Well. If I can finish the explosive tags, then I should have the foundation I need to create chakra storage seals, since explosive tags are like lesser chakra storage seals." Naruto explained as he continued to scrawl in his notebook, "I can then combine a chakra storage seal with barrier seal tags, so that I could apply tags to an area to create a barrier and instead of having to feed my chakra to the tags manually, the barrier tag could draw the chakra off the storage seal instead." Naruto replied.

"That makes sense, but how would reversing that work?" Shikamaru said as he pondered the possible changes that could come from what Naruto described.

"I am thinking that it would create an area that would drain someone's chakra to act as a chakra draining prison." Naruto said excitedly then he frowned as he thought about it more. "Or it could cause a chakra draining chain reaction and suck the chakra out of everything in the area. That could be really bad if it used the chakra it sucked out to keep expanding." Naruto hummed as he considered the ramifications of such a seal. "Theoretically, it could continue to grow until there was no more chakra left in the world."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Kami. Fūinjutsu really is troublesome."

Before Naruto could continue expanding on that line of thought, Iruka came outside with Mizuki behind him and announced that the bukijutsu exam was about to begin.

Naruto stood and stretched himself out to loosen up a bit. He wasn't terrible at bukijutsu, but he needed to do better than he normally did to try and make up for his lack of Bunshin. He was sure he could pull off the max needed on taijutsu.

"Okay. Everyone line up!" Iruka said in a commanding tone. "When I call your name, come up and present your live weapons for inspection." Iruka gestured towards Mizuki before laying out the rules of the test. "You will throw five kunai followed by ten shuriken. The center of each target will be three points, the middle ring will be worth two points, and the outer ring will be worth one point. Missing the target completely will cause two points to be subtracted."

Naruto observed as the rest of the class went through their test and saw that, for the most part, everyone performed how they had throughout the year. He wasn't too surprised as there is only so far you can progress when it comes to throwing kunai and shuriken.

Naruto's name was called and he stepped forward.

"Please present your live weapons for inspection Naruto," Iruka asked.

Naruto reached down to his kunai holster on his thigh and channeled chakra into the storage seal on the outside to make 5 kunai appear. He set the kunai down on the table and then activated the seal on his shuriken pouch on his back, revealing 10 shuriken which he set down on the table.

"Did the Hokage give these to you?" Iruka asked, genuinely curious since the weapons were high quality and appeared to be specially made.

"No, sensei. One of my Anbu guards gave them to me for the test." Naruto said

"Okay, Naruto. Go ahead and start when you're ready." Iruka said. Inwardly Iruka was a little jealous since regular shinobi can't purchase Anbu level weapons without permission.

Naruto took a calming breath and focused on the targets.

He picked up his first two kunai and threw them at the first two targets watching them hit dead center. He picked up the next two and threw them. The third kunai went wide a little and hit the middle ring of the third target while the fourth kunai he threw hit the fourth target in the center. He picked up the last kunai and threw it at the final target watching as it hit the center as well.

So far, he was on track to beat his average.

"Very nice, Naruto." Iruka praised, "Now ready your shuriken while the next targets are prepared," Iruka stated.

Mizuki had collected his kunai and replaced the targets with fresh ones. After studying the kunai Naruto used, to ensure there was no cheating involved, he handed them back to Naruto who resealed them into his kunai holster in one move.

"Okay, Naruto. Now remember, the maximum number of shuriken allowed to hit each target is three." Iruka reminded before adding," You can throw as many volleys as you like, however. Go ahead and start when ready."

Naruto decided to launch his shuriken in two volleys of three and two volleys of two.

The first volley of three struck the center of the target in a nice cluster. The second volley of three, however, spread much further resulting in one hitting the outer ring while the other two hit the center and the middle respectively.

Naruto sighed to himself. It would all come down to the final two volleys. He could still get a much higher score than average if these last two volleys hit dead center.

He heard someone make some snide comments about him, but he was too focused on the targets to pay attention to what they were saying.

He launched the final two volleys simultaneously and almost let a smile reach his face when all four hit their targets dead center. When doing a mental calculation, he was shocked to realize that he had scored second place.

"Looks like you got lucky this time, loser, but you better hope I don't get you for the taijutsu test or I'm gonna kick your ass!" Kiba shouted.

"Yea! That's right! Know your place!" Sakura taunted. "Everyone knows that an orphan bastard like you can't compare to Sasuke-kun."

There were some murmurs and laughter from the group at Sakura's comment. Naruto just scowled at them and collected his shuriken when Mizuki handed them to him.

Sasuke didn't say anything but he noticed that Naruto was only two points shy of his score. It also looked like he used the same kind of shuriken and kunai that Itachi used to have specially made. He would have to examine them closer if he could, and question Naruto about them. It wasn't possible to get those kunai or shuriken in the village anymore since they were made by an Uchiha weapon smith.

"Hey! That's enough you two, be silent or I'll disqualify you right now." Iruka reprimanded them before turning to Naruto, "You did well, Naruto, a big improvement from your usual average for a score of 41," Iruka commented.

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei." Naruto replied and went back into line.

"Alright class, everyone proceeds to the gymnasium. There we will have the final two tests of the graduation exam," Iruka announced once Ino finished her test.

The class moved over to the gym and stood in a circle around the taijutsu ring. The taijutsu ring was a slightly padded circular mat with a large white rope surrounding it. The ring was about 15 feet in diameter to ensure that the students had some room to move but were still forced to remain in close range, for the most part.

"Now remember class, this test isn't measured on if you win or not. Instead, we will be counting points for successful hits landed and overall defenses." Iruka explained, "Moving outside of the ring of your own volition will result in disqualification. If you are thrown or knocked out of the ring you will have points deducted." Iruka's tone became sterner. "Remember, this is a spar against future comrades so any strikes against soft vital targets like eyes, throat, or groin will result in disqualification. No special clan moves are allowed. The match will last for two minutes or until a disqualification."

Kiba started to complain about that rule but was quickly silenced by Iruka's glare before he could finish his sentence.

Ino raised her hand and spoke when Iruka acknowledged her. "Does this mean that Hinata can't use her Jūken?"

"Hinata's Jūken is a taijutsu style, but she is not allowed to use any chakra enhancing techniques," Iruka replied.

"If there are no more questions, we will begin," Iruka stated.

Naruto stood in his trademark pose, eyes closed, arms crossed over his chest, and a slight frown on his face as he waited for his turn. He didn't need to observe the other students in their matches. The only one he would need to worry about was his own. He could easily sense any danger flying his way without looking.

Getting either Kiba or Sasuke would not be ideal, but the chances were high that he would draw one of them since they were around the same level of skill. He could only hope to draw Shino or Shikamaru to inflate his score a little bit.

"The next two to spar are Akimichi, Choji, and Uzumaki, Naruto," Mizuki announced.

Naruto entered the ring opposite of Choji. Choji was really good at taijutsu, but he tended to go easy on his friends. As they eyed each other waiting for Mizuki start the fight, he could tell that Choji just wanted to land his required points, block what was necessary and call it a day. Naruto decided he was not adverse to that idea. He wouldn't go all out if Choji didn't want to.

Mizuki called the match to start and Choji entered his pose and waited.

'Okay looks like I have to start' Naruto thought.

Naruto advanced on Choji and threw a straight left jab, followed by a right cross, then a left hook to the body. Choji easily blocked the jab and the cross but he let the hook land to counter with a quick left jab to Naruto's head.

Choji tried to follow up with a right hook to Naruto's ribs. Naruto pivoted towards the hook to parry with a low block using his right forearm then flipped his forearm up to land a back fist strike to Choji's head. Choji's head rocked back slightly and Naruto followed up with a left hook to Choji's head.

Choji stumbled from the strike but managed recover enough to stop Naruto from continuing the assault with a thrust kick, that Naruto was able to block. The force of the thrust kick still sent him back a few feet due to Choji's overwhelming strength. Even though he wasn't trying his hardest, Choji was just naturally stronger and his larger mass added to the strength of his attacks.

Naruto and Choji both reset for a moment and studied each other. Naruto had to guess that they probably still had, at least, a minute left to fight.

Choji decided to charge in with a right cross. Naruto stepped slightly forward to his right and parried Choji's arm to the left with his right hand before he struck Choji with a left hook to his abdomen. Naruto slid partially behind Choji's left arm then pivoted his body to throw a right cross to his face. As Naruto tried to follow with another left jab, Choji deflected the strike and grabbed his arm before Naruto could pull it back. Choji then pivoted while slinging Naruto's arm over his shoulder and threw Naruto over his shoulder. Naruto hit the ground a slid a few inches slightly winded.

Naruto rolled out of the way before Choji could move in to kick him. The roll had created enough distance for Naruto to slowly get up with his back to Choji to lure him in. Choji took the bait and rushed in again and once he was in range, Naruto performed a back kick with his right foot into Choji's chest. He quickly followed with a roundhouse kick to Choji's head with his left foot. He finished the combo with a spinning hook kick. Choji staggered for a bit then reset his stance and gave Naruto a stern look.

'I guess I'm starting to piss him off, I better block the rest and let him hit me some more if he doesn't decide to just fuck me up right now.' Naruto thought.

Naruto gave a slight smile and nodded to Choji letting him know that he was backing off to let Choji gain more points.

Naruto then charged in with a telegraphed right hook to allow Choji to throw him again, and then took a few kicks to the ribs before he rolled back onto his hands to block the next kick. Naruto then kicked out with his legs to get back on his feet. He then threw a jab which Choji blocked and countered with a right hook to Naruto's ribs.

Naruto winced a little at the force. 'Yea he's a little mad but not pissed, luckily.'

Choji continued his assault by landing a few hooks to his ribs, then going for a hook to Naruto's face, which Naruto ducked then pushed Choji to get him off center and stepped back to resettle his stance. Before Choji could charge in again, Mizuki called time over. Naruto and Choji fist bumped and nodded to each other before they left the ring to rest.

Naruto felt he did pretty well and the content look on Choji's face, as he pulled out his trademark chips and started munching away, told Naruto that Choji was satisfied with how it went.

Naruto returned to his stoic pose as he waited for the last of the matches to finish themselves.

Soon the last match was called and Mizuki announced that there was a short break before the final test while Iruka finished tallying the written test scores.

Naruto simply went to lean back against the wall closest to the exam room as he waited. Choji, Shikamaru, and Shino sat around Naruto and talked about some of the matches that they watched.

"Your match with Naruto seemed to be quite even, considering that you are a taijutsu specialist," Shino commented to Choji.

"Yea. Naruto is pretty good, but he is also my friend and I don't like to fight my friends. I didn't need to go all out to pass anyway and I'm sure Naruto didn't either." Choji replied.

"While the taijutsu test is a good part of the final graduation score, the points that you can gain in there are really small, so even going all out won't gain you any advantage overall," Naruto replied.

"True. Only throwing someone out of the ring would seem to have a significant impact overall. If the opponent was deliberately attempting to reduce your score for malicious reasons, that would be their best opportunity." Shino responded.

"I'm probably gonna have to use some of my clan jutsu for extra credit to make up for it. That sparring match was just troublesome." Shikamaru said.

"Yea. You got a really bad draw getting Kiba there, Shika." Choji agreed.

Naruto opened his eyes when he heard that and looked over to Shikamaru. "I wasn't watching the fight, what happened? Naruto asked.

"Nothing deliberate, if that's what you are thinking, but I did get thrown out of the ring twice. It was just bad positioning on my part." Shikamaru shook his head. "My mother will be upset that I had to use extra credit to pass."

"I doubt you would need it, Shikamaru. You know you probably got a perfect score on the written test and your score on the bukijutsu test wasn't much lower than mine or Sasuke. Even if you lost some points on taijutsu, you should still pass with the Academy three." Naruto said.

"What about you Naruto? Did you finally get the Bunshin down?" Choji asked worriedly.

"No. I still can't make a damn Bunshin. Hokage-jiji said that I have too large of a chakra reserve to do a regular Bunshin. I will have to rely on the extra credit scores to pass since the Bunshin is so heavily weighted in the final score." Naruto explained.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru added.

"What are you going to do the extra credit?" Choji was concerned.

Naruto was a good friend who had never made fun of his weight and always included him when they wanted to play ninja. All the other kids didn't want Choji on their team besides Shikamaru.

Naruto looked at Choji with a soft smile. "Don't worry Choji, Hokage-jiji assured me that fūinjutsu seals give more extra credit than any other clan jutsu since it is so rare to see an Academy student proficient in them. I have three that I can make easily if needed."

When Naruto saw Choji relax at his response he started to look around the room. Sakura and Ino were trying to cling to Sasuke and Kiba was talking with a few of the civilian kids.

Naruto noticed that Kiba kept glancing at him and narrowed his eyes. He reached out with this senses and noticed the usual disdain for himself from the other kids but Kiba's aggression was gone. He would usually sense Kiba's aggression anytime his attention was focused on him even if it was only for a brief moment, like when he was glancing at him right now. For some reason, however, that aggression was absent.

Before Naruto could ponder the situation longer, Iruka and Mizuki entered the room. Mizuki walked into the smaller gym room that was usually used by the younger kids while Iruka got all the students attention.

"Okay everyone! I will call you into the next room and you will display the Henge, Bunshin, and Kawarimi (Replacement). At that time you will be also offered the opportunity to display any special clan skills to earn extra credit, if necessary, to make up for any deficiencies that usually arise from more specialized clans." Iruka said.

Iruka called Shino into the room first and followed after him. As Naruto expected, all the clan kids walked out with their hitai-ate. For the civilian kids, 19 out of 32 managed to pass which eliminated two different groups of students.

Finally, he was called into the room, and surprisingly, there were no snide comments from anyone. He entered the room and waited for instruction.

"Okay. Naruto, please perform the Henge," Iruka asked.

Naruto henged into a perfect copy of the Sandaime. It only made sense since he was the one that Naruto spent the most time around. He would have loved to see the look on their faces if he had henged into Kurama but that would only cause a lot of problems for him.

"Perfect. Now we would like you to replace yourself with the log in the corner with Kawarimi," Iruka said.

Naruto replaced himself with the log in the corner and then replaced himself back afterward.

"Very good. Now please create two Bunshin clones." Iruka requested.

Naruto knew he was gonna fail, and believed Iruka knew that too but made an attempt anyways.

Naruto poured the least amount of chakra he could, but he ended up with 4 dead looking clones on the ground. Naruto just shook his head.

"Well, now. That's too bad Naruto." Iruka said sadly, "I know that your chakra levels are too large, so can you show us anything else for extra credit?"

"Yes. I can create a storage scroll, a gravity seal, a barrier seal, and a light seal." Naruto said.

Iruka and Mizuki looked shocked at that news. A Genin level shinobi knowing one of those seals would be more than impressive. Knowing something as complex as a gravity seal on top of that was almost unheard of.

"I'm uncertain how you could display a gravity seal without placing it on one of us or an object we would have to touch, and no offense, but I don't feel comfortable with testing a seal that complicated by an academy student," Iruka said.

"I'm not offended at all Iruka-sensei. I know, very well, the dangers around an environmental manipulation seal like the gravity seal." Naruto said

"Okay. Well, we can only allow two extra credit jutsu, so I will ask that you show us the barrier seal and the storage scroll. Please present the items you will use to create the seals for inspection" Iruka said.

Naruto unsealed his fūinjutsu kit, a blank scroll, and a sheet of tag paper. He placed them on the table in front of Mizuki and Iruka who examined each piece carefully then gave him to go ahead to start.

Naruto opened the scroll and applied ink to his brush. He tapped to get the excess ink off and held his sleeve with his left hand. He rapidly drew the seal array with the brush then placed the brush on the holder. While the scroll was drying he moved it off to the side and placed the tag paper in front of him. He drew 4 three directional barrier seal arrays and let them dry off while he cleaned his brush off and capped the ink. He resealed his kit and waited for the scroll and the tags to finish drying.

Mizuki was looking at the seal on the storage scroll and was pissed. He couldn't believe the damn Kyūbi brat was capable of such a feat. He had always wanted to become a fūinjutsu expert and had tried hard to learn it, but all his teachers gave up on him when his seals continually backfired. He tried to learn using books and scrolls on his own, but he almost killed himself twice before giving up.

The fact that the Hokage openly looked out for this brat is the main reason why Mizuki had planned to betray the village. He lost his whole family during the Kyūbi attack and believed that the brat should have simply been locked away or killed. He had been passed over for promotion repeatedly and then stuck in the Academy with a bunch of snot-nosed kids that he couldn't stand.

Luckily for him, Orochimaru approached him with a plan to acquire the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing in exchange for a higher rank as an Oto shinobi and a sizable amount of ryō. A spy for Orochimaru had already taken the Forbidden scroll last night and left an elaborate genjutsu that was due to dispel after 24 hours. The spy then left the scroll in a dead drop location which Mizuki picked up early this morning.

Mizuki's role was to use a seal Orochimaru provided to instantly copy the scroll. Next he was supposed to set up someone important to get caught with the real scroll so that Konoha would unwittingly execute an innocent person. Meanwhile, everyone would think the real scroll was safe again while he spirited away the copy.

He had hidden the real scroll in a storage seal taped underneath the Kyūbi brat's desk. While he was supposed to frame someone important, he figured killing the Kyūbi brat was more worthwhile and Orochimaru wouldn't care because he would have all the information from the scroll.

He would frame the Kyūbi brat and kill him claiming self-defense. The scroll would be recovered and when the heat died down, Mizuki would be gone from this cursed village.

Iruka, on the other hand, was suspicious that someone else was teaching the boy. While he didn't hate Naruto, he wasn't close to him either. Before Naruto had started the second part of the 4-year program the Hokage had pulled Iruka aside and told him to watch for any strange behavior from him or if he had seemed to receive any extra training outside the norm.

Seeing that the boy knew something as complex as a gravity seal made Iruka believe that someone was giving him extra training. He also believed that it was dangerous that the jinchūriki was learning fūinjutsu, but not because he thought the Kyūbi was involved in any way. Mainly he was suspicious that an unsupervised child had been fiddling with a highly dangerous school of jutsu that might lead to the seal failing inadvertently.

"Okay, Naruto, if you think the tags are ready, we have completed our examination of them as well, please display the barrier tag seals," Iruka instructed.

Naruto separated the individual barrier tags and set them on the ground in a square around him. Once he was certain the tags were lined up properly channeled his chakra to his hands and slammed them down on the front right and left tags. A line of kanji shot out from the left side of the tag and the bottom of the tag, connecting to the front left and back right tags.

As soon as the lines of kanji hit the back right tag and the front left tag, lines of kanji shout out of the right side and the bottom side of the front left tag while lines of kanji shout out of the left and top side of the back right tag.

Finally, lines of kanji shot out of the back left tag out of the top and right side of the tag. All four tags lit up even brighter before lines of kanji shot upwards and met each other directly above Naruto's head. The lines dissipated leaving a faint blue glowing pyramid around him. The whole process took about 3 seconds for the barrier to form.

Naruto sat kneeling inside the pyramid-shaped barrier with his hands channeling chakra into the front tags. His hands were covered by the barrier so they were not vulnerable to attack.

"You can throw something or touch it if you like, Iruka-sensei. The barrier will remain active until I stop channeling chakra." Naruto said confidently.

Iruka was too dumbfounded to reply, but Mizuki did not hesitate to chuck one of the training shuriken at the barrier above Naruto's head. Iruka walked up and tapped the barrier a few times before he told Naruto that he would get credit towards graduating for it.

Next, Iruka took the storage scroll and examined it again. "Go ahead and seal an item into this scroll and then remove it three times," Iruka said.

Naruto took out a kunai and seal in into the scroll, then he unsealed it. He repeated the process two more times as instructed. Iruka then tested the scroll a few times as well before he simply nodded his head and marked him down for more extra credit.

"Alright, Naruto, after looking over your scores and adding the extra credit you have successfully graduated. Congratulations!" Iruka said with a smile. "You are most likely going to end up ranked 3rd due to the value of two successful seals," Iruka added while handing Naruto his hitai-ate.

"Thank you. Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei." Naruto said with a bow.

Naruto tied his hitai-ate on and walked out of the room with a small smile on his face. He had done much better than he expected, overall, and he owed a lot of his success to Kurama.


	11. Foundation for A Path

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

edit 4/20/16

 **Chapter 10**

 **Foundation for a Path**

 **Konoha Shinobi Academy**

* * *

Naruto walked out of the exam room and up to his small group of friends with a soft smile on his face. He thanked his friends when they congratulated him, and they all compared notes on how their exams went overall. Once the conversation died down again, Naruto leaned back against the wall and adopted his pose while waiting for the graduation ceremony.

Now that he had become a shinobi, he found that he needed to re-evaluate his life once more. Becoming a shinobi had been the singular focus of his young mind. He had not bothered with determining something firmer once that goal was complete.

When he was younger, most of his dream had been to become a shinobi with his friends, but that dream changed due to the betrayal. After that day, he only really desired to become strong enough to protect himself and Kurama. He still needed to train and learn a lot more things to be capable of protecting himself thoroughly.

Naruto supposed that secondary aspect of his childhood dream, to protect the village and fight the bad guys, could still be considered a valid path. Even if he felt a lot of contempt for a majority of the village, he still considered it home.

If not for his small circle of friends, he might have been inclined to simply leave the village to roam freely, once he was strong enough. Kurama had certainly brought that idea up to him more than once, but he never seemed to try and push it strongly. Still, Naruto didn't think it would be fair to his parents, who sacrificed everything, for him to throw that sacrifice aside. Some smaller portion of him wanted to rise to prominence in the village just to spite those idiots.

He still wanted to master Fūinjutsu, to do his family name proud, but that seemed like such a trivial goal in comparison to some of the other goals he had heard from different people.

He had to shake his head as he recalled when he first "chose" his last name in the Hokage's office. Kurama loved to show him the snapshot of the Sandaime's face when he convinced Naruto to pick the Uzumaki name. He was certain his parents would have given him the Uzumaki name anyways. While his father's name was rather infamous, it wasn't a significant or historical clan name like his mother's was. Perhaps if his heritage was revealed at some point, he would take Namikaze as his middle name so that it wouldn't disappear either.

Naruto stopped his pondering as he noticed that the rest of the class was beginning to assemble for the Hokage's speech and receive the shinobi certificate, which allowed them into all the shinobi restricted areas of the village and authorized the purchase of genin level weapons and materials at weapons shops.

As he sat with the rest of the kids watching his Jichan give the speech, his mind wandered again to his future.

He heard a lot of kids claim that they would become Hokage. He didn't think it would ever be possible for him to become the Hokage. Too many complications with a jinchūriki being in charge of a village. Even if he gained acceptance here, how would the other villages take it?

Kumo, from what he learned, might not take issue, but places that were worse to their jinchūriki like Suna, Iwa, and Taki would probably not be very happy. Two of those villages were allies and would probably want to break their allegiances because of if. That would be a significant problem for the security of Konoha since Iwa and Kiri would likely jump at the chance to align their former allies against Konoha and finish them off.

Anbu seemed to be more of a reality to him. There he would be anonymous and hidden from the rest of the village while still performing missions. It would certainly be a challenge, and he would have to work hard to gather the necessary skills to join. He would have to run that idea past Kurama when he woke up and see what he thought.

Kurama was also another factor he had to take into account. He couldn't plot out his life and disregard anything Kurama would want completely. When they had discussed bijū mode and bonding their chakra together, that discussion had resonated with something in Naruto that he still couldn't describe to this day.

He needed to learn about the key and train his body to prepare, but until he could master the privacy and security seals he wouldn't be able to channel Kurama's chakra at all. Even then it would be a huge risk to their safety. He had no idea about where to find the key at all either.

The Hokage always mentioned how some things just appear to happen because of Kami or Fate, whatever you want to call it. That sometimes things occur that direct your life and lead you towards a certain purpose or destination, regardless of what you thought or felt about it.

In some way, Naruto could agree with what he had said. The masked man had certainly set events into motion that had dictated the rest of his life. If one man could do that, it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that there were other forces out there capable of doing the same thing.

Naruto waited in his seat as each graduate was called to receive their certificate from the Hokage and take a picture with him. When Naruto heard his name, he approached the Hokage and bowed. The Hokage handed him his certificate and ruffled his hair fondly.

"You have done well, Naruto-kun. I am very proud of what you have accomplished." The Hokage said.

"Thanks jiji! I won't forget all the help you and the others gave me. I won't let you down ** _!_** " Naruto exclaimed.

No matter how hard he tried, he could never stop that verbal tic from coming out. Kurama told him that it was something his mother was known for so he couldn't be too annoyed. It just seriously undercut the mood sometimes. In this case, he figured it was fitting.

Naruto returned to his seat and waited for all the remaining kids to receive their certificates. Then there would be a small reception with some snacks and drinks, but most people would use this time to decide where they would go to start the real celebrations.

Naruto wasn't sure what he would do afterward. Shikamaru had mentioned that most of the class would end up going to Yakiniku-Q since they always had graduation specials, but he also knew that his Anbu detail would be reassigned tonight since he was now capable of fighting back without any legal repercussions. He thought it might be fun to hang out with them and thank them in some way.

Once the reception began, the Hokage waved him over right away, and Naruto walked over to him.

"Naruto-kun, for your hard work I have arranged for something special tonight. I know the others will be going to the Yakiniku-Q so feel free to join them, but make sure you make it to my office in 3 hours time."

"I will jiji! Thank you." Naruto said with a nod.

Naruto turned to find Shikamaru and go with them, but as he walked out of the gym towards the front gate, he was intercepted by Mizuki. Naruto was immediately on alert and began reaching out with his senses, but didn't sense anything negative.

"Hi, Mizuki-sensei." Naruto greeted before asking, "Can I help you with something?"

"Ah. I just wanted to congratulate you, Naruto-kun. Those seals you created were impressive." Mizuki said smoothly. "I was quite surprised," Mizuki added with a smile.

"Thank you. Mizuki-sensei," Naruto replied politely. His instincts were in an uproar even though he didn't sense anything.

"In fact, I have a special scroll of sealing that I was able to borrow from one of my Anbu friends. Since I have been working on my fūinjutsu as well," Mizuki said before lowering his voice as if sharing a secret, "If you like, I can let you borrow the scroll from me to copy a technique from it for later."

Naruto thought something was off with this situation. He didn't know that Mizuki was able to use seals or that he had any Anbu friends. Typically, Anbu didn't share those kinds of things with people. Especially genin or chūnin. Then again, Karasu gave him weapons and Neko sometimes took him to the forbidden training grounds to practice for his exams.

"Really? Where do I need to go to get the scroll? Naruto asked

"Well. I had to hide it from the others since it is an Anbu scroll you know," Mizuki said in a low tone, "While you were receiving your certificates, I hid it in a storage scroll taped to the bottom of your usual seat." Mizuki glanced around quickly before continuing, "Just make sure that you don't let anyone else see you reading the scroll. I don't want my friend to get in trouble."

Naruto was definitely suspicious now. "How will I give it back to you then?"

"I'm supposed to return it to my friend later tonight, at the small waterfall in training ground 43. I guess you can meet me there when you are done with the scroll." Mizuki smile grew bigger before he asked, "Do you know where that training ground is?"

Naruto's gut instinct was acting up, and he was about decline taking the scroll until Kurama interjected.

 **"** **You should take the scroll, kit. Who knows what kind of specialized knowledge you can find in it."** Kurama said encouragingly.

 _'You think so Kurama? This whole thing seems very suspicious, and my instincts are saying I shouldn't, but I don't sense any deception from him.'_ Naruto replied with concern.

 **"I** **f** **it turns out there is something nefarious involved, you can just take it to the Hokage right away,"** Kurama said nonchalantly. **"I'm confident he would believe you."**

 **Kurama's thoughts were far from being carefree, however.** ** _'If this scroll is what I think it is; this will prove to me if Naruto succumbs to the lure of power and greed. I knew the silver-haired snake was up to something its a good thing I blocked his emotions, or I wouldn't have had this opportunity to test Naruto like this in a safe environment.'_**

"Okay, Mizuki-sensei. I'll take the scroll and meet you at the training ground." Naruto said after appearing to think it over, "Don't worry, I've been to that one before. What time do I need to meet you there?" Naruto asked.

"Make sure you are at the waterfall no later than midnight. I'll see you there Naruto-kun, enjoy!" Mizuki said with a grin before he walked off.

' _Creepy. I hope you are right about this Kurama._ ' Naruto thought with a frown.

 **"** **Take the scroll to your den immediately. Your Anbu guards are with the Hokage for now and will not follow you. You can look at the scroll and decide then what you will do with it."** Kurama said almost eagerly.

 **Naruto took note of that observation for him to ponder on later.**

Naruto made his way down the hall in a deceptively calm manner as he approached his former classroom. Naruto quickly scanned the hall and classroom next door to ensure that the coast was clear before he entered the empty classroom and headed towards his usual seat. He looked under the table and saw the storage scroll that Mizuki had mentioned. Removing the scroll from the table, he channeled a small amount his chakra into it briefly peek at the item inside and saw the top of a very large scroll.

He quickly rolled up the storage scroll and looked out the window. He could leave through the classroom window and jump to the next roof without being noticed since this wall faced away from the entrance where the rest of the graduating class was currently gathering. It's a good thing that he had mastered surface clinging to try and use the Bunshin. A regular genin would not be capable of taking this route.

Naruto climbed out the window and walked up the wall to the roof, remaining crouched not to draw attention to himself. He then leaped across to the next roof and looked around again. Seeing that he was in the clear, he made his way to his apartment using the rooftops.

 **Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Naruto entered his apartment through his bedroom window and slid it shut.

Naruto had thought it odd before when he saw other shinobi always using windows instead of doors, but now that he was able to walk on walls he found that windows simply seemed to be more convenient, most of the time.

Naruto moved over to his desk and took out the storage scroll. He unsealed the larger scroll from within it and slowly spread it open across his desk. He couldn't deny that he felt a little trepidation and excitement at learning some new techniques. Especially if they were restricted to Anbu level shinobi.

The first technique and all its variants caught his eye immediately.

 **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone) – B rank – Kinjutsu, Ninjutsu**

 **Derived Jutsu:**

 **Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – A rank**

 **Raiton (Lightning) Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – A rank**

 **Doton (Earth) Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – B rank**

 **Suiton (Water) Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – B rank**

'Kinjutsu? This is a forbidden technique? It sounds like the only useful Bunshin technique I have heard of, and it has a lot of variants.' Naruto thought to himself.

He immediately thought of learning that one but decided to read ahead more. Mizuki said there were Fūinjutsu seals in here.

 **Bunshin Daibakuha (Shadow Clone Explosion) – A Rank – Kinjutsu, Ninjutsu**

'This is also forbidden, but it's like a different variant of the first one.' Naruto thought, but he was getting more nervous. He quickly looked over the next few listed.

 **Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei (Summoning: Reanimation) – S rank – Kinjutsu**

 **Shiki Fūjin (Reaper Death Seal) – S rank - Kinjutsu**

 **Shiki Fūjin: Kai (Reaper Death Seal: Release) – S rank - Kinjutsu**

The last two he looked at made his heart stop.

 _'Shit Kurama, all of these are forbidden!'_ _Naruto said on the verge of panic,_ _'What the hell is Mizuki_ - _sensei doing with something like this!? Oh man, jiji is going to kill me if he finds out I took this.'_ Naruto was worried now; he could get into some serious trouble for this. _'This scroll can't be real, how would Mizuki-sensei get this! Do you think its a fake?'_

" **You should just try that first technique and see if it will actually work. If it does, then we know that the silver-haired snake has something devious planned."** Kurama said calmly.

 _'Yea I guess you're right about that.'_ Naruto said as he tried to calm himself, _'I hope jiji doesn't kill me if it is real.'_

Naruto studied the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone) information for a few minutes and when he felt that he had a grasp of the concepts, he moved away from his desk. Since he always flooded the other Bunshin with too much chakra, he figured that this would probably be the same. He would have to use as little chakra as he could.

Naruto took a deep breath and moved his hands into the clone seal that was described. He imagined a small sliver of chakra being sectioned off into two pieces then released the chakra to create the clone.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone)" Naruto called out trying to use his mental will to dictate the chakra into the form he wanted.

The chakra he sectioned off flickered out instead of taking solid form. He felt a strange pull when it attempted to solidify but then it dissipated instead.

 _'Hmm... it looked like it might have worked,'_ _Naruto mused,_ _'but it's not the same as_ _ _Bunshin,__ _it's a little different.'_

" **That pull you felt was towards your overall chakra pool, not in the focused tenketsu. Instead of trying to focus a little chakra into the tenketsu near your hands, try to flare your chakra at the same time as you channel it."** Kurama instructed.

Naruto blinked a few times _'I thought you had to channel through the pathways first then flare through the tenketsu. How will I direct the chakra and flare at the same time?'_

 **"Technically such a feat is not possible. What the technique is calling for is full access to your chakra system** **,"** Kurama explained, **"The easiest way to do this is to train your chakra system to allow the jutsu full access is to channel then flare your chakra to the point where there is no delay between the two."**

Naruto kept trying to do as Kurama instructed but wasn't having much success right away. It still took him some time to switch between channeling and flaring, but each attempt he could feel the jutsu pulling on more of his chakra pathways, so he must be getting close. He was ready just to hand the scroll off to the Hokage even if it was fake, either way, he would be better off. He was pretty tired from channeling and flaring his chakra trying to summon the Shadow Clones.

 _'Bah! One more time. It feels too close to real to be a fake technique, and now I just don't want to fail even if jiji kicks my ass for it.'_ _Naruto thought in determination before he focused and tried one last time._

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" Naruto called out.

He felt a large pull on his entire chakra system this time and opened his eyes.

His whole apartment was stuffed with clones. Naruto's mouth was agape with shock. He could barely move because he was packed in with clones.

He commanded the clones to dispel based on what he read from the scroll and got a slight headache.

 **"** **Good job, kit! Learning a technique like that in less than two hours is impressive."** **Kurama said with a hint of pride,** **"Now I can see why it is listed as forbidden."** Kurama added as an afterthought.

Naruto massaged his temples. _'Why is that Kurama? A headache isn't that bad.'_

 **"** **No. That technique requires access to your whole system cause it divides your chakra among each clone. If anyone else had summoned as many clones as you just did, they would only successfully manifest one-quarter of the clones that you did and immediately fall dead from chakra depletion."** Kurama said with a huff. **"It is only due to me interrupting your chakra flow that stopped the technique from continuing to leech more to create more clones,"** Kurama said in a subtly snide tone.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly _'Oh... well, thanks for that Kurama. That would have been embarrassing way to die.'_ Naruto's embarrassment faded to seriousness at the weight of the situation came back down on him. _'Looks like it is real then, I should get this scroll to jiji then before anything bad can happen.'_

" **Relax kit. You could always just copy several techniques from this scroll before you return it to the old monkey goat. I doubt he would find out if you did. If these are some of the things listed, just imagine what else could be in there."** Kurama said.

 _'I dunno, the clone techniques are fine, and even the exploding clone doesn't seem like a big deal,'_ Naruto said as he thought over Kurama's words. _'...but resurrecting the dead? Messing with people's souls? No, those techniques shouldn't be copied, they shouldn't even exist. If I screw up, and someone gets those copies, then I will be my fault when something terrible happens.'_ Naruto face grew grim as he continued his line of thought. _'I don't even want to read any further if those are the kind of things I will find in there.'_

 ** _'Hah, the kit passes the test with flying colors!'_** Kurama thought with a grin. **_'I should have known.'_**

 **"** **Very good, Naruto. That scroll would be coveted by the greedy and the powerful."** Kurama said in approval. **"No doubt that silver haired snake is treacherous and has acquired it for someone else. "**

 _'Shit. I just really hope jiji doesn't kill me for this.'_ Naruto shivered at the thought of an angry Sandaime.

 **"** **You couldn't have known the scroll was forbidden. You didn't realize the danger of the scroll until you read further. I do not think the old monkey goat will be too upset."** Kurama said casually. **"It wouldn't be logical for them to blame you for collecting the scroll in the first place. They should have secured it better since it was such a dangerous item. If anything, they should be grateful that he managed to obtain the scroll from that petty silver-haired weakling."**

Naruto rolled the scroll back up and, after thinking about it for a minute, resealed it into the storage scroll Mizuki gave him. He looked at the time on his alarm clock and noticed it had only been about two hours since he had left the Academy.

He left his apartment and made his way over to the Hokage tower as fast as he could.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hiruzen sat at his desk reading a report from Iruka regarding Naruto's extra credit seals. He had been in the process of setting up the Genin teams with their Jōnin instructors when he received the report.

While he had been helping Naruto with his fūinjutsu, he knew that the book did not have the instructions on making gravity seals. He also knew that Naruto would not be foolish enough to claim that he could make that seal reliably without being capable of it.

This revelation made him a bit suspicious since the gravity seal was a very rare and potentially dangerous seal to try and learn. Hiruzen himself had not even learned how to make them and only knew a handful of people that were capable of it. He would have to ask Naruto about it when he came in an hour or so to collect his graduation gift.

That brought a smile to the old Hokage's face. He could imagine that stoic young face showing it's rare smile when he learned his chakra element and received the elemental jutsu scroll. If not those, then the expensive calligraphy kit from the capital would do it. The calligraphy kit had everything a budding fūinjutsu specialist would want.

He sighed to himself as he thought more about Naruto's change in behavior. He had hoped the child could keep his happy go lucky attitude for much longer since he had been able to move past the attack rather quickly.

In the course of a few weeks, the boy became solemn and reserved. While Hiruzen could still see the sparkle of exuberance in Naruto's eyes on occasion, but his attitude, which had started to sway more towards Kushina's personality as he grew older, suddenly took a hard turn towards Minato on the battlefield. Until he learned about those former instructors at the academy and their treatment of Naruto, he feared that the Kyūbi had made itself known.

Inoichi and himself had questioned Naruto at length a few times, and while a lot of his changed of demeanor seemed to be attributed to the onset of puberty and mistreatment, he wasn't entirely convinced. Hiruzen just had a sense that Naruto was hiding something from him. He only held off on pushing the issue further because the boy still had childish tendencies that he tried to hide (Like any normal pre-teen), and he aggressively defended his friends.

He recalled an event one weekend when the boys were at a park together near the Nara compound. In a rare moment, Naruto had managed to convince Shikamaru and Choji to play ninja with him. It seemed to be going well for the most part until some of the village children showed up.

At first, the village children just displayed interest in joining the game, and these particular kids didn't seem to have an issue with Naruto at all. The problem came when Choji went to join them. The kids refused to have Choji join them because they said he was fat. They started to tease Choji when Shikamaru intervened and tried to provide a logical reason for Choji to join. Naruto came back from the water fountain to see the new kids making fun of Choji and one kid trying to start a fight by pushing Shikamaru around.

Naruto didn't say a word and jumped into the fray, starting a playground brawl by punching several of the kids before they got a word in edgewise. Shikamaru wasn't too pleased with being dragged into the fight and managed to avoid most of it by evading. Surprisingly, Choji was shoulder to shoulder with Naruto in the thick of things.

Baku eventually intervened to separate the kids, while Neko had to go and round up all the parents involved. The meeting that followed was most amusing as Naruto sat there with a black eye to contrast his stoic face while the other children had to apologize to Choji for teasing him. Naruto even accepted his punishment for starting a brawl without complaint.

"If cleaning the kennels is the cost of protecting my friends, then I guess I will always be cleaning the kennels even if I don't like it." Naruto had told him. Hiruzen had been quite proud of him at that point.

He still worried that the Kyūbi had found a way to subtly influence him in some manner. Naruto, until four years ago, seemed more willing to prove himself to the village. Now Hiruzen could tell that, at best, he disregarded the villagers, but he wouldn't be surprised if he held some disdain for them.

Even if their attitudes had changed for the better, it only took a few idiots to ruin the whole thing and Naruto did not have nearly enough connections to the village to ensure he wouldn't become a flight risk should the worst happen.

Hiruzen noticed the seal light up on his desk stating that he had a special visitor and channeled his chakra to the seal to notify his assistant to allow them entry. He didn't think Naruto would show up this early.

Naruto entered the office with a more serious look on his face than usual. He also appeared disheveled as if he had been practicing.

"What is it Naruto-kun? Did something happen?" Hiruzen asked.

"I guess you could say that, jiji," Naruto said tersely before he let out a sigh of resignation. "First, I think I should give you this before I explain."

He pulled out a scroll and unsealed the item inside revealing the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing that should have been safely ensconced in the Hokage Vault behind him.

"That better not be what I think it is, Naruto, or you are in serious trouble," Hiruzen said sternly. How the hell did the boy manage to get that scroll!?

"I'm sorry, jiji. When I got this scroll, I read through part of it and noticed that these appeared to be forbidden techniques." Naruto said with a guilty look on his face.

Hiruzen took the scroll and analyzed it. It was certainly the genuine article. He would have to check the vault now to see how its integrity was compromised. Without a word he got up and pulled a specific scroll of the shelf behind him. The shelf slid away revealing a large door with numerous seals and a barrier.

Hiruzen activated the different seals in a particular sequence which released the barrier and the door opened.

Naruto had decided to look away as soon as the door appeared. He didn't think he should know about that door, and the fact that he had an item that was stolen from it made him feel like examining the highly interesting seals on the vault would only bring him more trouble.

Hiruzen went through the vault and double checked all the items within before dispelling the genjutsu left behind and setting the real scroll back into place. He walked back out into his office and reset the hidden door before focusing on Naruto, who was looking away and nervously fidgeting.

"Okay, Naruto, tell me how you got that scroll, and you better not lie to me," Hiruzen commanded.

'Shit! He didn't call me Naruto-kun, this is really serious.' Naruto thought.

"Well, jiji, after you spoke to me about coming to your office after graduation I was approached by Mizuki-sensei." Naruto said with a frown, "He told me he was impressed with my extra credit seals and that he received a scroll of seals from his Anbu friend that he had to return tonight. He said I could learn one technique from it for doing so well on the exams and then return it to him tonight, at training ground 43, by midnight."

Naruto took a breath and mustered enough courage to look the obviously displeased Hokage in the eye before continuing with his story.

"At first, I was suspicious, but I remembered that sometimes you would give Karasu or Neko permission to give me items restricted to Anbu as well. So, I thought that Mizuki might have had an Anbu friend helping him also." Naruto explained, "He told me that he had hidden the scroll under my desk inside a storage scroll because we couldn't let others see that we had an Anbu scroll."

Hiruzen made a hand motion, and a few Anbu appeared in the room. "I want you to apprehend Mizuki Shin, and search his residence and any other location he is known to frequent. You should also have a team search the academy offices and classrooms just in case. Send another team to training ground 43 to set up an ambush in case there are more traitors involved."

Hiruzen motioned to Naruto to continue once the Anbu disappeared.

"So, I brought the scroll to my house to learn a technique like he said I could. The more that I read, the more I realized that this was something that should have remained some place secure since everything was listed at Kinjutsu." Naruto took another breath before pressing on. "Then I thought, how would Mizuki be able to get something like this? It wouldn't be possible, so I believed that maybe it was fake and he was trying to play a trick on me, or you, with it to get me in trouble."

Hiruzen didn't like the sound of where Naruto's thoughts were leading him and cut him off.

"You tried one of those techniques didn't you, Naruto," Hiruzen said with a serious tone.

"Yes." Naruto looked away in shame. "I only wanted to make sure it was real, and after I was able to perform the technique, I came here right away with the scroll. I swear I just wanted to make sure it was real. I was gonna bring it anyways, even if it was fake, but I decided to try one last time, and it worked." Naruto babbled nervously.

"What did you do Naruto? All these techniques have severe consequences! Which one did you use?" Hiruzen asked starting to get worried. The Shiki Fūjin was in that scroll, this could have been a disaster.

"I did the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Naruto replied with a sheepish expression. He could sense that the Hokage was angry and nervous?

'He might suspect that Kurama helped me.' Naruto thought.

Now Hiruzen was kind of impressed. "You said this happened after the graduation reception?"

Naruto nodded

"And you came here right after you performed the technique?" Hiruzen asked as he glanced at the clock on the wall.

Naruto nodded again.

'This boy managed to figure out advanced chakra manipulation in just two hours!' Hiruzen thought with narrowed eyes.

"What happened when you performed the technique successfully?" he asked.

"Well, I felt a pull on my chakra, but not just the tenketsu but my pathways and my reserves as well. I just kinda let my chakra go with it?" Naruto said with a shrug. "I don't really know how else to describe it. It was like I was channeling and flaring it all together and then my whole apartment was filled with clones." Naruto said with his scrunched face look.

 _'That's as close to the truth as what actually happened. I hope he believes it.'_ Naruto thought nervously.

" **He is definitely suspicious now kit. The time may come soon where we may have to reveal the truth, but let us keep silent awhile longer. Returning this scroll and not learning the other techniques may help us in the long run."** Kurama replied. He could sense the old monkey goat suspected him of interfering in some manner.

Hiruzen just stared at Naruto for a few minutes, and Naruto resisted the urge to fidget nervously.

"Okay, Naruto. I believe you, but there are some important specifics about that technique that weren't mentioned in the scroll." Hiruzen said with a sigh.

"The first thing that is important to mention is that Kage Bunshin accesses your whole chakra system, as you felt, and divides it equally amongst each clone. If you have half of your chakra remaining, it will give one-quarter chakra to a pair of clones, one-eighth chakra to four clones, etc." Hiruzen's voice went from lecturing to stern. "This is important because if you try to make more clones than your reserves can handle, you will die of chakra exhaustion. That is the primary reason why this technique was listed as a kinjutsu because so many people have died using it. Even experienced Jōnin, who used it regularly, have died because of this technique." Hiruzen said.

'That makes sense. I am never really certain how much chakra I have exactly, I can only guess, and I bet most people have that same problem. One slight miscalculation and the technique can kill you.' Naruto mused

"I am not so concerned about you having that issue, thanks to your vast chakra reserves and the presence of your tenant, but I want you limit yourself to no more than 30 clones for right now." Hiruzen said sternly, "To gain better control of distributing your chakra and learning your limits there is a particular exercise you need to master. You start off by making 19 clones and taking note of how much chakra was used. Next, you make 20 clones with the same amount of chakra used to make 19. Once you have managed to make 20, then you add one more clone without increasing the amount of chakra used." Hiruzen explained before adding. "This is the chakra control exercise that I was taught by the Nidaime when he developed the technique. With enough practice, you will learn how to control how much chakra is distributed to each clone instead of the jutsu just dividing the chakra evenly. This way you can ensure that distraction clones only have a small amount of chakra while other clones can have large enough chakra to use multiple combination jutsu." Hiruzen said.

In his mind, Hiruzen imagined the potential Naruto would have with his chakra reserves and mastery of the Kage Bunshin. He would be a force to be reckoned with once he had an extensive jutsu arsenal at his disposal.

"Okay jiji. I will practice that first before I try to use them for anything else." Naruto said honestly

" **The old monkey goat knows what he is talking about. However, the numbers he has listed for you are insufficient for you to learn properly. He is just being overly cautious."** Kurama noted

 _'How many do you think I should use?'_ Naruto asked.

" **We will discuss this later, kit, pay attention. The old monkey goat is providing relevant information."** **Kurama chided.**

"Good. Make sure you are careful, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen warned before he continued with the lesson on clones. "The second thing you should know about Kage Bunshin is the capability to learn using the clones themselves. The Kage Bunshin itself is almost sentient on its own. If you do not direct them specifically, they are capable of forming their own plans based on your own desires at the time of creation. If you want to knock out an opponent and tie them up, the Kage Bunshin will come up with a way to do so, based on what you are capable of. It is better to control them, however, because they may counteract each other unless you direct them to work together. Because of their sentience, Kage Bunshins are capable of learning and adapting to a situation. When a Kage Bunshin learns something, all the knowledge and memories it has gained are transferred to you when it is dispelled." Hiruzen lectured, "This is where you have to be careful since I know you will be capable of summoning a lot of clones." Hiruzen gave Naruto a stern glance before continuing to drive the importance of this lesson home. "Each time that knowledge is transferred from the Kage Bunshin, your brain is forced to endure an increase of synapse firing. If too many Kage Bunshin are dispelled at once, this could cause permanent damage to your brain. Make sure that when you use Kage Bunshin for training, you instruct them to either dispel in intervals or not to dispel unless you tell them to."

"Wow! Kage Bunshin are really cool ** _!_** " Naruto said excitedly

"Now remember, some things will not get better even when trained with Kage Bunshin like stamina, strength, bukijutsu, and, of course, fūinjutsu," Hiruzen added. "While there are only so many ways a jutsu can be performed, fūinjutsu is too nebulous and complex to take advantage of the clone's learning abilities. Assigning a large group of clones to create a single seal could provide you with almost endless possibilities at the cost of providing you just as many mistakes and setbacks. In the end, the amount of time you would need to take to sort through both the good and bad results would eliminate any advantage you would gain. You are better off sticking to one or two clones per seal at most."

"I see," Naruto said as he thought about everything he had just heard. "I can leave most of my chakra control and jutsu training to the clones, but I would have to do all the physical training and work on sealing myself," Naruto grinned at implications. "That's really awesome jiji!"

Fūinjutsu was enjoyable and relaxing to him, so he was more than happy to focus on that subject exclusively. While he would still be forced to run laps and work out on his own, the clones would handle the boring chakra control exercises, at least.

Hiruzen nodded before continuing, "Finally, whatever objects that you have on you, the Kage Bunshin will have a copy of as well. If you have 10 shuriken, so will they. You can use this as a quick way to replenish yourself since the items will remain active as long as the clone still exists."

"Thanks, jiji," Naruto said gratefully. "I know I shouldn't have learned this technique in this manner, but I promise I won't abuse it," Naruto said in a serious tone.

"It's not entirely your fault, Naruto-kun. This scroll should have never left the vault in the first place." Hiruzen said. "What you didn't consider, however, was the possibility that the scroll itself was a trap designed to harm or kill you if you attempted one of the jutsu," Hiruzen said pointedly.

"You're right, jiji. That thought didn't cross my mind at all." Naruto said sheepishly. "I should have just brought it to you right away."

"I think you have learned your lesson," Hiruzen said before pulling out a few scrolls and a small slip of paper. "I suppose I should be giving you the graduation presents I have for you, now. Don't let these gifts lead you to believe that you will be rewarded for any future treasonous plots, hmm?" Hiruzen said in amusement.

"I know, jiji," Naruto said with a sigh. "Hopefully, I won't be dragged into any more messes like this in the future."

"I do have something else I need to ask you about Naruto-kun," Hiruzen said. "Iruka mentioned that you said you could make a gravity seal is this true?"

"Yes, jiji," Naruto said with a nod. "I found some scrolls with the instructions for gravity seals, privacy seals, and security seals at the consignment shop. They only cost 1000 ryō too!" Naruto said.

Hiruzen was dumbfounded that Naruto had managed to find the instructions for seals of that level at a consignment shop. What kind of idiot pawned off those kinds of scrolls for that cheap? He might have to go check out this store himself.

"That was quite a lucky find, Naruto-kun. You should keep those scrolls safe. They are worth a lot more than that. If you like, when you have learned them all I will make sure you get a fair price for them." Hiruzen said.

"Okay, jiji. I have finished with the gravity seals. I am still learning how to use sensory and spatial awareness seals necessary for both the privacy and security seals. It's the main reason I still need tags for my barrier seal." Naruto replied.

"That is excellent progress for someone your age," Hiruzen said. "On that note, are you ready for your gifts?"

Naruto nodded, and a small smile appeared on his face.

"Very well. The first thing I have for you is chakra paper." Hiruzen handed the small slip of paper to Naruto. "Just channel your chakra into this paper and we will learn your elemental affinity."

Naruto took the paper and channeled his chakra into it as instructed.

The paper was suddenly sliced into several pieces. Some of the smaller pieces were wet while other pieces were slightly burned.

"That is pretty impressive, Naruto-kun. It appears you have an abnormally strong affinity to Fūton (wind) chakra, with a minor affinity to Suiton (water) and Katon (fire) at the same time. That is very rare." Hiruzen noted with some surprise.

 **"He is not entirely correct,"** Kurama interjected, **"The paper is lending more weight to my Katon nature than it should. Before my influence, your chakra had been primarily suited to Suiton with a minor affinity to** **Fūton. With my Fūton influence on your chakra, your true nature is now heavily weighted towards Fūton with a strong Suiton affinity. You will always have a minor affinity for Katon because of my chakra."**

 _'Wind, Water, and Fire. I guess I have a lot of jutsu to learn.'_ Naruto thought.

"Here is a scroll that contains a low-level jutsu for each element. Just because you do not have an affinity to other natures doesn't mean you can't use them anyways. They will just require more chakra to use and be less effective than someone who has an affinity for them." Hiruzen said. "The scroll also contains the Level 1, and Level 2 chakra control exercises for each element, as well. I would suggest that you focus on your affinity natures first." Hiruzen said as he picked up the last scroll. "You can use Kage Bunshin to work on your unaligned affinities while you move onto the level 2 exercises. Make sure you continue to practice these exercises regularly. If you do not, your control will get worse as your reserves continue to grow."

"At least, I have the Kage Bunshin to use now. Otherwise, it would sound like I had been assigned a losing battle with no end," Naruto said jokingly.

"That is not entirely accurate, your Ninjutsu and Fūinjutsu can only get stronger or more efficient with an increase in control," Hiruzen stated in a placating tone. "Only Genjutsu and Iryō Ninjutsu (Medical Ninjutsu) will be out of your reach because they require very delicate and precise control. Still, increasing your control will only help you make greater use of the reserves that you do have." Hiruzen added.

"Thank you so much, jiji! I'll put these to good use ** _!_** " Naruto said.

"Hold on a moment, I have one more thing for you here." Hiruzen handed Naruto the final scroll to Naruto.

Naruto opened the scroll and unsealed what was inside.

It looked like a large wooden book with a bamboo forest motif on the cover. Two metal latches were on the side of the wooden box holding it shut.

Naruto slid the hook-shaped latches out of the metal nobs that were holding them in place and lifted the lid carefully. Naruto gasped when he saw what was inside.

It was an expensive Fūinjutsu kit which had 6 horse hair brushes of different sizes, even some really fine points he had never seen before.

There was a smaller wooden box that held several sticks of black ink, with a few sticks of red, orange, green, blue and dark blue ink.

There was a fancy ink stone with two brush holes carved into the lid and a golden bamboo motif painted on it. The ink slab was the perfect texture, so you could smoothly scrape the ink stick and get the right amount of ink off without breaking off chunks of ink or cracking the ink stick itself.

There were two other stone pots with lids and a stone brush holder that had the same bamboo motif carved into it.

The inside of the lid had two storage seals for putting blank scrolls and papers, as well as a small wooden sleeve to hold loose tag paper.

Naruto was blown away by this gift. He looked up to the Hokage, speechless, with his eyes sparkling and a huge smile on his face. Hiruzen should have known it would be the sealing kit. He was glad to see that smile on his face. It had been too long for someone as young as him.

"Wow, jiji! This is the best thing ever ** _!_** Thank you so much." Naruto said

Hiruzen reached out and ruffled Naruto's hair and committed his bright smile to memory. It was a rare sight to see nowadays.

"You earned it with your hard work, Naruto-kun. I am proud of how well you have done, even with all the challenges that have been placed before you." Hiruzen smiled.

Naruto was now looking down at the kit with a soft smile on his face as he tenderly ran his fingers along each of the items in the set.

"Yea, well, I don't care what those people think anymore. If I spend all my time worrying about what they think, I won't have any time to live for myself. In the end, what will I have if I did spend all my time living for them? I think I would look back on my life and feel only regret." Naruto said almost silently.

Hiruzen still heard every word.

Naruto looked up at him and asked "What about you, jiji? If you had to look back on your life, knowing it would end tomorrow, what would you feel?"

Hiruzen thought his answer through for a few minutes, knowing that this question could have an impact on Naruto for the rest of his life.

"Honestly, Naruto-kun, when you get to my age, sometimes it's hard not to look back and see only regret," Hiruzen said sadly. "Did I spend enough time with my wife? My son? Did I make the right choice to protect the village? Then I see something that normally would be considered insignificant, like a flower, and remember something wonderful." A smile of reminiscents appeared on the wizened Hokage's face. "For me, the flower would remind me of the first time I saw my wife wearing a particular dress while the sun was setting behind her. When I saw her wear that dress and watched the sunset with her at that time, that moment was simply an ordinary moment. Now, however, it is one of my fondest memories of her." Hiruzen stood and moved closer to Naruto.

He placed his hand on his Naruto's shoulder and looked into his bright blue eyes as they looked up at him.

"You have to realize that time changes how everything is viewed, Naruto-kun. Sometimes for better and sometimes for worse." Hiruzen said softly. "I made a choice to marry my wife, only to regret that she died. Would I want to go back and avoid marrying her because I don't want to feel that regret?" Hiruzen paused dramatically before he firmly stated, "No."

Hiruzen gave Naruto a sad smile as old memories flashed through his mind. "Even if I will regret and feel the pain of her death for the rest of my life, I can still remember all the times she gave me joy throughout my life. Do you understand?"

"I think I understand, jiji," Naruto said solemnly.

"Good. Now, why don't we get some ramen to celebrate, hmm?" Hiruzen said with a smile.

Naruto grinned and nodded before he assembled his gifts and stored them away in the storage scroll Mizuki had given him. Tomorrow he would be assigned to a team with a Jōnin instructor and be able to start doing missions for the village.

Naruto knew that they wouldn't see any significant missions for awhile, but he was content with being able to train with the new elemental jutsu he had just received. He decided to worry more about the team selections tomorrow and just enjoy his ramen with his jiji for today.


	12. Looking Towards the Horizon

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

Edit 4/20/16

 **Chapter 11**

 **Looking Towards the Horizon**

 **Next Morning - Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

The Jōnin sensei for the newest Genin graduates were all gathered and discussing the potential group arrangements for the genin teams.

The Hokage had already gone through the Teams 1 – 5 with their Jōnin sensei assigned. Genin, who were not suited for heavy combat or specialization, were placed into these teams. These candidates would remain around the village proper maintaining the training grounds, guarding the walls, manning lookout points, or trained in logistical and supply operations for long term missions or wartime scenarios.

Now it was time for the combat specialization teams to be finalized. He had set the groups up in the traditional format, but he felt that this group setup would not work. Now he was testing his Jōnin to see if they would notice it.

* * *

 **Team 7 – First Contact Team**

Sasuke Uchiha - Long/Mid-range

Hinata Hyūga - Close range

Kiba Inuzuka - Tracker

 **Team 8 – Scout and Infiltration**

Shino Aburame - Long/Tracker

Sakura Haruno - Mid/Specialist

Naruto Uzumaki - Mid/Specialist

 **Team 9 – Active (Team Guy)**

 **Team 10 – Combat Support**

Shikamaru Nara - Long/Support

Choji Akimichi - Close range

Ino Yamanaka - Mid/Specialist

* * *

Kakashi Hatake knew he would end up with Sasuke, given the circumstances, and he was happy with that. He could keep his promise to Obito to look out for the remnants of his clan. The Hyūga girl would be suitable for tracking and close range fighting as well. The only real problem he had was with the Inuzuka. It wasn't anything personal, but a close range heavy first contact team would put way too much pressure on Sasuke for Ninjutsu, bottlenecking him into a long-range role. That setup would negate half of the reason why the Sharingan was as powerful and feared as it was, the capability to track and counter any mid to short range attacks.

He needed another long range or mid range genin with the potential to become a specialist. The Inuzuka boy's tracking senses were moot since Kakashi had his group of ninken to work with as well.

As he looked over his options for replacement one name stood out like a glaring red light to him. Naruto Uzumaki. He didn't know much about the jinchūriki except parts of his Anbu Team Ro were a part of his guard detail for the past six years, and that some had _chosen_ that detail full time. He wasn't certain why that was.

The name Uzumaki brought his grief to the forefront because it was always closely associated with his adopted father figure Minato. He wondered why they would let the Kyūbi brat use that name when the beast inside him had caused their deaths.

Kakashi was no fool thinking that Naruto was the Kyūbi reborn, but all he did know was that apparently the Kyūbi had somehow managed to rip its way out of Kushina, killing her unborn child and rampaging across the village until it took his sensei's life to contain it. He wondered why they would risk that again. If only they had let him fight instead... No, he couldn't go down that path right now.

Instead, he would spend an extra hour at the memorial stone before the bell test tomorrow. They would probably fail anyways, like all the others, so he shouldn't get himself worked up over anything.

Kurenai Yuhi was a little nervous when she woke up this morning. She was one of the least experienced Jōnin, but she had wanted a genin team for some time, and she would finally have her chance now.

As she looked over her team she frowned. She had helped Hinata for most of her childhood since her mother died. She had built up Hinata's confidence and poise to a degree that her position as heiress was no longer in jeopardy. She should be the one to continue to shape her for the future.

Shino was all right for her team, she would need a long range tracker to be able to find and track the necessary targets for their primary purpose. His kikaichū and long range abilities would be ideal for their primary purpose.

Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchūriki, is what made her nervous. She had heard a lot of things about him and didn't know what to believe. Some people said the real reason he had an Anbu team was to protect the village instead of himself, and that the Hokage was closely monitoring him. She had to assume that meant he was a loose cannon or a ticking time bomb, which she didn't want to deal with.

She had read that jinchūriki can't be affected by genjutsu, so she was a little nervous about how her team would handle him if he lost control. She could argue that she needed someone who was a close range fighter to get Hinata on her team and trade away Naruto to Kakashi.

Asuma Sarutobi felt that he was sitting pretty. The Ino-Shika-Cho team was already well established. All he need to do was polish up on their execution of their parent's tactics and then the fun part of creating their own new ones.

He was certain that they were all hard working and serious, so he shouldn't have too many problems.

"Now that everyone has reviewed the traditional team arrangements, please speak up now if you have any objections or I will assign the teams as is." The Hokage said.

"Hokage-sama, I request to change Hinata Hyūga on Team 7, with Naruto Uzumaki on my team," Kurenai said.

"Is that so, Kurenai, and for what reason would you like to make that change?" Hiruzen asked

"Well Hokage-sama, I have already been guiding Hinata throughout her childhood, and I feel I am best qualified to continue her growth. Also, I have no close range fighter on my team, and I feel that would be detrimental to a Scouting and Tracking team that comes under attack." Kurenai said.

"Are you certain that is the reason? A scouting and tracking team that is successful shouldn't have to worry about engaging in close range combat." Hiruzen stated.

"But to have no close range skills at all will be a dangerous oversight, I believe. We can't always guarantee success." Kurenai said.

Kakashi decided to interject. "If I may, Hokage-sama, I would recommend moving Kiba Inuzuka to Team 8 instead. Even though the dead last is supposed to be with the rookies of the year, his talents are exactly what Kurenai is looking for. He is a close range specialist, and with his ninken, can hold off more opponents than usual. Plus he can provide scent tracking which is necessary for a scouting team." Kakashi said with a bored tone.

Kurenai glared at the masked pervert. She wanted Hinata on her team damn it!

"I still believe Hinata is a better choice. I know her better than most of her family, and I know what she is capable of." Kurenai stated

"That is precisely why I will not allow her on your team Kurenai. You can not be objective when she is involved. The fact that you disregarded a key missing component to the purpose of your team proved that point to me." Hiruzen said. "Kiba will be moved to Team 8, and Naruto will be moved to Team 7."

"If Kiba was a key missing component, then why was he assigned to a different team Hokage-sama?" Kurenai asked genuinely confused.

"I was testing you and Kakashi to see if you could look past preconceived notions and look at the truth of the matter," Hiruzen replied sternly.

"Yes Hokage-sama, I understand," Kurenai said.

She was disappointed, but the Hokage was right, she probably couldn't be objective when Hinata was in danger. At least, she didn't have to worry about the jinchūriki anymore.

Hiruzen activated the seal on his desk and soon Iruka walked in to collect the updated genin assignment list. He bowed to the Hokage and left while reviewing the list.

"Very well, the genin should be gathering soon. We can observe their reactions from here."

Hiruzen activated the crystal ball and looked into the classroom. The genin were beginning to enter the class, and he noted that Naruto was already waiting in his seat.

 **Konoha Shinobi Academy**

* * *

Naruto was sitting in his usual seat with his stoic pose in place. He was fairly tired, considering he had woken up three hours early to begin working on his clone chakra control exercises.

 **Flashback – Training ground 4**

* * *

At Kurama's recommendation, he went to one of the more excluded training grounds near the edge of the village. He summoned 100 clones and tried to feel out his reserves. He didn't really feel any significant drop in regards to his remaining reserves.

" **You still have plenty of chakra. In order to accomplish what the old monkey goat requires of you will require a lot more clones, which will become too noticeable. Instead, you should try to pour a lot more chakra into the jutsu and try to limit the number of clones created to 50."**

Naruto ordered the clones he summoned to dispel in groups of 10 every 5 seconds and waited. He didn't feel any residual backlash, so he felt that was a good enough dismissal rate for now.

Naruto began to channel his chakra, first building up a large reserve before he "opened" his chakra system, as Kurama had dubbed it, and tried to summon only 50 clones.

80 clones appeared instead of 50. Naruto felt a large drain on his chakra reserve.

 _'Well, that felt like something significant.'_ Naruto stated. He was slightly winded from the drain. _'I wonder how I can tell if they have more than the others now?'_

" **Dispel these clones slowly to get the chakra back from them first, then see how your reserves feel,"** Kurama ordered.

Naruto dispelled the clones and felt his chakra come back up to normal.

 _'Its like I didn't lose any at all.'_ Naruto noted.

" **Summon 80 clones and have them perform the water walking exercise until they dispel,"** Kurama suggested.

Naruto managed to summon 80 clones, and they immediately spread out and started walking upstream of the nearby river like a treadmill.

 _'That's pretty cool_ ** _!_** _If I think of the command, even before I summon them, the clones will do it right away.'_ Naruto thought as he watched his clones walking on the river.

After the first one dispelled about 15 minutes later. Naruto ordered them to disperse in groups of 10 every 10 seconds instead and waited for the backlash.

Nothing happened as the first two groups dispelled, so he waited for them to finish dispelling for the next part.

" **So 15 minutes is the threshold, repeat what you did earlier with the powered clones and we will have them try the exercise as well."**

 _'Well, at least, my water walking will be flawless'_ Naruto said as he began to create the powered clones.

 **Flashback end**

* * *

It turned out that when he had summoned the 80 powered clones, he had put about triple the average amount of chakra. He wasn't sure if this exercise was actually working like the one the Hokage wanted.

Kurama told him that it was working because the purpose behind the exercise was being capable of cutting off the pull on his chakra system while it was opened, and still maintain control over the split, to ensure that the desired number of clones could be created correctly.

Now there were currently 80 powered clones working on various things. Kurama insisted that he might as well use them for the other chakra control exercises the Hokage gave him while waiting for them to be dispersed.

Naruto had decided to split them up into groups of four, with two groups working on the Wind and Water Level 1 exercise while one group was learning Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) and the second group was working on Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet)

It seemed to be going well, for the most part, but he did have a few dispel because of accidents. It was his fault. However, he didn't tell them to spread out enough, and one failed attempt at the wind jutsu resulted in his neighbor getting dispelled along with him.

Naruto wondered what team he would end up assigned to today. He knew it was unlikely that he would be with Shikamaru or Choji because that team was guaranteed to have Ino on it. With his rank being 3rd he probably wouldn't be on Sasuke's team either. That left Shino and Sakura, which would not be fun. Shino was okay, but Sakura was useless.

Naruto simply kept his eyes shut and waited for Iruka's arrival, he should have another 10 minutes before he showed up.

He remembered that he would need to buy his new outfit today. With all the excitement yesterday, he had totally forgotten. He decided he would definitely go for black instead of dark blue, but the amount of orange allowed would have to be toned down, as agreed with Kurama. He thought of something in dark orange would be acceptable if he couldn't find anything that was more subtle.

Naruto heard Kurama growl in disapproval at that thought and smirked inwardly.

Iruka walked into the classroom and got everyone's attention.

"Okay class, those of you that are here today have been selected for the Mission and Combat oriented teams so be proud of yourselves! You are some of the best to come out of the Academy this year." Iruka paused for a moment to observe the kids responses.

Sasuke, Shino, and Naruto didn't show any response when they heard that.

Sakura and Ino were still mooning over Sasuke, probably dreaming about being on his team.

Choji was speaking with Shikamaru, who was resting his head on his hand looking bored.

"Look around class, because even though you will be assigned to a particular team with a Jōnin instructor, all of your classmates in this room will be your team mates. It will be one of these people who may save your life in a bad situation, and you may save theirs. The time for childish posturing, petty rivalries, and flighty dreams is now over. You are Shinobi of Konoha and will be expected to show the true strength of The Will of Fire." Iruka finished his speech and brought the list up.

"Team 7 will consist of Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyūga, and Naruto Uzumaki. Your Jōnin sensei will be Kakashi Hatake."

There was a groan of disappointment from Sakura and Ino with that.

Sasuke had a slight smirk on his face. Hinata was the best possible kunoichi he could've gotten, and while he didn't know much about Naruto, at least he wasn't the dead last like Kiba.

He remembered the events from That Night and knew he would have to be careful. He wouldn't know if he could use them to kill That Man until they have proven their worth. If they held him back, he would have to leave them behind, Will of Fire or not.

Naruto opened his eyes to study his team and sense their emotions. Sasuke seemed to be less hateful at everything in general. Naruto knew that he would probably have to defer leadership to him just to prevent conflict, but hopefully, he would, at least, listen to him and Hinata. He wouldn't be a mindless follower.

He didn't sense anything bad from Hinata, but he has never sensed anything bad from her towards anyone really. She was skilled, confident, and friendly.

Hinata was pleased with her team. Father would approve that she had gotten the position on Team 7. All the most illustrious ninjas of the village had originated in the First Contact team, probably because they were sent into the direst situations.

While that thought was a little scary to her, she would do the Hyūga name proud, for her mother she would not falter.

Naruto seemed like he would be a calm and trustworthy teammate and Sasuke while standoffish, was highly skilled.

Team 8 will consist of Shino Aburame, Sakura Haruno, and Kiba Inuzuka. Your Jōnin sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi.

Kiba grumbled about not being on Team 7, he should be on the First Contact team, not Naruto. Naruto should have just learned his place as Kiba's beta, but he refused. Kiba always challenged him to try and put him in his place, but he couldn't always beat him soundly, and it drove his instincts mad.

He had gotten into trouble with his mother, quite a bit, for trying to challenge her too but she was able to put him down repeatedly, so Kiba would just have to get stronger and finally put Naruto into place as his beta. Then they could finally be friends again.

Sakura was depressed. She had failed to beat Hinata, again. It wasn't fair! All those damn clan kids had so much support and always looked down on the civilian children. She hated how they always seemed to single them out as lesser. Now she wouldn't be on Sasuke's team.

She worked as hard as she could, but she didn't have time to just train all the time. She had to work part time to help her mother pay the bills with her father gone. She didn't have endless reserves of shuriken and kunai or access to the best training grounds. She had to rely on the Academy provided tools like some ward of the state.

This was the main reason that she hated Naruto so much. She had realized a few years ago that her Mother had just made up a stupid story, and that her father was probably a part of the drunken mob that attacked the orphanage.

She had heard from some of the adopted civilian kids that he wasn't even one of the shinobi children. He was just some no name kid, who somehow, had the Hokage hand him everything. Complete with an Anbu team who she saw training him.

Why did he get treated so damn special when they looked at her like one of those "damned civilians". Even that bastard would treat her the same way. That's why she did everything she could to drag him down. In a way, she saw him as a traitor to the civilian kids cause.

The more she thought about Naruto, the angrier she got. She wouldn't let those damn clan kids push her around. She was gonna get serious now, and show them that they can't leave her behind, or look down on her anymore.

Shino was a little concerned about having Sakura on his team. She didn't seem to be capable of providing anything necessary towards their primary goal. She also didn't appear to take her training seriously, always mooning over the Uchiha kid.

Perhaps she had potential in genjutsu or Iryō Ninjutsu (Medical Ninjutsu) and was to be groomed to be their support specialist? That would be acceptable, and he would suggest it to their sensei if it did not seem to be the intent.

Kiba, with the use of Akamaru, should be acceptable as a teammate. Especially for their primary purpose of tracking and scouting. Shino was not really inclined to act as a leader, he would just relay the best possible strategy when necessary and allow someone else to handle the reigns if they desired.

"Team 10 will consist of Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka. Your Jōnin sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi."

While Ino complained out loud that she couldn't be on Sasuke's team, she knew from the start that she wouldn't have anyway. Truthfully, she only did it so Sakura would feel better that she didn't get on the team also. She really liked Sakura as a friend and they used to have so much fun.

Once the Academy started, however, Sakura got infuriated easily and was always talking badly about clan kids. Ino tried to help her understand why clan children saw civilians as they did and convince her that once she graduated, it wouldn't matter anymore.

Sakura also lashed out at Naruto viciously, and Ino had to admit that she had just followed the crowd, but she felt like a bitch for doing so once she grew up a little.

Ino, herself, had also been kinda snobbish to him as a child because he wasn't a clan kid at first. Then she overheard her father talking with her mother about how Naruto had been wrongly identified as a newborn because no one knew who his parents were. Then he had been viciously attacked at the orphanage because some secret ninja group was trying to kidnap him.

She couldn't tell Sakura about this because she wasn't supposed to be eavesdropping on her dad like that. That was the only reason she was trying so hard to help Sakura. If she could get Sakura off Naruto's back, then she would feel less guilty for treating him so badly for no reason.

As for Naruto, she didn't think she should even try to be friendly with him considering how he had treated him badly for no real reason. She thought it was better that she just stay out of his way.

Shikamaru was preparing himself to have to wake up earlier and start training. He knew his mother and father would start getting after him more, now that he was certified. He just hoped his instructor wasn't a hard ass because that could be troublesome.

Choji was worried about being able to protect his team and his friends. He knew he was pretty strong, and he did well in the Academy, but now it was the real thing, and he would have to possibly kill people now. Choji didn't really like that fact, but he knew it was a "them or us type" of situation.

"I'm proud of you all, and I know you are capable of doing well so make sure you train hard to keep your skills sharp. Your Jōnin sensei's should be arriving here shortly for introductions. Good luck." Iruka said.

 _'Well Kurama, I suppose it could have been worse. I hope I don't have to listen to your Uchiha rant every day now that I'm on a team with him.'_ Naruto said with amusement

" **Hmph. That brat, at least, better be able to hold his own on your team. If he tries any of that, "I'm an Uchiha elite" crap or uses those damn cursed eyes on us, I might take control of you and squash him, consequences be damned."** said Kurama with a snort of contempt.

 _'I just hope I don't have one of "those people" as a sensei, that would be tons of fun.'_ Naruto replied sarcastically.

" **Even if that is the case, with the use of the clones and your mindscape, training will not be an issue."** Kurama reminded him, **"If you still want to remain in this village by then, you can always deal with the team as you see fit until you are capable of going up in rank. Then you won't have to answer to him anymore."**

Naruto mentally nodded before asking _'I guess that would work. What would you think about me becoming an Anbu?'_

" **It would be more beneficial to you because of the circumstances, but I wouldn't be so confident they would approve of you being one,"** Kurama answered.

 _'What? Why not?'_ Naruto was surprised by that answer.

" **Most of this mortal filth keep their jinchūriki's on display like circus animals if you will,"** Kurama said with contempt. **"The apparent disappearance of their jinchūriki would either lead to an attack by outside forces with bad intelligence, or cause concern and panic from internal sources because their "weapon" is no longer being flaunted towards their enemies."**

Naruto visibly frowned with that thought. _'So I can't really have a covert life to any degree. In some way, I will have to be a presence for the public, whether they like me or not. I guess that is what jiji was really talking about last night.'_

" **Who knows? The old monkey goat might allow it anyways. It wouldn't hurt to attempt to meet the qualifications, after all. Even if you are not allowed, you will still be stronger for it."** Kurama replied.

 _'If you are right, then it wouldn't be for long, or he probably wouldn't let me go out on long term missions far outside the village. They would want me close at hand.'_ Naruto mused.

Kurama huffed **"Which would mean you would probably just be better off remaining as an ordinary shinobi after all. Don't be too concerned about it, for now, you are still a young kit and need to worry more about training and growing stronger."**

Naruto heard the door open and popped open an eye to see who it was. He saw a woman with wild black hair and red eyes enter, wearing a dress that appeared to be made out of ninja wrap and mesh but wasn't too revealing. That would make her Kurenai Yuhi by the process of elimination.

Following the woman was Asuma Sarutobi, Naruto was familiar with him. He had seen him a few times when he spent time with the Hokage. Naruto also knew that the Hokage and his son had a strained relationship, but they seemed to be in the process of fixing it from what Naruto sensed from them. They weren't nearly as angry at each other at they both thought they were.

He didn't smell or hear another presence, so he assumed his sensei hadn't arrived yet and closed his eye again.

Once Teams 8 and 10 left the room, Naruto heard Sasuke move over towards Hinata and ask her to gather with Naruto, so they could prepare before their sensei arrived. Naruto opened his eyes and looked at them when he heard that and decided to get up and head over towards them instead.

Sasuke looked at him oddly for a minute. "Did you hear me from back there?"

"I saw you walk over and thought you would want to meet up, or something." Naruto lied.

"Okay. I do have a question for you, however, do you mind if I see one of your shuriken or kunai?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto thought that was an odd request but decided to humor him. "Sure, here you go."

Sasuke studied them carefully and realized that these were the same that Itachi always used.

"Where did you get these from? Did you know these were only made by an Uchiha weapon smith?" Sasuke asked with suspicion.

"Really? I had no idea about that. I got those from one of my Anbu friends, like, four years ago." Naruto said.

Now Naruto was certain that Karasu was involved with the Uchiha Incident and that made him a little downhearted since that meant that Karasu was dead if he was an Uchiha or he was Itachi, which he didn't believe for a second.

There was no way that Karasu would just go batshit crazy and kill everyone. He was way too calm and collected for that. Naruto had actually modeled his stoic pose on what he imagined Karasu would do if he was hanging around in public for some reason.

Sasuke wasn't certain what to believe about that at the moment. He could tell Naruto wasn't lying about that, but he would have to think about the situation more, later on, right now he had to make sure these guys were prepared.

Sasuke handed the weapons back to Naruto, who took them and put them away in his pouch.

"I wanted to meet with you guys because what most people don't know is that there is another test that will happen tomorrow. The test we have to take tomorrow will be against our Jōnin sensei, and if we don't pass, we will have to go back to the Academy." Sasuke said.

Naruto leaned his lower back against the edge of the desk they were standing around and crossed his arms while he pondered the situation.

"To overcome a Jōnin, in anything, won't be easy for any of us," Naruto said with a frown before looking at Sasuke directly, "Do you know what the test might be?" Naruto asked as he studied Sasuke's expression.

He was sensing some manipulation on Sasuke's part, but he wasn't exactly certain about what. He didn't think Sasuke would just make up this test, but what was he trying to convince them to do for him?

"I'm not exactly certain what our sensei would have in mind, but I do know it usually involves some core belief that they want to make sure exists on our team. Like trapping skills or strategy. It would have to be something that would be essential to our team's success." Sasuke said.

He had to know if they were worthy. He had to know if he could trust them to cover his back regardless of the situation. Even if it seemed like he was doing something potentially treasonous. Naruto would be his biggest concern, he felt, as everyone knew that he was close to the Hokage in some manner.

"Well the one thing my father told me about team 7, is that all the most powerful ninja teams have come from this group. Teams like the Legendary Sannin, and the Hokage and his council like Danzō Shimura, and Homura Mitokado." Hinata mentioned before she tapped her lips in thought for a moment. "Perhaps he will be focused on our teamwork like those were famous for?"

Naruto was surprised at the spike of hatred that came from Sasuke when Hinata mentioned Danzō, but he kept his face straight with no emotion showing.

" **So the Uchiha brat has business with this Danzō snake. Perhaps he maybe useful towards our purpose of destroying that fool."** Kurama said.

 _'I wonder if Danzō did the same thing to him as he did to us.'_ Naruto thought.

" **I don't think that would be likely. The Uchiha clan was powerful, and it would be difficult to simply make an Uchiha disappear when they were in charge of the police force."**

Naruto had a sinking feeling when he heard Kurama's response. _'Unless of course you made the police force disappear and conveniently left a single Uchiha for you to use.'_

 **"** **You think the story about Itachi Uchiha killing them all is a lie then?"** Kurama said with some surprise, **"The Uchiha were known to suffer from cursed eyes that would drive them to madness in seeking out power. It was what happened with Madara, after all. If you think this Root group is involved, why would the old monkey goat bother with marking him as a missing-nin and having Anbu teams and hunter-nin searching for him?"**

 _'I don't know, maybe it was a setup? I would like to believe jiji wouldn't be involved, but it would be possible if they were going to do something bad. We never heard what happened to Mizuki, but jiji was really pissed. There are too many unknown pieces that we just don't have the information to take any action on. I will have to keep silent about my suspicion for now.'_ Naruto replied.

"I think you are right about that Hinata. A first contact team would need to be capable of handling any possible situation, which typically means heavy assault. That would require a lot of combination jutsu and solid team tactics. He will likely do what he can to make us work together in some way." Naruto said.

"If we are going to be an assault based team, then he will need to test our combat skills. We will have to fight him for sure. What are you guys capable of, outside of what the Academy teaches?" Sasuke looked between Naruto and Hinata.

"Unfortunately, I do not know any elemental jutsu that I can use, just yet. I did receive a scroll from the Hokage with some techniques that I plan to study tonight. Maybe I can find one that will be useful for tomorrow." Naruto closed his eyes as he thought more about possible scenarios.

"Well I don't have any jutsu to use either, but I have my Jūken, and I can do Hakke Sanjūni Shō (Eight Trigrams 32 Palms), but we will have to make him stationary for at least 5 seconds for it to work," Hinata replied.

"Hn, I have Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) that doesn't leave us much against a Jōnin," Sasuke said. "You both have been kitted out with ninja wire and other tools right?"

Naruto nodded in confirmation.

"I don't have much in the way of smoke bombs or explosive tags. My kit is, usually, more like a first aid kit, but I do have ninja wire." Hinata replied.

Sasuke sat in the chair next to Hinata and put his hands over his mouth while he thought of a plan that might work.

Naruto was thinking something similar, but it was more along the lines of if he should take the risk and try to plant his gravity seals on the Jōnin using just his chakra.

" **You should attempt it. You have mastered the seal, and it should be safe to apply it."** Kurama encouraged.

 _'I would have to get close to him to even try it. I will have to use the_ _ _Kage Bunshin__ _tomorrow and hope that jiji doesn't catch too much grief for me using it in that situation.'_

Kurama snorted before responding. **"He didn't specify that you couldn't use them. He only said to use the clone chakra control exercise before you tried to use them yourself. We will have to start using them more in your mindscape, once you get more acclimated to their use."**

' _Where the hell is this guy, anyways?It's already been like an hour.'_ Naruto thought in annoyance.

" **It matters not, you can't do anything until he decides to show up anyways."**

 _'I guess. I could've refreshed some of the clones I have training, though. They have begun to make progress on_ _ _Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm)__ _but_ _ _Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet)__ _still needs work from what the dispelled clones have shown me.'_

" **How many clones do you feel are remaining now?"** Kurama asked.

Naruto concentrated on his chakra reserves for a brief moment. _'Probably 65 left, but a lot of those will run out soon because they are probably nearing their chakra limits. I would say that would leave maybe 25 to last for 30 more minutes at most trying to do_ _ _Reppūshō__ _and_ _ _Suidan__ _if they don't dispel themselves because of a mistake.'_

Sasuke's voice cut into Naruto's hearing before Kurama could respond.

"Naruto, what kind of techniques do you think the Hokage gave you in that scroll," He asked.

 _'Should I tell him?'_ Naruto asked.

" **If you want to be successful, you will have to share something with them. You will have to decide what you think is safe to tell."** Kurama said reluctantly.

"I know he probably gave me some elemental jutsu since he tested my affinity, but he most likely gave me Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone)."

"Didn't you always fail at making a Bunshin? Why would he give you a harder one?" Sasuke said a little sharply.

Naruto snorted "Because I had too large a chakra reserve to successfully create a regular Bunshin. We tried chakra control exercises to see if it would help, but it didn't. He said that it was like I was trying to pour a bucket of water into a sake cup without spilling a drop, it just wasn't possible for me."

"Why is the Kage Bunshin different?" Hinata asked curiously.

"Well, Kage Bunshin are solid and can attack and adapt on their own, because of this their chakra cost is much higher. Kage Bunshin will evenly distribute all of your chakra to each clone." Naruto explained.

"Do you think you can be able to use it by tomorrow? Sasuke asked, "We wouldn't need that many clones if the plan I created will be valid for the test."

"It all depends on when our sensei decides to show up really. If he turns up soon and doesn't require us to do anything further today, then I'll make sure that I can put it to use by tomorrow. Regardless, as soon as we are done today I will start working on it shortly afterward." Naruto replied.

"Do you think you can show it to me also?" Sasuke would like to have solid clones to use, it would help him with his goal.

Naruto shook his head "I will have to ask the Hokage. He made it very clear that the Kage Bunshin was a kinjutsu because it requires abnormally large chakra reserves, which is why he never let me learn it before. I can't be certain you have enough chakra for it without dying, and I don't want to pass around forbidden techniques that he trusted to me without asking him first."

Sasuke just grunted.

Sasuke was disappointed, but he could understand. There were just some things that couldn't be shared. He had a whole library of techniques that the Uchiha never shared with anyone. Now, however, it was solely up to him to share them or not.

"I can't believe our sensei is so late. My father is going to be upset if I miss my Jūken training today." Hinata said.

"Didn't he know we were gonna be doing team assignments today?" Naruto asked.

Hinata nodded. "Yea, but he also believed that it was simply to be an introduction and that our real training would begin most likely tomorrow. Today was the last day of private instruction for my father and me. He gets upset when his time is wasted."

"Hmph, Maybe your dad can Jūken our sensei for being so late then. It might give us an advantage tomorrow." Naruto said with annoyance.

"Well now, that is not a very good way of making the first impression is it?" an unknown voice sounded out.

Sasuke and Hinata looked up at the newcomer in surprise.

Naruto remained leaning on the desk with his arms crossed on his chest and turned his head towards him, narrowing his eyes as he studied the man.

The man in question was wearing the standard Jōnin uniform, but he had fingerless gloves with metal plates on them. He had a regular mask covering his mouth and nose, but his hitai-ate was slanted to cover his left eye for some reason.

'Well, at least, this guy is good. I didn't sense him at all.' Naruto thought.

Kurama growled lightly **"That man has a Sharingan in his left eye, I can sense the foul taint from here."**

"Neither is being two hours late." Naruto retorted.

"Hmm well a black cat crossed my path, so I had to walk around the building three times, but then I ran into the cat on the other side," Kakashi replied.

Naruto just turned his head away from his new sensei and closed his eyes again. He didn't want to dignify that excuse with a response, it was obvious that this man was trying to rile them up for some reason. The stoic pose was good at stopping people from trying to rile him up, most of the time.

Naruto could sense that his sensei didn't like or trust him at all. There was also some latent hate towards him overall but not something specific. He had to guess he was mad at Kurama.

 _'Well, at least, he's not as bad as some, but looks like it will be just you Kurama and me.'_ Naruto said softly.

Naruto had hoped he would have a sensei who would be capable of teaching him things, but judging from the emotions he was sensing, it would be just him and Kurama, like always.

" **What about your teammates? Will you exclude them as well?"** Kurama questioned, **"The old monkey goat may cause more problems if he feels you are isolating yourself further."**

Naruto sighed internally _'We will see, Kurama, so far it seems okay, but who knows with a sensei like this guy.'_

"Well, meet me up on the roof so we can get introductions started," Kakashi said before he poofed out of existence.

Naruto followed Sasuke and Hinata out of the room towards the stairs at the end of the hallway.

 _'So it was a_ _ _Kage Bunshin__ _. I wonder if that means that my clones would be undetectable like that or if he masked it himself.'_ Naruto was impressed.

" **We will have to test them for scent, but chakra sensors will be able to detect them easily. Advanced chakra sensors would be able to tell if they are not real."** Kurama said

 _'Will I be able to learn how to sense chakra eventually?'_ Naruto asked.

" **No. You can not learn how to sense chakra in that detail unless you are naturally a sensor type. The senses you have now are a mix of some of your own sensing capabilities that I amplified and senses you gain from having a bond with me. The bond integrated our chakra systems partially."** Kurama answered before stipulating, **"It may be possible for you to gain chakra sensing as you grow and your sensory systems develop more, but I will not be accelerating their development anymore. To accelerate them any further would only cause damage."**

Naruto reached the rooftop with the others while Kurama had been explaining about his sensory system. He sat down next to Hinata and waited for their sensei to acknowledge them.

"Why don't we start with introductions first. Likes, Dislikes, Hobbies, and dreams for the future." Kakashi said in a bored tone.

Hinata, Sasuke, and Naruto exchanged looks with each other before Hinata spoke up.

"My name is Hinata Hyūga, I like flowers and cinnamon rolls, I dislike arrogance and curse seals. My hobbies are flower pressing and herbalism. My dream is to unite the Hyūga clan."

'So not your typical Hyūga, that's a relief. She seems confident, so not an outcast and a with a goal like that she must be capable. I can't imagine the other Main branch members being too pleased with losing their dominance.' Kakashi thought.

"Very nice, how about you whiskers," Kakashi said.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like miso ramen with roasted pork and mochi (sticky rice cake), I dislike ignorance and bias. My hobbies are gardening and calligraphy. My dream is to form the strongest bonds I can with my trusted friends." Naruto said.

Naruto had to make his dream up on the fly since he really didn't have a dream, but there was some truth to the one he had made up. He did want to form the strongest bond as possible with Kurama, so he could eventually use full bijū mode. Naruto also had to grudgingly admit that he kinda liked being called whiskers.

Kurama snorted in amusement.

Kakashi was a little unsettled as he studied Naruto 'This boy, he looks and acts so much like sensei. It's not possible, everyone said the Kyūbi impaled Kushina through her belly and that the child was gone. Could this be some trick by the Kyūbi? I will have to keep my eye on him.'

"Calligraphy hmm interesting. How about you broody?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke scowled. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I like tomatoes, and onigiri (Riceballs) with okaka (Dried bonito flakes), I dislike nattō (fermented soy beans) and sweets. My hobbies are training and taking walks. My dream is to get revenge on a certain man and rebuild the Uchiha clan."

'So he is an avenger, but he doesn't appear to be lost to hate just yet. Maybe there is still hope for him.' Kakashi thought.

"Splendid. My name is Kakashi Hatake My likes, dislikes, dreams, and hobbies are none of your business. What you do need to know, however, is that no genin team has successfully passed my test before. Across all other teams, the success rate for passing is only 33%. Tomorrow you will meet me at training ground 7 at 7 am, and I recommend that you don't eat breakfast as you will only throw it up." Kakashi said.

With a wave, he Shunshin (Body Flicker) away leaving the three genin alone.

"I suggest you guys check out the training ground some time today and familiarize yourself with it. We will develop a strategy tomorrow based on our observations. We should probably arrive a little early." Sasuke said.

"I don't believe that guy will show up on time tomorrow either. He obviously likes to play with our heads to try and throw us off our game." Naruto said.

"What if he only did that for today? We could be disqualified if we aren't on time." Hinata said.

"Suit yourself. I will arrive at 7, as he instructed, but don't worry I'll get that Kage Bunshin down no matter what ** _!_** I'll be ready for whatever you plan." Naruto said as he walked towards the edge of the roof.

He threw a casual wave over his shoulder as he jumped off and began roof hopping towards the merchant district.

It was time for him to get his new wardrobe, and it would take some time to sniff out the shops that wouldn't cheat him. He pondered checking out the consignment shop again since they were used to him now, but he had more ryō available to him and figured he could splurge on some new sets of clothing for himself. Hopefully, he could find something similar to the scarf Shizune gave him a while back.

He hadn't seen Shizune for almost two years now. He hoped she was alright, but two years was a pretty long time. She had mentioned that Tsunade had come back to the village for awhile, but then had to go to the capital at the request of the Fire Daimyō to care for some relative who was sick. He had learned from the Hokage that you rarely had standing to turn down the Fire Daimyō, even if he asks for something frivolous. Maybe the person they were there to treat had something terminal and Shizune was there to help ease their end.

After sensing out a few shops, he managed to find one where the owner was indifferent to him and began to browse. While he liked to wear his hair like his father, he didn't particularly want to copy his style completely. That would be too obvious, and people might take offense if decided to go that far. He decided he would wear something similar to what he saw the Anbu teams wearing but with some orange, hopefully.

He saw a nice black sleeveless turtleneck shirt that partially covered the shoulders, instead of having them completely bare like the standard Anbu shirts.

It had a block of burnt orange running from underneath the armpit to the hem of the shirt that was only partially visible from the front and the back. There was also a matching strip running from the neck to the shoulders while the hem stitching was all in burnt orange as well. The neck of the shirt was black and could be pulled up to become a face mask if desired. He tried one on and looked into the mirror.

" **I suppose it is acceptable. At least, it isn't luminescent like your old coat,"** Kurama grumbled, **"and it is covered for the most part. You have forgotten one thing, however."**

 _'What's that?'_ Naruto asked.

" **You will have to choose between the red spiral and the gray spiral that you were adamant about including on your coat."** **Kurama pointed out.**

 _'You're right. I didn't even think about that. Well, since this is a sleeveless shirt I will probably need a coat of some sort to bring along if it gets cold. I could put it there.'_ Naruto mused.

Kurama hummed thoughtfully before speaking **"Let's look at some more options. Keep in mind you will need more pouches or pockets unless you plan to only use seals. While convenient, seals are sometimes slower to pull objects from, depending on the item."**

Naruto changed back to his t-shirt and picked up five sets of his selected shirt. As he was moving towards the pants, he noticed the hand and leg wrap section and saw there were some heavy cotton hand and leg wraps that were black and had orange stitching like the shirts he found.

 _'I can use these and wrap my arms up to my biceps like the Anbu arm guards, then write seals on them. That would be more pockets than even a Jōnin vest.'_ Naruto said with a small smile on his face.

 **"** **At least, you picked the black ones instead of the orange ones,"** Kurama said with a huff. **"You will need to get several sets of those and write seals on them since they will inevitably get damaged during combat. You may have to replace them often until you get stronger."**

Naruto nodded. _'I don't think I have a problem with that. These are pretty cheap after all, and it's more incentive for me not to get hit, right?'_

Naruto decided to pick up 6 pairs of each for now. He would be busy writing seals all night, but that didn't really bother him. He actually had fun writing seals, even if he had mastered them already.

Adding the wraps into his shopping cart, he moved on towards the pants and shorts and began looking through the rack full of black pants. He wondered if he should get some cargo pants anyways. If it looked like he had no pockets at all then, an enemy could figure out he was a fūinjutsu user.

" **It isn't a bad idea to have normal storage methods if you are unable to use chakra for some reason,"** Kurama said with a yawn.

Naruto moved over towards the cargo pants and shorts. The pants available were too thick, and it would be difficult use the wraps on the legs. He didn't like to have his pants loose over his sandals which is why he typically used the ¾ length pants.

As he moved to look at some regular pants, he caught sight of a display that had the same version of the shirt he had picked up, but with blue instead of the burnt orange.

Naruto moved over to the display and saw matching pants for the blue shirt and began looking through the rack. He managed to find five pairs of pants that matched his shirt and was quite happy. The pants weren't as thick as the cargo pants and didn't have as many pockets on the side, but he found that it was more suitable for his needs.

The pants had the same block of burnt orange that ran down the sides that were on the shirt. The thigh pocket was closer to the knee so it could be accessible even with a kunai holster on the side. The pocket itself was black with the orange stitching, matching the theme on the rest of the pockets and along the hem lines. The bottoms tapered below mid-calf to make it perfect for using wraps as he planned.

Happy with what he found, so far, now he would need a coat for colder weather, a new shuriken pouch, and a black strap for his hitai-ate.

He went through all the men's coats and sweaters but didn't find anything that would work. All the sleeves were too tight and would get in the way of his wraps. He even tried coats and sweaters that were much larger, but it still didn't work.

As he moved towards the standard white cowls used for traveling through snowy or desert terrain, he saw some sweaters in the women's section that might work but was reluctant.

 **"** **What is the problem?"** Kurama asked in a confused tone. **"If those are what you need then you should acquire them."**

 _'But that's the girls section.'_ Naruto said with embarrassment.

" **Bah, what does it matter? They are made of the same materials are they not? It is necessary for you frail mortals to wear such things to keep safe from the elements. Why should it matter where it is located? Besides, you don't really need it since I will prevent you from getting sick."** Kurama said with a snort.

 _'Yea but... just never mind, you wouldn't understand.'_ Naruto said in exasperation.

Naruto decided to suck it up and walk over there to look. He would be glad that he did when he found a very heavy black woolen sweater that had ¾ length sleeves that were wide, and a large funnel neck. It even had small specks of blue and light orange that reminded Naruto of the scarf he got from Shizune.

It really was perfect, but if Shikamaru or Choji found out, man would he get it. Naruto looked over the sizes and decided to get the largest one available. He picked up three of the sweaters and added them to his cart while looking around conspicuously before scurrying away.

He managed to find a dark leather shuriken pouch that was close enough to the orange to match. He wanted to get a black one, but they didn't have any in stock.

Next, he got a black strapped hitai-ate that was much longer than the usual one he had but decided not to worry about it.

Finally, he bought a pair of black combat sandals that went up to below his calf.

He paid for all his purchases and, with a slimmer Gama-chan, headed home to prepare his new uniform for tomorrow.


	13. Seven Bells Toll

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

edit 4/20/16

 **Chapter 12**

 **Seven Bells Toll**

 **Next Morning – Training Ground 7 - Konoha**

* * *

Naruto arrived at the training ground, a few minutes early, decked out in his new attire. (sans sweater of course) His hitai-ate tied tightly around his forehead with the straps dangling down to his upper back.

The black and orange sleeveless turtleneck had the red Uzumaki memorial spiral sewn on the back. His arms were wrapped up to mid bicep with the black and orange trimmed wraps. He had loaded them with three storage seals on top of his forearm, one on each bicep, one under each wrist, and two on the bottom of his forearms. He kept his fingers unwrapped to have precise control over tools and weapons.

His black and orange pants were puffed out at the knee slightly, due to his leg wraps that traveled up to just below his knee. Naruto had added another storage seal on his leg wraps near each knee for emergencies.

His dark brown leather shuriken pouch secured to his back left hip, his kunai holster rested over black wraps on his right thigh, right above the cargo pocket. Naruto had also added seals to each of his accessories, and pockets as well, to increase their storage capacities. The only item that didn't have a storage seal of some sort were his shirts, black leather combat sandals, and his hitai-ate.

Naruto felt he had more storage seals then he knew what to do with, but Kurama reassured him that once he was out in the field, they would become useful. For now, he had simply filled them with some extra tools, kunai, shuriken, and had Gama-chan safely sealed away with a bento and some drinks for lunch.

He noticed Sasuke was already there standing beneath the tree next to Hinata, who was sitting on the ground.

Sasuke wore the same outfit he used in the academy. The blue high-collared funnel neck shirt had the Uchiha clan crest on his upper back. Paired with white shorts and matching white forearm and calf warmers and the standard blue combat sandals on his feet. His hitai-ate was tied around his head.

Hinata's attire had changed slightly to a lavender and light gray hooded jacket that ended past her hips. The jacket had light gray sleeves with lavender cuffs and a gray lined hood that was currently down. She wore loose-fitting navy blue Capri pants that tapered below the knee and wore black strappy sandals on her feet. Hinata had elected to wear her hitai-ate around her neck, instead of on her forehead.

Sasuke glanced over at Naruto and studied him for a second before grunting a greeting as he walked over. Naruto responded with a nod towards him before raising his hand in greeting to Hinata when she turned her gaze upon him.

Hinata was quite surprised at how Naruto looked with his new attire. He looked like a credible shinobi now. Even though there was still orange on everything, it was a blunter shade that was not as vibrant and the orange was more tastefully arrayed, instead of over the top like his old coat. Strangely with his new getup, his golden locks, and large blue eyes now drew her attention more than the orange on his clothing did.

Naruto leaned against the trunk of the tree and assumed his stoic pose while waiting.

"Good Morning, Naruto. Did you manage to learn the Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) last night?" Hinata asked.

"Yea, I should be able to make at least 20 to use now," Naruto said nonchalantly.

Sasuke snapped his head towards Naruto in shock. "Twenty at least? Just how many can you make?"

"I don't know; the Hokage won't let me make more than that until I complete the exercise he gave me with the instructions." Naruto lied with a shrug.

"Hn. Well, that will be more than enough for the plan that I have come up with, in case he wants us to fight him at any rate." Sasuke said.

Naruto noted that he didn't sense any desire to manipulate from Sasuke today, so he was uncertain what his underlying motive was just yet. He did notice that Sasuke tended to display a lot of mistrust towards the village authority figures, which could be dangerous. He already got tangled with one traitor to the village; he really didn't need the Hokage on his back about another.

"What's the plan? I have a pretty good idea of the layout from yesterday if you need me somewhere specific." Hinata added.

"Well, if we have to fight him, it would be best to tie him up or bog him down in an area where you can use Hakke Sanjūni Shō (Eight Trigrams 32 Palms) on him. That would be our best shot at disabling him enough to subdue him. This will also work if we have a secondary objective to meet since he will most likely be the main obstacle." Sasuke said.

"Makes sense to me, so where do we want to try and set him up?" Naruto asked.

"If we can drive him towards the clearing to the west, there is a fork in the river there that could serve as a potential point to box him in. There are some large bushes along the river's edge that Hinata can set up in at the start of the test." Sasuke said.

"Got it, so I'm assuming you will want me to drive him back towards the fork in the river using my Kage Bunshin as a distraction? Naruto asked.

"That, and once you reach the tree line before entering the clearing, throw two volleys of shuriken at him to try and force him to face south if he isn't already," Sasuke added.

"What are you going to be doing during all this? Naruto said shortly.

When he saw Sasuke glaring at him in anger, Naruto uncrossed his arms and raised his hand to stop Sasuke from snapping at him. "Okay, that came out wrong, but I have to know your side of the plan or my clones may interfere with your plan on accident."

Naruto recrossed his arms when he saw Sasuke calm down after that.

"I will attack him from the East using ninja wire on a shuriken volley to bind him. That is why I need your clones to attack from the South so he won't notice the wires until it is too late. Once he is bound successfully, then I will infuse the wires with Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball). This should force him to burn his Kawarimi so we can successfully drive him towards Hinata for her attack."

"What should we do if my attack fails to subdue him? He may be fast enough to block some of the strikes, and if he manages to block certain critical ones, his chakra network will still be functional." Hinata said

"If we haven't been able to meet the objective or subdue him by that point, we are gonna lose through attrition alone. We will just have to fight however we can at that point, and try to cover each other until the test is over." Sasuke said with a grimace.

Naruto and Hinata just nodded, and the trio fell silent waiting for their tardy teacher.

 **2 Hours later – Training Ground 7**

* * *

Kakashi observed his genin as he neared the training ground from his vigil at the Memorial stone.

Naruto and Sasuke were leaning against the tree, with the former having his eyes closed and arms crossed while the latter had a scowl on his face with his hands in his pockets. Hinata was sitting on the ground with the Hyūga mask in place.

Kakashi sighed to himself; his team wasn't nearly as lively as the others. It seemed all the other teams had highly animated genin, for the most part, while he had stoic, broody, and serious.

Hinata probably showed the most life out of all of them, but she was bred to behave like a noble, so she was poised and pleasant at her most emotional state. At least in public anyway, he had heard some wild tales about how the Hyūga can be in private.

He walked up to his team and was somewhat disappointed when no one complained about him being 2 hours late. He was hoping to get them riled up and flustered in order to keep them off center instead of focused.

Kakashi studied their reactions carefully to see if they were simply trying to hide them from him. Hinata was looking at him with a blank look, Sasuke was openly scowling, and Naruto didn't even have his eyes open.

Naruto didn't bother to react because he had smelled Kakashi spying on them for the past half hour. Naruto frowned inwardly as he could sense the intent to deceive and manipulate them. On one hand he knew that it was probably part of the test, but Naruto couldn't help but remain distrustful of him due to the latent hatred he had detected during the team introduction.

"Well, team, are we ready to become full genin?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, Sensei," They replied at the same time.

"Very well" he walked over to the three training posts and set down the bento boxes and alarm clock he brought with him. He then pulled out two bells and tied them to his belt.

"The objective of this exercise it to retrieve a bell from my belt before time expires. If you do not get a bell, you will not pass and will be sent back to the academy. You better come at me with the intent to kill or else I will make sure you will not pass." Kakashi said seriously.

That got their attention. All three of them were now looking at him with determination. He thought he would have gotten an outburst when they realized there were only two bells or when they saw the bento boxes, but there was no noticeable reaction from any of them.

Kakashi was even more disappointed by their lack of reaction. They apparently saw through his ploy about breakfast, so the bento boxes didn't elicit any reaction from them. They also didn't seem to become flustered when he showed them two bells and threatened to send them back to the Academy if they didn't obtain one. Did they not care that there were only two bells? In that case, they were not going to pass, Council be damned. They may want the Uchiha to advance, regardless, but he would not be sensei to a team that didn't give a damn about each other. He was always too painfully reminded what that attitude had cost him on his own team.

Naruto sensed a flare of anger from Kakashi and was curious. The anger wasn't directed at any of them, so for some reason, he just seemed to have gotten angry in general. Naruto had already sensed Kakashi's intent to manipulate and deceive them, so he wasn't put off when he saw only two bells. He was smart enough to see that this was an attempt to turn them against each other, but he would not be dissuaded. He would stick to the plan Sasuke laid out and adapt from there if necessary.

Sasuke felt excited and some nervousness. He really wanted to see how he would fare against a skilled Jōnin like Kakashi. Sasuke was not foolish enough to believe he had a chance in taking him down, but he would serve as a good measuring stick. Sasuke also felt confident his plan would, at least, give them the opening they needed to pass the test.

The moment Hinata saw the bells, she had deduced that Kakashi's focus was on teamwork and that he hoped to drive a wedge between them to test their determination to work together. It would make sense, given how often Konoha emphasized the Will of Fire. This test would attempt to weed out any graduates that were self-centered and willing to sacrifice their own teammates to succeed. A trait like that would be very detrimental to a team that was designed to enter highly volatile situations where they were likely outnumbered or lacked support. Hinata decided that Sasuke's plan would suffice for this test.

"If there are no questions then, you have two hours to get a bell, or you're finished for the year. Your time starts, Now!" Kakashi declared.

Kakashi watched as Sasuke and Hinata dashed off into the woods to hide while Naruto remained behind, just staring at him with a serious look.

'So he plans to challenge my head on does he? I will have to teach him a lesson.' Kakashi pulled out his Icha Icha Paradise book and began to read.

Naruto waited for a moment to allow his team time to get into position before he threw a kunai to get Kakashi to dodge without moving. Once Kakashi evaded the kunai easily, he followed with two volleys of four shuriken each, to force Kakashi to move from his spot and take Naruto out of his line of sight.

When Naruto was certain Kakashi no longer had his eye on him, he used Kawarimi (Substitution Jutsu) to replace himself with a clone he had hidden earlier, then used the cover of the forest to summon several more clones before sending the replacement clone in to attack. Naruto then observed the battle closely and formed a strategy.

Kakashi chuckled to himself when Naruto charged in and engaged him in a taijutsu battle head on. 'Ah, the brashness of youth.' Kakashi easily evaded the basic academy kick and punch combinations Naruto was throwing at him while reading his book. He didn't even need to move his book significantly to avoid the attacks since his taijutsu was probably low to mid genin level at best.

"Is this the best you can do? I might be doing the academy a favor by sending you back so they can learn to teach properly." Kakashi taunted before putting his book away to launch an attack at Naruto and show the genin the foolishness of charging a Jōnin.

Kakashi was not impressed at Naruto's sloppy blocks and evasion techniques. It didn't take him long to parry his attempt at a counter attack, before dashing in and landing a solid blow on the back of Naruto's neck to render him unconscious. He turned to pick Naruto up and tie his first victim to the training posts, only to be surprised when "Naruto" vanished in a puff of smoke he was all too familiar with.

'Kage Bunshin? How is it possible that a he is capable of doing that already?' Kakashi thought with shock.

Kakashi's heard the whistle of shuriken approaching and leaped away to see two volleys of shuriken land where he was standing before. Kakashi looked towards where the projectiles were thrown from and spotted 5 more Naruto clones charging him from the East. The two clones in the lead jumped in the air and threw more volleys of shuriken before they went through a few hand seals and called out Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone), dispelling afterward.

Kakashi narrowed his eye and determined that he had no choice but to Kawarimi with a log he spotted to the North West. The hail of shuriken was too widespread to simply dodge or deflect with a kunai, and there was no way he would use his Sharingan to avoid a simple attack like that.

As soon as he replaced himself, Kakashi was immediately beset by a group of clones who were attacking him from all angles. As he blocked and countered the numerous clones, he noticed that the clones awkwardly gripped at his arms and legs when they went to block or parry.

'Perhaps Naruto's skill in taijutsu is even worse than I thought.' Kakashi mused.

Kakashi decided he would clear all these clones out quickly and take the fight directly to Naruto, but as soon as he dispersed a group of clones, they were immediately replaced. Kakashi became annoyed when he realized that he was near the clearing by the fork in the river, and he realized what the genin were planning. He smirked at the thought that these genin believed they could use the river to hem him in. He decided to apply a little pressure to Naruto to try and stop that from happening.

As Kakashi decided to put more effort into dispelling the clones, he started to feel slightly exerted. It was like he had done a warm up routine. It was surprising to him that the genin were able to push him this far already. He chastised himself for being too lazy and letting his physical condition deteriorate to the point that some genin were giving him a workout.

Just as Kakashi whittled the group of clones down to two, a few kunai with explosive tags landed behind the clones who leaped forward to try and grapple him. Kakashi jumped back to evade the explosion and quickly dispelled the charging clones with a cross and a thrust kick. Kakashi was about to run back towards the east when four more clones came charging through the smoke at him again.

Kakashi sighed to himself. While it was impressive that this kid could make that many clones, he hadn't seen him use anything really tactical beside the Shuriken Kage Bunshin earlier. While he dispatched the latest group of clones, he saw a few clones emerge from the south. This group of clones began throwing more projectiles towards him while he was distracted with the eastern group.

Kakashi pulled out a kunai and destroyed the remaining eastern clones with ease, before deflecting the projectiles from the southern clones. Kakashi faced the group to the south and deflected the projectiles before he was forced to leap backward to avoid a kunai that flew towards him from the East. Kakashi then realized that he had fallen into their trap as a new volley of shuriken flew around him with ninja wire trailing behind it.

'Not bad Sasuke, using the clone volley to hide the ninja wire was a clever idea, but the timing was off, and I still saw the wires anyways. Let's see what they plan to do now that they have me "caught."' Kakashi thought

Kakashi heard Sasuke call out "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball)" and realized that they were trying to force him to Kawarimi with that large and obviously planted branch leading towards the clearing near to the river. Kakashi decided to humor the genin and use the branch to replace himself.

As soon as he used Kawarimi with the branch, he heard several clones shouting out Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu covering all three directions but West along with another Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu from Sasuke, which made a significant chunk of the incoming shuriken super heated. Kakashi grudgingly realized that he had no choice but to Shunshin (Body Flicker) into their little trap by the river. Those damn clones were really pissing him off.

As soon as Kakashi appeared, he was attacked by Sasuke with a few clones joining his assault. The clones and Sasuke were not tripping each other up during their attacks, but they were also not utilizing any effect team combinations which showed their inexperience with working together. As the fight dragged on Kakashi noticed that he was sweating and somewhat winded which was disappointing. He didn't think he had been slacking off that much.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Sasuke disengage him when rustle came from the bush next to him. As he turned to face this new threat, two Naruto clones grabbed onto his feet trying to keep him stationary.

Hinata came charging out of the bush and immediately set her stance calling out. "Hakke Sanjūni Shō (Eight Trigrams 32 Palms)"

'Shit' Kakashi thought before he flew through the hand seals for Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu) and dove underground only taking a few Jūken strikes and dispelling the Naruto clones gripping his feet.

Sasuke, who had fallen back to provide ranged support, immediately took to the trees to avoid being grabbed. Hinata was not so lucky. Kakashi pulled her underground quickly and was going to move in and knock her out, but was held back when two shadow clones attempted to attack him from behind. Kakashi turned to fight off these clones quickly but was bogged down when two more clones emerged from the bush and grabbed his arms from behind, and a third clone attempted to sucker punch him from the side.

Kakashi was able to pivot his body towards the left to evade the punch and was surprised to see Hinata had been dug out by clones and was now charging in towards him. Kakashi used the momentum from avoiding the punch to fall backward into a roll while maneuvering one of the clones holding onto his right arm as a shield for the bells. Kakashi then rapidly snapped his right elbow back into the face of the clone, causing it to disperse and freeing his arm.

Kakashi then used his free arm to pull out a kunai and dispel the rest of clones that were still grabbing him. As he moved to attack Hinata, she prepared her Hakke Sanjūni Shō, but the alarm went off signaling the end of the test.

Kakashi hopped back up to his feet and dusted himself off. Sasuke and Naruto emerged from the treeline and walked over towards him while Hinata stood silently by his side.

All three of them looked up at him with blank looks on their faces, but Kakashi could tell from their posture that they were disappointed with how it went.

"I must say that your strategy against me was fairly basic. I could tell right away that you were planning on driving me towards a fixed point to lay an ambush. The planned ambush was not very sophisticated either. However, your use of the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu with the ninja wire was very clever." Kakashi said looking at Sasuke, who merely scowled in response. Sasuke didn't like the fact that he called his plan basic and unsophisticated.

"The number of clones you summoned, Naruto, was pretty impressive, but their tactics were telegraphed, and while the Shuriken Kage Bunshin clones showed promise, the openings they created were not timed properly making it difficult for your team to capitalize on them. I'm disappointed that you seemed to just try to overwhelm me with clones and hope for the best." Kakashi turned to Naruto as he spoke.

Naruto just had his normal slight frown on his face and didn't give any response.

Inwardly Naruto was fuming. _'Can you believe that shit Kurama? He put down everything I did with backhanded compliments. Did he not realize who the hell actually pushed him to the ambush spots? He congratulates them on forcing him to_ _ _Kawarimi__ _, but I did that, and made him_ _ _Shunshin__ _, and he just ignores it.'_

" **Hmph. Forget about the silver sloth pervert. You only recently gained the necessary tools in order to become stronger, tools that were not available in the academy. I think you did quite well, considering the comparison between skill levels. However, your gravity seals failed to take full effect because your clones were continually interrupted or did not channel enough chakra into the seals."**

 _'I think it's more the fault of my taijutsu skill that screwed that up. I really should practice more or find a new style. You're right about the chakra not being enough, though. I didn't charge those clones enough since I wanted to keep pushing him to the West and he was easily destroying my clones. I can tell he wasn't really being driven back for the most part. There were only a few times that he seemed to be caught off guard. I think he knew and allowed himself to fall into it anyways.'_ Naruto said a little depressed.

" **Remember, kit. The silver sloth pervert has, at least, a decade of experience over you and his experience came from a time of a violent, and drawn out conflict that is typical of greedy and corrupt humans,"** Kurama said with a sneer.

 _'Thanks, Kurama. I always feel better when you remind me that I'm a lesser being.'_ Naruto said with sarcasm.

"The set up at the ambush site was foiled by you not taking full advantage of the clones distraction. You also didn't adjust your attack to stop me from finishing my hand seals, which allowed me to evade your attack and put myself into a position to counter you. However, you did manage to force me to come up with a creative way to avoid your attack which is rare for a genin." Kakashi said with an eye smile at Hinata.

"I do feel that you three did manage to grasp the true nature of this exercise, which is to espouse teamwork even if you failed to get the bells on time. With that, I must say that you have passed this test. Congratulations!" Kakashi announced.

Sasuke gave him a smirk while Hinata got a big smile on her face. Naruto's facial expression didn't change at all since he was too distracted by his conversation with Kurama.

Kakashi was unaware of that fact, however, and could only wonder if the boy was going to become another Itachi. That thought brought a sinking feeling to his stomach. Itachi was a great shinobi, but his time in Root plus being pushed into Anbu at such a young age made him cold and inhuman. Kakashi firmly believed that emotionless shinobi were more of a danger than emotional ones.

Kurama snorted with amusement **"Of course, humanity needs to be reminded of its place often."**

 _'I wonder what's going to happen now?'_ Naruto thought dejectedly, he really didn't want to go back to the Academy.

" **What's going to happen now is you are going to pay attention since he already announced that you passed. Now he is suspicious of you for certain."** Kurama huffed

 _'Alright! Alright! I'll pay attention, and he was suspicious of us before anyway, so it doesn't really matter.'_ Naruto retorted.

"Remember this. Those who abandon the mission are trash. Those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash. That is the motto for Team 7." Kakashi said.

Kakashi saw all three nod in affirmation.

"Since it is Friday today, we will begin training and missions on Monday morning. Our schedule will be to meet at this training ground at 8 am. We will start working on reviewing team strategies and skills not outlined in the Academy, plus training on areas I feel you need improvement on. Once that is complete, we will pick up a mission from the Hokage tower. Expect to start training on weekends next week as well so you might want to enjoy your last free weekend for quite some time." Kakashi said seriously

"Yes, sensei." All three of the genin replied.

"Well good job everyone, remember to be here at 8 am Monday," Kakashi replied before he Shunshin away to report to the Hokage.

"Do you guys feel like celebrating?" Hinata asked.

"I have nothing planned besides more training. What do you have in mind?" Naruto asked.

"We can all go out to eat something and maybe plan to do more training together?" Hinata replied.

"Hn, we could use more work synchronizing our attacks," Sasuke said, "Where would you want to go to?"

"How about the Omusubi cafe near the Hyūga compound?" Hinata suggested.

Naruto hadn't been there before, so he didn't know if the shopkeeper was one of "those people".

"I guess I can try it out, I usually get all my onigiri from the market near my apartment," Naruto said.

Sasuke just nodded in agreement when Hinata looked at him.

The boys followed Hinata to the cafe and Naruto was surprised when the shopkeepers actually treated him normally. He was used to the disdain or outright hatred. Perhaps they hadn't learned about him yet. Naruto decided he would stop by here on occasion since they had a larger selection, but no one could beat the old lady at the market near his apartment. The onigiri she made were always bigger and had more filling, and she always kept more of his favorite egg and shoyu in stock just for him.

 **Hokage Tower - Konoha**

* * *

Hiruzen awaited the arrival of the final Jōnin teacher for the latest crop of genin's. He was going to have fun messing with the copy-nin for always running late and, luckily for him, his unofficial grandson had provided the means to teach Kakashi a lesson.

Kakashi entered the office with a Shunshin reading his book and threw a lazy wave at the annoyed group of people.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted.

"Good now that Kakashi is here we can begin with the status of the current teams," Hiruzen announced. "Please begin starting with Team 1."

"Team 1 has passed, barely. They are capable of wall duty, but might not be suitable for supply and logistics." One Jōnin said.

"Team 2 has passed and might be capable of filling a combat role, with more training." a Jōnin called out.

"Team 3 has failed. Suggest dropping them from the shinobi program entirely." Another Jōnin replied.

"Team 4 has failed. They might be able to help with gate duty with another year of training." a female Jōnin stated.

"Team 5 has passed and are recommended for advanced logistics and supply training." said another Jōnin.

"Team 6 has failed. They should probably go back to the academy for a year."

"That is all for the teams who did not meet the combat requirements. Now let's start with our latest group of combat genin. As usual, I will require more a more detailed evaluation of these teams." Hiruzen said after stamping some papers and pulling forwards the next dossier sheets.

"Team 7 Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyūga, Naruto Uzumaki have passed," Kakashi stated.

This brought a murmur amongst the gathered Jōnin some in surprise, some negative.

"What is your evaluation of your genin team?" Hiruzen asked.

"Sasuke showed leadership ability from the start, directing Hinata and Naruto, but I was able to observe both Hinata and Naruto contributing to the planning aspects, to some degree. He showed capable taijutsu and bukijutsu skills, as well as the standard Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) for an Uchiha." Kakashi said.

"Hinata Hyūga showed proficiency in her Jūken ability and was able to launch a decent ambush attempt, considering she is fresh out of the Academy. She also showed raw talent in observing openings created by others to take advantage of." Kakashi continued.

"Naruto showed the ability to summon a large amount of Kage Bunshin and even displayed some Shuriken Kage Bunshin, but he did not use them to great effect, and his tactics did not seem very sophisticated. He did not appear to contribute too much during the test besides serving as a distraction." Kakashi stated.

There were more murmurs around the room, mostly from the Jōnin, who hated the Kyūbi brat and weren't surprised that he was unskilled.

"Is that so Kakashi? I observed that test myself, and I must say he forced you to Kawarimi and Shunshin using no less than 5 clones at a time while he held over 15 clones in reserve. I think that is a pretty impressive strategy, considering that he only learned the Kage Bunshin technique yesterday." Hiruzen said smugly.

There were gasps of shock throughout the room. Even Kakashi had lowered his book to look at the Hokage with his eye widened. A genin learning the Kage Bunshin technique and utilizing it in a somewhat cohesive manner was impressive in itself, but the think the boy had managed that in just one day was astonishing.

"I knew that Naruto was attempting to drive me toward the ambush site, and it was somewhat telegraphed for me, I just decided that I should allow myself to fall into the trap to test the others." Kakashi defended.

"So you admit that Naruto was the only one involved in the fight until you entered the ambush zone?" Hiruzen said.

Kakashi looked sheepish and scratched the back of his head. "That is correct, Hokage-sama."

"Tell me Kakashi, you started to look tired towards the end of your test. Did you notice anything strange as the fight progressed?" Hiruzen asked

"I did notice that I was getting a little more winded than usual, but I have been remiss in my physical training regimen," Kakashi explained.

"While that may be true, on some level, In reality, you are quite fortunate that Naruto didn't follow his standard protocol of overloading everything with an overabundance of chakra. Otherwise, the several gravity seals he planted on you with his clones would have caused you a lot of damage and embarrassment," Hiruzen said while he pointed at Kakashi's right arm.

Kakashi looked down at his arm and saw the faint outline of a few seals active on his sleeve and glove. He looked down and saw some partial seals on his legs as well. He reviewed the fight in his mind and realized that Naruto's bad taijutsu blocks and grabs were actually attempts at applying seals onto his clothing instead.

His mind instantly flashed back to his bell test long ago. The image of his sensei leapfrogging over him and slapping him lightly on the back as if mocking him, when in truth, he was simply planting his Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God) seal on him.

'Have I fallen so low that I let the Kyūbi's presence affect me so soundly? How have I allowed to lose control of myself so easily?' Kakashi thought.

"Let us continue on but Kakashi, you will remain to discuss your evaluation afterward," Hiruzen said in a stern voice.

Everyone could tell that he was greatly displeased with the copy-nin. Kakashi just nodded his head. He had his book up, but he wasn't actually reading it. He was too busy trying to gather his thoughts and being disappointed in himself.

"Team 8 Shino Aburame, Sakura Haruno, and Kiba Inuzuka have passed," Kurenai said proudly.

"What is your evaluation of their performance?" Hiruzen asked.

"Shino was an excellent tactician and knew when to utilize his kikaichū to the best potential, but he really lacks in some defensive close range skills," Kurenai said happily, but her demeanor switched to serious quite suddenly.

"Sakura had some cooperation issues with Kiba, and while she listened to Shino, she seemed distant. She does have potential as a medical ninja or a genjutsu specialist but needs a lot of work on all her other skills. She also seems to have a lot of anger issues, and I would like to request a Yamanaka look into the root of this problem."

Hiruzen nodded and took out a form to fill out. He motioned to Kurenai to continue as he completed the request form.

"Kiba is brash and reckless, but he is quite skilled in tracking and taijutsu. He will need a lot of work in order to not clash with the others. He seems to be trying to establish dominance over the others at the cost of disregarding more efficient strategies and solutions. I had to reinforce that fact a few times, but he didn't seem to get the message clearly and even tried to question me once." Kurenai said with a scowl.

"You will need to speak with Tsume about that and make sure that you bring Kiba with you or it may make the situation worse. It can be a common problem with young male Inuzuka as they enter puberty and Tsume will show you how accurately solve the problem. Just don't be surprised if she requests you to beat him into submission a few times." Hiruzen said as he handed Kurenai a form.

"Take this form to Inoichi when you have an opportunity and he will see to having someone check on Sakura," Hiruzen added.

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Kurenai gave a slight bow as she accepted the paperwork.

"Next is team 10," Hiruzen said.

Asuma stepped forward. "Team 10 Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Naru, Ino Yamanaka have passed."

"What is your evaluation of their performance?" Hiruzen asked.

"All three of them need to increase their work drive for certain, but Ino most of all. Her skills are average at best even with her clan jutsu and she doesn't seem to be really motivated into improving herself beyond average." Asuma said.

"Choji needs to get more aggressive in his fights. He holds back too much, right now, in fear that he will injure one of his friends."

"Shikamaru showed proficiency with his clan jutsu and planning strategies, of course, but his work ethic really needs to improve." Asuma stroked his beard a bit as he summed up his thoughts.

"With the proper motivation I am certain I can lead them to improve on their clan's infamous teamwork strategies, but truthfully, I think only a life or death situation can actually fix their problems. Since that will have to wait until they are ready for C ranks, I can only focus on pushing for more training and hope that they are capable of surviving the encounter." Asuma finished.

"Very well, if there is nothing else that anyone wants to mention, then I will consider the evaluations as complete and will have the passing teams registered for their individual and team photos to occur on Monday. I look forward to seeing the genin's responses to the joys of D-ranked missions." Hiruzen said with a smirk.

The rest of the Jōnin filed out of the Hokage's office while chuckling. Kakashi put his book away and began preparing himself for a reprimand.

"So tell me Kakashi, what is your real problem with Naruto-kun. Don't give me any of that Kyūbi brat crap, I know you are smarter than that." Hiruzen said as he packed his pipe for a smoke.

"At first, it was because of the Kyūbi and not because I think he is the Kyūbi, but the fact that the Kyūbi is within him. Kushina was such a strong woman, everyone knew of her chakra chain ability, and those of us who were close to sensei knew they were capable of subduing bijū. Yet the Kyūbi managed to rip it's way out of her and take my adopted family away from me." Kakashi said with a stricken look on his face.

"How am I supposed to believe that the Kyūbi can remain sealed in that boy when the seal that Mito-sama designed failed? I have all faith in sensei's abilities, but we all knew that the old generation Uzumaki fūinjutsu was miles ahead of everyone." Kakashi said.

"It is true that Mito-sama was far beyond even Minato's ability, but you have to remember that Kushina was still trained in the old Uzumaki style before the destruction of Uzushiogakure. You also are not aware of the exact seal that Minato used Kakashi. I hoped to spare you more pain after you have suffered so much already, but if it will stop you from behaving so foolishly toward Naruto-kun, then perhaps it is necessary." Hiruzen said with a weary sigh.

"What do you mean Hokage-sama? I know that Sensei had to give his life to seal the Kyūbi." Kakashi said with dread.

'How could it possibly be worse than that?' Kakashi thought.

"Minato used the Shiki Fūjin (Reaper Death Seal) to offer himself to the Shinigami to seal the Kyūbi within Naruto-kun. This caused the Yin half of the Kyūbi's chakra to be sealed inside Minato before he was sent to sit in the Shinigami's stomach to be devoured." Hiruzen said grimly.

Kakashi was devastated. If the Shinigami devoured him, then his sensei's spirit and soul would cease to exist. His sensei could not even rest in peace with his wife and child in the afterlife because of it. The thought that his sensei was, at least, reunited with his family was his one comfort, and now that had been taken away by that damn Kyūbi. Then he remembered that Hiruzen mentioned that half of the Kyūbi had gone to the Shinigami's stomach with Minato.

"So you are saying that the seal on Naruto is safe because only the Yang half of the Kyūbi remains? Why didn't we just seal the rest of the damn Kyūbi into the stomach of the Shinigami itself for eternity? I will offer myself to do so if you teach me the seal." Kakashi said with determination.

Hiruzen sighed and shook his head. He should have expected something like that from Kakashi. "Minato requested to me, with his dying breath, to keep the boy safe. There is more that you do not know about the events that night and whoever caused those events, even Minato feared. Minato was convinced that Naruto-kun was the only one capable of stopping this man. Minato set these events into motion to stop the man that he feared."

"What are you saying Hokage-sama? That someone caused the Kyūbi to attack?" Kakashi's eye widened as he thought about it more.

Hiruzen didn't reply as he could see that Kakashi was connecting the dots in his mind.

As Kakashi thought it through, it started to make perfect sense to him. The Kyūbi had not broken free of its own, someone pulled the Kyūbi out of Kushina and sent it into Konoha. Kushina would not have survived the Kyūbi being extracted even with healing. The Kyūbi likely attacked Konoha out of revenge for being sealed, then tried to finish off Minato and Kushina as they used all their power to subdue and seal the Kyūbi away.

"I imagine you have some idea of the events that occurred that night. Keep in mind that what I am telling you is an S-ranked secret and can not be revealed to anyone." Hiruzen said in a serious tone.

Kakashi nodded shakily as his mind raced with the possibilities of that night. He had a feeling things were even more complicated than the Hokage was explaining to him, but he would take whatever information he could get. If there was someone responsible for his sensei's death, then Kakashi would not rest until that bastard tasted hisRaikiri.

"Someone tore through two top Anbu units, killed Biwako and her assistant in the presence of Minato and Kushina, without leaving a trace of blood or a scrap of cloth behind. You and I both know how skilled Minato and Kushina were alone. Who do you think would be capable of tearing through 8 or more elite Anbu, two Jōnin, and a Kage level shinobi like Minato without getting a single scratch on them?" Hiruzen asked.

Kakashi thought it over for a few minutes, and there were very few people who would be capable of such a feat. The list of people that were capable of such a feat gave him pause.

"Only a Kage level opponent would be capable of such a feat. All the ones that we know of, Minato had already faced and defeated them or battled them to a draw during the Third Shinobi War. The man responsible for that night is someone unknown and with power enough to subdue and summon the Kyūbi directly into the village." Hiruzen said emphatically.

"Power to subdue the Kyūbi completely? That's not possible! The last person who was believed to do that was Madara Uchiha." Kakashi said in disbelief.

"Yet there is someone out there, Kakashi, someone who is on the same level as Madara was and is out to destroy Konoha. Minato knew that Naruto-kun would be the key to defeating this person. That is why Minato used a modified version of Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Seal). This seal is designed to merge the Kyūbi's chakra into Naruto-kun, and allow him to access the Kyūbi's power directly. The setback to such a seal is that the Kyūbi can interact with and try to manipulate Naruto-kun. That's why it is important that people don't treat him as a tool or a weapon. If Naruto-kun has bonds and friends within the village, then he will use the Kyūbi to protect us. Do you understand?"

Kakashi nodded his head. "I apologize Hokage-sama, I let my emotions get the better of me. I won't let you down again, and I won't abandon Naruto either, but it's hard for me to try and get close to him. He looks and acts so much like sensei it's unsettling. How can some random child look and act just like him? I can only believe that it is the Kyūbi's attempt at manipulating us somehow."

"I can understand why you would think that way, but what is important right now is how Naruto-kun sees us and the village. So far we believe that the Kyūbi has not interacted or begun to manipulate Naruto-kun against us. However, that may not be the case in the future." Hiruzen said before he pulled a scroll out of his desk and handed it to Kakashi.

Kakashi accepted the scroll and looked up at the Hokage with a questioning look in his eye.

"That scroll contains the instructions for the Gogyō Fūin (Five Element Seal). If the Kyūbi manages to get Naruto-kun into a vulnerable emotional state, he may take control of him. Applying this seal over the Hakke no Fūin Shiki directly will temporarily cut off the Kyūbi's chakra and allow Naruto-kun to regain control. Remember though Kakashi, the only thing that can permanently hold the Kyūbi back from taking its revenge on the village is Naruto-kun. We have to ensure that Naruto-kun has the will to keep him contained within the seal."

"I understand Hokage-sama, I will keep an eye on him," Kakashi said.

Hiruzen thought about letting Kakashi know the truth about Naruto's heritage. Kakashi had proven himself trustworthy when he turned against Danzō's manipulations and tried to provide evidence against Root. In the end, Hiruzen decided against telling him the truth. Naruto would never trust or accept Kakashi if he made such a sudden change, which Hiruzen suspected would happen if he knew the truth.

Kakashi would have to figure it out on his own, which Hiruzen suspected, wouldn't take him too long.


	14. On the Precipice

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

edit 4/20/16

 **Chapter 13**

 **On the Precipice**

 **Three Months Later – Naruto's Mindscape**

* * *

Naruto lay sprawled out, asleep on Kurama's paw. Exhausted from his early morning run and physical training, the blond barely managed to create a group of clones to work on sealing and applying seals with taijutsu before he hopped up onto Kurama's right paw and promptly passed out.

Normally Kurama would be indignant at such a thing, but he found himself growing fond of Naruto despite himself. The bond that the chakra spawned fox had with his jinchūriki only became stronger as time passed and with Naruto spending more time within the mindscape the bonding process seemed to have accelerated.

Currently, Naruto had ten clones working away on mastering seal application using chakra with taijutsu against ten other clones who were doing their best to evade and counter their efforts.

Two more clones sat off far from the first group with one clone testing out the reverse gravity seal on another clone.

On the far side of the mindscape sat one clone practicing on level 3 explosive tags. Naruto had learned the hard way that failed explosive tags were far more dangerous then perfected ones.

The last clone was seated at a desk next to Kurama, working on creating a sensor seal capable of detecting chakra and activating any seal linked to it.

Usually, Naruto would have to work on his fūinjutsu on his own, since multiple clones working on one seal wouldn't provide any benefit. Naruto discovered that he could gain some benefit if he made solitary clones work on one seal each while he was busy with other things. Since the clones were so useful in testing the seals, he decided they should, at least, be able to work on creating them as well.

The sensor seal clone noticed that the application clones had stopped moving and were looking quite bored, which was his signal to wake up the boss so he could receive the knowledge they had accumulated.

Usually, Naruto would be required to be conscious for his clones to remain active, but for some reason, the ones created in the mindscape would remain even if he slept. Kurama wasn't certain why Naruto always appeared in his mindscape while he was asleep, but he encouraged Naruto to take advantage of it and create a small group of clones to work on tasks while he did. To prevent any damage to his mind; Kurama limited the group of clones to less than 30 and with strict instructions not to dispel until they received the order from Naruto.

"Hey, Boss! Boss! Wake up!" the clone shook Naruto trying to wake him up.

Naruto just rolled over and murmured nonsense without waking up.

A grin spread across Kurama's face before he quickly tilted his paw to fling Naruto off of it. Naruto woke up in a heap on the ground.

"Huh? What happened? What's going on?" Naruto said half awake.

"Boss, the application clones are ready to dispel. You said I had to wake you up when they were ready." the clone said.

"Hmmm okay," Naruto said as he rubbed his eyes and yawned.

The group of 20 clones finally dispelled which helped jolt Naruto from his sleepy state.

"Alright! I think I can finally apply gravity seals in combat reliably now." Naruto said with a stretch.

He turned to the clone next to him. "How about you? Any luck with the sensor seal?"

"No luck yet, boss. I think I'm getting close, though. I'm certain we have the seal drawn correctly, but it might be how we prioritize the lines that receive chakra first, that is causing it not to activate properly." the clone said as he handed his example over to Naruto.

Naruto studied the drawing for a moment. "You might be right about that. The rest of you will have to dispel now, though, I have to meet with my team at the training ground soon." Naruto said.

" **I don't see why you don't just send a clone and continue training. Those menial tasks they have you perform are a waste of our time."** Kurama said

"I know, but the team strategies and training are at least useful. I think Kakashi-sensei makes a point of hitting me a few times just to make sure that I am really there too." Naruto replied with a grimace.

Kurama huffed in contempt **"Like that silver sloth pervert has provided you with very much. That he still doesn't trust you is no surprise to me. He is deceptive to his very core."**

"I used to think that, but now I believe that he is just screwed up, like a lot of the others who grew up during the war. Jiji told me about some of the things Kakashi-sensei did back then. He was already out on the battlefield killing people at the age that I entered the academy." Naruto murmured.

" **Be wary of your sympathy, someone as deceitful as him will use it to his advantage,"** warned Kurama

"I know, it's just that I haven't sensed hate from him towards us for some time now. He also acts more like the less stupid villagers, with a sort of professional indifference." Naruto replied.

" **Yet there is always deception with him. Remember his saying about looking underneath the underneath."** Kurama retorted.

"I know. At least, it's more time spent with Hinata-chan. It's always nice to make a new friend, and she is more willing to train than Shikamaru and Choji." Naruto said with a smile

" **Oh? Is someone thinking about mating the white-eyed vixen?"** Kurama grinned.

"W-What? Are you kidding me? It's nothing like that ** _!_** " Naruto said with embarrassment.

Ever since Naruto had the "talk" with Shizune last month, he would get easily embarrassed when people would tease him about the opposite sex.

For the first few weeks after the "talk", Naruto had eyed all the women around him with suspicion. Currently, he was in the morbid embarrassment phase. Shizune had told him that puberty would hit him soon, and it would change his opinion about the matter.

Naruto was determined to evade anything trying to hit him.

Kurama just chuckled at Naruto's naivety. For all his stoic, serious mannerism and high IQ, he was still just a kit at heart and was naive about so many things.

"I gotta go now, Sasuke said he would trade me one of his Katon jutsu for the Raiton (Lightning) jutsu that jiji gave me," Naruto said before he left the mindscape.

Naruto sat up from where he had flopped down onto the couch and grabbed his keys and Gama-chan to head out. He had already showered and dressed after his workout so he would be ready to leave immediately after his clones woke him up.

Naruto locked his door and took to the rooftops.

 **Training Ground 7**

* * *

Sasuke sat with his back against the tree, munching on an onigiri while waiting for Naruto to arrive. The past few months had convinced the raven that at the least, Naruto would be capable of helping him accomplish his goals. He had seen how Naruto had experienced immense growth in strength. He also realized that as long as you were straightforward and honest with Naruto, he would be more willing to assist you with what you needed. He would be a powerful ally against That Man.

Sasuke wouldn't consider himself a friend of Naruto, and he knew the feeling was mutual, but he wouldn't need him to be a friend for what he needed to do. He just needed someone to protect him and help him when the time came to enact his revenge.

Sasuke had to admit that he did enjoy the times that the three of them got together to have lunch, to review what they had learned or when they decided to train more after their scheduled training sessions with Kakashi had ended. Naruto and Sasuke would often have impromptu sparring matches while waiting for Kakashi and had started to work out together in the mornings and evenings.

Sasuke had been trying to test the waters slowly with Naruto and Hinata the past few months, as their team bond solidified. Asking hypothetical questions in a disguise of strategic planning. Naruto definitely had the right mindset, but Sasuke couldn't be sure just how to approach Naruto on the subject. What he had planned would be considered treason by a lot of the village.

Hinata was out of the picture. Her duty to the Hyūga clan was so important to her that he was certain that she would never do anything to jeopardize that. Her entire focus was on paving the way for her to take over the clan and abolish the curse seal. She spent a majority of her free time with her father working on the backroom dealings and politics in preparation.

Hinata was a kind and gentle girl, but Sasuke was certain that Hinata would throw anything away to ensure her goal was accomplished. He could identify with that sentiment, after all, he was in the same situation.

Sasuke knew that Naruto was very close to the Hokage and could get things from him that most others couldn't, but he didn't want to use Naruto for that. He wanted That Man to pay for what he had done so his family could rest in peace. The repercussions of going after That Man were severe, however, and there was a chance that the whole village would turn against him and his allies if that happened.

While Naruto was close to the Hokage, he really didn't have a lot of ties to anyone else. It would take a blind person not to see how a lot of the village treated Naruto with disdain, and in some cases, with outright hatred like Sakura had.

Sasuke didn't know the reason for that, but it might be the key to gaining Naruto on his quest. If the Hokage was implicated in something foul enough, the fact that Naruto was ostracized by the village would make it easy for Naruto to abandon the village for a noble cause.

Sasuke had no doubt that if the cause was noble enough, Naruto would be willing to do just about anything. His moral scale was high, and you could tell that Naruto didn't like lies, manipulation or deception. Sasuke would have to play this carefully because it seemed like Naruto was able to read people easily when they tried to lie or manipulate him.

Sasuke looked up when he heard Naruto jump down from a tree near the entrance of the training ground. Naruto waved and walked over towards him.

"Here is a copy of Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder) that I got from Hokage-jiji," Naruto said as he unsealed a small scroll from his left forearm and handed it to Sasuke.

Sasuke pulled a scrap of paper out of his pocket and gave it to Naruto. "I don't have all these fancy scrolls to use so you will have to make due with that," Sasuke said with a snort.

Naruto just shrugged and leaned up against the tree while he studied the scrap of paper that contained Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu). Naruto felt this Katon jutsu would actually be more beneficial to him than Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball). Smaller clusters of fireballs that used less chakra were more useful in his mind.

Hinata walked onto the training ground and spotted Sasuke and Naruto already waiting by a tree. Both of them seemed preoccupied with reading at the moment. If she had to guess it was most likely one of their typical jutsu exchanges that they had started over the past month or so. Sasuke was always trying to barter jutsu with Naruto whenever he could. Often using dares or challenges as an incentive, and Naruto was always willing.

She moved towards her teammates and thought over how the past few months had been for her, with her new long term companions. She had enjoyed their communal lunches, and while she could not always join them in their after hours training, she was always welcomed to join them when she did have the time.

Sasuke was still standoffish, but he seemed to curtail his arrogance and treated everyone in a professional manner, for the most part. He did appear to be gravitating more towards Naruto, but she couldn't blame him for that. Naruto just seemed to have this air about him that would calm you and draw you in to be close to him.

Hinata was a little concerned about Sasuke's interest in Naruto since he seemed to be obsessed with revenge and was almost eager to drag Naruto along to get revenge on his brother for killing his clan. Hinata was certain that was what Sasuke had planned at any rate since his brother had slaughtered his entire family. She was no fool to the "scenarios" that Sasuke proposed and going against the laws of the village for your own personal reasons was selfish and self-destructive. Sasuke also didn't hide the fact that he didn't view any of them as friends but useful allies.

Naruto, on the other hand, was such a kind soul. Even if he tried to hide it with that serious expression, she could see it in his actions. He hated seeing injustice or greed and hated liars and thieves. However, Naruto was naive about many things in life.

The harsh realities of clan life in the Hyūga had drilled the naivety of youth out of her, but Naruto for all his intelligence lacked overall experience in the mannerisms of others. Naruto seemed to have an innate ability to tell when people were lying or manipulating him, but his reactions to such things were strange as if he were almost confused about how he should react. She was afraid that Sasuke would be able to drive him down a dark path by exploiting that.

She wasn't sure why so many in the village seemed to hold such disdain or hate for Naruto, but her father had eluded to the fact that it was a matter high in the political machinations of the village as a whole. For good or ill, all the political powers that exist in the community are waging a constant shadow game to permanently secure Naruto in their corner for some reason.

Hinata loathed the political game, and if it weren't her responsibility, she would be more than willing to step away. The thought of leaving Hanabi to those vultures made her ill. She already had to deal with the snobby arrogance of the Main Branch elder council, with their backstabbing machinations. It sometimes felt like they were leeches on her soul with their contempt for others and how they liked to play with peoples lives as if they were a paper doll, easily disposed of.

The thought of Naruto being involved in a game far larger and more sinister than Hyūga politics made her sad. Such a kind and innocent person like him would be torn apart and left as an empty husk or pawn. That would be unfortunate since she could tell he would be quite handsome in a few years.

Hinata knew that she was beginning to develop an attraction to her blonde teammate, but it was evident that he had not hit puberty unlike most of his classmates. When Naruto was ready, she would not be opposed to spending more time with him if he decided to show an interest. Naruto was always kind and respectful to her. He was always willing to spar with her without reservation, even though she was much better at taijutsu than him and usually defeated him soundly. While all the other boys would get upset and even insult a kunoichi that defeated them, Naruto never held it against her and would always compliment her on how strong she was.

Naruto looked up from the paper he was reading as she grew closer.

Hinata had always found it strange that Naruto always seemed to know where everyone was or was capable of tracking down certain people quickly. If she didn't know any better, she would think he was a sensor, but the fact that he would still get caught off guard by jutsu or when Kakashi attacked them with highly unusual weapons or traps led her to believe that he just had uncanny instincts.

"Good Morning, Hinata-chan," Naruto said with a soft smile on his face.

"Hello, Naruto-kun, how are you doing today?" Hinata smiled back at Naruto.

Naruto sighed and put the paper he was reading away. "Sick of D-ranked missions that's for sure. I've been thinking about asking Hokage-jiji to give us a C-rank mission instead, but I'm not sure. We have more than met the requirements to be able to leave the village on a mission."

"Hn, if you convince him to give us a C-rank today then I will give you a Fūton jutsu I saw in the clan library. It's not anything super strong since the Uchiha never really had Fūton users, but the scroll mentioned that it is rare outside of Suna." Sasuke said.

"If that is the case then I will definitely convince Hokage-jiji, don't you worry. We are all more than capable anyways." Naruto said with a smirk

"I think that would be wonderful Naruto-kun. I have never been allowed out of the village. I hope we get to travel somewhere nice like Cha no Kuni (Land of Tea), or even Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Water). I hear they have some beautiful resorts and markets there." Hinata said with a sigh.

"It would be nice to see more of our world," Naruto said softly as he thought of the Uzumaki clan home, Uzushiogakure

"Where would you like to visit Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Oh, that would be easy. Udon no Kuni (Land of Noodles) of course." Naruto said with a smirk

Sasuke snorted while Hinata giggled. They had become well acquainted with Naruto's ramen obsession during one of their team lunches and found it amusing to watch Naruto perform his ramen ceremony as Hinata dubbed it.

"Where would you want to go Sasuke?" Naruto asked

"Probably Tetsu no Kuni (Land of Iron), if we were allowed. I would like to see how the samurai train and to get a chokuto from there since they make the best swords." Sasuke replied.

"Oh, are my cute little genin making vacation plans already? I know D-ranks are tedious, but it's a little soon to claim to be overworked isn't it?" Kakashi's voice rang out.

Hinata and Sasuke were startled and turned their heads towards Kakashi quickly. Naruto had already been looking at him when he landed.

Kakashi had been subtly testing Naruto's abilities and knew that he had advanced senses of some kind, but he wasn't certain which of his senses were heightened. He suspected he had advanced hearing and possibly smell, based on what he had observed so far. He had ruled out chakra sensing early on since he was still capable of catching him off guard with various jutsu.

"No, Kakashi-sensei were just saying where we would like to visit if we got a mission outside of the village." Hinata admonished him.

"Hmm, you guys are plotting on trying to weasel a C-rank out of the Hokage are you?" Kakashi said with an eye smile.

"We meet the requirements sensei, we should receive one already. We are more than capable." Sasuke said with conviction.

Naruto nodded in agreement with Sasuke. He had already adopted his stoic pose by the time Kakashi turned his focus to him.

Kakashi knew Naruto was capable of more emotions. He had seen Naruto become slightly more open with his teammates whenever he spied on his cute little genin, but any emotions he would display would immediately disappear as soon as Kakashi revealed himself.

The more Kakashi observed Naruto, however, the more that his gut told him that Naruto was Minato and Kushina's son. His legendary obsession with miso ramen with roasted pork and the methodical way he disassembled said ramen with an intense focus was the first clue. It was like Kushina's spirit and Minato's mind.

Naruto hid it well, but Kakashi had pushed him enough during the past few months to see Kushina's temper flare only to be suppressed by Minato's will, in order to maintain that stoic facade he decided to adapt. His determination to train until he would literally drop unconscious along with his tenacity to keep attempting a technique was just like Kushina. His calculating nature as he used tightly controlled groups of clones to test and find a strategy, along with his undeveloped battlefield intellect to adapt on the fly, was just like Minato.

Kakashi didn't blame Naruto for remaining distant from him since he also tried to maintain distance from the boy as well. He needed to be unbiased to see if the Kyūbi had begun to manipulate him or turn him against the village. While Naruto had made some strides by bonding with his team, he still was sorely lacking in close-knit relationships. Only the Hokage truly had an idea what Naruto was like in his unguarded moments.

Kakashi still had some hope for the boy. Naruto had unyielding convictions, and Kakashi could tell that he didn't like people trying to manipulate him. When Kakashi used manipulation or deception against them during training, he could see Naruto's displeasure, even though he tried to hide it. His frown would grow that much deeper, and his eyebrows would sink just a little bit lower.

On occasion, Kakashi would be able to catch Naruto off guard completely and be able to witness one of his rare moments of childishness slip through. While it was difficult to manage such a feat, the effort was well worth the amusement gained from watching Naruto become flustered.

Kakashi had seen more emotion on Naruto's face on the day he pulled a prank on him, then the entire time he had been on Team 7. Kakashi had swapped one of Naruto's manga with an illustrated copy of Icha Icha Paradise. Naruto opened what he believed to be a historical manga, to reveal a particularly steamy sex scene. Naruto had acted like a scalded cat and had a hard time keeping his stoic mask in place for the rest of the day.

That little prank was well worth the ass chewing he got from the Hokage, who learned about the incident when Naruto innocently asked the Hokage why people would grapple while naked. Kakashi had never seen the normally stone-faced Hokage exhibit such a look of shock before.

That incident led to Shizune giving Naruto the "talk" and Kakashi had to do everything he could to not laugh at how Naruto eyed women warily for the next few weeks. Not even demure little Hinata was spared from his suspicion.

"Do you disagree, sensei?" Naruto voice interrupted his reminiscing.

"Mah, Mah, I believe you are ready my cute little genin. It will be harder to convince the Hokage, especially when you are involved Naruto." Kakashi replied.

"I'll convince Hokage-jiji. I'm sure of it." Naruto said with a nod

"Very well, if we want to get a C-rank we should proceed to the tower now then since most require travel outside of Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire) they are usually distributed in the morning. If we are lucky, there should still be one available." Kakashi said.

Team 7 left the training ground and began making their way to the Hokage Tower.

 **Mission Assignment Room – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Team 7 walked towards the Mission assignment desk where the Hokage and Iruka were currently working on organizing mission scrolls by severity.

The Hokage looked up and noticed that Team 7 was much earlier than usual. He sighed to himself as he knew what was coming next and he wasn't looking forward to it. If Naruto used those damn puppy dog eyes on him, he was done for. It must have been a blood line that the 12-year-old could still get away with using those eyes on him.

"So, I assume your team is here to request a mission? Well, Tora is available still since you guys have proven so successful with it in the past." Hiruzen said with a smile.

Sasuke and Hinata scowled while Naruto shook his head and crossed his arms.

"No jiji, we are ready to advance onto harder missions. We have met all the requirements, and we should be doing C-ranks now. Besides, I already know where Tora is." Naruto replied while crossing his arms over his chest.

"Is that so? How do you know where Tora is already Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked.

"Tora always sleeps in the mint plants on my balcony in the mornings," Naruto replied.

"You believe you are ready for a C-rank already? I don't know Naruto-kun, it has only been a few months since you graduated." Hiruzen said with a frown.

"I know jiji, but we completed enough missions already because we have strong teamwork. Even Kakashi-sensei says we are ready." Naruto said seriously. He thought he was above the puppy dog eyes, but he might have to play dirty now.

"Do you agree with that Kakashi?" Hiruzen asked.

"I do Hokage-sama, Team 7 has been working extra hard, and I believe they are capable of lower level C-ranks like diplomatic parcel delivery or escort missions," Kakashi said

Hiruzen saw the look in Naruto's eyes and resigned himself to the inevitable. He began to look through the more simple C-rank mission requests when he noticed a messenger hawk land on the closest window perch with a red message scroll tied to its leg.

Hiruzen frowned when he noticed the red scroll and quickly hurried over to the hawk to remove the scroll. Red message scrolls usually called for aid from teams under attack, and there were only two teams who were out on missions that expected any combat.

"It looks like you will somewhat get your wish, Naruto-kun. This is a support request from Team 8 who just took their first C-rank escort mission four days ago. It appears they were ambushed by an A rank missing nin, Zabuza Momochi the Demon of the Mist. Kurenai was able to keep the client protected and drive Zabuza off, but they are certain that Zabuza has an accomplice that is probably C or B rank. Apparently this missing-nin is also supported by a mercenary force as well." Hiruzen repeated with a frown.

"Hokage-sama, Zabuza was one of the former seven swordsmen of Kiri! You can't be serious about sending another genin team after him." Iruka protested.

"No. I'm sending Kakashi after Zabuza. Two Jōnin and six genin should be capable of handling this threat, as long as Kakashi and Kurenai focus on the missing-nin. I trust the genin are more than capable of handling the thugs." Hiruzen stated.

"Team 7 these are your mission objectives. You are to support Team 8 in the protection of Tazuna as he builds a bridge in Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves) at the request of the Water Daimyō. Tazuna must remain uninjured and capable of working throughout the duration of this mission. The Water Daimyō has paid a significant fee to use Konoha's most famous engineer to build this bridge, and Tazuna is a valuable asset to Konoha, who must be protected. You are authorized to use lethal force against anyone attempting to harm Tazuna or disrupt the construction of the bridge through malicious means. Once the bridge is complete, you can leave Team 8 to escort Tazuna back to his home here within the village unless you determine there is still a threat to his safety. Do you understand?" Hiruzen asked

"Yes, we understand Hokage-sama/jiji." Team 7 replied.

"Now Tazuna estimated that construction of the bridge would take four weeks in his initial agreement that was signed between the Water and Fire Daimyō, so pack supplies to last for two months, in case of delays. You are dismissed." Hiruzen added.

Hiruzen watched as Naruto left with his team and couldn't help but be worried for him. This mission would most likely have them perform their first kill. With no one especially close to Naruto to support him, Hiruzen was worried how much of an impact it would have on his psyche. He could only hope that one of his teammates or Kakashi would be able to help him cope with his first kill.

As Team 7 exited the Hokage Tower, Kakashi got their attention.

"Okay, team you know the drill we need to hurry to support our comrades, so you have 1 hour to supply yourselves to camp for 2 months time and meet at the East gate," Kakashi said

"Yes, sensei!" The genin recited then they all dashed off to pack.

 **5 minutes later - Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Naruto began to lay out everything he needed for his mission on the floor of the living room. His tent and another camping equipment were already sealed into a scroll, so he would just need to make room for his extra clothing and pick up some rations from the market on his way to the gate. He would have to seal extra weapons and tools into his arm wraps and leave some of his training scrolls and books behind.

As Naruto began sealing all his equipment away, he began to get a little anxious. He knew that they were going to see combat on this mission. He was aware that he would probably have to kill someone.

" **Do not concern yourself over its kit, you can consider it cleansing the world of filth like if your foot were stuck in the mud,"** Kurama said with a yawn.

 _'Still, they are living beings, I don't know how I will feel once I actually end their life.'_ Naruto said.

" **You should not dwell on it now kit there is nothing you can do but prepare for the battle. Over analyzing such things will only cause you to hesitate and you can not afford that to occur when your life may be on the line."** Kurama said encouragingly.

 _'I know, I just realized what would happen now you know. I also have a feeling that something more is going to happen on this mission. Something major is gonna change because of this, and I don't know if it will be a good or a bad thing. I don't know how to describe it really.'_ Naruto said with a frown.

" **Whatever may come kit, all you can do is face it head on. Trying to find the purpose in a moment is often difficult if not impossible at that moment. It is only when you look back that you can truly understand."** Kurama advised.

 _'I understand, Kurama. Let's get this show on the road.'_

Naruto double checked his apartment to make sure he didn't miss anything then left.

 **45 minutes later - Konoha East Gate**

* * *

Naruto arrived to see Sasuke standing near the guard station with his hands in his pockets and a backpack on his back. Sasuke nodded in greeting towards him but didn't comment on his lack of backpack. Naruto moved up next to him and leaned back against the guard station to assume his stoic pose.

Hinata walked up with her backpack and a larger pouch on her hip. She studied her teammates as she approached and was curious as to why Naruto didn't have any extra equipment with him.

"Naruto-kun, are you certain you have everything you need?" Hinata asked curiously.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, I added a few more storage seals to my clothing last month so I have plenty of room," Naruto replied.

"Of course, how could I have forgotten. I will have to ask you to put some seals onto some of my ninja gear for me when we get back." Hinata said.

"It's no problem Hinata-chan, I will be happy to add them for you, but they may stick out on your jacket since I don't really have any ink in that color. Your pants should be fine, as well as adding more to your kunai holster and shuriken pouch." Naruto said

"Won't you be unable to access the stuff if your clothing gets damaged?" Sasuke asked.

"Yea. If the seal itself gets torn or cut in a way that I can't piece it back together, then it is possible to lose those items. I managed to create a sealing tag that allows me to recover the items, as long as I still have a piece of the original seal intact. It takes a very large amount of chakra and time, however, so depending on the item I might not bother." Naruto replied.

Kakashi appeared in a Shunshin (Body Flicker) "Well my cute little genin, are we ready? We will need to travel at full speed without stops to reach the ferries before they shut down for low tide."

"We are ready sensei." Team 7 replied.

"Oi Kakashi-sensei, when you gonna teach us how to Shunshin?" Naruto asked as they headed out the gate.

"I'll tell you what' Naruto. If you guys perform well on this mission, I will teach it to you in time for the next Chūnin Exams. How does that sound?" Kakashi said before leaping up into the trees to begin traveling at speed.

Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke followed after him and were easily able to keep up with him as they leaped through the branches faster than most people could see.

"Kakashi-sensei, aren't the next Chūnin exams a year away from now?" Hinata asked.

"No Hinata, there is another Chūnin exam scheduled to be held in Konoha six months from now," Kakashi replied.

"Do you think we will be ready for them in time, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Well from a team perspective you guys are very close. You mainly just lack in experience. If this mission goes well, and the Hokage allows you to concentrate only on C rank missions until then, you will be ready as a team. However, that is not enough in itself."

"Why not Kakashi-sensei? I thought teamwork was the most important thing to worry about." Naruto asked.

"Because the finals of the Chūnin Exams are always solo combat in Konoha. If we were to take the exams in Kiri or Iwa, it might be different. Let's break down your individual skills so you can understand better." Kakashi said.

"Naruto, the only jutsu you have in your arsenal not counting any Kage Bunshin variants are Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm), Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet), Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball), and Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu). While that is impressive for a genin, you have no real defensive jutsu. If you had to Kawarimi out of a situation recently or there are no items to replace yourself with, it could end badly for you." Kakashi paused to think for a moment then continued.

"Your fūinjutsu is excellent for your age, but your taijutsu is still at mid to high Genin level when you would want it to be at least mid-Chūnin level. If you tried to apply seals using your clones, you would mostly be unsuccessful. Especially if you face a kenjutsu specialist. With the Kage Bunshin, you do have a chance, but you need to improve your taijutsu or learn a new style to apply those seals efficiently. If you do that and learn a defensive jutsu, I think you will be able to do well."

Naruto merely nodded as he could not argue with what Kakashi had said. He was well aware that his taijutsu was subpar, but he had no way of learning any new styles, and he had been relying on Hinata and Sasuke to fill that gap for him. He would have spoken with Kurama when he woke up, to try and find a solution.

"For Hinata, I think you need to learn some elemental jutsu in order to give you some ranged attacks. Everyone knows what the Hyūga specialize in, and they will use that knowledge to keep you at a distance. We will need to test your elemental affinity and work on elemental chakra control. Your Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams 64 palms) and Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation) are just not enough in my opinion." Kakashi said.

Hinata was a little uneasy with Kakashi's suggestions. She honestly didn't know anyone who used elemental jutsu in her clan and was uncertain how her father would react. She would have to speak to him about it since it seemed like a gross oversight for them not to utilize more ranged techniques, but she also knew that the Elders considered the Hakkeshō Kaiten as the ultimate defense, capable of stopping anything.

"Sasuke here needs more work on his kenjutsu with the chokuto. Considering that he started recently, he is doing quite well, but to wield it in an arena setting, you still need more experience. Your taijutsu needs to improve, but that is only because it was designed for the Sharingan. You also are lacking in the jutsu department since you only have multiple Katon (Fire) jutsu and don't have any defensive jutsu. There is a good chance you might awaken your Sharingan on this mission, though. If you do unlock it, we may be able to train your usage of the Sharingan in time for the exams, but it will be hard for me to say for certain until we near the exam dates." Kakashi said.

Sasuke just scowled. When Kakashi laid out his skills like that, he realized how truly lacking he was. Naruto had about as much as he did if you didn't include the fact that he also had fūinjutsu knowledge. Sure he had skills with the chokuto and stronger taijutsu, but he should have more jutsu under his belt. He would have to try and get some of those other jutsu from Naruto when he had a chance.

"Hmm, so that means that I will need to convince you to teach us Shunshin right?" Naruto asked.

"Shunshin might work well for you Naruto, with your massive chakra reserves, but Sasuke and Hinata would probably only be able to use it once or twice in a fight with their current reserves," Kakashi replied.

The team traveled on for a few more hours before they reached the nearest ferry dock to Nami no Kuni. Kakashi secured their tickets, and they waited at the bow of the ship for it to depart. It was late afternoon when they arrived, and the ocean was somewhat turbulent with waves. There was a stiff wind blowing inland from the sea which prompted Naruto to unseal his sweater and put it on.

So far no one had called him out for wearing a girl's sweater, so he felt secure about wearing it now. He thought it was odd that they didn't make sweaters for men that had this sleeve length

Naruto looked out at the vastness of the ocean and took in all the scents and sounds around him. He wondered what lie across the ocean and what it was like to make a long voyage like he had read about in books. One of the books he read mentioned these massive boats that held thousands of people and traveled to different cities.

Soon the ferry set out towards Nami no Kuni and Kakashi enjoyed the looks of wonder on his genin's faces when some whales and dolphins were spotted. Not even stoic little Naruto could keep it hidden when the dolphins drew close to the ferry and started swimming along the side of it.

Kakashi put his book away and approached his team, then motioned to them to follow him into a cabin. Once the door was shut, Kakashi turned to them and said "Okay guys, listen up. We will be landing in town shortly, and we will need to scout for information for Team 8 since they have been identified. I want all of you to think of a good Henge to blend in with your assigned areas and prepare to scout different sectors of town to find information."

"Naruto, you will scout the docks and the warehouses. You will need to wait until we land and find a secluded place to summon some Kage Bunshin. Make sure they allHenge into different dockworkers and spread out." Naruto nodded and made his Henge look like a mix of two sailors he saw earlier.

"Sasuke, I want you to hit the local tavern by the docks where the sailors and dock workers frequent. Listen in on what the local thugs are talking about but be prepared to flee. Those bars tend to get rowdy, and you do not want to risk your cover." Sasuke made his Henge look similar to the captain of the ferry and grunted his affirmation.

"Hinata, you will take the bar at the inn in the center of town and will listen to what the townspeople and businessman are saying about the state of things." Hinata nodded as well and decided to Henge into a middle aged business woman to avoid too much male attention.

"We will meet up at the town hall building in two hours time," Kakashi instructed before he used Henge to look like a shop keeper and left the cabin. The rest of the team left the cabin in intervals of 10 minutes in case someone spotted them in the hall.

After he had disembarked the ferry, Naruto found a darkened alley and summoned ten Kage Bunshin. Five of the clones henged into various cats and began scouting around and inside the warehouses while the other five clones henged into random dockworkers and fisherman and began wandering around the docks.

Naruto was studying the ships themselves as he strolled through the dockyards. The different ships and layouts were interesting to him, and he wondered at how the difference affected each boat. He also noted all boats had a name and their country written on them. Some of the boats were from countries he did not recognize.

He saw one large boat and one smaller boat that had Kiri listed, but the vast majority of the ships had Nami no Kuni listed. After studying all the boats along the docks, Naruto looped back towards the town center and realized almost an hour had passed already. Naruto decided to head over to the rendezvous point and look at some of the market stands on the way.

As he neared the town hall building, his eyes suddenly widened when one of his cat clones dispersed. Naruto scowled as he processed the information he received. The cat bunshin had discovered a few Kumo missing-nin hiding out in a warehouse. The clone had overheard them talking about how their friends had received information about a female Hyūga arriving in town today, and that the other two were out getting information on their target now.

The cat bunshin had moved closer to study what they looked like and noticed that one was a short teenager with a scar over his eye and blonde hair, probably a few years older than himself. The second one was a tall green haired kunoichi with two tantōs.

The missing-nins spoke about their plans to join the thugs, who were going to attack the bridge builder, and kidnap the Hyūga girl during the battle. They would bring the Hyūga girl back to Kumo to try and get their missing-nin status revoked by the Raikage. They also talked about what would happen to the Hyūga once they got her.

Naruto clenched his fist and took a deep breath. There was no way he was going to let those bastards kidnap Hinata. The lewd things that the teenager was saying about how they would use her to breed more Hyūga like she was an animal enraged him. He wouldn't let them hurt his friend like that.

Kurama awoke when he sensed Naruto's rage and reviewed the past few minutes of memories before replying. **"** **Typical greedy scum, what can you expect. They desire only her power, but what is most troubling is that they received this information and arrived here in the same time frame that you departed. Quite convenient for them, is it not?"**

 _'I told you I had a feeling about this mission. This is just a small piece of what is going on here Kurama, I can feel it. Someone set up events here for some reason, but for what?'_ Naruto replied with a worried tone.

" **I suspect that you are correct that this is a small part; however, I do not believe all of the events are related. That the other team of filth would be attacked on their mission is not linked. This so called demon of the mist is likely not involved either."** Kurama said before adding, **"There is another force at play here, but we have not seen their true hand. The ones that the cat clone discovered are merely the pawns to serve as the distraction."**

 _'How could they have known we were heading here so quickly? We left this morning and took less than a day to arrive!'_ Naruto was at a loss.

" **You already know the answer to that, kit. Someone in Konoha betrayed your team to them. The question is, who?"** Kurama snarled.

Naruto internally shook his head _'But the only people who knew were jiji, Iruka-sensei, and Team 7. I didn't sense anything malicious or deceptive from them.'_

" **Those are not the only ones who would be aware of such things, kit. There are the gate guards, the ones who take mission requests or create schedules. Many of the lesser beings that are beneath your notice may be involved, or the elite guard unit of the Hokage could be involved."** Kurama said as he reviewed more of Naruto's memories to try and track a potential suspect.

 _'You're talking about Anbu! Could it be possible?'_ Naruto was in disbelief.

" **Anything is possible, kit. Keep your senses active,"** Kurama warned.

Naruto arrived at the rendezvous location 10 minutes early and saw Sasuke waiting. Naruto was surprised when Sasuke immediately grabbed him and drug him into a nearby alleyway. After he looked around, he looked back at Naruto with narrowed eyes full of suspicion.

"How are you involved with Root? Answer me!" he said between gritted teeth.

Naruto could sense anger and betrayal from Sasuke and was confused.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto replied with a scowl.

"Don't fucking lie to me. Don't fucking blow me off like this nothing Naruto, tell me the fucking truth." Sasuke growled.

"I'm not lying, I don't know what you are talking about because I don't have anything to do with those Root bastards." Naruto hissed.

"If that is true then why are there Root operatives here talking about you huh? Why would Root mention your name at all if you weren't involved with them in some way." Sasuke spat.

"I don't know why those bastards are here, but I'm guessing it is because they are trying to kidnap me and force me to join them again. Just like last time." Naruto said with a scowl.

"Why would they do that to you? For what purpose?" Sasuke demanded.

"They believe I have special chakra, and they have been after me for it since I was 6 years old." Naruto snapped, "They are the ones who spread all these rumors to make the village hate me so that they would attack me and force Hokage-jiji into giving me up to Root for my own safety. They sent a mob to try and kidnap me, but I ran out into the woods, a group of drunks found me and decided to beat the shit out of me and stabbed me with a fucking kunai. If an Anbu team hadn't been nearby, I probably would have died" Naruto couldn't stop the shudder when he experienced flashbacks of his attack. "After that, the Hokage had to take me in to keep me safe from them, but Root wasn't done fucking with my life just yet. Those assholes took my only friends from the orphanage and used them to try and manipulate me into joining. I refused to join, but then my friends turned their backs on me and betrayed me." Naruto snarled.

Sasuke just studied him for a moment before he let out a sigh and put his right hand on Naruto's shoulder. He felt guilty for making Naruto bring up his past like that. Sasuke had more respect for him now because he realized that Naruto's life had been just as fucked up as his was by Root.

"I'm sorry about that Naruto, I didn't realize. I just got so mad when I heard those Root assholes mention your name, I couldn't think straight. Those fuckers ruined my life too." Sasuke murmured.

"What did those bastards do to you anyways?" Naruto asked.

"They killed my whole family and framed my brother for it," Sasuke said with his eyes closed.

Naruto gasped when he heard that. "You mean Itachi wasn't involved at all? How did they frame him for it?"

"Itachi had been a part of Root when he was younger, but they put him into Anbu when he reached the level of captain. He was supposed to be one of the Root moles, but Jiraiya the Toad Sannin knew somehow. Jiraiya removed all the seals that Danzō placed on Itachi when he was a recruit and Itachi was freed from his control. He told them about all the things Root did to children, how they funded and supplied the bloodline purge in Kiri just so that Root could get some recruits with bloodlines. Itachi was tired of all the dirty bullshit and assassination missions he was doing in Root, and once he was freed the Hokage let him have a simple guard mission in the village during the day while he spied on Root at night." Tears started pouring from Sasuke's eyes, but he kept them shut and clenched his left fist until his knuckles starting to turn white.

"My father had also been working with the Hokage on taking down Root, but then my Uncle Shisui disappeared. No one knew what happened to him. Then they found him dead with his fucking eyes cut out." Sasuke held back a sob. "The next thing I know the Uchiha police are saying that my brother murdered Shisui and want to arrest him. Two weeks later, I come home from practice at the Academy, and everyone was fucking dead. I mean everyone, even the babies were cut down." Sasuke choked up for a minute before continuing with his story. "I found my brother crying over the bodies of my mother and father. He had tried to save them, but there were too many Root Anbu and this other masked bastard that Itachi didn't recognize. He showed me what happened with a Sharingan specific genjutsu called Tsukiyomi, which lets you experience three days in a matter of seconds, and he showed me everything that happened." Sasuke let out a sob at that before he covered his mouth with his hand.

Naruto put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder to offer his silent support and waited for Sasuke to gather himself. While he had never had family and the pain from his friends betraying him was bad, he couldn't imagine how bad it felt for your entire family and clan to be murdered. What kind of bastards killed little babies? What was the point of wiping them out like that? The more Naruto thought about it, the sicker he felt.

Kurama snorted in disgust but didn't say anything.

"Then I wake up in the Hospital, and everyone is talking about how my brother went crazy and killed everyone. That my family were a bunch of traitors. Those fucking people looking at me with pity and being so sickeningly sweet to me with one breath, and calling my dad and my brother traitors with the other. I hated them so much." Sasuke took a deep breath and took a few moments to regain his composure. Naruto just squeezed his shoulder a little for encouragement.

"That's why my goal is to kill that fucker Danzō. He murdered my uncle and took his eyes to use his Kotoamatsukami on the council, maybe even the Hokage. I don't know. My uncle said you can convince anyone to do whatever you want with a glance with that ability, and they would think it was their idea in the first place. They marked my brother as a traitor and that asshole harvested my families eyeballs like they were plucking grapes off a vine." Sasuke said shakily.

"I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch, no matter what happens. Even if Konoha marks me as a traitor and I have to go missing-nin, I don't care. I will avenge my family and my brother. Will you help me Naruto? Will you help me get strong enough to kill that bastard for what he has done?" Sasuke looked up at Naruto with a determined gaze.

Naruto didn't sense any deception from him and nodded. Root was something the Naruto wanted to destroy for what they had done to him, but what Danzō did to Sasuke was proof that he needed to be eliminated.

"I also want to kill that bastard, but I think you don't have to worry about Hokage-jiji. I trust him. He isn't being controlled by that son of a bitch and I know it for a fact, because if he were, then Root would have gotten me a long time ago." Naruto said with conviction.

"Do you really think he wasn't involved with what happened to my family? How could the Hokage not know about that?" Sasuke said in disbelief.

"I think the problem is like you said, I believe that Hokage-jiji knows what that asshole did, but maybe he used your uncle's eyes on the council, and they voted against him. Maybe they are the ones who declared your brother missing-nin. Even if Hokage-jiji wanted to go against it, the only way he could overrule a unanimous council decision on such a matter would mean bringing proof to the Fire Daimyō." Naruto said.

"Then the Daimyō would have to speak with Danzō about the accusations, to give him a chance to defend himself since there is no proof," Sasuke said as it dawned on him.

"If that bastard has an eye to change people's minds, he would use it on the Daimyō to get whatever he wanted. Maybe that's why Hokage-jiji hasn't done anything yet, either that or he is waiting for proof to take that bastard down. Hokage-jiji has told me in the past that he had people investigating that bastard, but Root has a lot of spies in the shinobi force so it is hard to catch him in the act." Naruto said.

"My uncle said that the Kotoamatsukami ability has a long recharge time and if a non-Uchiha has it implanted the recharge time is even longer. So Danzō would have to save it for a very important event. Now that you told me about what happened to you, I think you are right. He hasn't used it on the Hokage because he is saving it for the Daimyō." Sasuke replied.

"That's not the only thing. I heard some Kumo missing-nins while I was scouting. They were told about Hinata coming here to defend the bridge builder. The only way they could know that already is if someone in Konoha told them that we were coming here. That means we have a traitor watching our team." Naruto added.

"It's our whole team Naruto! They are after all of us, the Root members in town were talking about you and me, but they were using code so I couldn't understand everything they were saying, but they kept mentioning your name, and they mentioned mine as well." Sasuke said.

"Shit. We gotta tell Kakashi-sensei, this could be a lot worse than I thought. We have how are many people planning to attack us? He has to warn Hokage-jiji." Naruto turned to walk out of the alley, but Sasuke grabbed his arm.

"We can't trust Kakashi-sensei about this," Sasuke hissed.

"What? Why not?" Naruto said in confusion.

"My brother told me that Kakashi-sensei was a part of Root. Think about it Naruto, it makes sense! He won't tell us how he got his Sharingan. He didn't even mention it until you spoke about it during that one survival training trip we went on. He failed every single genin team he ever got until, magically, here we are you a Root target and me a Root target. Hell, Hinata might be a target for them too, maybe that's why they sent those missing-nin. That asshole must want her eyes as well. There are only a few Hyūga whose eyes they could take because of the cursed seal Hinata talks about, and she doesn't have the seal." Sasuke said in a whisper.

Naruto didn't know what to think. Kakashi did use a lot of deception, but it wasn't all the time. He didn't really seem to be a traitor, and he seemed too eccentric and emotional to be a Root member. Jiji always said that you would recognize Root members because they were completely emotionless and incapable of acting like ordinary people.

" **The filthy Uchiha is right about some things, but you need not fear the silver sloth pervert. He will not betray you. His deceptions are minor and are used for instruction or to misdirect you from gathering information on himself. I have sensed no treachery from him."** Kurama said.

 _'Yea, but I can't just tell Sasuke "Hey don't worry the Kyūbi says he's totally cool."'_ Naruto snapped

Kurama snorted **"Calm down kit and focus. This is a dangerous situation, you can not be emotional right now. Think it through and an answer will come."**

Naruto closed his eyes in thought and crossed his arms.

He opened his eyes after a few minutes and said "Look Sasuke, we gotta tell him about some of it at least. I know that you don't trust him, but I don't think he is one of those bastards. You've seen how lazy and goofy he can be at times. Let's tell him about the Kumo-nins, so he is at least prepared for a bigger fight. It wouldn't be cool if he isn't a traitor and the Root guys finish him off. What if he was in the same situation as Itachi? Hokage-jiji told me that Kakashi was genin by age 8 and became Anbu by age 13. Does that sound familiar to you?" Naruto said.

Sasuke thought it over for a moment before he nodded. If what Naruto said was true, then Kakashi was almost exactly like Itachi was but Kakashi was definitely not cold and impassive like Itachi had been.

"Okay. Just about the Kumo-nins, then we keep our eyes on him when Root comes after us. No matter what we've got each others backs, agreed?" Sasuke held out his hand.

"Agreed, no matter what we've got each other backs," Naruto repeated.

Sasuke and Naruto gripped each other's forearms and shook their arms once to seal the deal.

"Once this all goes down there is no way that jiji won't find out about all of it. If you want Sasuke, I can try to find out the truth about Itachi. He might not tell me everything, but jiji has never lied to me. He just leaves things out instead." Naruto said

"I'll think about it Naruto, but you know how it is for people like us. People treat us differently because of foolish misconceptions, and you wonder if they are merely spying on you or plotting against you." Sasuke said.

"Yea it's a bad way to have to live, but at least, we aren't alone in this anymore. Even with jiji looking out for me, I always had to wonder if they would attack me again. I always had to wonder if they would attack Shikamaru or Choji because we were friends or if they would try to use you or Hinata against me as well. At least now we both know we aren't alone in this fight. Naruto said.

"I guess you are right about that. I just can't trust the Hokage so easily until I know the truth. We better go, or Kakashi-sensei will get suspicious." Sasuke said.

As Naruto and Sasuke walked back out of the alleyway, they saw Hinata and Kakashi waiting for them.

"What were you guys doing back there?" Hinata asked.

"I thought someone was following me so I went into the alley to see if they followed and Naruto was already there," Sasuke said.

"I got here really early and decided to stay out of sight, so I decided to conceal myself inside the alley to avoid drawing attention to myself," Naruto added.

"Why were you so early Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"One of my cat clones found out something important, so I came back right away to see if I could warn you guys," Naruto replied.

"Cat clones?" Kakashi asked

"Yea Kage Bunshin henged into a cat, so they could sneak inside the warehouses easier," Naruto said

'I should have known.' Kakashi thought before shaking his head. "Okay, What did you learn?"

"Some Kumo missing-nins came into town today, and they said they had information about a Hyūga girl coming to watch the bridge builder. They stated that they were gonna capture the Hyūga girl and take her back to Kumo to try and to get the Raikage to get rid of their missing-nin status. Someone told them that Hinata was going to be here." Naruto said gravely.

Hinata gasped out loud and shivered a bit.

Kakashi also stiffened, and Naruto could sense that he was really pissed. "Did you get any other information on them? Any little thing could be substantial."

"Well the cat clone did look at them, and there was one with blonde hair that was probably two or three years older than us he had a scar on his right eye. There was also a kunoichi with long green hair maybe twenty-five to thirty years old, and she had two tantōs. They also mentioned two other missing-nins who were out looking for their target." Naruto recited.

"Good work. Naruto. We will need to be prepared for an extra group at least then. How about you Sasuke? Did you hear anything?" Kakashi looked at Sasuke.

"I heard that this guy named Gato was hiring more mercenaries and that he was paying good ryō for people who could fight. They also mentioned that they would not need to hire any more mercenaries after two weeks." Sasuke said.

"How about you Hinata, did you hear anything?" Kakashi asked.

Hinata jerked a little but quickly recomposed herself. "I heard more about Gato and how he has been trying to monopolize the shipping companies and has been charging massive tariffs on goods his ships transport. Some people estimate that Gato has control of 70% of the shipping for the country now and that he apparently is at odds with the Daimyō, but the businessmen were arguing over whether the Daimyō is incapable of stopping Gato or if he is getting paid off by Gato to look the other way. The rest of the businessmen were arguing that the Daimyō was stepping up efforts to take Gato down and stop his monopoly." Hinata said.

"Very good, so it is likely that Zabuza and these other thugs were hired by Gato so he could stop the bridge builder. These Kumo missing-nins will probably infiltrate that group and wait for the attack on us to target Hinata." Kakashi said.

Kakashi summoned Pakkun and gave him the support request scroll so he could pick up Kurenai's scent. Once Pakkun had a trail, Team 7 followed behind him.

Kakashi's mind was running a mile a minute, and he almost sighed out loud. This C-rank mission just became as complicated as an A-rank mission in just one day, and if his suspicions were right, it would be a high S-rank mission if the writing on the wall was any indication. Everything he had seen and heard pointed to a more complicated plot at hand. He hoped he was simply paranoid, but his time in Anbu had taught him that paranoia was more healthy than detrimental for shinobi like him. He hoped that things wouldn't get even more complicated by the time this was over so that he could keep his little genin safe.

Kakashi and the rest of Team 7 just had no idea how complicated things were about to get.


	15. Looking Over the Edge

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

edit 4/20/16

 **Chapter 14**

 **Looking Over the Edge**

 **Bridge Construction Site – Nami no Kuni**

* * *

Pakkun plodded along, occasionally sniffing the air and the ground as he led Team 7 out of town towards the scent trail of Team 8. Eventually, the team saw the giant construction cranes and ramshackle buildings surrounded by shoddy chain link fences and guarded by an unusually large contingent of samurai.

The samurai halted the group and after a brief conversation, Kakashi pulled out the mission authorization scroll along with the request for support from Kurenai for the samurai to inspect. A few minutes later the samurai waved the team through the gate, and Pakkun took up the lead once again.

Naruto studied the buildings around them and found it odd that the buildings were so haphazard. Most of the buildings appeared to consist entirely of hastily scraped together wood bits erected in an almost puzzle-like fashion. You could still see the painted logos of various produce and shipping companies on the deconstructed crates that formed the walls.

Pakkun lead them around the only legitimate building which appeared to be the foreman's office and tool storage building judging by the line of workers waiting to turn in their equipment at the end of the work day.

Soon the pug led them down a dirt road surrounded by scrub brush and a random smattering of trees. Eventually, a large flat field that had two large tent sections with four large fire pits in the center was revealed. The tent city was comprised of ten rows of twenty tents each. There were small groups of construction workers milling around the fire pits or the tent entrances who were either drinking or playing cards while they waited for the camp cooks to prepare dinner.

Pakkun paused at the edge of the tent section and sniffed around for a few moments before he began to beeline towards a ring of trees surrounded by some small scrub brush away from the bustle of the tent city.

Team 8 had established their camp in a small clearing within the ring of trees and next to a small river. Kurenai, Sakura, Shino, and Kiba were currently lounging around their campfire waiting for some fish to cook. Akamaru was standing at the edge of camp and appeared to be keeping watch as he let out a few barks before returning to Kiba's side.

"Ah Kakashi, I'm glad that Hokage-sama got my message and that you guys have arrived. I fear that Zabuza might be ready to attack any day now." Kurenai said with a bow.

"Well, it's a good thing we did come because things just got a lot more complicated. If you could please fill me in on what you know, I'll add what we have discovered on our arrival so we can try to determine exactly what the bigger plot is." Kakashi said.

Kurenai looked unsettled at the news that there were more complications. She was already concerned about her team since the simple C-rank had become a borderline A-rank. Sakura was openly glaring at Naruto while Kiba and Shino greeted Team 7 politely.

"Okay, Team 7! I want you to set up camp using a no cover formation," Kakashi announced.

"Yes, sensei." Team 7 replied in unison before preparing to set up camp following Kakashi's orders.

"Kurenai-sensei, what is a no cover formation?" Shino asked

"I'm afraid I don't know that answer Shino," Kurenai replied with some embarrassment.

Kiba looked up when he heard Kurenai's answer and began to pay attention to what Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata were doing.

Sakura merely scowled before returning her attention to the fish cooking over the fire.

"It is a standard Anbu tent formation used while staying in hostile territory. It was created for locations which lack the standard requirement of having a campsite which has natural cover for two or more cardinal directions. It was designed to ensure team readiness in the case of a surprise attack, which prevents the team member on watch from providing advanced warning." Kakashi replied lazily while reading his book.

"Feel free to observe them, if you desire, it could come in handy," He added.

Team 8 and Kurenai watched as Team 7 looked around the clearing and after a short discussion, set up their tents with Naruto facing his tent towards the ocean to the South. Sasuke faced his tent East and Hinata faced her tent to the West. Once everything was set up correctly, they assembled in front of Kakashi and waited for his assessment.

"Excellent work team. You have constructed camp appropriately based on threat analysis." Kakashi said.

"If I may ask, Kakashi-sensei, how was their tent formation determined?" Shino asked.

"Sure," Kakashi said cheerfully before turning a page of his book and starting his lesson. "You see, the threat of attack is never the same based on where you are located, so you have to analyze your surroundings and try to determine where your priority of defense should be, in the case of a surprise attack," Kakashi explained.

"In this case, the greatest threat of attack on our site would be from the South. Since the main host of guards and witnesses is located to the North, the probability is high that our enemies will send a sneak attack force from the ocean so they can avoid clashing with the samurai. Naruto is the ideal person to respond to this sector because his particular skill set allows him to deal with a larger group of hostile forces while being caught unaware." Kakashi paused as he turned another page.

Kiba and Sakura had a surprised look on their face. What did Naruto have that could deal with a large group of people while he was unaware?

"The second largest threat would come from the East. The probability of an attacking force moving on our target would appear from that location is high, as all the mercenaries are being hired in town towards the east. Sasuke would be best suited for an attack from that direction as he would be capable of providing ranged support to the samurai and other guards who are focused in that direction."

"The final threat to this position, in this scenario, would be stealth assassin attacks coming from the West. These attackers are likely to be familiar with the area and will probably approach us by sneaking through the brush. They can't really approach us from the South, since the area is open land, and anyone on watch would see them approaching, but as you can see the growth of bushes and trees is still heavy to the West. This is the most likely direction that any assassin teams would take. Since stealth attackers typically focus on close range silent attacks, Hinata is best suited to counter them in this situation."

"But Kakashi-sensei, wouldn't the assassins sneak in as a worker from the main field in the north?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. Some assassins would approach from the North. However, the member on watch would spend most of their time watching the Northern approach as our client is in that direction. Their focus would only be removed from that direction while patrolling around the camp every 10 – 15 minutes." Kakashi explained.

"I thank you for this information Kakashi-sensei, it was quite enlightening," Shino said.

"I didn't even know there were tactics to set up our tents in certain ways." mumbled Sakura as she looked into the fire.

"Well, it's a good thing to learn and remember. Something we can practice when we go on our next survival training trip." Kurenai said.

Kiba and Sakura groaned out loud with that thought. Shino, as usual, had no outward reaction.

Kakashi and Kurenai decided to move off to the edge of camp and discuss the details of the mission privately while the genin were occupied with their dinner.

Sakura checked the fish over the fire once more and announced that they were done before handing the sticks off to her teammates. After claiming one fish for herself, she moved back to the log in front of her tent and began to eat. Occasionally, she would glance at Naruto before mumbling and looking back towards the fire.

Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke dragged some logs next to the fire for them to sit on and began to set up a tripod and pot to boil water collected from the river. Hinata added some herbs and spices to boil along with a carrot that she had chopped, Sasuke contributed a potato and onion to the stew while Naruto put some beef jerky and noodles into the pot.

Naruto was a little unnerved at the situation because he would sense Sakura's hatred towards him, but it would suddenly disappear completely before reappearing at random, even though he didn't even look at her or say anything. He didn't know what to think about it.

" **Perhaps the rabid pink banshee has lost her mind finally. It is possible that she has created another personality to deal with situations that her feeble mind was incapable of comprehending."** Kurama said with suspicion.

Naruto shot a discrete glance at Sakura. _'You mean like a multiple personality disorder?'_

" **That is one of a few ways that someone could hide their negative emotions from our senses. You should be wary of her more than ever since this divide tends to lead towards more extreme emotions."** Kurama warned.

 _'So you mean one of the Sakuras will hate me even more than she did in the past while the other one doesn't care or even likes me?'_ Naruto said with a frown.

 **Kurama let out a low growl of disagreement.** **"** **I doubt any part of the rabid pink haired banshee likes you since she is so lost in her ignorance with her pebble brain."**

 _'I understand, watch out for psycho bitch.'_ Naruto snickered to himself

Naruto looked over to his right and noticed that Hinata looked forlorn. Naruto could sense fear coming from Hinata, and it bothered him that she was worried and scared. Naruto scooted over towards her and nudged her with his elbow slightly startling her.

"Oh Naruto-kun, did you need something?" Hinata asked.

"Hey don't worry about those Kumo jerks Hinata-chan. Sasuke and I won't let them take you and neither will Kakashi-sensei, you saw how pissed he was when I told him about them." Naruto said.

"I know Naruto-kun, it just brought back memories of when they tried to take me when I was young. It was so scary I had nightmares for months after that." Hinata looked back to the fire.

"Well, I know what two of them look like. If anyone attacks, I'll make sure you have at least two clones to back you up always. I doubt you would really need it, though since you are more likely to kick their asses harder than I could. Your Jūken really does suck you know." Naruto said with a sly look.

Hinata giggled a bit and nodded "Thanks, Naruto-kun. You're right, though, I should show them just how much my Jūken can hurt. That will be the best way to teach them not to mess with a Hyūga again."

Sasuke moved over to them and sat on the other side of Hinata. "What do you think Kakashi-sensei will have us do while we wait? Obviously, we will take turns on guard detail, but did you see how many of the Daimyō's samurai were present?"

Hinata nodded "It does seem strange that the Daimyō would pay for this bridge and guard it if he was being paid off by Gato."

"Hmm, Sasuke didn't hear anything over at the docks about that. All he heard was Gato was increasing his forces. That could only mean he lost a lot of them, or he is planning a big move, I think." Naruto asked as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"If it was a plan to create misinformation it would have been directed at all locations to throw off suspicion," Shino interjected.

"Have you guys had any other attacks besides Zabuza and his accomplice?" Naruto asked.

"There were the two Demon Brothers that Kurenai-sensei said were C-ranked, but they were apprehended to be taken back to Konoha. Other than that there have been no attacks on the construction site or attempts on the client's life." Shino said.

"Wait, how long ago were these Demon Brothers captured?" Sasuke asked.

"It would be approximately 4 days now," Shino replied.

"That is strange because Hokage-sama did not receive word about the Demon Brothers, and we were unaware of your request for support until the messenger hawk arrived this morning," Hinata stated.

"What? You guys mean to tell us that you were only sent out here this morning?" Kiba shouted.

"Calm down Kiba." Kurenai's voice rang out.

The genin turned to see Kakashi and Kurenai walking back towards the fire.

"Kurenai-sensei, Team 7 said that they weren't notified about our request until this morning," Sakura said.

"That is correct, Sakura, the messenger bird arrived this morning, and we left Konoha an hour later," Hinata added.

"Mah, Mah, lets back up a minute and start from the beginning shall we?" Kakashi said as he waved his hand as if patting something down.

"Yes, that would be best. Team 8 left Konoha at 8 am one week ago to escort Tazuna and some of his workers to the bridge site. Due to civilian travel speeds, we would require 2 days worth of travel nonstop, but Tazuna and his team needed a few more breaks than necessary, so it took three days. On the afternoon of the second day, the Demon Brothers attempted to ambush us and were subdued by Kiba and Shino while Sakura assumed a defensive position." Kurenai said.

"We totally kicked their asses!" Kiba exclaimed while Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Don't interrupt sensei during a debriefing, Kiba-baka." Sakura snapped at Kiba.

"As I was saying, the Demon brothers were subdued and a message sent to Konoha to have a team pick them up for interrogation. We continued on our way, and as we neared the final mile towards the ferry, we were attacked by Zabuza Momochi. I battled Zabuza and was able to defeat him, but before I could kill him, his accomplice attacked and brought Zabuza to safety. We were unable to pursue since the client would have remained vulnerable. The accomplice seems to be of the same age as our current genin and is a Hyoton (Ice) user."

Naruto thought over what he remembered about Hyōton users and remembered that the main clan was based in Kiri, but many of them fled to Yuki no Kuni (Land of Snow) because of the bloodline purges. Naruto thought back to the boats he saw in the harbor and remembered the small Kiri boat that seemed out of place. He wondered if that was a possible staging area or home for Zabuza.

"We proceeded to escort the bridge builder until we arrived here 4 days ago" Kurenai concluded.

"Naruto, why don't you reveal what you learned when we arrived and gathered intelligence," Kakashi said.

"I conducted recon on the warehouses and docks when we arrived and discovered a group of four Kumo missing-nin who were notified that there would be a Hyūga in the area. They wanted to kidnap the Hyūga during the battle on the bridge while our forces are distracted. They plan to take their target back to Kumo in an attempt to have the Raikage revoke their missing-nin status." Naruto reported.

"Sasuke, repeat what you discovered," Kakashi said in a bored tone.

"During my surveillance of the tavern in the docks district, I overheard that Gato was hiring more mercenaries for the next two weeks at an inflated cost of ryō," Sasuke reported.

Kakashi turned a page before saying."Now Hinata, why don't you repeat what you learned."

"I was stationed to conduct surveillance at the inn and discovered that Gato had moved to create a monopoly of shipping and was estimated to own 70% of all the shipping companies. Some of the businessmen believe that the Daimyō is either working with Gato or is incapable of stopping him while the rest of the merchants believe that the Daimyō is ramping up efforts to stop Gato soon." Hinata reported.

"Now that we have the whole picture tell me, what do you think is the truth of the situation. How about you Sakura?" Kakashi asked. He had faith that his cute little genin would figure out most of it, but he wanted to gauge the others.

Sakura thought about what she heard for a few minutes. "That the attack on the bridge builder is being organized by Gato, who is using his resources in a battle against the Daimyō as well. He is also trying to prevent outside forces from getting involved, most likely by having thugs run interference in the surrounding mainland areas and hiring the missing-nin to take out any Konoha nin."

"Hmm that is partially correct, but it is also mostly false," Kakashi said.

Sakura's eye twitched in annoyance at his comment.

"How about you Kiba, what do you think it means when you hear all this?" Kakashi asked.

"It's simple. This Gato guy is hiring more people to attack the bridge builder, and he hired Zabuza as well." Kiba said brashly

"What about the Kumo missing-nin?" Kurenai prodded.

"Umm, they probably had someone spying on Konoha and were just waiting to see if a Hyūga left on a mission."

"You were so very close, but you missed by a large margin," Kakashi said in a bored tone Kiba merely growled at him.

"Shino your up. What do you feel about this." Kakashi asked.

Shino sat still for a moment as he thought over the facts.

"Zabuza and his accomplice are definitely hired by Gato, as well as the thugs, but the delay in notification to Konoha and the unknown location of the demon brothers leads me to believe that the Kumo missing-nins may have intervened in an attempt to lure out Team 7 for the purpose of capturing Hinata. The information about the Daimyō from the business men is irrelevant." Shino said.

"Hmm, that was better, but you still missed out on the bigger picture," Kakashi said. Tell me Naruto, what do you think when you hear what we have heard.

Naruto had his eyes closed still, but he could feel Sasuke's eyes on him. He tried to frame his response so that he would hint at Root being involved without being blatant about calling them out entirely.

"Well Kakashi-sensei, I believe that someone in Konoha wanted Team 8's mission to fail because they want to destabilize Nami no Kuni. They also decided to use this as a chance to capture or eliminate some targets of opportunity." Naruto said.

Sasuke and Hinata nodded while Sakura, Kiba, and Kurenai looked confused. Shino merely had a contemplating look on his face.

"Tch, don't try to act cool Naruto there is no way anything you said makes any sense to what we just heard." Sakura sniped.

"If you used half of the brain in your giant head, then you would realize that everything Naruto said was true." Sasuke snapped.

Sakura had always annoyed Sasuke to no end in the Academy with her useless fangirl ways. He never understood why Naruto never put Sakura in her place while they were in the Academy, but he would be damned to let that continue now that Naruto was the only one he could rely on.

Sakura seemed crestfallen. That was the most Sasuke had ever said to her, and it was to put her down. She couldn't believe that Sasuke was defending Naruto of all people. Was it because they were teammates?

"How did you come up with that?" Kiba said in a curious tone. Kiba knew that Naruto was not stupid, by any means, and even though they had a falling out over dominance on his part, he wouldn't disregard anything Naruto said. When it came to intellect, he knew Naruto was superior to him.

"Yes, I am also quite interested to hear why you think that as well since your teammates seem to agree with you," Kurenai asked.

"The first thing that made me believe this theory was the delay that occurred between when Konoha was notified and the lack of knowledge of the Demon Brothers on our part. Someone who knows the protocol in Konoha was able to remove the Demon brothers from the picture, intercept your request for backup, then send a modified red message scroll ensuring that it arrived this morning when C-rank missions are distributed to Genin and Chūnin level teams. This person or people knew that Hokage-jiji would have sent whoever was at hand immediately since the information listed the threat was not severe enough for him to escalate reinforcements to a Jōnin strike team." Naruto stated

"Second, the fact that the Kumo missing-nin were notified of Hinata's arrival to Nami no Kuni on the same day that we left Konoha is much too fast for it to be an outside source. Someone had to have those missing-nin nearby awaiting word or knew that the missing-nin would already be nearby, and notified them of Hinata's presence to use as scapegoats or a distraction from the actual plot." Naruto added.

"The last clue is the fact that the businessmen who are arguing over Gato either paying off or fighting the Daimyō are split evenly down the line. The fact that confusion is uniform means that their sources are providing conflicting information, which can only come from a controlled propaganda campaign to undermine faith in the Daimyō's capability to provide stability. Then you add the fact that Gato is paying more money to hire mercenaries on a short time frame leads me to believe that someone is picking off or paying off Gato's men in an attempt to undermine his power base at the same time. By forcing Gato to pay for and replace his manpower, you open up the opportunity for moles to infiltrate his organization in case he does manage to take over the country. While Gato and the Daimyō are fighting the country is unstable, and shadow groups are able to operate freely in a country that is unstable. The bridge is a direct threat to maintaining the instability and any groups with ulterior motives will want to stop the bridge from creating stability so they can continue to operate with impunity." Naruto finished.

"Splendid Naruto, but you either left out or missed an important factor in all this. What do you think is the purpose of destabilizing this country Hinata?"

"I believe that it's to try and draw resources away from Konoha and to allow a staging ground for more missing-nin and other elements who would like to infiltrate or attack Konoha." said Hinata.

"Good Hinata and Sasuke what do you think the target is?" Kakashi asked.

"I think Tazuna and Team 7 are the targets," Sasuke said.

"My cute little genin I am so proud of you. You are truly beginning to understand seeing underneath the underneath." Kakashi said as he faked wiping a tear from his eye.

Kurenai had a grim look on her face at that news. "That means that even with what we do know we can expect at least one more surprise element to interfere with the mission at this point if not more than one."

"Congratulations Team 7 you wanted a harder mission. This is definitely going to be an S-rank mission if what I believe is true. That's about as hard as you can get." Kakashi said giving them the Guy thumbs up and an eye smile.

Team 7 and 8 sweat dropped.

"Seriously, though, we know that the missing-nin will infiltrate the thugs and will not act until the battle has fully started. That battle will most likely be after Zabuza, and his accomplice have finished fighting with us and some other thugs. We should anticipate that the third party will ambush us on the way to the bridge before we fight with Zabuza." Kakashi said.

"Why before Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Whoever this third party is, they are taking great pains to remain unknown so they will either try to ambush us with the element of surprise and deflect the blame onto the thugs. If they fail, they would have weakened us enough that even if we manage to defeat Zabuza, his accomplice, and Gato's thugs, we will be weakened enough for their reserve forces to move in on us, or we will be dead. Either way, mission accomplished for them." Kakashi said

"What are we going to do then Kurenai-sensei?" Sakura asked in a worried tone. This situation was getting out of hand, and Sakura was worried.

"Well we have at least three weeks based on the info we did receive, so we arrange watches on the bridge builder and begin training to work with Team 7 for a large scale assault. I know this is outside the realm of our usual team objective but Team 7 was designed for this, and I have faith that the abilities you guys do have will allow you guys to hold your own in a large battle. In fact, I think we have a perfect situation to work on our teamwork here by sparring each other and getting a feel for our skills." Kurenai said.

"Hmm. I think I like the sound of that, what do you think Team 7? Would you like to spar Team 8?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, sensei!" Team 7 replied.

"Bring it on! We are so going to kick your asses!" Kiba exclaimed while Akamaru barked a few times.

'This is my chance to prove myself.' Sakura thought as she eyed Naruto.

Naruto internally sighed at Sakura's glare. He knew Sakura would be gunning for him, but he didn't think she was worth his time at all. In truth, he really didn't want to fight her since he had a feeling she would be trying to make it a serious fight instead of a spar.

Kurama was laughing hilariously. **"Why do you hesitate kit? You should put that pink haired banshee in her place for all she has done to you."**

 _'She isn't worth the effort, honestly, and I know I will get in trouble if I go full out against her. I can sense Kurenai is one of "those people" and who knows if Kakashi-sensei would support me if I injure her.'_

"Good. What do you think about sparring a few hours after breakfast in the morning? I know that the bridge builder will be busy with the mayor all morning so we will not need to provide security for his detail." Kurenai said.

"That should be okay. My team will take the rotation for watch tonight and let your team rest since we haven't been splitting sleep times yet." Kakashi said.

"Thank you Kakashi, that is most welcome," Kurenai replied.

Both teams finished their dinner and cleaned up before engaging in some small talk before Team 8 went to bed. After the last member of Team 8 had entered their tent. Sasuke caught Hinata and Naruto's attention with hand signals that Kakashi taught them.

-Strategy tomorrow - Sasuke

Sasuke discreetly pointed towards Shino's tent -Target 1-

Hinata and Naruto both nodded.

-Target 2 intercept on contact- Sasuke looked towards Sakura's tent.

Naruto shook his head and made the hand sign for Kage Bunshin -Reinforcements to Target 2-

Sasuke and Hinata thought about it for a moment then they both nodded.

-Target 3 intercept on contact Reinforcements to Target 2- Hinata

Naruto held his hand up for the hold position signal for a moment after a few minutes he formed more hand signs,

\- Fūinjutsu counter attack Target 1-

Sasuke and Hinata looked confused, and both motioned -do not copy-

Naruto unsealed his fūinjutsu kit and pulled out a brush and motioned like he was painting on his arm.

\- Barrier Counterattack Target 1 Ninjutsu -

Sasuke and Hinata both motioned -do not copy-, Naruto sighed.

Naruto picked up a twig and crouched down in front of Sasuke and Hinata and scrawled a cartoon picture of a bug.

\- Target 1 Ninjutsu- before he pointed towards the picture.

Sasuke and Hinata nodded. Now they knew he was referencing Shino's bugs.

\- Fūinjutsu Counterattack Barrier Target 1 Ninjutsu- Naruto then drew lines towards the picture of the bug as if something was pushing the bug.

Sasuke and Hinata thought it over for a moment before they nodded.

Naruto pointed to Sasuke and motioned for him to follow and stood up sweeping his foot over the drawing in the dirt and walked away from camp. Sasuke stood up and followed him.

Once Naruto was confident they were far enough away, he asked, "Are you gonna use this shirt tomorrow?"

Sasuke shook his head and went back to camp to pull out the shirt he planned to wear tomorrow. Once he came back, he handed the shirt to Naruto.

"To use these you just need to channel a little chakra onto them and then perform a genjutsu dispel," Naruto explained.

Sasuke nodded and watched Naruto as he began working on his shirt.

Naruto began to draw two seals on the front of Sasuke's shirt, then he flipped the shirt over and drew the same two seals on the back. He added linking brackets to each seal so that one of the seals on the front was linked to the one on the back.

Once the ink was dried, Naruto channeled a bit of chakra into them so that one of them began to glow red. Naruto then performed the hand seals for Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) and placed both of his hands over the glowing seal.

As soon as the jutsu finished casting Naruto performed three more hand seals before placing his hand over the glowing seal and calling out "Fūin". The seal color changed from red to blue before fading into the regular black pattern.

Naruto repeated the process three more times until he had charged each seal before handing the shirt back to Sasuke.

"Hn, I wonder if they will notice the seals on the shirt," Sasuke said as he looked at the strange pattern that was now drawn onto his shirt.

"They might, but I know for certain that no one on Team 8 will know what they are for. Don't worry about your shirt, that seal is designed to disappear completely once used up. I only put enough on there for two uses, since I figure the fight will be over before then." Naruto said.

"Yea no kidding, there is no way a combat squad like us can lose to a Scout and Infiltration team," Sasuke said with a smirk.

Naruto just chuckled quietly and followed Sasuke back to camp in order to get Hinata's seals set up. He already had the clothing he planned to wear sealed into one of his pockets so he would just prepare his clothing once Hinata's was done.

Naruto motioned for Hinata to follow him and repeated his instructions to her before asking her if she wanted the seals on her shirt or if she was using her jacket instead. Hinata just told him to put the seals on her coat. Hinata handed her jacket to Naruto. While Sasuke's seals had been placed directly in the center of his shirt, with one directly above the other, he couldn't use the same layout because of the zipper running down the middle. After an internal debate Naruto figured he would put one on the left and one on the right in the midst of the jacket and hope it would push all of the bugs away from her as intended.

Hinata frowned when she saw Naruto painting her jacket with black ink, but he assured her the ink and seals would disappear completely once she used them up. He decided to add a few storage seals on the inside of her pockets while he was at it, which Hinata was grateful for.

Once Hinata's seals were complete, he unsealed the shirt he planned to wear tomorrow and added his own seals to it just in case. With how he planned to approach the fight, he would likely not be in any immediate danger, but he couldn't leave anything to chance, and his Kage Bunshin could use them more anyways. He made a mental note to over charge his clones a little more than usual for the spar tomorrow.

Kakashi, who had been observing his genin carefully, was curious to see what Naruto had created to counter Shino's bugs. A fūinjutsu solution to that problem would be interesting to watch. He smiled to himself, regardless of how much work Kurenai put into her genin team, she was in for a rude awakening. He should have made a wager on the fight, maybe she would still accept one in the morning.

Naruto, who had the first watch, sent out a few clones to watch the outermost perimeter henged as various objects like rocks or branches with instructions to dispel if they noticed anything suspicious. He then created four cat clones to roam around the perimeter as well just in case something was able to sneak past the first set of clones.

Naruto created one clone that henged into a leaf next to him, to dispel when his turn on watch was over. Naruto then reclined onto the trunk of the tree he was perched in and entered his mindscape.

 **Naruto's Mindscape**

* * *

Naruto summoned 65 clones as soon as he entered the mindscape and began to split them up into groups.

20 clones would continue trying to apply seals on each other during taijutsu battles.

30 clones would split into ten groups of three and fight 3 on 1 against a group of 10 clones to help him practice his techniques for defending against multiple attackers.

The last five clones were working on sensor seals, chakra storage, explosive tag Lvl 4, reverse gravity seal, and privacy seal.

Naruto strolled over to Kurama, who opened an eye in acknowledgment before closing it again. Naruto hopped up onto his right paw and laid back with a sigh.

"What a day, eh Kurama? I knew this was going to be something big, but damn could it get any worse?"

" **Hah! Things can always get worse kit."** Kurama grumbled.

"I really hope it doesn't Kurama," Naruto mumbled before deciding to unload all his thoughts on his closest confidante. "So Danzō killed the Uchiha clan, do you believe that? I mean, I can tell that Sasuke does, and I meant it when I said I will help him kill that bastard no matter what. It's just that, jiji told me that Danzō believed that doing whatever was necessary to protect Konoha is the only way to ensure the village's safety and that the best way to make sure that the village is safe is to present the village as being overwhelmingly powerful." Naruto blew out a breath in exasperation. "How does wiping out one of the most powerful clans in the world help with that goal?"

" **This Danzō snake is selfish, greedy, and power hungry. It is likely the Uchiha clan stood in his way of power or had something he desired more than anything, so he eliminated them to further his goals."** Kurama said casually.

"That's a scary thought, he has been trying to catch us for six years now. Do you think we are a part of his final goal?" Naruto said with a frown.

" **Most likely, he seeks to become all powerful. We are probably nothing more than a mere weapon necessary to acquire his ultimate goal in his eyes. Tell me, kit, what do you believe his goal would be if he wishes to be all powerful?"** Kurama hummed in a questioning tone.

"He would have to either become Hokage or gain control over the Daimyō. Shit, with that eye from Shisui he could easily do both." Naruto rolled onto his side and placed his hand onto Kurama's paw with a fearful look on his face.

"What Sasuke described... Do you think it was the same thing the masked man used on that night? What if he uses it on me? What if he uses it on you?" Naruto murmured.

Kurama just snorted and tilted his head to stare down at Naruto.

" **That snake would never have the power to control me, do not waste your breath with such nonsense. If he uses it on you, then you will be unaware since you will be under his control so it won't matter to you in the end. Fear not, I will ensure to put you out of your misery if such a thing occurs, but I do not think it will be possible for him."** Kurama said sincerely.

Naruto looked up at Kurama "Why do you think it isn't possible?"

" **You have seen how the silver sloth pervert has to keep his Sharingan covered all the time correct?"** Kurama prodded.

Naruto nodded.

" **The reason I could sense it when we first met is because it is always draining chakra. I believe that because he is not an Uchiha, he must keep it covered to prevent the Sharingan from draining his chakra completely."** Kurama said.

"So you think they can't actually use an implanted Sharingan to its full potential because it wasn't a part of their body naturally," Naruto said feeling slightly relieved.

Kurama put his head back down and closed his eyes again.

" **That is correct. Besides, while that snake is quite arrogant, his plans are always deep with treachery, manipulation, and deception. He will not use a brute force method like that against you. Most likely, he will use all his plotting and machinations to put you into a position that he desires."** Kurama said with certainty.

"He will do something to set jiji up or kill him, and when the Daimyō and the council go to decide the next Hokage, he will use that eye to make the Daimyō do as he says. Shit, that must be why he is destabilizing Nami no Kuni. He is going to use it in a scheme to either attack jiji or Konoha." Naruto sat up with that realization.

" **If the situation here is any indication of how that snake operates, then you know that he has something in the works already. He has been moving events along for a much larger plot if that is the case. Something that requires a lot of pawns and allies. As much as it pains me to admit, your filthy village is somewhat capable of handling most threats, he would need a significant amount of allies to damage it."** Kurama gave a huff of disgust with that statement.

"Thanks, Kurama, I know that is a big compliment coming from you," Naruto said with a smirk as he reclined once more.

Kurama just snorted **"You should just kill the snake with that Uchiha brat and flee the village. There are much better places in the world for you to stay."**

"If Danzō was jiji's teammate then I'm nowhere in his league. I'm sure if he was such a simple opponent, jiji would have taken him out already." Naruto replied while shaking his head

Kurama swished his tails creating a small gust **"I don't think that is the case. We have all heard the story of the treacherous snake sannin. A name quite fitting after all."**

"I can't really blame him for not wanting to kill his student. Even though I know it was wrong to let him go, it must have been difficult." Naruto said sadly.

" **Well, at least, tomorrow shall be somewhat entertaining. I look forward to you putting that rabid pink banshee and the foolish dog breath mutt into their proper places. Be sure to make it extra humiliating or they will never learn they are beneath you in every way."** Kurama said.

Naruto sighed at that thought. "I guess if it will make them leave me alone, but it won't foster the Will of Fire jiji keeps reminding me of."

" **Hmph, it seems like the village needs a lesson from the old monkey goat if that is the case. Those hateful idiots are just as insignificant as you pathetic village. I don't think I will ever understand why you remain in that place after everything that has happened."** Kurama grumbled.

"Because of jiji, Shizune-nee, Neko-chan, Shikamaru, Choji, now Hinata-chan and Sasuke. That's why I still stay. They acknowledged me for who I was and care for me." Naruto said firmly.

" **Hah, that village is fortunate that there are a few who are not complete imbeciles. That village does not deserve your loyalty or your protection."** Kurama grumbled.

"I know Kurama, but they have it until they do something bad enough to where I can't remain any longer," Naruto said with a sigh

Kurama hummed in interest. **"Oh? And what something would that be?"**

"I don't know... maybe if the village decided to kill me or exile me when I didn't do anything wrong. If my friends were in danger because of me and leaving would keep them safe, then I would leave. I think I will always consider it home, though. If only, to honor my parents and their sacrifice at least." Naruto said seriously

" **What if that Danzō snake becomes Hokage?"** Kurama asked

"Then Sasuke and I will kill him or die trying," Naruto said with determination.

" **If that is the case, then you will most likely have to flee the village anyways if you succeed,"** Kurama said.

"The other thing I am worried about is that Sasuke mentioned the masked man was involved in that attack also, meaning that bastard is still around plotting something also," Naruto said.

Kurama growled loudly at the thought. **"You will need to be careful if that man shows himself to you, he is cunning and powerful. He will most likely plot to remove me from you when he has the chance. Only with my Yin chakra, and the key to the seal will we be capable squashing that gnat, like the insect he is."**

"What about my mother, how come she didn't stop him from controlling you?" Naruto asked.

" **Your mother did not have a bond with me, her seal was contingent on binding me down so thoroughly that there was no chakra or communication link between us. It was only through great effort that I managed to find a small crack in the seal to partially view the outside world at all. That seal required the masked man to pull me out of your mother in order to take control of me."** Kurama explained.

"Will he have to do that with my seal to gain control?" Naruto asked with concern.

" **No. Your seal has bound my chakra to you to the point that forcibly removing me without using another sealing array would cause me to automatically disperse. Only another sealing object would be capable of pulling me out of you intact or if you free me from the seal willingly."** Kurama replied.

"Well, I am guessing that getting your Yin chakra back is impossible, considering that my father is being devoured by the Shinigami right now, but the key is probably still obtainable if we can find it. Do you think that will be enough to stop the masked man?" Naruto asked.

Kurama swished his tails in thought for a few minutes as he pondered the question. **"It will be a tough battle if we were to talk about full bijū transformation without my Yin chakra. Your strength alone, when he finally confronts us will be the determining factor."**

"Then I will just have to train extra hard while I can to make sure I can make up the difference and hopefully we find that key soon," Naruto said with a sigh.

Naruto sat up suddenly when a few clones dispelled and a big smile spread across his face.

"Finally, we got that sensor seal and that reverse gravity seal down!" Naruto exclaimed.

Kurama yawned **"Hmph. Good, with the sensor seal, completed you have opened up a new level of seals."**

"Really? That is so awesome ** _!_** What kind of seals can I learn now Kurama?"

" **Paralysis, Sleep, Trap seals, Chakra draining seals, and the security seal most importantly,"** Kurama replied

"Why is that one the most important?" Naruto asked.

" **The security seal prevents any chakra from escaping or entering the area. This way no one can attack, spy, or enter that area with a jutsu. If combined with the privacy seal, which prevents any sight or sound from entering or escaping, and a barrier seal we can finally cordon off an area for you to safely train using my chakra. Plus it is easy to link the barrier seal with the security seal, so you won't always have to use tags when securing something. The only downside to a security seal is you are unable to attack opponents outside which is why it is mainly used in securing locations."** Kurama lectured.

The large grin returned to Naruto's face. "So I get to learn your taijutsu soon? What about the other things?" Naruto asked excitedly

" **Tch. Calm down, kit. It will be some time yet until you can handle enough of my chakra to manifest more than one tail, and even if you master the seal and begin training, you won't be capable of using it without revealing the truth. The second those filth see you using more than one tail will be the day of reckoning. Perhaps it is a good idea, after all, you may have to leave that cursed village sooner."**

Naruto gave Kurama a flat look. "You don't know that. Maybe jiji will be okay with it... okay, you are probably right but maybe I can convince him it will be alright in a controlled environment, and he sees me keeping control, maybe..." Naruto trailed off because he knew that would be a very, very tough sell.

Kurama simply snorted in amusement. **"You still have more time to train in here you should set six more clones up. Two to test the new seals on the other two, and the final two to begin on the security seal and chakra draining right away."**

Naruto nodded and summoned the clones who set out and began training as instructed. He laid back down only to grimace a few minutes later.

"I think that reverse gravity seal was a false alarm. That thing just destroyed my clone as soon as he activated it."

" **Hmm, the chakra requirement is probably very high, try it again with a charged clone."**

Naruto created a supercharged clone and had the other clone apply another seal tag with the reverse gravity seal. Naruto instructed the supercharged clone to run and jump as soon as it was applied.

The supercharge clone jumped about twenty feet in the air and managed to zoom around the cage super fast until it dispelled from its chakra being drained.

"Whoa! Kurama, that was awesome ** _!_** Too bad it is so damn dangerous. I think it would kill me after a few minutes if I used it because it drained all the chakra from that clone." Naruto said with a frown as he looked over the seal.

" **You can try linking it with a sensor seal, so it will shut off before all the chakra is depleted. It will be good practice for the variants you will need to apply to the sensor seal."** Kurama suggested.

"What kind of variants?" Naruto looked up at Kurama

" **Right now the sensor seal that you learned works off chakra. The seal senses chakra and activates automatically so that you are not required to use hand seals in order for it to trigger. What it activates is based on what you link it to. However, there are modifications to the sensor seal that change its behavior. In this case, as well as the chakra draining seal, you need to create a sensor seal that will deactivate its linked seal when sense that there is insufficient chakra to power the linked seal."** **Kurama explained.**

"So the chakra draining seal is technically three seals?" Naruto asked while he tapped his lip with his finger.

" **If you do not plan on killing your opponent with it, that is correct,"** Kurama said with a grin.

"You tell me that now?" Naruto shook his head. "I should work on the variant sensor first then, shouldn't I?"

The chakra drain clone paused it's work and looked up when he heard that.

" **No. The modification to the sensor seal is a simple reversal, which will take no time at all to learn. The chakra draining seal is more complex and will establish the base knowledge you will need to create the paralysis and sleep seals."**

The chakra drain clone just shrugged at Naruto then went back to work.

"Makes sense I guess. I will mess around with that myself then." Naruto nodded.

Naruto hopped off Kurama's paw and created another mindscape desk to work at. As he began, he asked, "You said there were other modifications to the sensor seal?"

" **Katon, Hyōton, Suiton, Raiton, Doton, Fūton, Proximity, combinations as well as variations for any of the previously mentioned modifications, and, of course, Blood."** Kurama listed off.

Naruto hummed as he created a regular sensor seal then set up another tag and began to reverse the seal. Kurama lifted his head to watch Naruto as he worked, to make sure he made the seal correctly.

'Kurama was right when he said it was easy. Much easier than reversing the gravity seal was at any rate.' Naruto thought.

As he thought about it more, he realized that the reverse gravity seal could be used offensively as well as defensively though he was uneasy with the thought of slapping someone with a seal that would just drain their life so rapidly.

With clones, it drained them dry quite quickly. He wondered if the seal would continue while they were unconscious. After musing on it for a bit, he realized that it would, since their body would still be affected by gravity anyways.

However, once he linked it with this reverse seal that he was working on, it would still be effective since it drained chakra so quickly. Naruto decided that he would have to rework it completely and make it safer before he could use it. He had hoped to create the seal as a means to increase his speed, but it was simply too dangerous.

'Maybe with a chakra storage seal it would be possible?' Naruto frowned at that thought.

Adding that requirement would make it difficult to apply the reverse gravity seal with chakra alone since the seal array would be very complex at that point. No, He would simply scratch the seal for now and rework it when he had a chance later.

When he mastered the chakra storage seal, he would combine them with the reverse gravity seal and see if it was worth keeping a few tags to use for escaping from a dangerous situation.

He completed the newest sensor seal and examined his work. It looked correct so he took a reverse gravity seal his clone made and began linking it with the latest sensor seal while studying the individual seal he created. Once complete he summoned another supercharged clone and applied it.

This time, the clone fell exhausted to the ground after three minutes of zooming around the mindscape, instead of dispelling right away.

" **Good work kit, that worked just as predicted. If I sensed correctly, you would be able to use that on yourself for five minutes before your chakra reserve became small enough to the point that you would start experiencing exhaustion like that clone."**

"Well, I guess it could be useful if I need to simply run away from a conflict. I know how much you love that idea." Naruto said with a grin.

Kurama just swished his tails and huffed before settling down again.

"No. The reverse gravity seal is still too dangerous to use. If I had to run after a battle, it would only last me a minute or two and leave me highly drained of chakra. I suppose I could use it offensively since most people don't have the level of chakra I do, but that is still a risk. I will just have to wait until I learn the chakra storage seal first." Naruto said with resignation.

" **You should be proud that you were capable of creating one that functioned, regardless of the chakra requirements. That seal was technically beyond your level, and you still managed to succeed."** **Kurama said in an approving tone.**

Naruto was about to hop onto Kurama's paw again when one of his henged clones dispelled to reveal an intruder.

Naruto ordered his remaining clones to dispel in groups of twenty every two seconds and exited his mindscape six seconds later.

 **Konoha Campsite – Nami no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto snapped his eyes open and began to head towards where his clone dispelled. He scented the intruder, the smell of smoke and sake made him believe it was one of Gato's thugs attempting to spy on them since he was alone. He narrowed his eyes and was able to see them man creeping along through the dark due to the moonlight.

Naruto ordered four of his henged cat clones to surround the man and follow him closer to camp. If he continued to move forwards, it would confirm he was a spy and his clones would trap him in a barrier. Then Naruto would awake Kakashi to interrogate the man. Naruto looked up at the moon to gauge time and saw it was close to the second watch anyways so Kakashi wouldn't be too annoyed.

As the thug crept into range, the cat clones leaped out of cover and activated their barrier tags trapping the man in a blue pyramid-shaped barrier. He cried out in shock and began trying to break through the barrier.

"You won't escape, so you might as well shut up now. I'd rather let my friends get their rest. At least, until you start screaming from the torture we will put you through." Naruto said with venom.

The thug whirled around trying to see who was speaking to him, but Naruto was concealed in the shadow of a tree.

"I didn't do nothin man, I was just out here for a stroll to walk off my drink, I swear." the thug said shakily

"Hah, like I buy that story. We will find out the truth soon enough." Naruto replied.

Naruto decided to have some fun and created another clone to henge into a cat and sent it to awake the copy-nin. He snickered as he imagined Kakashi's ninken giving him shit for it later.

A few moments later the cat clone strolled into view with Kakashi in tow.

"Mah Naruto, did you need to wake me up by having that cat rub my face like that?" Kakashi said.

"I could have made it scratch and bite like Tora instead if you prefer?" Naruto replied.

Kakashi just sighed "If you have to use the cat clone just paw my leg or something like my ninken do."

Kakashi walked up closer to the trapped bandit and examined him. "So what have you caught here Naruto?"

"Cat clones caught him sneaking in from the North East, probably got done scouting the main camp and came to check our numbers too."

"I wasn't sneaking or anything! I'm telling you, I was just walking off my drink." the man replied.

Naruto shook his head "No you weren't. A drunk wouldn't be tiptoeing around in a low stance and avoiding scrub bushes that are hard for even me to see in this light. You've been out here before today and recently."

"Well then, let's see what our little friend here can sing shall we? Usually, I would take the time to teach you some interrogation methods, but due to the severity of the situation I'm going to get right to the heavy stuff, and none of you are ready for that yet. I want you to return to camp and leave a few clones to guard the perimeter, but don't peek." Kakashi said with a serious tone.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said

Naruto sat by the fire and created a few of the reverse gravity seal tags and more barrier seal tags. He pondered experimenting on larger barrier seal tags, so that they could survive more attacks while draining less chakra but decided it against it for now. Kakashi returned about an hour later.

"You are relieved for the night Naruto, go ahead and rest, for now," Kakashi commanded.

Naruto simply nodded and entered his tent to sleep.


	16. Seven vs Eight

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original(Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

Edit 4/20/16

 **Chapter 15**

 **Seven vs Eight**

 **Mid Morning Konoha Campsite – Nami no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto awoke to the smell of eggs cooking along with some sausage, garlic, and onions.

His stomach grumbled as he stretched and left his tent. Naruto greeted everyone before he made his way to the river with his travel kit to go through his morning routine.

Once he returned, he changed into his outfit for the sparring event later today. After running a check on his supplies and sealing away the weapons and tools he would need, he left his tent to join the others around the fire.

As Kakashi came out of his tent, Naruto decided to ask him about the interrogation.

"Oi Kakashi-sensei, did that guy have anything useful?" Naruto said.

The others all looked at Naruto questioningly.

"What guy?" Kiba asked.

"Naruto found an intruder trying to spy on our camp last night. He did provide some useful information, as well as confirm some of what we discovered in town yesterday." Kakashi said.

"What did you learn from him?" Kurenai asked.

"He came to spy on your team a few days ago, but Kiba here ran him off before he could get more information," Kakashi said.

Kiba puffed up his chest in pride and Akamaru let out a small yip while wagging his tail.

"He came back last night on Gato's orders to verify that there were two groups of Konoha shinobi guarding Tazuna, but Naruto here subdued him. Thanks to Naruto, we know that we have 50 thugs to worry about in total and that the attack will commence on Tazuna two weeks from now. Apparently, Gato is not happy with Zabuza and is planning on betraying him at the bridge site as well." Kakashi added.

Kiba and Sakura glowered at Naruto who just kept his stoic expression in place. He could sense their malicious intent towards him was high this morning. He could also sense some from Kurenai, which he wasn't exactly certain why. He hadn't felt anything aggressive directed at him from her before, more like mistrust and some fear.

"But Kakashi-sensei, won't they change their plans now that you have captured their spy?" Sasuke asked.

"Nah, I got that covered. I went and reported to Gato in the thugs place, so we should be fine on that front." Kakashi said.

Teams 7 and 8 sat around the fire and ate breakfast silently after that. Both teams were preoccupied with reviewing their abilities and what they knew about the other team in order to prepare for their spar later on.

Sakura was determined to beat Naruto to a pulp and put him in his place once and for all. She would show him not to look down on a civilian. She wished she knew the stronger genjutsu that Kurenai did, so she could make him suffer like she had, but Kurenai wouldn't allow her to learn any until she was cleared by Inoichi.

Kiba was also eager to prove his dominance over everyone and establish himself as the Alpha over all the genin. He had been down lately since Kurenai put him in his place repeatedly and Shino was also able to beat him as well using strategy and his kikaichū. The only person he regularly beat was Sakura, but she was able to beat him a few times when he failed to realize he was under a genjutsu. Now he had the chance to put Sasuke and Naruto below him.

Shino was calculating the odds of his team defeating Team 7 and wasn't confident in coming out ahead. Team 7 was built for a direct assault while Team 8 had focused mainly on tracking and subterfuge. They had combat skills, of course, but not nearly on the scale of Team 7. Plus his kikaichū refused to latch onto Naruto for some reason. He also was not aware of what Naruto was actually capable of. Sasuke would naturally favor ninjutsu, and Hinata would use her Jūken primarily, but Naruto was a mystery and his teammates seemed to have absolute faith in him, so he was obviously skilled enough to contribute.

Naruto had a plan to humiliate Kiba, and the thought made both him and Kurama laugh internally. When he thought about what to do with Sakura, he still wasn't exactly certain what he should do to her. Someone that was that angry and hateful wouldn't change if they were humiliated. If anything, she would just continue to hate him even more. Maybe something more drastic was required.

Hinata was reviewing the plan that they had laid out the night before and was deciding how to follow through on it. Shino was definitely the big threat with his kikaichū. Naruto was the only one who would be capable of fighting off their chakra draining capabilities. She had her Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation) and the seals that Naruto placed on her jacket. Sakura might have improved, but Hinata was hard pressed to consider her a threat at all. Kiba would be too busy trying to show up Sasuke or Naruto to come after her, so she would focus on Shino.

Sasuke wasn't concerned in the least. He knew that no one on Team 8 was capable of defeating any of them. In fact, Sasuke was certain that one of them would be more than capable of taking out all three of Team 8 if it came down to it. Kiba was too much of a brash hothead and would easily be lured into a trap since he was an idiot for the most part. Sakura was useless and Sasuke was certain she would always be useless. Shino was the threat, but Sasuke always noticed how Shino fell apart when someone was in his face. He would have to put down Kiba real quick then focus on Shino with Hinata and Naruto. Naruto's clones were more than enough to take out Sakura on their own.

Kurenai eventually led her team away to strategize while Team 7 began to stretch and warm up just for the fun of it. After a half hour, Team 8 returned to camp and Kurenai announced that they were ready to start the spar.

Kakashi and Kurenai decided that the best place for the spar to take occur would be at the far edge of the clearing which provided some trees to the east, a small portion of the stream to the northwest. The area was mostly flat land with some rocks small scrub brush and grasses.

Team 8 lined up towards the north with team 7 standing opposite them.

"Okay teams, this is a spar so no live weapons, however, you may use smoke bombs and small scale jutsu just make sure to keep it at low power," Kakashi said with an eye smile.

"I will call the fight while Kakashi will act as a secondary observer. Are you all ready?" Kurenai asked.

Both teams nodded, and Kurenai called for the fight to start.

Right away Kiba decided to jump into the fray and attack the target they had decided to take out first.

Kiba tossed Akamaru a food pill and as he grew larger he called out Shikyaku no Jutsu (All Fours Jutsu) followed by Jūjin Bunshin (Man Beast Clone) so that Akamaru took on his appearance.

While Kiba was setting up, Sakura threw a few smoke bombs at Team 7 and then followed up with Magen: Henkō no Kōkei (Altering Sight) to distort their vision and throw off their aim. Once the genjutsu hit, Sakura began to charge towards where Naruto had been standing and ignored the plan they had created completely.

Hinata was unaffected by the genjutsu because of her Byakugan, Sasuke quickly dispelled it, and Kurama dispelled it off of Naruto.

Shino had backed up as soon as the fight started and waited for his team's attacks to go through before he would summon his kikaichū to swarm Hinata and Sasuke after they began their counter attack. Before he could send his bugs out after Sasuke and Hinata, he saw Hinata charging directly towards him.

As soon as the fight started, Hinata activated her Byakugan and charged through the smoke to put pressure on Shino who began to evade her attacks driving him farther back.

Shino sent his bugs out to swarm her, but Hinata used the one of Naruto's seals when the bugs began to latch onto her. The seal worked as intended, and the stored Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) successful blew all the bugs away from Hinata while killing a significant amount of the swarm. She continued to press her assault on Shino, who was actually evading her quite successfully, much to Hinata's chagrin.

Naruto immediately summoned 15 charged clones when the smoke bombs hit and sent 10 out to Henge into various objects. One entered the ground usingDoton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu) while one remained directly above the submerged clone.

Two clones went through hand seals and called out Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) into the smoke cloud which dispersed the smoke and disrupted the Gatsūga (Fang over Fang) Kiba and Akamaru had launched towards Sasuke's position.

The clones weren't charged enough to do more then disrupt Kiba and Akamaru's speed and knock off his aim. The clones dispelled from using up their chakra reserves when trying to clear out the smoke. Sasuke was able to dodge Kiba and Akamaru's Gatsūga and raised his hand in a symbol for a combination attack, which two Naruto clones saw and rushed over to him. Sasuke and the clones began flying through hand signs and by the time Kiba and Akamaru had landed and launched another Gatsūga towards Sasuke, their combination attack was ready to be launched.

Sasuke called out Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) and aimed it at the ground directly under Kiba and Akamaru's flight path. The two clones used Fūton: Reppūshō to increase the strength of Sasuke's Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu then dispelled.

The attack hit the ground beneath Kiba and Akamaru as they passed over it, and the force of the explosion caused enough concussive damage to disrupt their attack and launch them away from each other.

Kiba landed in the river relatively unharmed, but Akamaru hit a tree and was knocked unconscious.

Meanwhile, Sakura had engaged Naruto in a taijutsu brawl in her rage to put the bastard in his place. She swung wildly while he dodged and evaded. She felt superior since Naruto couldn't even attack her while she kept him on the defensive.

That superiority lasted only until Naruto lazily punched her right in the face and dazed her. She didn't realize he was that strong, but it only made her more pissed.

 **'Calm down! Don't you see you're being reckless if we want to teach him he is no better than us we need to focus.'** Inner Sakura said.

'Shannaro! I will show this bastard that he is nothing. I will break his spirit and make him realize he is nothing but trash and that he is not special!' Sakura thought.

Naruto continued to evade all her punches and began delivering counter attacks while smirking at her. Sakura became, even more, pissed off at the smug look on Naruto's face.

'Fuck this! I will rid the village of this bastard right now and everyone will be happy that he is dead' Sakura thought as she pulled out a kunai and began slashing at Naruto.

Naruto jumped back a few paces and just stared at her with a stern look on his face.

 **'What are you doing? We are not supposed to use live weapons. Stop it right now! You are going to ruin my life.'** Inner Sakura thought.

'Shut up bitch! You were too weak to handle life and gave me control so it's my life now. You made me deal with all the bullshit while you hid like a coward, so I decide how we live. I will do whatever the hell I want and you know you are to pathetic to stop me anyways.' Sakura thought with a laugh and charged at Naruto.

"I'll wipe that look of your face and replace it with fear you bastard! Nobody likes you anyway!" Sakura yelled out as she lunged at Naruto and managed to stab her kunai into his chest.

Sakura was almost gleeful at the look of shock on Naruto's face while Inner Sakura began screaming in horror.

Kurenai also looked on in horror. Sure she didn't trust the Kyūbi brat, but she didn't think Sakura would take it this far. Her career was probably over if she survived this battle. The Hokage would never forgive this failure and poor Sakura's life was probably forfeit. She was going to rush in and subdue Sakura until Kakashi grabbed her wrist and shook his head. "He's not done yet," Kakashi said.

Kurenai looked back as "Naruto" poofed into a cloud of smoke to Sakura's horror and Inner Sakura's relief. The next thing Sakura knew she felt hands grab her ankles and drag her underground and a sharp blow to the back of her head before her world went black.

Naruto's clone had successfully drawn Sakura into the trap he had set up. The clone had taken the kunai to keep her in place, and to determine just how far Sakura's hatred actually went for the Boss. The other genin were too absorbed in their battles to see the event that occurred with Naruto.

Naruto was busy analyzing what his slain clone had seen when Sakura had "killed" him. His emotions were running rampant right now and he wondered if anyone else really cared if that was the real him who had been stabbed like that. Kakashi and Kurenai didn't even do anything when Sakura started to attack him with a kunai.

Once Kiba had recovered from being launched into the river, he looked around before running over to Akamaru when he saw him lying on the ground. Kiba checked him over quickly and was relieved when he saw that there was no serious damage. Giving Akamaru the command to remain still and rest, he looked around and saw that Sasuke was making his way towards Shino. Kiba growled and was about to rush him when four cats jumped out of the bushes around him and slammed their paws on the ground.

"What the fuck?" Kiba said as a barrier sprang around him and Akamaru, trapping them in.

"What the fuck is this!?" Kiba shouted as he tried to break the barrier but it didn't budge and the fucking cats were laughing at him! Laughing! He pounded his fist against the barrier a few more times in frustration before trying to replace himself, which only caused him to smack into the barrier and knock himself back onto his butt. The cats started laughing harder at him and he growled and sat there fuming.

Meanwhile, Shino was still trying to figure out how his bugs got blown back and decided to use one of his clan techniques on Hinata and Sasuke, who had now joined in the attack. He let Hinata and Sasuke use a team combo which appeared to hit until he dispersed revealing Mushi Bunshin no Jutsu (Insect clone). The kikaichū immediately began to swarm them, but Shino observed them touch their body and perform a genjutsu dispel before his bugs were blown off of their bodies or destroyed by the force of the wind.

He then observed that Sakura was buried in the ground up to her head and was unconscious, and Kiba appeared to be trapped in a barrier by cats? That even made Shino raise an eyebrow before he lifted his hand and called out "I surrender my team is incapacitated."

Kurenai called for them to stop and Team 7 made their way over towards Kakashi. The cats trapping Kiba poofed out of existence releasing the barrier.

"I'm really sorry Kakashi. I knew Sakura had anger issues, and she has been seeing Inoichi for treatment, but I really had no idea it was this bad." Kurenai bowed low to Kakashi and waited for his response.

"Mah it's not your fault Sakura lost control like that, but I will have to report this to the Hokage you realize. Sakura committed the worst violation possible and will probably be thrown out of the Shinobi program for this." Kakashi said.

Sasuke and Hinata eyed Sakura with suspicion when Kakashi mentioned that. Both of them wondered what exactly Sakura did that would warrant a punishment that severe.

Shino and Naruto were currently pulling the unconscious Sakura out of the ground.

"Kurenai-sensei, what happened?" Kiba asked.

"Sakura used a real kunai and tried to kill Naruto. If she was fighting the real Naruto, she would have succeeded." Kurenai said with shame.

The rest of the genin gasped.

Kiba couldn't believe that Sakura would do such a thing. He knew she hated Naruto, but to just kill him? She said that she just wanted him to learn his place and Kiba had agreed with that, but Kiba didn't want him to die.

Hinata and Sasuke were looking at Sakura with disgust. To think that loud and useless fangirl would go so far, and she wondered why shinobi families looked down on the civilian students the way they did.

Shino was disappointed in his teammate, he had suspected that Sakura had issues, but suspension or expulsion from the program seemed the only valid course to take if she was this unstable.

Kurenai picked up Sakura and carried her back over towards the campsite to set her back into her tent. The rest of the genin team just silently followed and sat around the campfire quietly wondering what would happen now. They had to fight off a veritable army of enemies in several days, and one of their fellow shinobi had tried to murder another. It was unsettling to all.

Naruto was in his stoic pose as he continued to ponder what had occurred. He was sensing conflicting emotions and thought about what Kurama had said earlier. When Sakura had stabbed his clone in the chest the anger had faded completely and in its place was an emotion he knew too well.

Betrayal.

Sakura had felt betrayed when she thought she had killed him, and it flashed across her face for a moment before the look of sinister glee returned. The betrayal he had felt was just as intense from her as when those three had betrayed him for Root.

 _'Would you hate a sick person like that Kurama? Would you blame them for what they have done, if madness drove them instead of malice?'_ Naruto asked softly.

" **Hmph, I would have killed the rabid pink banshee to put her out of her misery, however, it is evident to me now that she had another identity within her and that identity, for some reason, didn't want you to be murdered in that way. What that new identity actually feels, we can not know for certain."** Kurama responded. Personally, he felt it was better to kill the filth and be done with it.

 _'I don't know Kurama, but I am mad that Kurenai apologized to Kakashi but hasn't said a word to me. I'm the one Sakura tried to kill. It's like she's more worried about keeping her rank.'_ Naruto said in disgust.

 **"T** **he red-eyed vixen is directing her anger towards me, but is not treating you fairly,"** Kurama said with a snort.

 _'Whatever, I will be cool with Shino but the others, I'm not going to bother with them. Hopefully, we won't have to work with them again after this incident if that is how they want to be.'_ Naruto said flatly.

" **I was pleased with how you trapped dog breath with your cat clones, however, an excellent play at humiliating him, but it lacked the dominant and overwhelming defeat to keep him off your back I believe,"** Kurama said in an amused tone, hoping to lighten Naruto's mood.

 _'As I said he can act like a fucking dog all he wants, I don't care I'm not a dog, so I don't play by his fucking rules.'_ Naruto snapped.

Even though he felt bad that Sakura was crazy, he still couldn't help but be a little angry that she stabbed him in the chest. Now he didn't know where to direct his anger and was just waiting for someone to lash out at. Right now, he was thinking between Kurenai and Kiba but was more than willing to be pissed at them both.

Sakura woke up a short time later and after hiding away in her tent for 15 minutes decided to come out and face the music. She sat near the campfire away from everyone else with her head held down. Inner Sakura and Sakura had a battle for dominance in her subconscious while she was out and now the former Inner Sakura was the new Sakura while the newly dubbed Inner Sakura was ranting and pissed in her mind.

'You just need to shut up already, you ruined my life so stay quiet or do me a favor and disappear, I don't want you there anymore.' Sakura said.

 **'How dare you bitch! You need me, and you will cave once again, just you wait. I won't disappear. If I disappear, so will you.'** Inner Sakura ranted.

'I said, SHUT THE FUCK UP! I DONT NEED YOU!' Sakura yelled to her inner persona.

 **'Fine, I will shut up, for now, but we will see who is really the boss when the time comes.'** Inner Sakura said.

Sakura let out a sigh. She had pushed off all her problems in her life instead of dealing with them from her alcoholic dad to being overworked and dealing with a bitter mother her whole life. She had been teased for her looks, the color of her hair, and then being a civilian in the shinobi school. This angry persona she adopted had protected her when she was little and her mother began taking out all her bitterness on her. Sakura had let that persona take over while she just sat back and watched her life go by like a play. Now she could literally only blame herself. She was quite aware of the rules and not only had she attacked a fellow shinobi but one that the Hokage was very fond of.

Now she didn't know what she would do with her life. She would be lucky if they just disgraced her and removed her from the shinobi program. She didn't deserve to be one after what she had done. Still she supposed she should at least apologize but she didn't think she could make up for what she had done even all the stuff in the past.

Sakura stood up, and everyone watched her carefully as she knelt before Naruto and bowed low with her head to the ground.

"Naruto Uzumaki, I apologize for my behavior. I have shamed and disgraced myself in the past and have lost my honor for my actions against you today." Sakura said keeping her head low.

Naruto just sighed and opened his eyes to look at her for a moment. "Get up Sakura. Just go back over there and sit down. I don't even know what to think about you right now."

Sakura did as he requested with tears in her eyes. She shouldn't have been surprised at his reaction. She knew she had been a total bitch to him.

Kurenai was livid at Naruto. "How dare you say that to her after what she just did. You should accept her apology right now."

Naruto scowled at Kurenai "Why the fuck should I accept her apology after all the shit she has put me through in my life? How the fuck would you know how badly she has treated me. The bitch just tried to fucking kill me. Don't tell me what to do Kurenai- _sensei_ ; you're no fucking better that she is." Naruto snapped.

Kakashi and Hinata were shocked. Naruto had never lost it like this before on anyone else.

Sasuke knew how Naruto felt and didn't blame him at all. In fact, he felt this had been a long time coming.

"How dare you speak to me in that tone _genin_! You will take back what you said and accept her apology. It's time for you to grow up and stop acting like a brat." Kurenai retorted.

"I'm the one acting like a brat? Hah! Your are the one acting like a fucking brat, bitch! I'm not going to listen to you especially when you're too fucking petty to apologize to the person your fucking student try to kill. Then you try to pull fucking rank on me to get your way? You can go fuck yourself for all I care! It's obvious to me all you care about is keeping your fucking rank, so I'll make sure Hokage-jiji knows exactly what kind of bitch you are." Naruto yelled at Kurenai.

"Hey don't yell at my sensei like that Naruto, she is above you," Kiba shouted back.

Now Kakashi knew something was wrong and decided to step in. "Kiba, be silent, and Naruto that is enough. Sit down!" Kakashi said seriously.

"Fuck you sensei, I'm tired of listening to everyone's bullshit-" Naruto was interrupted by Kakashi giving him a firm hammer fist on the head causing "Naruto" to dispel surprising everyone.

"Well now, That explains that. I suppose I will have to find the real Naruto before we can settle this issue and finally go through the spar breakdown." Kakashi said with a sigh.

Kakashi summoned Pakkun to track down Naruto and followed him out of the clearing towards his wayward genin.

Sakura still had tears in her eyes, but she was confused. If a clone said it, is that how the real Naruto felt?

Kurenai had calmed down a bit and was a little ashamed at how she had reacted. While Naruto's clone had no right to speak to her in that tone, the message he said was evident. She did fail to apologize to Naruto which was disgraceful. She also had no right to belittle him and try to force him to accept Sakura's apology after what had occurred.

Hinata couldn't believe what Kurenai had done. She had never seen her act so low before, she had thought better of her. In a way, she was glad that she was on Team 7 after seeing how Team 8 worked. She could see that Kurenai was probably too inexperienced and would have coddled her. Even with how eccentric and tardy Kakashi was, he was a much better instructor.

Sasuke was inwardly laughing. He thought that it was great. Naruto must hold a lot of shit in and his clone decided enough was enough. The fact that Naruto was probably more pissed now because the clone lost its composure just made things even more amusing to him.

"I can't believe that asshole would say all that without the balls to face us. No wonder he had so much courage, he was hiding behind a clone the whole time." Kiba said snidely. He was sore that Naruto didn't face him in battle and that they had lost so badly.

"Shut up Kiba. You have no clue what he has dealt with in his life so don't talk about him not having the balls to face you. He is braver than you will ever be." Sasuke snapped.

Kiba was a little shocked that Sasuke defended him of all people. Sakura and Kurenai were surprised at the emotion Sasuke had displayed.

"Hah, what a load of crap. That bastard had an Anbu team and the Hokage with him all the time, and things handed to him on a silver platter." Kiba retorted.

"Shut the fuck up Kiba, you wouldn't last a minute living the life he has had. You don't know the meaning of struggle compared to him. Did you have a mob of people try to kidnap and beat the shit out of you when you were six years old Kiba? Did you have someone stab you in the fucking chest on your fucking birthday? Do you have half the fucking village treating you like your trash? The Anbu was there so that people wouldn't fucking kill him. Did you ever have to watch your fucking back in your life at all, let alone most of your fucking life? Don't fucking talk about struggling you son of a bitch." Sasuke shouted

Hinata grabbed onto Sasuke's arm to try to calm him, but Sasuke just stormed off and entered his tent.

'Poor Naruto-kun, why would such a kind and gentle boy have such a troubled life.' Hinata thought sadly.

Naruto was a caring and loyal person if you befriended him, and to remain so noble after being treated so unfairly. She decided she would make it up to him more. Having to eat ramen every few days would be worth the effort if it made his life just a little better. It wasn't like she hated the stuff anyways.

Sakura felt, even more, guilt. She had thought that he had such a charmed life when her problems couldn't even compare to his. She had a shitty life growing up, but she never had to worry about people kidnapping or killing her. Now she understood why her father disappeared the way he did. He was probably drunk and went with the mob to attack Naruto only to be eliminated by his Anbu guards.

Kiba was stunned silent as he thought about what Sasuke said. He couldn't even imagine having to deal with all the shit Sasuke had described. Kiba had wondered why his mother kept beating his ass when he tried to establish dominance over Naruto and came to the sudden realization that he had just made shit worse for Naruto. He had been too caught up in his attempts at being superior that he didn't even realize the damage he had been causing.

Kurenai also felt guilt. That the boy had gone through all that and still become a shinobi for the village. If the Kyūbi were indeed affecting the boy, he wouldn't have dealt with any of that. Here she was giving the damn Kyūbi more ammunition to manipulate the kid. What fools they had all been. She hoped it wasn't too late for him now since she had made the situation even worse.

A short distance away Naruto was grimacing at his damn clone's outburst. He had let the clone return to camp to try and stop himself from making a fool of himself since he was so angry, but the damn clone went ahead and did it for him. He smelt Pakkun and Kakashi closing in and was getting himself ready to get chewed out or get severely beat in a spar.

"I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei, I sent the clone because I was angry and didn't want to cause a scene. I guess that didn't work out so well did it." Naruto called out when he neared.

"It was good that the clone did it, in a way, but you should have done it yourself Naruto. You can't let it build up like that in you anymore." Kakashi replied.

Well, Naruto wasn't expecting that at all.

"Everyone expects that from me, and it only makes things worse. It draws them to me and gives them an excuse to take things out on me. I can't afford to do that with the way the village sees me." Naruto replied flatly.

"You are wrong Naruto, you have every right because all of us have been treating you unfairly. I can only imagine how it must feel after you heard what I tell you about abandoning your comrades and how the village always proudly talks about the Will of Fire. I don't think I could have handled the hypocrisy as well as you have. You deserved that apology from Sakura, you deserve one from Kurenai. "Kakashi jumped up onto the branch that Naruto was lounging on causing Naruto to look at him.

"I also apologize to you as well Naruto, for I was not fair to you in the beginning and that outburst made me realize that I was no better than the others treating you as if you were a thing instead of a person. I won't expect you to accept it or to forgive it either because I probably wouldn't. I promise you I won't treat you in that manner anymore." Kakashi said sincerely.

"I'll accept yours, sensei because you did begin to change your behavior to me, even if you didn't realize it. I know you were keeping your distance from me, but I was doing the same to you so I can't really blame you for that. Besides the day of the bell test, you have been treating fairly. You didn't train me anymore or any less than the others and you didn't leave me out of anything. I didn't think you would actually teach me at all when I first joined Team 7, but you have sensei." Naruto said with a soft smile on his face as he shook his head.

"Do you want to remain out here for some time or shall we head back. We do still need to discuss how my cute little genin thoroughly kicked Team 8's ass by the way." Kakashi said with an eye smile.

"Well if we are gonna rub it in, I suppose I can work my way through the embarrassment of my clone's outburst," Naruto said with a sigh.

Naruto and Kakashi jumped down and strolled back into camp casually. As Naruto and Kakashi entered the campsite, everyone looked up at them. Naruto just plopped down next to Hinata and adopted his stoic pose for a moment.

He sighed "I'm sorry my clone lashed out at you guys, but I was really pissed that Sakura tried to kill me and thought it would be better if I stay away and cool off a bit. I guess the saying if you want something done right you gotta do it yourself is appropriate when it comes to clones as well." Naruto said.

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata began, but Naruto just shook his head at her, so she opted to just put her hand on his shoulder and squeezing it for a few seconds.

"No man, you shouldn't apologize. I've been such a tool towards you, dude. I'm sorry, I was just jealous of how you got better so fast and I assumed things like an idiot." Kiba said

Akamaru trotted over to Naruto with a whine and sat nearby looking up at him. Naruto sighed and gave him a pat.

Kurenai stepped forward also "I was also wrong Naruto, and I apologize as well. I was out of line, and even if it was a clone, I know that we still did you wrong. The Hokage will be ashamed of all of us, and I will be thorough and accurate in reporting my failure to him when we return. The least I can do is to take full responsibility for my actions."

Sakura just elected to remain silent she didn't want to ruin the moment by opening her big mouth. She didn't really know what to say anyways.

"It's okay Kurenai-sensei, but you were also right I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, so when the time comes, I will also admit it to Hokage-jiji. I can tell you already he is going to be pissed at all of us." Naruto said

Kakashi had dragged Sasuke out of his tent. Sasuke just made his way over and sat down next to Naruto in silent support.

"Well, I'm glad we started to clear the air now at least. We have a few weeks to come together and face the bigger threat. I would like to review how we did before this event went out of our control. How would you like to proceed Kurenai?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, for the most part, I believe my team made too many errors of a personal nature to consider it successful for us. I believe the plan was to attack Sasuke first, but that did not translate to the actual battle." Kurenai said.

She looked at Kiba, "You used almost all your signatures moves right off the bat, Kiba. Once the enemy managed to adapt to that, you had nothing left. You should have pulled back and waited for support as soon as you noticed Sasuke receiving aid from Naruto. I also know that it is hard for you to continue on when Akamaru was down, but in a battle situation, you must remove the danger before you render aid."

"Sakura your opening was flawless, but I think we both know what went wrong after that. There is no need to discuss that any further."

Kurenai turned to Shino.

"I expected you to adapt quicker to the change of situation in the battlefield a little better, but that can not be placed solely on you since your team was not cooperating. However, instead of providing support immediately, you were too busy trying to decipher an individual threat. Next time you should substitute earlier and lend aid to Kiba or Sakura so that they could pull Hinata off of you and allow you to focus on what you do best." Kurenai said.

"In conclusion, I think the situation was made worse when we encountered a superior team with unknown abilities without using teamwork. That is why you were all defeated so soundly." Kurenai concluded.

"Before I start for Team 7, I would like to praise you for determining your strategy using only hand signals yesterday. Even with the unique ability I noticed today, you may want to come up with a few new signals as a group since others might be able to decipher your message from one recognizable symbol."

"I knew that you had come up with a counter for Shino's bugs using fūinjutsu, but I am curious Naruto, how that seal worked. It appeared to be a wind seal of some sort which is highly advanced." Kakashi asked.

"It wasn't a wind seal sensei; it was a jutsu storage seal. I just loaded it with Fūton: Reppūshō before the battle. I then placed the seals on their clothing and linked the ones in the front to the ones in the back, so that each time they released the stored jutsu, the linked seal would also release giving front and back coverage."

"I can tell you that it was highly effective, most of my kikaichū were disabled for some time if they were already attached and I lost a number of them as well. In a prolonged battle with someone with those seals, I would have to flee to prevent a dangerous loss in my current hive, or bring back up hives." Shino said.

Naruto looked a little sheepish. "I'm sorry Shino, I didn't think it would actually kill them. I was just hoping to push them away."

"I will be able to replenish them quickly, but if I may ask for your analysis on how to avoid the problem of those seals, I would appreciate your input," Shino said.

"Okay Shino, I think I have a few ideals for you to work around that one." Naruto nodded.

"I might as well continue with your evaluation now then Naruto," Kakashi said.

"Your use of clones in the battle was very strategic, but you left poor Hinata-chan all alone with Shino while you had six clones in reserve. It's good that you have faith in her abilities, but since you are capable of summoning so many more you could have easily lent her a few for support. Especially since you weren't actively involved in the battle. I may have joked with you about simply spamming clones, but it really is your strongest asset and you will need to utilize it thoroughly if we are to survive the battle to come. Naruto, this is key, do not be afraid to just overwhelm with numbers in an attempt to highlight your intelligence or skill. If you are really concerned about keeping it subtle, then do as I recommend and make sure you assign your trap and combination clones to also act as reserves for support clones that are dispelled." Kakashi said.

"Sasuke, you did well calling for support and aiming your jutsu to disrupt instead of kill, but you were too focused on your primary target. True, Hinata was engaged alone and could have used help, but because you were so focused on Target 1, you ignored Naruto potentially dying right next to you. Do not get fixated on a target as it is a common tactic used by teams to lure people into traps. Analyze the battlefield and identify the bigger threats to your team." Kakashi stated.

Kakashi turned to Hinata "As for you, Hinata, you did as well as you could, given the circumstances. We need to work on more distance closing attacks or ranged abilities to make a long range attacker like Shino remain in place, so you can utilize your Jūken. In this instance, I would also say that even though the plan called for Target 2 to be intercepted on contact you should have still prioritized Target 2 being a short ranged fighter. Do not be afraid to put your foot down in the planning."

"Overall the planning was the only real team flaw that I noticed. As I said, you executed the plan you did create, but while Target 1 was the priority, you could have easily removed Target 2 on contact with your abilities. Since he engaged you guys head on and the advantage he had with the smoke was removed. The risk of the threat from Target 1 could be negated with a few defensive clones available as back up while you eliminate the first contact target."

"Yes, sensei." Team 7 replied.

"Well then, we should probably prepare lunch and set up guard rotation and training schedules," Kurenai said.

Both teams readily agreed and began setting up to cook their meals.

Sakura and Kiba left to see if they could net some more fish from the small river while Shino went to town to pick up some vegetables at Kurenai's request.

Sasuke and Hinata opted to voice their solidarity with Naruto by having instant ramen for lunch. They had already set up the tripod and filled the pot full of water from the river.

While Naruto was waiting for the water to boil for his ramen, he looked over at Kakashi and thought about the Kiri boats. If what Kakashi said was true then getting Zabuza to attack Gato would only help, even if he ends up attacking them anyways. He didn't think that any missing-nin would accept betrayal so easily.

Plus he knew that Root was going to move on them, on top of the Kumo missing nin. What a pain this mission is, but at least, if they managed to pull this one off, even with the rift that had happened today, jiji would not be able to deny that they could handle C-ranks from now on.

"Kakashi-sensei, I was curious about something," Naruto said lazily as he eyed the boiling water again.

"Hmm, and what is that Naruto?" Kakashi replied as he read his book.

"What do you think about letting Zabuza know about Gato's plans for him," Naruto said.

Kurenai and the rest of Team 8 looked up at Naruto like he was crazy. Did he really think it would be so easy to just approach the Demon of the Mist?

Sasuke and Hinata were looking at him in curiosity as they tried to figure out what Naruto was planning.

"Hmm, you are quite the little trouble maker when you want to be, Naruto, but how will we know where to find Zabuza without letting the rest of the thugs or Gato know," Kakashi asked as he lowered his book.

"I remembered that when I was scouting the docks there were mostly ships from places I didn't recognize or from here, but there were only two from Kiri. One was kind of large and didn't look like it had been there for long, but one was smaller than the others and had shells on the side of it, like the poles that hold up the docks. None of the other boats I saw had those shells on it.

"You think that maybe Zabuza is using it as a mobile base?" Sasuke asked.

"It would be ideal for a missing-nin. He was from Kiri so he may have used it to escape and has established a base here to gain funds from Gato. The shells are called barnacles, which mean that whoever owns that ship is not normally a sailor. Barnacles will cause damage to the ship and only grow if the ship is stationary for a long time." Kakashi thought for a moment. "Why don't you send a clone over to verify that the ship is still there but don't investigate it yet. We will look more into it tomorrow once we have our schedules worked out.

"Okay sensei." Naruto created a clone who henged into a cat and ran off towards town.

Kakashi sighed. "Does it always have to be a cat clone?"

"Well, people notice dogs and people notice rats but most of the time they just ignore cats," Naruto said with a shrug.

As the cat clone headed for town, Sakura and Kiba returned with several medium sized trout. By the time Shino returned with the vegetables, Team 7 had enjoyed their ramen and offered their pot to Team 8 for them to make fish stew.

Both teams just lounged around for the rest of the day trying to relax from the stressful events that occurred earlier and trying to enjoy what little peace was available to them while they could. They were all well aware that their peace would soon be fleeting.


	17. Mist, Lightning, Roots, and the Cartel

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

Edit 4/20/16

 **Chapter 16**

 **Mist, Lightning, Roots and the Cartel**

 **Next Day - Late Afternoon - Nami no Kuni Docks**

* * *

Team 7 was approaching the docks henged as a cargo inspection team they spotted earlier in the day. After a brief reconnaissance around town, they were able to establish a valid distraction to keep the inspection team occupied so they could take their place and approach Zabuza. One false tip from a suspicious citizen later had directed the inspection team to a warehouse across town that was infamous for belonging to a gang that despised Gato.

Naruto's cat clone had confirmed that the ship was still present and after a little surveillance last night and early this morning, they confirmed that Zabuza and his accomplice were there.

Now all they needed to do was let the info slip about Gato's impending betrayal and hopefully get out safely. If they could convince Zabuza to forget about the bridge builder entirely, that would be a lot less pressure on them when the main event occurred in few weeks.

It was one thing to have bandits or mercenaries after your target, which is why Team 8 was allowed to accept the escort mission for Tazuna. Even with the basic training from the Academy, most Genin were more than capable of handling your average non-chakra using bandit.

Having a shinobi after your target made things a lot more complicated. Especially when said shinobi was one of the elite seven swordsmen of Kiri, who were infamous for their kenjutsu skills and blood thirst.

The inspection team moved down the ramp towards a smaller ship that looked poorly maintained. As they approached the gangplank, a young feminine looking teen appeared from the cabin and approached them.

"Kohu, you are a little early for your bribe money this week." the teen sneered.

"Well, you know how it is. Women to see, sake to drink." "Kohu" replied.

The young man scowled and motioned them inside. "Don't think you can just overstep your bounds like this. Zabuza-sama will only tolerate so much from you filth. You tell Gato that he is starting to go too far."

Team 7 walked up the gangplank and followed the teen down a short into a small kitchen like area. The teen guided them down a small hallway past two room into a larger cabin at the front of the ship. Zabuza was leaning nonchalantly against the back wall with his Kubikiribōchō propped against the wall alongside him.

"So the Konoha-nin come to bargain for Tazuna's life have you? You can drop the henges; I know you aren't the inspection team." Zabuza said.

"I don't think that is necessary for what we want to accomplish. You see we have already tangled with some of Gato's hired help, and I am sure you are aware that he is hiring more for the attack in two weeks time." Kakashi said.

"So? What about it? Gato is always hiring new thugs because they are disposable idiots. Half of them get picked off by other missing-nin or the Daimyō's guard." Zabuza said with a wave of his hand.

"It's not just that, we just thought you might like to know that he is already planning on moving over 50 men against you after you engage us on the bridge," Kakashi stated with a bored tone.

"It doesn't surprise me, but I'm more than enough for both your teams and a bunch of thugs. You apparently think so too, since your here talking instead of fighting." Zabuza said smugly.

Kakashi hummed before replying. "Better than the thugs? That is for certain. Better than both our teams? Probably not. Throw in the team from Kumo? That is quite the party going on there."

Kakashi saw Zabuza and the boy both stiffen. Zabuza knew that Kumo had been trying to go after the seven swordsman's weapons whenever they could, and Kumo-nin were no slouches. Depending on who they sent, it could be real trouble for them.

Zabuza was not stupid enough to believe he could easily take on two teams from Konoha with Gato's thugs nipping at his heels; it would be a damn lucky feat to finish all of them off.

Zabuza had planned to kill a portion of the thugs anyways, to scare them into line before he finished the job, claimed his ryō and left the country. If Kumo was involved, it was just too much to worry about now.

Zabuza narrowed his eyes at the henged Konoha-nin that was doing all the talking. He had to wonder if this was all a ploy to have him back off the bridge builder. They could just be trying to trick him into backing off by making up intel on a Kumo team becoming involved.

"What about the team from Kumo?" Zabuza said in a steely voice.

"Well let's put it this way, we aren't friends with Kumo, and you aren't friends with Kumo, but we don't have anything they want. Now Gato has a problem with both of us, but if you don't have a problem ignoring Tazuna, then we don't have a problem with ignoring you. See what I mean?" Kakashi explained.

Zabuza merely chuckled "That is all well and good, but the only thing I care about is getting paid, and you aren't paying me, so why should I stop trying to kill Tazuna."

"Because Gato isn't going to pay you either, which means more work and no pay. Now, if you happen to kill his thugs on the bridge, along with him, no one is going to stop you from looting what he owns. Our priority is Tazuna and the bridge only, not Gato or his resources. Kumo, however, will not stop until you are dead, and that sword is theirs. With all those thugs and us involved well, that is an awful lot of distractions. Don't you think?" Kakashi stated confidently.

"I'll tell you what, Konoha, I don't have time for these games, but if what you say checks out, then I will have Haku here contact you at your little campsite." Zabuza turned his back in dismissal.

Team 7 made their way out of the cabin and disembarked the ship with Haku watching them like a hawk. As soon as they found a secluded alleyway, they modified their henges to appear as a group of construction workers before they made their way back towards the construction site.

"Do you think Zabuza will turn against Gato now?" Naruto asked.

"It is possible, most missing-nin would prefer to cut and run at this point, but I have a feeling that Zabuza is determined to come out of this with something for his trouble," Kakashi said.

"He seemed quite confident of himself. Do you not think his arrogance may lead to him taking over Gato's operation?" Hinata asked.

"Hn, He will probably attack Gato and his thugs beforehand, put them in line, then go after Tazuna during the assault," Sasuke added.

"He might go after the Kumo missing-nins first, then put Gato's thugs down so that Gato has no choice but to pay him for killing Tazuna. We can't rule him out just yet, but he may, at least, cull some of Gato's thugs and the threat to Hinata allowing us to focus on the other threats." Kakashi said.

"I hope you're right about that sensei," Naruto said quietly

 **Konoha Campsite – Nami no Kuni**

* * *

Team 7 arrived back at camp less than an hour after speaking with Zabuza. Once they arrived back at camp, they began to stoke the campfire in order to prepare their lunch before starting their afternoon training.

Currently, they were taking early morning guard duty which required them to sweep the bridge in the early hours to make sure there were no traps or ambushes set up to kill Tazuna or any of the workers.

After the bridge and roads had been inspected, they would escort Tazuna to the work site and oversee the construction until the lunch whistle rang. Then Tazuna would be escorted back to camp for his meal, remaining within the tent city until Team 8 had swept the road and construction site once more.

Once they finished eating another stew made with jerky, noodles, and assorted vegetables, Kakashi leads the team out towards the clearing where they first sparred against Team 8.

"So my cute little genin, since we completed our secondary objective for the day, I think the best course of action would be to begin working on your chakra affinities to improve your jutsu, or in your case Hinata, establish a foundation to allow you to learn jutsu much quicker. Otherwise, I can teach you a defensive jutsu to begin preparing you for the battle. If your affinities are not aligned with these jutsu, however, it will take you longer." Kakashi said.

"I know the Hokage already tested your affinities Naruto, so if you like, you can go ahead and start working on the chakra natures you haven't finished just yet." Kakashi waved him off.

Naruto nodded and moved away to summon his Kage Bunshin. Naruto summoned a hundred charged clones and divided them into four groups of twenty-five.

25 clones were focused on continuing their progress on the Doton level 1 chakra manipulation exercise which had them channeling their chakra into the ground through their hand in order to create a hole. The second step required them to refill the hole they created and finally, they had to create a small column of dirt as they raised their hand off of the ground.

By creating a hole the person would acclimate a specific amount of chakra to the earth, beginning the process of changing regular chakra into Doton chakra. The second step helped complete the process of conversion from Doton chakra into the dirt by filling the hole, while the final step verified that the user could actively convert chakra into Doton chakra, then change that chakra into earth in a streamlined process. Once the level 1 Doton exercise was completed, the user would be capable of generating dirt or mud without saturating the ground with regular chakra.

25 clones continued the Katon level 1 chakra manipulation which required them to burn a leaf with fire chakra. The clones were holding the leaf between their point and index fingers and concentrating on creating friction in their chakra to heat it up.

The Katon exercise forced the person to focus on circulating a small portion of regular chakra into opposite directions. The leaf allowed the student to concentrate on flowing the chakra on one side of the leaf in a particular direction while they circulated chakra on the other side of the leaf in the opposite direction. Once the person had mastered circulating the chakra, they would increase the speed to the point where the chakra would create friction and heat up becoming Katon chakra. This would train the student how to eventually make the chakra circulation second nature so they would be capable of instantly converting the Katon chakra into flames.

Since there was no waterfall for Naruto to slice for Fūton level 2 manipulation or a large body of still water for Suiton level 2 manipulation. (The ocean was a little too large to try and modify the flow) he decided to work on adding two more jutsu to his list.

He thought about working on Raiton level 1 but decided against working on that in favor of learning a defensive jutsu as well as a stronger more widespread Fūton jutsu that Kakashi gave him. If they were going to be facing a large group of enemies, he would need a more widespread jutsu to help bolster larger groups of kunai and any Katon jutsu launched by Sasuke and Kakashi.

Naruto assigned 25 clones to focus on Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall) at Kakashi's recommendation. Naruto didn't think it would be ready in time for the attack, but he might as well start the process now. It was a B-rank jutsu of an element he wasn't aligned to, and while his Earth level 1 manipulation was close to finished, the jutsu wouldn't be strong enough when compared to how much chakra it used.

The final group of clones was assigned to work on Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) which he was close to finishing as well. Since he had already worked on this jutsu in the past, and it was his highest affinity he figured it wouldn't take his clones much longer master it. Naruto was confident the clones would complete the jutsu in just a few hours at least.

When they finished with that jutsu, he would then have them move onto Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Formation Wall) as his secondary defensive jutsu. Since his second highest affinity was Suiton, Naruto knew the clones wouldn't have too much of a problem making substantial headway on learning this jutsu. His hope was that he could have it mastered by the end of the week.

Sasuke, Hinata, and Kakashi looked at Naruto with a flat look. It simply wasn't fair the things he could do with those damn Kage Bunshin.

Unaware of his teammate's scrutiny, Naruto was going through his mental list of stuff he needed to work on. Suddenly he realized that he hadn't increased his gravity seal for a month, which caused him to scowl inwardly. He needed to increase his strength and speed if his taijutsu was ever to improve and he was angry that he made such an oversight. Naruto performed three hand seals before he switched to the ram seal and began flaring his chakra.

Lines of kanji and other symbols began to appear on his clothing with a faint blue glow before they flashed brightly and faded away. Naruto tested the changes and found it much harder to move, but not to the point where he was too slow to work out or run properly.

Now that his gravity was 1.5 times greater, he began his physical regimen of 6 sets of 25 pushups, 200 crunches, 25 jab, cross, straight leg front kick combinations (switching legs after a set), then the same combination with a hook kick instead of a straight kick. Finally, he would do 200 hundred jumping jacks and 50 squat jumps.

"Okay Sasuke, Hinata, here are your chakra papers let's see what natures you have. Channel a small amount of chakra into these papers and they will identify what nature your chakra is more aligned to." Kakashi said drawing Sasuke and Hinata's attention back towards him.

Kakashi handed them a piece of chakra paper and waited for them to start. Both Sasuke and Hinata's papers crinkled at first before Sasuke's burst into flame and turned into ash. Hinata's paper merely turned into ash slowly.

"That makes things easier since you both have the same alignments. What is surprising to me is that Sasuke's stronger affinity is Raiton instead of Katon, considering that you are an Uchiha. I would say that you have strong affinities to both of those natures with Raiton being slightly stronger." Kakashi said.

Sasuke nodded as he thought about what Kakashi said. He had expected only to have Katon affinity, but he liked the idea of using Raiton instead. Most people wouldn't expect an Uchiha of using another affinity so vigorously and would underestimate his Raiton attacks thinking they were weaker.

"For you, Hinata, you have a strong Raiton and a minor affinity to Katon, which I find fascinating, considering you are a Hyūga. Most Hyūga that I knew of in Anbu were typically Suiton or Doton." Kakashi said.

Hinata was surprised by that revelation. "You were aware of Hyūga's that use elemental attacks?"

"Yes. The Hyūga, who were in Anbu, had told me that there are Jūken attacks that utilize elemental chakra, but they are highly secret, and only the Clan head is allowed to reveal them to members of the clan who prove capable of advancing to Jōnin level. I am surprised your father hadn't mentioned this to you before." Kakashi replied.

"No. Father had not mentioned any of this to me, I am just as surprised as you are," Hinata said with a frown.

"Don't worry about it, he probably thought it was simply too soon to instruct you on the elements because average teams don't typically learn much about elemental manipulation until they are preparing for the Chūnin exams. With your team being rookies, he would probably think we would not work on advanced manipulation until next year sometime." Kakashi said.

"But sensei, I was taught Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) at age 8," Sasuke said.

"Yes. That is because the Uchiha were considered Ninjutsu specialists. It was also something like a right of passage for you. Think about all the other members of your graduating class and ask yourself what kind of elemental ninjutsu do they know? Even Naruto didn't receive any elemental jutsu from the Hokage until he graduated. If Naruto had not learned the Kage Bunshin, he would be lucky to have two of those five basic jutsu he was given mastered by now." Kakashi said.

Both Sasuke and Hinata nodded, and they realized what Kakashi had said made sense. No one in the Academy had learned elemental ninjutsu besides Sasuke, and most of them still didn't know any, only adding a few clan jutsu under their belt if that. Typical graduates only knew the academy three, and that was all.

"As you can see that group of Naruto clones is working on the level 1 Katon manipulation training. What he is doing is creating friction with his chakra sort of like how you might rub your hands to warm them in the cold. Focus that friction on both sides of the leaf until it catches on fire. The exercise is considered mastered when you no longer need to use friction to convert your chakra to fire chakra." Kakashi explained.

"Now, if you want to try level 1 Raiton chakra manipulation, then you need to hold your point and index fingers close to each other so there is a small space between the two just enough for three fingers to fit between them. Then you concentrate on creating a thin, focused beam of chakra that bounces back and forth between your left and right fingers. If you do this correctly, sparks will manifest and then lighting, but if you don't keep the beam focused and moving in the exact same spot while it bounces, then you may inadvertently create fire chakra." Kakashi noted.

"You will know that you have mastered it when you are able to create small tendrils of lighting between your fingers quickly," Kakashi concluded.

"What about defensive techniques that you mentioned we should learn, Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked.

"You, at least, have your Kaiten, but learning another one wouldn't hurt, it would just be harder for you. Naruto there seems to have Doton: Doryūheki that he is trying to learn, but that is a B-ranked earth jutsu. I can show you that one or Suiton: Suijinheki instead. That one may be better suited since it could also double as an offensive measure with your Raiton affinities." Replied Kakashi

"I understand Kakashi-sensei, I think I will try Raiton first since both of those will be difficult to learn. I remember reading about how elemental manipulation contributes to overall chakra control, so training my natural affinity should help me learn one of those defensive jutsu easier." Hinata said.

"What about you, Sasuke? Do you want to focus on your Raiton as well or do you want to try your hand at Doton: Doryūheki or Suiton: Suijinheki instead?" Kakashi queried.

"I think I will focus on my Katon actually. Since I haven't learned any Raiton jutsu yet, I don't think I should worry about making it stronger for the battle to come. Working on Katon will make my current attacks stronger and will make any Raiton I learn later on easier since Hinata says it will make my overall control stronger." Sasuke said.

"That is a good idea. Let me know if you have any questions, I will just be hanging out over there." Kakashi said with an eye smile and a brief gesture.

Kakashi moved towards the nearest tree before pulling out his trusty book to help him muse over everything he had learned on this mission. Most people didn't know that Kakashi didn't actually read his books as often as they thought. Instead, he used them as a focus for thinking or mourning his lost comrades. He had learned that standing still and staring off into space looking forlorn attracted people to him who tried to get him to talk about his feelings and tried to cure his depression, but he didn't want any of that. He felt that he needed to wallow in his grief because of his failures.

When he first started to read Icha Icha Paradise, he discovered that people would tend to leave you alone if you have your nose in a book, which is exactly what Kakashi had wanted in his younger days. They wouldn't try to socialize with you unless they had something important to discuss, so Kakashi used the books as a coping mechanism in more than one way.

Now that he was comfortable and had his proper focus, he could try to figure out what the big picture was in all of this mess. While all the methods of destabilization lead him to believe Danzō had a hand in the entire operation occurring in Nami no Kuni, it didn't make any sense for the Root commander to try and destabilize the region.

Kakashi knew that Danzō was a shady individual, at best, but he would never believe that Danzō would aid someone in invading Konoha. The man was fanatical about protecting Konoha and keeping it strong. Kakashi had to wonder if there was another organization at play against them who had agents already planted in Konoha to set his team up.

Danzō might only be using the situation as an opportunity to finally get his hands on Naruto and possibly pick up Hinata and Sasuke as a bonus with plausible deniability. That sounded exactly like Danzō. The real question now was who setting up the operation to weaken Nami no Kuni? What was their ultimate goal? And was this organization also targeting them? Until Kakashi had those answers, he wouldn't be able to rest easy.

As Naruto completed his workout, he stretched for a bit before heading to the stream cool himself off. He felt that he had adjusted sufficiently to the new level of gravity seals he applied. He would probably be a bit sore in the morning but nothing too severe. He kept his workouts moderate while on missions to make sure his abilities wouldn't be too affected.

As he began to walk over towards where he had been working out earlier, he received information from his clones and smiled. It looked like the clones had finally finished his second wind jutsu.

He stopped in his tracks and faced back towards the stream. He set himself into a stable stance to brace himself. Naruto flew through the hand signs then brought his right hand up with his pointer and index fingers extended just below his bottom lip as he called out Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough).

A colossal gust of wind came from his mouth, uprooting bushes and dirt while sending rocks flying. Naruto grinned as the gust died down and mentally called the remaining clones over from that group that hadn't dispelled yet.

He summoned three more clones to restore the team back up to 25 and had them line up along the bank of the stream. He unsealed a scroll with the instructions for Suiton: Suijinheki and as he read the clones began attempting to learn it.

Naruto thought about it more as he looked over towards the clones working on Doton: Doryūheki. They were making progress, but it would probably take him another week to make it efficient enough to rely on in battle. Until he could work on Doton chakra manipulation level 2, it wouldn't be chakra efficient, and while he had enormous chakra reserves, Naruto preferred to err on the side of caution in case he was caught off guard or was faced with a significantly stronger or more numerous threat.

Naruto decided it was worth the risk to tire himself out a little more than usual to try and get Suiton: Sujinheki down by tomorrow and created 25 more supercharged clones to join the others. He couldn't comfortably rely on Doton: Doryūheki just yet, and there was a significant source of water available at the bridge for him to use.

Naruto felt the drain on his chakra and decided to return to the spot where he was working out earlier. He would continue to work on the security seal some more until he did his standard mindscape training tonight. As he walked back towards the clearing, he noticed Hinata sitting at the base of the tree.

"Oh! Hinata-chan, I didn't notice you there earlier. Did you need something?" Naruto asked as he neared her location.

"No. I was just looking for a spot to work on my level 1 Raiton manipulation. I'm not disturbing your training by being here am I Naruto-kun?" Hinata said in a half teasing manner.

"Of course not Hinata-chan. I was just going to work on some seals now since I put so much focus into getting Suiton: Sujinheki down. Hopefully, the guys will have it done by tonight." Naruto gestured towards the clones behind him by the river.

"I wish I had the chakra reserves to make at least a few of those. If anything just to handle the menial tasks." Hinata replied while she focused on channeling her chakra between her hands.

"Well they do retain your personality, so you have to be careful just making them do the menial tasks as everyone saw yesterday," Naruto grumbled.

"I'm convinced the clone did that on purpose because I haven't let them do anything fun recently," Naruto added.

He unsealed his lap desk and fūinjutsu kit and set to work on his seal while sitting next to Hinata. As he got more involved and focused on his work, he did not realize that Hinata had been staring at him for a few moments before she caught herself and returned to channeling her chakra.

'His eyes become softer, and his serious expression fades every time I see him working on his seals like this. It makes him look even more attractive. It's a shame he doesn't relax like this more often.' Hinata thought.

Hinata basked in Naruto's aura of calm relaxation and found it easier to manipulate her chakra when she was near him like this. She didn't like how that aura would close in on himself when he went into his stoic mode and couldn't help but feel that his situation in the village would improve faster if he let loose a little more often.

She wouldn't dare tell him such a thing. That would be considered quite rude. A Hyūga couldn't afford to be rude after all, they had already stepped on so many toes in the village as it is.

Her father had been preparing her for the possible arranged marriage proposals that would come her way in the next few years, with tradition dictating that she have a husband with progress towards having an heir before she was 20 years old. Unfortunately for her, the list of eligible males that fit within her desired list of traits, were very slim. While her father agreed that she would have the final say, there were still several requirements needed to wed the heir to the clan.

They had to be heir to their own clan or of a clan that was capable. This would ensure that her husband or their clan wouldn't make any attempt at controlling the Hyūga clan. The last thing they needed was some male with a superiority complex running around screwing things up because his wife was the clan head, or for them to be saddled with the dead weight of a weak clan only trying to improve or survive through a marriage alliance and draining the clan's resources for their own use.

They would have to be well off or responsible enough not to expect access to the clan's finances. Having to pay her husband a dowry was almost more than the stuck up elders could handle. Plus she didn't want a man who was unable to earn a living because that would, most likely, point to them being incompetent or incapable. Of course, there was also the chance that they wouldn't care for her at all, only being interested in ryō.

As for her own requirements, she would like for them to be no more than 5 years older and no more than 3 years younger. She was quite mature for her age, due to her responsibilities, and she didn't think she could handle a male that wasn't, at least, close to the same maturity level as her. She would also not tolerate an older male treating her like some young trophy wife or lesser being who needs to be dominated by her husband.

While a small part of her hoped she would be able to find true love, she knew that the chances of that were slim, and she would most likely have to find someone who was compatible and capable of growing to love her like her father and mother had.

When she first learned of arranged marriage, she had been devastated and cried for an entire day. Her father, in an attempt to comfort her, had told her about how things had been between him and her mother. While they had a very rocky start due to his own attempts at rebelling, eventually he recognized her for being a strong and beautiful woman, and they grew to love each other before she was conceived.

Hinata knew her father was genuine because she had caught him mourning her mother's loss on numerous occasions when he believed no one could see him weeping over her picture.

As Hinata mentally reviewed the list of eligible boys, she couldn't help but feel depressed. Her options were very grim for finding someone she was compatible with like her father had.

Shikamaru was out of the question, hands down. She didn't want to be the type of wife that was constantly after her husband to do things. She would have enough on her plate as it was.

Kiba was an option, as he, at least, had the promise of feral handsomeness that Hinata found attractive, but he was brash, rude, and slovenly for the most part. She would keep her eye on him as he grew. The Inuzuka clan was on good terms with the Hyūga and Tsume was grooming Kiba to be clan head after her so he would be busy with his own responsibilities. Really only the dog-like instincts were the biggest issue she had, but if he was mature enough to reign them in eventually she could see herself making a life with him.

Choji was out mainly because the Akimichi would drop dead before associating with the "stuck up Hyūga" as they called them. It seemed like people took issue with having standards. She could understand disliking the arrogance of the elders, but there was nothing wrong with presenting yourself in a respectable manner in public. "Image is just as important as integrity" her father would always say. She didn't really have an issue with Choji at all, but the history between their clans ruled him out.

Sasuke... Yea, the Hyūga wouldn't touch an Uchiha with a ten-foot pole when it came to relations. He was cute, but he did have an arrogant manner to him. Plus she was convinced that he would flee the village at any moment and try to take Naruto with him.

Rock Lee... No. Just No.

Hinata almost sighed out loud. Naruto was really the only one who seemed close enough already to be the ideal husband. He had that stoic demeanor so he could be serious when needed, but she had seen glimpses of him being jovial. He was already very cute, and she could tell he was going to be gorgeous when he got through with puberty.

He was kind, a gentleman, had connections and had been living on his own since he was six so he was definitely responsible. Unfortunately, he was an orphan with an unknown heritage and apparently was also a political time bomb for some reason.

It really was unfair that she would be prevented from claiming him, but she was young still, so she could fancy herself married to a sexy and more upbeat Naruto for now. She would enjoy her time with him while she could and perhaps put a little effort in with Kiba to see if he would pan out eventually.

If only she didn't have to be the heiress, then she would put all her effort in making Naruto hers. However, she was the only one capable of completing her father's plan of eroding the power base of the arrogant elders, and eventually getting rid of that damn caged bird seal.

Naruto was off in his own world as he worked away trying to create a security seal, but he wasn't making any real progress. He crumpled up another practice sheet and pulled a new one out to start again. At least, it didn't frustrate him when he failed on seals. For some reason, it didn't bother him like when he failed a jutsu or a kata. It was just onto the next attempt for him, and that relaxation he felt didn't get disturbed in the least.

 _'Maybe I should have used the notebook first and save on some of my ink.'_ Naruto thought.

" **It wouldn't have helped you, there are too many flourishes required in the different brush strokes that you couldn't convey with a simple pencil,"** Kurama said with a yawn.

 _'Decided to wake up today, eh?'_ Naruto replied in a teasing manner.

Kurama huffed **"I wanted to make sure you finish this seal already so we can get to training with my chakra. Your other skills are coming along nicely, but you still lack in power for what is coming. This will be your first real experience with battle. For all your training, you do not know how your mind will handle it."**

 _'As you said, I'm trying not to focus on the killing someone part too much but with my clones working on_ _ _Suiton: Sujinheki__ _now and my strong affinity for water, it should help my defenses immeasurably.'_

" **You will have to redo this attempt there is not enough space between the spatial lines and the containment line you have on the outer ring,"** Kurama noted

Naruto hummed lightly as he studied the section Kurama pointed out before crumpling the paper and pulling another sheet out.

 _'Maybe I'm going about this all wrong.'_ Naruto thought as recalled the details of the seal.

" **The instructions on the scroll were quite clear, and they were accurate."**

 _'I'm sure they are, but like you said when I first started, Fūinjutsu is more about creativity and imagination then rigid form. Let's think about it in this manner. On the scroll, it says that I need to use the Chakra character as the focus, then add the spatial lines to dictate restricting that action into the designated space. Then I have to contain the space by using the containment lines for each spatial line added, to ensure that the restrictions remain in the designated area, instead of bleeding out. On the secondary ring, I have to repeat the pattern of the first ring but using blocker lines instead of containment lines, to prevent external chakra from entering the space. For the final ring, I have to stagger the blocker lines with more spatial signatures and then add containment around the entire seal to make sure that the seal completes its designated purpose.'_ Naruto said.

" **Correct. The spatial lines have to control the boundaries of the chakra focus, and the containment lines specify that those limits are restricted to a particular area where chakra is usable. Then the blocker lines added with the spatial lines ensure that there is a space around the previously designated area that blocks chakra from entering or leaving. That chakra blocker is contained within that new spatial area preventing it from canceling out the first spatial area."** Kurama replied.

Naruto tapped the handle of the brush against his chin when an idea came to him. _'Well, you said your chakra is much more potent than normal. What if it overloads the small layer of blocker lines that the original array called for? I'm thinking we should focus off the Absorb character instead and create the boundaries using alternating storage and spatial lines on the first ring, then add blocker lines and expel lines on the second ring followed by containment around the entire seal. I might have to specify directional lines to ensure that the designated space doesn't expand. I believe it would be worth having to write a few seals to have a security seal that is capable of growing in strength and powering itself by absorbing all the chakra used inside the designated area and using that chakra to reinforce the seal itself. What do you think?'_

Kurama hummed as he thought it over for a minute. **"Show me the layout you are proposing with pencil first and we will see if we can narrow it down further. The theory you have presented is intriguing."**

Naruto cleaned his brush off with a small pot of water he had on standby. He dried the brush off with a small cloth and stored it inside the brush holder before pulling out his large notebook. Naruto grabbed the carpenter pencil he had stowed and frowned when he noticed it was dull. He quickly pulled out a kunai to sharpen the pencil and once satisfied with the point, began to scribble out a rough draft of the seal array he had envisioned.

"…NARUTO!" a voice shouted out.

Naruto's head shot up, and he looked around with a look of confusion on his face until he spotted his team off to his right. "Huh? What?"

"What are you doing that you didn't hear us calling you for the past few minutes?" Sasuke asked with irritation.

"I just came up with a new theory for a chakra recycling security seal that powers itself based on the layout of the-"

Sasuke just held his hand up to cut Naruto off. "I have no idea what any of that means, but it's time to go back to camp and meet with Team 8 now," Sasuke said.

"Okay! Okay! Don't need to get snippy. If this seal works, it could open the door to a lot of techniques that I thought would be off limits for a long time. I could increase my fūinjutsu level even faster ** _!_** " Naruto said as he packed up his kit to seal it away. He quickly pulled out a smaller notebook and placed it in his pocket along with the pencil before sealing the box away into the seal located in his thigh pocket.

Naruto dusted himself off and followed after his team back towards the campfire. Team 8 was also approaching the campsite from the main construction area at the same time. Naruto glanced up at the sky and noticed quite some time had elapsed since he started to work on his seal. He would probably start getting a lot of feedback from his clones soon and was a little excited to see the results.

The two teams met up and exchanged notes on how event's had transpired for the day. Team 8 was surprised that Zabuza had been almost cordial with them, and they had some hope that he would, at least, quit the field.

Team 8 had nothing significant to report since they had another uneventful day watching over Tazuna at the construction site. After a brief conversation between Kurenai and Kakashi, it was decided to continue working on more advanced team formations using both groups, and to develop some strategies to integrate their skills more efficiently.

 _'Sorry, Kurama looks like I will have to show you that seal later.'_ Naruto said.

" **Hmph, I have no interest in watching these fools stumble about clumsily, I will rest until you are finished having to play around with the filth,"** Kurama said in a bored tone.

Naruto inwardly sighed. Now Kurama was going to be extra grumpy tonight, and Naruto didn't like it when Kurama was in that kind of mood. It was rare when he could find something to entertain Kurama and Naruto disliked the fact that he had trouble finding things to try and make Kurama's imprisonment a little less boring.

Naruto set the small notebook and paper down inside his tent before quickly catching up with Kakashi and the others, resigned on working on tedious maneuvers and formations until dinner.

 **Raikage Tower – Kumogakure no Sato (Village Hidden by Clouds)**

* * *

The Raikage "A" sat at his desk lifting weights as he reviewed an Anbu report regarding some missing-nin from his village. A hated missing-nin with a passion and Kumo prided itself on recovering or killing any traitors to the village within a very short timeframe.

This particular group, for some reason, had managed to escape Kaminari no Kuni (Land of Lighting) which was unusual at best. A had been proud of the fact that Kumo had gone almost 10 years without a missing-nin escaping their borders. The fact that this group had managed to break that record pissed him off.

A suspected that Iwa had been involved to some degree, but he had no evidence to raise an issue with that old bastard Ōnoki. There had been too many infiltrators crossing their border from Shimo no Kuni (Land of Frost) and trying to establish themselves in the smaller villages for it to be anyone else.

Root never tried to infiltrate the small villages. They always sought to get spies into the main village itself, and Konoha and Kumo had an alliance so he doubted it was regular Konoha forces. Even if the alliance was shaky, A knew that Hiruzen had more integrity than to try and take advantage of the situation.

"Old fence sitter my ass, more like old fence manipulator." A mumbled to himself.

A was brought out of his thoughts when someone knocked on his office door. He had been waiting for her arrival for the past few minutes and was eager to get this mission started right away.

"Enter!" A called out before setting his dumbbell down and waiting for the kunoichi he sent for to stand before him.

A young woman entered the office and stood before A's desk.

She had long ash blonde hair that was braided and wrapped with ninja wrap. She wore an indigo and light purple shirt that had a cloud motif over her right breast with a red sash around her waist and tight medium purple ¾ length pants with a cloud motif running down the side of her left thigh. Both her forearms and calves wrapped with ninja tape which was covered by wrist length black fingerless gloves and ankle combat sandals with gold straps.

"Yugito, I have an important mission for you. You will pick four chūnin of your choice and head to Nami no Kuni. We have a lead on our four missing-nin from last month. Intel says that they won't remain in Nami no Kuni for more than three weeks, so you will probably only have a few days at most to find and capture or kill them before they flee." A said.

"Yes Raikage-sama, I have just the team in mind. We should be able to assemble and leave within 3 hours." Yugito said.

"Make sure you are very careful going through Hi no Kuni. I don't want any incidents, so even if you fail to sneak past their border patrols, you will flee on sight do you understand?" A said in a stern tone.

"Yes Raikage-sama, I understand," Yugito said

"Here are the dossiers on your targets and reserved ferry tickets from the port closest to our border. You shouldn't run into any Konoha shinobi from this particular port but have your henges engaged on approach and keep your cover intact until you are safely in Nami no Kuni. You shouldn't have to take these precautions on your return trip as long as you present this document showing that you were simply claiming missing-nin from within their territory. I would let you use that to travel through Hi no Kuni, but I don't want Root or Konoha to catch wind of these nin until after we have our hands on them." A concluded before he turned back towards his paperwork and dismissed her.

Yugito bowed and left the Raikage's office. She was a little angry that she wouldn't get to tangle with any Konoha shinobi, but she was a professional kunoichi and wouldn't fail in her mission.

She hated Konoha for killing her parents when she was younger. Her parents were simple merchants and were incapable of avoiding the concussion blast of a powerful Katon jutsu that leveled several buildings and killed a dozen innocent villagers. Unfortunately, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught up in an assassination attempt on a Jōnin that was passing through her village. Almost half the village had burned down from that incident and left young Yugito alone as a ward of Kumo.

Konoha denied that they were involved, but not all of the attackers had successfully self-immolated themselves when Kumo-nin moved in to capture the assailants. A blank Anbu like the mask was found at the scene, and the only identifying mark on it was a small hidden symbol for Root. The Third Raikage had explained to her that Root was a Konoha black ops division that was created for the Second Shinobi War to give the Hokage plausible deniability.

After her parents died and she was orphaned, her life just went from bad to worse when the Nibi attacked Kumo. Being the only orphan without any family that was young enough to survive a sealing, the Third Raikage sealed the Nibi inside of her turning her into one of the jinchūriki guardians of Kumo.

The Third Raikage put her and Killer B, the jinchūriki of the Hachibi, through rigorous and ruthless physical and mental training to master control over their bijū and become known as the perfect jinchūrikis.

While she was treated with respect and even gratitude, she never wanted this life. She had wanted to be just like her mother. To find the perfect husband and raise her children in peace with a moderate home and comfortable living.

Now she had a demon sealed inside of her that constantly got on her nerves. She had no prospects for marriage even with her status, and she had to regularly go out to fight and kill people. The Nibi wasn't nasty to her in particular, but the demon was constantly trying to talk to her as if it were friendly. She had no desire to be cordial to the demon who had ruined her life.

Yugito knew she could never really trust the demon. It would try to break free if she gave it an inch. Just like when she mastered its power. That so-called "woe is me tone" the Nibi adopted went away real quickly as it viciously attacked her when it had the opportunity to be freed.

Yugito stopped by the secretary's desk and put in the order to assemble the selected chūnin for a mission. After the secretary had reviewed the mission scroll, a genin team was dispatched, as part of their daily D-ranks, to notify the Chūnin of their mission.

Yugito would drive her team hard to get to Nami no Kuni as fast as possible and take these missing-nin down. The damn demon would probably go on and on about fish while she was there and Yugito really hated fish.

 **Root Secret Base – Border of Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Water) and Hi no Kuni**

* * *

Seven Root operatives were kneeling in front of Captain Dajimu, awaiting their mission briefing.

For his failure to maintain the assets during the attack 6 years ago, Dajimu and his team were tasked with obtaining the jinchūriki for Root at any cost. Once he captured and secured the jinchūriki on this mission, evidence would be planted in his apartment to set him up as a traitor to Konoha. The evidence would lead the Hokage to believe that he had been paid a significant amount of ryō to subdue the jinchūriki and hand him over to Kumo for re-education.

Once the jinchūriki was secured in the assigned Root base and his induction process began, his team would then attempt to infiltrate Kumo as civilians to establish a spy network. While that might not seem like punishment on its face, the truth of the matter is Dajimu knew that no Root operatives have successfully infiltrated Kumo and lived. Dajimu didn't care about this because he was Root and the only thing that mattered was the mission.

If they succeeded in infiltrating Kumo, then they would be protecting Konoha by providing vital information on its military movements and defenses.

"In two weeks time, we will depart to Nami no Kuni and meet up with Team Yon on location to support them in their mission to capture Sasuke Uchiha and eliminate the Hyūga heiress. Our target arrival time on site will be 10 days. Team San will assist Team Yon with securing Sasuke Uchiha and bringing him to the secure drop location in Ta no Kuni (Land of Rice Fields). There you will rendezvous with a prearranged contact outlined in this dossier and conduct an exchange of a sealed container and scroll for the prisoner." Dajimu handed the team a storage scroll before continuing.

"Apply the seal provided by Danzō-sama to verify the contents of the container before accepting the exchange. The dossier on your contacts is provided in that mission scroll as well as coordinates. Commit them to memory and destroy the scroll before we move out. If the contact provides a false container or attempts an ambush, ensure that Sasuke Uchiha's eyes are destroyed before eliminating him." Dajimu said.

"Teams Ichi will provide Team Ni cover from Kakashi Hatake and Team 8 while Team Ni will secure the jinchūriki and bring him to the Root Base located in Shimo no Kuni (Land of Frost). Team Ichi will then rendezvous at the Shimo base if their cover has remained clear. Team Ichi will remain behind and guard the jinchūriki until the re-education team arrives. Team Ni will then create a false trail for the jinchūriki heading into Kaminari no Kuni (Land of Lightning). At that point, we will attempt an infiltration of Kumogakure no Sato." Dajimu said.

The Root operatives bowed and left the room to begin preparations for their mission.

Dajimu looked over the seals he was given by Danzō-sama. His instructions were to ensure that the seal was applied directly to the skin of the jinchūriki to disable his ability to use chakra. Once the jinchūriki was subdued, he was to place a second seal on the base of the neck which would erase the jinchūriki's memories making him primed for re-education.

He looked over his mission package to verify that the items he needed, to plant at the scene to frame Kumo were included. He pulled out the damaged seal tags, Kumo flak jackets, and hitai-ates to secure them in his storage scroll before proceeding to his domicile for the required rest.

 **Merchant Hospitality Complex – Nami no Kuni**

* * *

Gato sat behind his desk drinking his vintage Awamori liquor from Uzu no Kuni (Land of Whirlpools) while discussing business with his top lieutenants. The liquor was extremely expensive and sent a statement of wealth and power since obtaining a bottle was a difficult feat, considering the village had been practically wiped off the map.

Gato didn't like the stuff as much as he liked plum wine or Chuhai soda, but image was everything, and if some of his rivals and competitors heard that the great and terrible Gato preferred feminine drinks, it could cause his image to suffer.

He had to maintain his image to keep his drunk and stupid minions in line until he finished crushing this nation under his heel. He was in a rage that his primary weapons supplier, Root, had dropped their bid to help him take out the Daimyō. He had lost two dozen hired thugs in an attempt to make them pay, but luckily he was able to drive them out of town and keep it quiet.

Now his mercenary army was outfitted like a bunch of common bandits and had a disheveled appearance, which wouldn't cause fear in anyone but the useless peasants of the village. His other rivals had better-equipped enforcement teams and were starting to get bolder.

At least, Gato had the numbers and the local bureaucrats in his pocket. He also had paid off quite a few of the minor lords in the Daimyō's council so he was able to counter their attempts to bust up his consortium or direct the strike teams towards his rivals which were always fun.

Currently, Gato was busy brooding over the second biggest thorn in his side, Zabuza. That useless missing-nin from Kiri had been busting up too many of his trustworthy minions to get away with his life, let alone Gato's money. Then Zabuza's little girly boy had the gall to insult him and dislocate his arm when he questioned their capabilities.

It was his right to challenge them if they were incapable of killing Tazuna and a bunch of pre-teen tree huggers from Konoha. Zabuza had taken a large chunk of his ryō reserve upfront to finish the damn job, and Gato wanted results.

Gato ran the docks, Gato ran this town, and Gato would be damned if some jumped up sword monkey that lost to a bunch of brats would intimidate him. Gato's personal guard would make short work of him in the melee on the bridge while the rest of the hired goons would act as cannon fodder.


	18. Eve of Descension

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Biju/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Biju/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

(1) Quote from Euripides Ancient Greek play writer.

Edit 4/21/16

 **Chapter 17**

 **Eve of Descension**

 **Twenty-one days later - Nami no Kuni Bridge**

* * *

Naruto puffed out a breath in boredom. Ever since he was almost struck by construction equipment on the bridge yesterday, Kakashi wouldn't allow him to work on his seals during guard duty. Even when Naruto offered to use clones to help guard, Kakashi still refused, saying that he couldn't always pawn off guard duty to his clones.

Now, he had taken to patrolling the length of the bridge both on top and underneath using his chakra. At least, he was still allowed to have his clones training back at the clearing, even if he was restricted to only making 20. He didn't like it, but he wouldn't complain about it out loud. Sasuke was jealous enough already that he had added a few more jutsu to his arsenal already. While Naruto was pleased that he had managed to have mastered both defensive jutsu he was taught, what excited him most was his improved gravity seal and chakra storage seals he had created.

The gravity seal was capable of applying more force than his previous seal, and it only required a single hand seal to activate and deactivate. The chakra storage seal would finally allow him to create seals that were self-sufficient, once activated, and hopefully, make his reverse gravity seal useful instead of it being deadly.

Naruto decided he would give Sasuke some chakra storage seals and his improved gravity seal to make it up to him. With enough storage seals, Sasuke would, at least, be able to practice his jutsu and chakra control a lot more often since he wouldn't need to rest. The gravity seal would help him increase his speed and strength, which would help his kenjutsu and taijutsu improve even more as well.

Naruto frowned as he remembered Kurama's warning about the storage seals. Kurama had told him that if others tried to use the seal with his chakra stored inside of them, they might be hurt or killed if any of Kurama's chakra was mixed in. Kurama said that the seal typically filtered and converted his chakra into a form that was safe but there still might be traces of his raw chakra present. Naruto was curious to test that out but had not been able to come up with a viable way to explain it to Sasuke without drawing suspicion or outright telling him about Kurama.

He didn't think the "I have special chakra" would be reason enough for someone to risk testing an untested seal.

Naruto glanced up through the railings from his current position underneath the bridge towards the copy-nin who was currently perched on a crane reading his book. It was a small source of amusement for Naruto to watch Kakashi being forced to evade the sea gull droppings on occasion.

He wondered if Kakashi would be willing to test out using his chakra from a seal. If it worked, he could easily serve as an emergency chakra battery for the rest of the team in a pinch. He was easily able to fill two scrolls a day without making a significant dent in his own reserves. Naruto had to wonder just how many times someone like Kakashi could fill up on one of his larger scrolls.

Naruto decided he would ask Kakashi if he would like to try it out. Kakashi had to be aware of his tenant and the possible problems that could arise from using his chakra. Plus, he was certain Kakashi would prefer that he test the seal out on him instead of using Hinata or Sasuke as his guinea pig.

Naruto knew he would have to be careful about explaining his reason for wanting Kakashi to test the seal out. He couldn't reveal that he was in contact with Kurama and technically shouldn't know the truth about how his chakra was being infused with bijū chakra.

Naruto decided that the best approach would be to stick close to the truth. He wanted to make sure that his seal was capable of working on someone besides himself. The theory behind the seal never actually explained if that aspect of the seal was intended, but Naruto had to believe that whoever designed the seal wanted the seal to be used on other people.

Naruto made his way topside before hopping down from the railing and making his way over to the base of the crane that Kakashi was standing on.

"Oi! Kakashi-sensei! Can I ask you a question?" Naruto called out.

"No, Naruto, you can't work on your seals," Kakashi replied in a bored tone.

"That's not what I wanted to ask," Naruto said with a frown.

Kakashi hopped down next to him. "Oh? and what was it that you did want to ask?"

"I was curious if you wanted to try one of my chakra storage seals that I filled. It seems to work just fine on my clones and the instructions didn't specify if I could use it on someone else." Naruto replied.

Kakashi thought about it for a moment. It would be very handy to be able to use a seal full of chakra. Naruto could probably fill twenty of them a day without breaking a sweat. The real question was if the Kyūbi's chakra was included in that or not. Injecting demonic chakra directly into your chakra pathways would be dangerous.

"Hmm. I think I am willing to run a little test on that for you, but you should probably make a smaller one with less capacity, one that would only hold enough for one jutsu before we test a larger one. Does that sound reasonable?" Kakashi replied.

Kakashi figured that if he only absorbed enough chakra for a single jutsu, the amount of demonic chakra that might be present should be minimal enough for him to purge quickly with a chakra flare. It shouldn't be too damaging since he had heard a lot of people had trace demonic chakra in their system after the Kyūbi attack, and were able to recover without any adverse side effects once purging their system.

"Thanks, sensei! I'll have it ready for you as soon as we return to camp." Naruto said with a soft smile.

Naruto walked off to continue his self-made patrol route with a slight spring in his step. Making a smaller chakra storage seal was no problem at all to him. Hopefully, everything went well with the test. Then he could give Sasuke and Hinata-chan chakra seals for them to use so they wouldn't have to worry about running out of chakra at all. If everything turned out just right, they would be able to train twice as long, and they could all qualify for the Chūnin exams in six months.

Kakashi returned to the top of the crane and observed Naruto walking down the length of the bridge before disappearing underneath. Spending this much time close to Naruto had begun to convince him that Naruto really was his sensei's son, and that thought left Kakashi filled with a mix of anger and guilt.

Thinking about the possibility made him angry that the Hokage would lie to him and the others about Naruto's death. He knew that Hiashi, Hizashi, Yūgao, Anko and Tsunade would have been bigger factors in Naruto's life if they had known he was alive. Didn't the Hokage trust them to keep Naruto safe from Danzō if he truly was Minato's son?

Kakashi wondered if Yūgao had suspected that Naruto was Minato's son also. When she was first assigned to guard Naruto, she had mentioned that the assignment was to be temporary. After two months Yūgao requested to be his guard full time, and the Hokage had authorized it immediately. Kakashi had known Yūgao a very long time, and she was never one to take lax guard jobs in the village because she was constantly trying to prove her strength as a kunoichi and was proud to be one of the few kunoichi in Anbu.

That thought brought up the guilt. If Yūgao had figured it out, he should have figured it out sooner, he should have been more active in Naruto's life and been the father figure to Naruto that Minato was to him. If it wasn't for Minato, Kakashi was confident he would be another emotionless Root drone without a mind of his own, trapped in an endless cycle of killing and boredom.

Kakashi decided he would force the issue with the Hokage when they returned to Konoha. Hopefully, Tsunade would be back in town by then. He was certain that if anyone could drag the truth out of the Hokage, it would be Tsunade. Kakashi almost chuckled aloud when he thought of the collateral damage that would come from that revelation.

That brought Jiraiya to mind. Did Jiraiya know the truth? If Naruto was indeed Minato's son would Jiraiya have remained out of the village as he had since the Kyūbi attack so long ago? Kakashi wasn't certain about that. Jiraiya had been in so much pain after Minato's death that he had sold all his property and possessions becoming a hermit that didn't spend more than three days in Konoha every three years.

Kakashi sighed as he turned a page out of reflex. He hadn't actually been reading the book at all this morning as his arguments over Naruto's heritage kept going in circles. He would get mad and guilty when thinking of the evidence that he was Minato's son, then he would get morose when he began to deny that Naruto was Minato's son.

The only thing that led him to believe that Naruto couldn't be his sensei's son is that he didn't think it was possible for the Sandaime to successfully keep everyone in the dark about Naruto's birth. Everyone believed that Kushina had died before childbirth and that the Kyūbi had gouged the fetus while it was in Kushina's womb. Wouldn't the doctors who performed the autopsy realize that there was no fetus? Did the Sandaime manage to shut them up as well?

Kakashi sighed as his mind continued to go in circles. Even if he wasn't sensei's son, he should make up for how he treated Naruto in the beginning. All he could do is try his best to make it up to him now and hope that he could become more involved in his life since Naruto had seemingly forgiven him for his behavior. Naruto was still guarded around him, at the moment, but he had begun to open up to him a little more. If making up for his mistakes cost him some pain from absorbing some possibly corrosive chakra then it was the least he could do.

Hinata looked over the beach from her position near the tool storage and distribution office. She had become more troubled as the day at hand neared. The implications of everything that had been set up for this mission were what troubled her the most. She would have to speak with father if she managed to survive and evade capture.

Once she was old enough, her father had made Hinata review the reports of her kidnapping attempt when she was a toddler and the council meeting minutes of the aftermath of that event. From what Hinata had read, the tension between Konoha and Kumo had settled down for the most part. This had helped ease her mind greatly as it led her to believe that she was no longer a priority target for an entire enemy village. Kumo didn't demand a break in the peace treaty, which was a good thing since Konoha had technically violated the agreement by executing their ambassador.

The Raikage was angry that they didn't return the ambassador to Kumo to face execution, but all he really did was cancel portions of the major trade agreements and send a strongly worded letter. Her father had mentioned that it spoke of a possible rift between the Raikage and his council, but it couldn't be determined who was the one that actually wanted to steal the Byakugan.

Now the evidence pointed to someone internal to Konoha working against the clan. It was very troubling to her. It was never determined how the diplomat and the ninja had managed to re-enter the compound early that morning and snatch her from her bed. The interrogators hadn't been able to flush out any more information since they couldn't use any of the Yamanaka techniques to dive into his mind because it would violate the treaty.

Hinata observed Naruto walk out from under the bridge back onto the top before crossing to the other side to repeat the process.

She was grateful that Naruto had been providing clones to help her training but in truth, she only worried less when he was near her instead of his clones. He had promised that he would have at least three clones guarding her when the time came, which helped alleviate a lot of her concerns immeasurably.

When she asked Naruto about more details on the Kumo-nins and their plans, he became slightly flustered and red faced. She always found it adorable when he got so embarrassed, but his attempts to change the subject when she asked about what else they spoke about was chilling to her.

Naruto never said it out loud, but she could tell by the way he was reacting to her questioning that they were more inclined to capture her and use her for breeding instead of only taking her eyes. She would prefer death or blindness.

She had also been dividing her free time getting more personal with Kiba and Naruto in a purely friendly manner.

She had already established a formal working friendship with Naruto, but she wanted a closer friendship with the blonde. She had only begun to see some of his more personal quirks now and those brief glimpses of personality she had noticed before the mission were now becoming more defined. She could tell that even if they didn't become involved romantically in the future, he would be one of those rarely trusted friends you could rely on.

Kiba, on the other hand, wasn't too bad when he managed to keep his hormones in check. She could tell that Kiba was attracted to her, and she had to make special emphasis on her behavior towards him to show that she wasn't trying to establish anything more than a working friendship at the moment. She could tell that, with some maturity and refinement, Kiba could make decent husband material if it came to that.

She mostly was able to get more acquainted with Kiba because he had begun to spend more time with Naruto on their down time. Hinata was actually surprised at how quickly Kiba had gotten back into Naruto's graces after what had occurred between them in the academy.

She had to guess that Naruto must be laying all the blame for that at Sakura's feet as he avoided her like the plague on their off time and he was always in full stoic mode when dealing with her during team exercises. He was just as standoffish with Kurenai as well.

Hinata returned her gaze back towards the bridge and spotted Sasuke on one of the support beams watching the harbor. He was another person who had been spending more time with Naruto, but they would often go off together before dinner or after training.

They would claim it was under the pretenses of sparring, but she could see that they were merely going through the motions while having a serious conversation. She didn't know what they were hiding, but she did know that Kakashi was suspicious as well. His rate of page turns always slowed considerably when Sasuke and Naruto went off alone.

There was nothing to be done for it, though. She would resolve to stay closer to Naruto and his clones when the battle came since she knew she could rely on him to focus more on her safety then eliminating threats. Hopefully, she would be assigned to stay closer to the guard detail with Tazuna.

Sasuke stared out at the ships entering the harbor to look for any possible approaching small craft. He nodded an acknowledgment to Naruto, who had just walked out from beneath the bridge near him and was continuing his patrol. Naruto nodded back as he walked past Sasuke.

Sasuke had been going over plans with Naruto for the past week and was certain that Root would most likely strike at them after the thugs had attacked. It would be easier for them to be subdued while Kakashi and Kurenai were busy fighting and defending a soft target like Tazuna, and would force them to remain with their objective instead of pursuing a hostile force that had one or both of them captured.

Sasuke had approved of Naruto's plan to cordon off Tazuna in a barrier away from the melee when the attack first began. Unless Kakashi changed the basic strategy tomorrow, it should fit in along with his plans. Sasuke still didn't fully trust Kakashi, but Naruto had become more adamant that they could, at the very least, trust him to defend them in attack. He wouldn't hold his breath for that, though.

Once the barrier was in place Sasuke and Naruto planned to release a barrage of combination attacks with his clones to try and mop up as many of the thugs in the opening salvo, then switch their focus onto the Root members using Naruto's clones as a point of reference to focus their attacks. The rest of the thugs they would leave to Team 8 to mop up. Hopefully, they were useful enough for that at least.

After that, Sasuke wasn't too sure. Naruto didn't believe it would be too beneficial to plan that far ahead when it came to a situation like that but assured Sasuke that he would have more than enough clones on reserve to keep three guarding him. At this point, he couldn't think of anything better either, so he decided that it was better than nothing. At least, he had the bigger explosive tags that Naruto had given him, and he would get to finally test his meddle against the organization that ruined his life.

Sasuke was insecure about his power whenever he compared himself to Naruto. Naruto had advanced so damn quickly with those clones, and he was skilled in fūinjutsu. It was almost like he had a way to train in his sleep. Naruto had mentioned that he was working on something that could help Sasuke train longer but it was a complicated and dangerous seal, and he wouldn't want Sasuke to be injured because of it.

He couldn't help but feel a little better that Naruto had even bothered to try and improve his own ability to train and had displayed concern towards him. Try as he might keep his distance, the more time he spent with Naruto, the more he began to feel like he could be a friend or a brother.

In a lot of ways, Naruto reminded him of Itachi. He had the same stoic demeanor that Itachi was known for and even matched the tone of voice, yet he could be warm and caring a moment later when in the company of close friends. Naruto had a lot more emotion than Itachi did at his warmest even when he was playing the stoic role. The pain of being alone was almost entirely gone when he was with Naruto. Naruto was the only other one who had suffered as he had in their age group.

Sasuke would never admit it, but he didn't feel as scared about his future anymore. He trusted Naruto more with each day and knew that Naruto would see this through with him. He began to hope once again. Hope that he would live to see Danzō die and that he wouldn't need to forsake the village to do it. He had hope that maybe Naruto could sway the Hokage once Danzō was out of the picture.

'Maybe this is the true Will of Fire' Sasuke thought as he looked over towards Naruto. 'Not the village itself but the shinobi who sacrificed everything for it. To have the strength to fight for something even while they spit on you for it.'

Itachi and Naruto, they had the Will of Fire. Not the stupid villagers or the council. The rest of the village could burn for all he cared. They were petty, cowardly, and utterly useless but as long as Naruto called it home and as long as Itachi desired to protect it then he would too.

As the sun began to set over the mainland, the call for the shift ending went out. Tazuna and the rest of the workers gathered to check their equipment into the storage and distribution building and began trickling back towards the worker camp.

Team 7 escorted Tazuna back towards his tent, keeping an eye out for ambushes along the road back towards camp. After they had arrived at the main campsite, they examined his tent carefully. Once the tent was checked for traps and other potential hazards guard duty was handed over to the Daimyō's guards and Team 7 returned to their camp.

Naruto quickly drew up a few smaller chakra storage seals onto a single tag and charged them with some of his own chakra. He cut the tag into smaller squares and tested one on himself real quick, feeling the chakra return to him. He then put his equipment away and hurried over to Kakashi.

"I got them done sensei. Are ready to go try it now?" Naruto asked excitedly.

Kakashi just nodded and led Naruto out of the clearing, unaware of their follower.

Kakashi made his way further out of the normal clearing and stopped a safe distance away from a cluster of boulders piled haphazardly. Putting his book away, he went through his jutsu repository and decided on one that wasn't particularly taxing but still required a good slice of his chakra reserve.

Kakashi flew through the hand signs at a blistering speed and called out Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga (Lightning Beast Running) as he held his hand out with his palm extended a beam of lighting shot out and a lightning dog formed. The lightning dog ran towards the cluster of boulders, obliterating them and leaving a giant crater in their place.

Kakashi smirked to himself when he turned and saw Naruto and Sasuke's expressions of awe.

"Wow! That was so cool Kakashi-sensei ** _!_** " Naruto said. Sasuke merely nodded in response.

"Well then let's try that seal out shall we?" Kakashi prodded.

"Oh right! Here just place the seal writing down on your skin and channel a little bit of chakra over it with your hand." Naruto said while he handed one of the small ones over to him.

Kakashi applied the seal as directed. 'Here goes nothing' Kakashi thought as he channeled a little chakra into the seal itself.

At first, Kakashi didn't feel anything but before he could reply he felt a surge of chakra enter his pathways and tenketsu. Then came a rush of heat through his chakra system, it was just below his pain threshold so it didn't bother him too much but he couldn't help but feel that any more would be damaging.

Kakashi turned towards a strand of trees and ran through the hand signs again Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga as he held his palm out. The beam and lightning dog shot out at a slower speed but when the lightning dog hit the trees the explosion shook the ground, and there was a larger crater where the trees had been standing.

Kakashi flared his chakra slightly to test out his chakra system, and it appeared to not have any lasting effects. The heat left as soon as he used the chakra for the jutsu and there was no lingering heat remaining.

"Well, Naruto, I did feel a little heat in my tenketsu when I used your chakra seal, but it went away as soon as I used a jutsu with it. My concern is that a larger amount may cause damage to the tenketsu or pathways." Kakashi said.

"Damn. I was afraid something like that would happen. I was hoping it could be something to replenish your chakra completely. Hmm... I would probably need to have it absorb the chakra slower and release it slower with some kind of limiter, but I don't know how to make those yet." Naruto pondered.

"These could still be useful in an emergency to prevent chakra exhaustion. If a person is near their limit and a jutsu could help them escape they could use the seal to get away and not have to collapse with exhaustion." Kakashi stated.

"Let me try it, Naruto," Sasuke said. Naruto looked over at Kakashi with a silent question.

"Very well, but use a few jutsu first before you try it and be prepared to face the heat. I don't know how your pain tolerance compares to mine, and you might not have experienced pain in your chakra system yet." Kakashi said seriously.

Sasuke nodded and decided to try the only Doton jutsu he knew. He figured that would be taxing enough since he had just learned it.

Sasuke flipped through the hand signs for Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu) and traveled underground. A few minutes later he re-emerged and gave Naruto the nod. Naruto handed him a seal and stepped back. He had put more focus into this seal because he wanted to give Sasuke a means to refill his chakra so he could, in essence, double his jutsu training.

Sasuke applied the seal and channeled a small amount of chakra into it like Kakashi had done before him. A few moments later the rush went through him, and he gritted his teeth. It felt like just below scalding hot water was flowing through his chakra system, and it hurt a little bit but nothing he couldn't handle.

Sasuke turned towards the stream nearby and flew through the hand signs for Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Fire Jutsu) and began spitting multiple smaller fireballs into the creek. After about eight of them he stopped since he could feel the heat leave his system but surprisingly wasn't as tired as he should be. He had shot off two more fireballs than he normally could, but they were a little bit smaller than usual.

"Hn. It seems that Naruto's chakra nature had some effect on the jutsu itself. I was able to use more fireballs than I normally did with the same amount of chakra, but they were a little smaller." Sasuke stated.

"An interesting observation, it had a different effect on my jutsu. The lightning traveled slower like someone who wouldn't have an affinity for lightning, but the actual attack was slightly more potent." Kakashi said.

"Well? Do you think I should bother making more of these or should I just wait until I can make larger ones that are safer?" Naruto asked.

"Make me some. I want to have some on me for tomorrow. After we cast our combination jutsu at the beginning, I can go back to full strength for my next attack." Sasuke said.

"I don't think it would hurt but be careful using it too much in a fight Sasuke, the heat in your pathway was a warning that it was taxing to your system, but it wasn't causing damage at that moment. Holding that chakra in for a significant time or using it repeatedly may cause harm over time. It is something we will need a medical nin to confirm for certain when we get back to Konoha." Kakashi said.

"I know. I can ask Shizune-nee to check on one of us if she is back." Naruto said.

"Oh you know Shizune that well hmm?" Kakashi asked as the three of them began to head back towards camp.

"Yea. She's the one that helped me move into my apartment and taught me how to take care of it when I moved in for the first time six years ago." Naruto replied.

"That means you must have met Tsunade-sama then correct?" Kakashi asked. He wondered if maybe Tsunade already suspected something.

"No. Shizune-nee helped me while Tsunade-sama was away and she would come and occasionally visit until I entered the academy. Then, I usually only saw her maybe twice a year since she said that Tsunade-sama kept her busy." Naruto replied.

'So she doesn't know unless Shizune mentioned something about it off hand. I can't say that she wouldn't have mentioned it to her, though.' Kakashi thought.

The team returned to the campfire to questioning looks from the others as they prepared dinner. Naruto sat and began working on making a few dozen of the smaller seals while Kakashi explained how they tested the seals and what the results were. Everyone seemed quite impressed and were happy to accept a few of them from him.

Naruto also slipped a few of the larger ones he had charged already into the inside of the wraps for his arms he planned to wear for tomorrow since Sasuke had come up with a good idea.

Naruto would open up with a supercharged Taiju Kage Bunshin (Multiple Shadow Clone) that would take most of his chakra in that go, but he would have 100 supercharged clones to work with and could refill right afterward. Plus his clones could refill themselves instead of just dispelling immediately.

He thought of making 200 charged clones, but since they dispelled with a single hit, he figured, at least, the supercharged ones could fire off two or three jutsu before the battle hit them altogether. He would keep 3 guarding his comrades, leaving 79 clones available. He would put 30 of those into reserve to fill in on dispelled clones roles. That left him with 49 clones. 8 would be needed to keep the barrier around Tazuna intact for a long fight leaving 41. That meant he could use 20 in the opening salvo of jutsu and the remaining 21 to act as defensive or Kawarimi bait.

" **That should be sufficient for what is expected as you can make the second round of clones if necessary. Be wary of using the larger chakra seals during the fight, they will require time to return you chakra so you may not be able to rely on them unless you find a safe place to disengage for 20 seconds,"** Kurama added.

 _'20 seconds isn't that long it should be fine.'_ Naruto thought.

Kurama snorted **"20 seconds is more than a lifetime during a battle, kit. It takes much less time than that for a life to end."**

 _'What about multiple smaller ones at one time? It seemed to only take 3 – 5 seconds for me to receive the chakra from them?'_ Naruto asked.

" **That would not be advisable. You may overload your tenketsus if you do that. The Uchiha brat had the right idea in that you activate the small one after using a jutsu so your next jutsu is powered by the seal instead of your reserves."** Kurama said.

 _'Hey. I just realized that Hinata-chan can probably watch the chakra travel through and see if it is more dangerous than normal.'_ Naruto said as he looked over at Hinata.

 **"** **Do not ask the white-eyed vixen to do such a thing. It is a miracle she hasn't discovered my presence."** **Kurama warned.** **"If I couldn't sense deception I would think she had been merely holding onto the knowledge to use for her own benefit later."**

 _'Hinata-chan wouldn't do that. She's my friend! I don't sense anything bad like that from her.'_ Naruto said with a somewhat indignant tone.

 ** _'Hmmm, this is an excellent opportunity to tease my little kit.'_**

" **Well, you have sensed something from her haven't you? Something strange?"** Kurama said slyly.

Naruto visibly stiffened and looked down at the ground to hide his reddening face. He didn't notice Hinata's sideways glance at the same moment.

 **"** **Oh ho! So you do know what it is, don't you kit. Tell me. Does it cause a reaction in you as well? Do you desire the white-eyed vixen?"** Kurama rumbled with a laugh.

 _'No! It's nothing like that at all! It just makes me feel strange is all, but it's not like what I sensed from her or Kiba. It's not like what I sense from Sakura when she stares at Sasuke.'_ Naruto mentally grumbled.

" **Perhaps it is still too soon yet then. You can't avoid it forever, kit. You will be growing soon, and there is no escape from it."** Kurama teased.

"Is something wrong, Naruto-kun?" Hinata's voice interrupted Naruto's response and caused him to jump slightly.

"Ah, No. Nothing is wrong, Hinata-chan. I just feel a little weird from filling so many of those seals at once. I should probably take it slower next time. I'm just nervous about tomorrow that's all." Naruto said quickly before scratching the back of his head idly.

Hinata didn't buy it for a second, but she merely nodded and returned her gaze back towards the fire with an inward smirk. 'Perhaps I can get much closer to Naruto-kun sooner than I thought.' Hinata thought.

" **Hahaha do you-"**

 _'Shut it, Kurama! Not now or you'll blow our cover.'_ Naruto interrupted with anger.

" **It's not me she's thinking about when she is feeling that."** Kurama teased.

Naruto just adopted his stoic pose with a slightly larger frown as a stubborn rebuttal to Kurama and didn't say anything.

" **Calm down, kit. I was only trying to lighten the mood. The eve before a fight is a time for relaxing and reflection. There isn't much for you to reflect on so you should relax and enjoy the moment."** Kurama said solemnly.

Naruto managed to calm down, but he still didn't reply. He knew Kurama was right, but the truth was he really didn't have much to look back on if he were to die tomorrow. It was like his jiji said, looking back only seemed to make you regret and he didn't have enough flowers to look on and remember the good memories yet.

He would have to find some time to have more good moments in his life. So that, like jiji had told him when he looked back, filled with regret, he could spot the flowers and remember the good things.

Naruto was brought out of his thoughts when he smelled Zabuza's accomplice. Kakashi, Kiba, and Akamaru all went on alert at the same time.

The teen approached the camp slowly and remained at a respectful distance to keep the group at ease and show them that he came with peaceful intentions.

"Zabuza-sama sends his regards and wishes to inform you that he will be taking out the trash tomorrow and to make sure that you have emptied your bags into the collection pile in the morning. He will make sure to pick them up before he moves onto the rest." Haku said before bowing and disappearing in a Shunshin (Body Flicker) away.

Naruto thought over the message for a minute or two, but he wasn't exactly sure what Zabuza meant. "What do you think he meant, Kakashi-sensei? I'm not sure if he said he would attack the Kumo-nin first then Gato thugs or if he will attack Gato's thugs but leave them to us when Kumo shows up."

"It's neither of those, Naruto. He will play his role and will likely move with the assigned group of thugs to attack us until the interference arrives. Then he will turn on Gato and anyone else. As long as we remain out of his way, he will disregard us and the target."

"Well, that's one less thing to worry about," Kurenai said with relief.

"What's to stop him from attacking us anyway?" Kiba said with distrust.

"That would not be logical on his part. There are too various opponents for him to be concerned about. Engaging more opponents will only make it more difficult for him to avoid pursuit." Shino replied.

"Zabuza just showed that he isn't stupid. He knows that dealing with us while he has two other groups after him will just cause him to die. He is using us to keep some of them off his back so he can eventually escape. As long as he doesn't mess with us from the start, he knows we won't bother to go after him. We are on a protection mission after all. Ideally, we would sit back and let them all kill each other." Sasuke added.

"We just have to worry about the Kumo-nins and any other unforeseen factors," Naruto said in a weighted tone.

"Well, let's go over the plan again in detail. It was once said that 'Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head.'" (1) Kakashi quoted.

"But there are only 8 of us here," Kiba said.

"It's a quote Kiba," Hinata said patiently "but technically there will be ten of us if you count Zabuza and his accomplice. If there is one thing you can count on with missing-nin, it is that they are quite capable of integrating their attacks with people they are unfamiliar with in a quick fashion. It is the only way for them to survive as mercenaries after all."

Kakashi went through and laid out the battle plan for the morning with Team 7 and 8 providing input along with Kurenai when necessary. When they felt they had a solid plan, they quickly ate dinner and went to bed.

Kakashi summoned his whole group of ninken to act as watch for the night so they could all be fresh for what they needed to do tomorrow.

Sadly, even the best of plans don't survive battle for long.

 **Unidentified Warehouse – Nami no Kuni Docks**

* * *

Root teams Ichi, Ni, San, and Yon went through their objectives one final time before burning all evidence with a Katon jutsu. They swept the warehouse clean of their presence from the past few days of habitation and would remove the remaining evidence tomorrow before they headed out to the ambush site in five hours time.

They had chosen to ambush Team 7 as they approached the main construction site. The road between the tent camp and the construction site was only a half mile long, but the brush and trees were thicker there to reduce noise pollution from the construction site bleeding into the town.

They would strike shortly before the construction site itself to ensure that the thugs could be blamed for the damage. They were the Roots that protected Konoha from the shadows, and they would not fail in their mission.

Captain Dajimu flipped through hand signs quickly and summoned a small ferret.

" **What you need Dajimu?"** the ferret asked.

"I need you to report to Danzō-sama that both teams are on standby for scramble and are awaiting confirmation that the operation is a go," Dajimu said.

" **Alright, Dajimu. I'll be back with his reply in a few."** The ferret replied before it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

 **Root Secret Headquarters – Konoha**

* * *

Danzō sat in his darkened office waiting to receive a message from his operatives in Nami no Kuni. All his attempts at securing the jinchūriki through the council and other means had failed miserably.

Those three foolish children had ruined his plan by pushing up the timetable, and if they had not been so stupid, Danzō was confident he would have his ultimate weapon already trained and ready for use by now. Instead, he had to watch the opportunity be squandered in the failure that is the Shinobi Academy.

He had been fortunate that his spies had been able to track Team 7's progress after the Academy. Knowing that Team 8 was the only other team who had completed enough missions and training time to get a C- rank, it was only a matter of time before he could hold set them up for a C-rank to Nami no Kuni and force them into his trap.

He thought that his carefully laid plans might have been ruined when Hiruzen gave the escort mission to Team 8 instead of Team 7, but Danzō hadn't survived as the Shadow of Konoha by being incapable of adapting. It was a simple matter of leaking the information about the bridge builder to that fool Gato, knowing that he would send the Demon Brothers and Zabuza after Tazuna.

Then it was simply a matter of having his operatives eliminate the Demon Brothers if they managed to survive, intercept the request for support from Team 8 after they held Zabuza off. Once all that was done his operatives didn't need to wait long before delivering the modified request form to Hiruzen when his spies saw Team 7 enter the Hokage tower to get a C-rank mission.

Now he would be able to weaken the Hyūga clan by killing their heiress or delivering her to Kumo. He would prefer to kill the heiress, so Kumo didn't gain the Byakugan, but if he could use her delivery to establish a spy network, it would be worth the sacrifice. That would put Hiashi in his place for killing off his Hyūga spies within the clan. When the Uchiha had taken such actions, he was certain they were plotting a coup attempt and moved to have the threat eliminated only for Itachi Uchiha to ruin everything.

Danzō didn't know where Hiruzen had hidden that thorn in his side but he was able to at least convince the Daimyō to mark him as a missing-nin since he had those fools Homura and Koharu in his pocket.

At least, he would be rid of one more Uchiha traitor if this operation succeeded, and he would receive the resources he needed to allow him to use Shisui's eye once a day instead of once a month as he could now.

The last piece would hopefully be gained by this operation as well. Danzō had done a lot of research on various sealing techniques and found one that would allow him to control the jinchūriki and mold him into a perfect weapon. No matter what the Kyūbi was capable of, he could not stop a memory seal from wiping the boy's mind completely. Without any memories, the boy would naturally follow him in a desire to establish his identity and Danzō already had one ready and waiting for him.

Those three "friends" of his would provide what he needed to ensure the jinchūriki felt like he had always been a loyal operative of Root that followed Danzō's every command. The best part is that boy would be completely loyal without any conditioning and would be his willing weapon. Danzō would finally have all the pieces he needed for his final ascension and to ensure that all other villages fell before the might of Konoha.

A cloud of smoke drew Danzō out of his thoughts, and he saw Dajimu's summon creature approach him.

" **Danzo-sama, Dajimu requests confirmation that the operation is a go, he said all teams are standing by for scramble."** the ferret announced.

"Tell Dajimu that the operation is a go and to make sure that he does not fail me again," Danzō said sternly.

The ferret merely nodded before disappearing in a cloud of smoke again.

Danzō sneered inwardly at the weak little summoning creature. The ferret contract was entirely useless in his opinion. At least, he would not have to deal with it anymore since he knew Dajimu would fail to infiltrate Kumo anyways.

Danzō steepled his fingers and allowed a small smirk to appear on his face. Tomorrow everything he had planned would start to fall into place. All he needed was the jinchūriki and the research paid for by the body of Sasuke Uchiha.

 **Kiri Yacht – Nami no Kuni Docks**

* * *

As Zabuza settled down for the night he thought over his plans. Haku was smart enough to survive and was damn tough in a fight so he wouldn't be concerned. In a worse case scenario, he could probably go along with those bleeding heart tree huggers.

He snorted at that thought. Like Konoha needed any more blood lines in it but who would refuse a young and virile male from the famous Yuki clan? Not many people would. Hell, even Kumo would be throwing the ladies at him which wouldn't be such a bad life in the end.

He hoped that the Konoha teams got the gist of his message. That he would be embedded with the thugs. Unfortunately, he didn't know that Gato had pushed up his timetable for the attack sooner, or he would have passed that information along as well.

Instead of attacking the bridge now, Gato wanted to take them out before they arrived at the construction site. The greedy little shit would complete the bridge then tax the fuck out of everyone anyways.

It didn't matter anyways, tomorrow he would tear up those Kumo-nin and then clean up the rest of Gato's thugs before he headed over to the so-called Merchant Hospitality place and took Gato for everything he owned after relieving that bastard of his head. As long as Konoha stayed out of his way, he would leave them and Tazuna alone.

 **Small Fishing Vessel - Offshore – Nami no Kuni**

* * *

Yugito Nii was in a foul mood. Having taken way longer than expected to reach her destination she would be fortunate if the missing-nin were still there. She had to stay on this small, fish smelling, boat and listen to the damn demon going on and on. Thank goodness she wasn't sea sick like the Chūnin were. They had better be ready for combat in the morning.

The ferry they had planned to take had broken down, and it would have taken an extra day or two to reach the next ferry dock which would put her out of the targeted arrival time. If it weren't for her quick thinking, she wouldn't have even been able to convince the fisherman to take them over to Nami no Kuni.

At least, the fisherman had provided good intel. This Gato guy had been hiring missing-nin and thugs for a big job against a bridge builder from Konoha.

She was a little concerned at first that Konoha-nin were involved, but the fisherman said when he was last in port a little over two weeks ago there weren't any Konoha-nin that he knew of. He was sure that it was the Daimyō providing security from what he last heard.

While two weeks was more than enough time for Konoha to have sent someone she figured they wouldn't have waited that long and would have sent protection from the beginning. If there was a security detail as long as her team stayed away from their charge, Konoha would likely just sit back and watch. Cowards. She kind of hoped they did decide to do something, but she wouldn't provoke them and gain the Raikage's ire.

She decided to get some rest for the time being. The fisherman said that with high tide in the morning, he would land them next to a sand bar North of the construction site. They would be able to safely traverse the sandbar and avoid any of Gato's cronies in town. The sand bar would drop off close to the construction site. A short water walk and they would be near the bridge in around 7 hours time.

 **Merchant Hospitality Complex – Nami no Kuni**

* * *

Gato reviewed the plans with his lieutenants one last time. They would board the rest of the ships waiting south of the construction site and approach the beach near the road between the main site and the tent city.

There they would rendezvous with Zabuza and that little pretty boy bitch of his and proceed to blockade the road. Zabuza would deal with Konoha and be worn down while the overpaid fodder would tire them all out.

Then his secondary force would come in wipe out Zabuza and any resistance and capture the bridge builder and his workers, making them indentured servants. His forces would then secure the bridge for himself and ensure that it was completed.

Then he would charge whatever toll he liked while he finished consolidating his hold over the shipping and the town would be his to play with. The Daimyō would look like a fool and, with enough of a stranglehold, he could eventually scare all the little piss ants into making him the Daimyō though forceful coercion and economic warfare.

Yes in 6 hours time everyone would finally fear Gato and his strength.


	19. Descent into Madness

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Biju/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Biju/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** Graphic depictions of violence are present in this chapter.

Edit 4/21/16

 **Chapter 18**

 **Descent into Madness**

 **8 hours later - Road to Bridge Construction Site – Nami no Kuni**

* * *

Teams 7 and 8 were in a defensive position blockading the road towards the main campground as they faced a group of 85 thugs with Zabuza and Haku in the lead. The two groups had just caught sight of each other a few minutes ago, and now both sides were tense and waiting for the other group to make a move and start the battle.

Naruto had already created his supercharged clones earlier in the morning and sent them down the road before the thugs appeared. Currently, there were groups of clones disguised as rocks, branches, and insects hidden in trees or bushes on each side of the road covering 50 yards between them and the group of mercenaries. The number of clones Naruto had made gave some comfort to the young genin who, for the first time, would experience real combat and take their first lives. The mercenaries were jeering at the young shinobi, feeling secure in their superior numbers and completely unaware that they had already been flanked by 20 clones who were waiting to unleash a volley of jutsu and shuriken the moment Naruto gave them the signal.

Naruto's barrier clones had retreated with Tazuna back 200 yards with the rest of the Daimyō's men. They were prepared to create a barrier the second the mercenaries engaged the leading group, or a threat was identified by the henged clones sent to reinforce the Daimyō's men, in case the mercenaries had planned an ambush on their flank.

Naruto was on edge, however, because not only were there more thugs than they had anticipated, he could smell the 16 Root operatives hiding in a cluster of trees to the North between the mercenaries and themselves. He didn't expect for there to be that many of them and even though he had an abundance of clones, he couldn't help but worry. Root were Anbu level shinobi, and Naruto didn't want to think about being attacked by 16 nin as skilled as Kakashi. Not only was he going to have to kill someone today, but chances were, he was going to kill a large group of people and that thought had him in turmoil.

Naruto began taking deep breaths to get his nerves under control and had partially succeeded until Kurama decided to drop a bomb on him and get his emotions roiled up once again.

" **Be careful, kit. I sense one of my brethren approaching from the southwest at a very fast rate with four others,"** Kurama said.

As soon as Kurama had sensed demonic chakra, he began to reach out eagerly to determine who it was and try to re-establish their telepathic link. It had been a very long time since he had contact with any of his brethren.

 _'What do you mean? Are you saying that another jinchūriki is coming after us now?'_ Naruto thought with a panic.

" **Calm down, kit and focus. Now is not the time to lose it."** Kurama snapped.

Kurama paused for a moment when he received a response from his fellow bijū. Matatabi had answered back and let Kurama know that her container, Yugito, was planning on attacking the missing-nins, but had an unnatural hatred towards Konoha and could be a threat. The last thing the kit needed was a hostile jinchūriki adding more blood lust to the situation, he was barely holding it together as it is and the battle hadn't even begun.

" **It is Matatabi that is approaching, or as you would know her the Nibi and her container is hostile, but whether they are here for us, or someone else is uncertain at this time."** Kurama tried to reassure Naruto, but it didn't help him relax at all.

 _'Shit'_ Naruto replied. "Kakashi-sensei we got more incoming from the southwest." Naruto looked over to Kakashi and said in a lower tone. "One of them is just like me from Kumo."

Kakashi and Kurenai both felt a pit in their stomach when they heard that. Now they had to deal with a trained jinchūriki from an unsteady ally? Was Kumo planning an attack?

'Please let it not be the Hachibi.' Kakashi thought.

He didn't try to determine how Naruto knew that another jinchūriki was incoming because his mind was racing on how to survive this mess. Everyone heard rumors of the Hachibi's massive destructive power. If Kumo had sent him here, then they might be the ones behind the destabilization of Nami no Kuni and were staging an invasion.

If the Hachibi were to attack, only the Sandaime or Jiraiya himself would be capable of facing him head on.

Before Kakashi could respond or issue any new commands, the tension that had been building up boiled over and the battle started in earnest with Yugito's arrival.

Yugito and her four chūnin companions burst onto the scene and, without so much as a warning, began attacking the group of mercenaries from their southern flank. The thugs were caught off guard, and their response was scattered. Some of the mercenaries saw Yugito and her team attack and turned to retaliate against them. A few of the more cowardly mercenaries began to back out of the group in order to put some distance between them and the attacking group.

The remaining mercenaries, unaware of the assault on their flank, decided to charge when they heard the battle cries of their comrades. The thugs essentially split into three groups in that moment. A smaller group attempting to counter Yugito's attack, the middle of the group who was undecided on who to attack, and the largest portion of the group charged towards Teams 7 and 8.

Zabuza and Haku immediately used Shunshin (Body Flicker) to position themselves towards the back of the group when Yugito appeared. They began attacking all the mercenaries from behind while they were trying to reorganize themselves.

Naruto's clones, who had gotten an order to start their attacks once the thugs crossed a certain line, began to prepare their combination attacks to catch the mercenaries from the right side and flanks as they advanced towards Naruto and the others. Two groups of ten Naruto clones that were previously in the flanking position launched several volleys of shuriken towards the charging thugs and performed the hand seals for Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone) causing a veritable downpour of shuriken to fly towards the criminals from their sides and back.

The remaining clones on the southern flank began falling back to avoid being confronted by Yugito and provide support to the frontal assault clones while waiting to see what the results of the opening attack were on the mercenaries. They didn't have orders to attack Yugito, yet, so a few opted to keep an eye on her and her team while the rest remained concealed to attack her if necessary.

The rest of Team 7 and 8 proceeded to start their attacks at the same time as Naruto's clones.

Kurenai and Sakura flew through hand signs and launched their genjutsu Magen: Henkō no Kōkei (Altering Sight) to cause the thugs aim to become erratic. Working in tandem, both of the kunoichi kept reapplying the genjutsu to each mercenary they saw preparing to shoot at them with bows and crossbows.

Sasuke and Kakashi flew through hand signs at the same time and called out Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu (Great Dragon Fire) which was followed by Naruto and two of his clones using Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough).

The two fire dragons twisted and twirled around each other in the air before the massive blast of chakra enhanced wind began to fan the fiery dragons. The fire dragons began to move faster and grow in size becoming hot enough to incinerate flesh and bone on contact. The fire dragons began to near the group of thugs who had charged at the Konoha-nin, causing them to start trying to scatter to avoid the attack, unaware of the hail of shuriken flying towards them from their flanks.

The Root teams had been watching the standoff waiting for instructions from Captain Dajimu, their original plan had called for them to ambush Teams 7 and 8 before they were engaged by the mercenary group, but their intelligence had been wrong, and the thugs had engaged their targets earlier than expected. Dajimu had ordered the teams to hold in the hopes that once the battle was fully underway, they could move in and capture their targets while they were distracted.

Once Dajimu saw Yugito emerge, he called for a full attack against the Kumo jinchūriki. The only plausible reason for her presence that he could think of was that Kumo was here to eliminate all of the Konoha teams or capture Team 7 for themselves. Since that was a direct threat to their operation, Root training dictated that their elimination became a priority over capturing their targets. The Kumo team had to be eliminated before they could proceed.

Zabuza and Haku saw the massive incoming fire dragons from the front plus the hail of shuriken coming in from the sides and evaded by using Kawarimi to distance themselves further from the group. They could tell the attacks were not directed at them, but with a large scale area attack like that about to hit, it was better safe than sorry. Plus, Zabuza felt he had a great view of the carnage watching all of Gato's shitty mercenaries get annihilated by fire and metal.

Yugito saw the incoming attack fire dragons and shuriken and called out for her group to fall back before she jumped out of range. Her chūnin teammates heard the call and immediately fell back drawing some of the thugs with them out of range. Two of the chūnin leaped backward like Yugito did while the other two elected to Shunshin away which would ultimately save them from the combination attack.

The Root squadrons had finished circling behind the large scale battle when the fire dragons approached the mercenary groups. Seeing an opportunity to catch their opponents off guard as they evaded, Dajimu and his second in command began a combination attack while the remaining waited for the attack to land before they would rush the dazed opponents and finish them off. The two Kumo chūnin had no chance to evade Root's attack as they were hit with a Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu(Water Dragon)infused with Lighting chakra from Dajimu to form a Raisuiryūdan (Lighting Water Dragon). The water dragon laced with lighting took flight while the Kumo-nin were still in the air and both of the chūnin were severely electrocuted with second and third-degree burns all over their bodies. They were finished off by two other members of Root who drove their modified tantō's through their skulls as soon as their bodies hit the ground.

Yugito only survived the onslaught due Nibi's warning, causing her to activate her initial chakra cloak briefly to avoid the effects of the combination jutsu. Once she landed, however, she was immediately on the defensive as a group of four Anbu members she didn't recognize were slashing at her with their tantōs in highly coordinated attacks that took all her skill to evade.

Yugito had to bend over backward to avoid a slash towards her throat, then kick her right foot up to avoid a slash meant to hamstring her. Yugito then fell onto her back and threw her legs up over her head to avoid another slash to her legs by using her hands to spring back to her feet by performing a rising handspring. As soon as she landed on her feet, she dashed forwards and slashed at the Anbu agent in front of her with her Nibi enhanced claws, cutting through his attempted block and carving deep furrows into the Anbu agents chest and injecting him with Nibi's poisonous chakra.

Yugito had to crouch down to duck underneath two members who charged in from the front on her right and left side, trying to slash at her torso, before performing a back handspring to flip over their follow up slashes directed at her head while she was crouched. The chakra-enhanced back handspring allowed her to arch cleanly over their strikes and create some distance. Yugito activated her chakra cloak and used Shunshin to move closer towards one of her chūnin teammates who was injured while battling against four of these Anbu. Yugito stabbed one of them in the throat with her claws before ducking and sweeping the second one off of his feet and driving her claws into his heart.

The chūnin teammate managed to dispatch another one of the four attackers before he was stabbed in the chest and fell to the ground coughing up blood. Yugito kicked one of the Root members who had tried to come at her with a downward slash. Yugito side flipped away from the slash landing in front of her fallen teammate and cut the man's stomach open with her claws, gutting him.

Yugito was forced to back pedal parrying and dodging several slashing combinations from four more Anbu, who were coordinating their attacks and driving her away from assisting the last remaining teammate. Yugito managed to catch one of the swords in her claws before breaking it while kicking the second man back then redirecting the third slash away from her by spinning rapidly with her claws out to break up their coordinated attacks. She spotted her friend starting to have trouble and tried in vain to fight her way towards her. Yugito called out her name in despair watching one of her most trusted friends be brutally cut down as the Anbu team drove their tantōs into her body before cutting her head off. She had been a promising kunoichi and Yugito's best friend for five years. The fact that she took down two Anbu level shinobi as a chūnin only made Yugito mourn her loss even more. She was only 17 and had barely begun to experience life.

Yugito growled in anger and turned her focus back onto her attackers in order to shout at the bastards when she noticed their masks were blank. She realized then that she was being attacked by Root members and Yugito saw red. All the pain and suffering she had endured in her life because of these bastards and now they had murdered her best friend, she was going to rip these bastards to pieces.

Yugito stared at the remaining Root members who were now down to 9 and were slowly moving in and surrounding her. Once they inched their way into range, Yugito activated two tails worth of chakra while screaming in anger embracing her anger and hatred to trigger her blood lust. The latent anger in Nibi's chakra amplified Yugito's own rage, and her killing intent washed over the rest of the people in the area. This caused a slight pause in the battle as everyone wondered at the sheer amount of malice and rage they could feel, on top of the killing intent, before refocusing their efforts on the battles they were currently engaged in.

The combination of shuriken and the twin fire dragons had slammed into the group of thugs causing a gigantic explosion easily wiping out 20 to 30 of them with that single attack and injuring a dozen more. The mercenaries that weren't wholly or partially incinerated were severely burned only to be finished off by the rain of shuriken. Only the mercenaries on the fringes of the attack, or those who had charged forwards fast enough to escape the attack survived.

Zabuza stood still and examined the carnage impressed by the amount of damage the Konoha team had unleashed in just the opening salvo. After taking a moment to look over the battlefield, he hefted his Kubikiribōchō and began launching his assault against the scattered mercenaries who were still torn between attacking Yugito and attacking Konoha. Before too many of them began to split and start attacking both groups, Zabuza dashed forwards and cut down four thugs from behind before raising his sword in a reverse grip to block a slash coming in from his left side. One of the thugs had seen Zabuza attack them from behind before calling out a warning and trying to slash at Zabuza with his sword.

Zabuza countered that attack by kicking the man back into a group of two who were rushing in to support their friend. Swinging Kubikiribōchō at an upward angle, Zabuza quickly cut open one of the men's torso completely while the second man lost his left arm, and the third lost his head. The man who lost his arm was screaming at the top of his lungs while holding his bloodied stump which was spurting out blood. Zabuza removed the man's head from his shoulders before looking around for his next victim.

He spotted one of the Kumo missing-nin flying through hand seals before calling out Raiton: Sandāboruto (Thunderbolt) and sending the attack towards the Konoha-nin. Zabuza watched from the corner of his eye as two clones of the blond haired brat stood in front of the little Hyūga girl and countered the attack with one launching a Fūton: Daitoppa while the second stood behind the first and formed Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall). The first clone evaded the slowed down Sandāboruto and retaliated by throwing a kunai that had an explosive tag on it towards the missing-nin.

The kunai flew wide to the missing nin's right, but that was perfect for Zabuza, who had engaged the missing nin's partner. After exchanging a few blows with the man's katana, Zabuza managed to kick the man back before gutting him. The missing-nin failed to notice Zabuza cutting down his partner leaving his flank open. The missing-nin had jumped into Zabuza's path to evade the explosion from the explosive tag, Zabuza sidestepped away from the missing-nin and slashed his sword horizontally cleaving through his kidney and opening up his abdomen which caused his intestines to spill out when he hit the ground. Zabuza decided to be nice and cut the man's head off so he wouldn't die slowly.

Zabuza looked over towards Haku for a second and saw that he was handling himself just fine, so he gleefully rushed forward to cut down more of Gato's cannon fodder. He paused for a moment in confusion when he felt a wave of malicious chakra the likes of which he had never encountered before, he saw the Kumo blonde was radiating chakra off her body and literally shredding some Anbu team that had appeared out of nowhere. Before he could ponder that scenario any further, a mercenary trying to rush in and stab him with a knife drew him out of his thoughts, and he returned to cutting down more of Gato's idiotic goons. Did that fool really think he stood a chance against him with a knife?

Haku was sitting back picking off any thugs that neared him or Zabuza with his senbon. After throwing a half dozen away, he decided to save ryō and began the seals for his Sensatsu Suishō (Thousand Needles of Death). The ice needles shot forward into the mercs incapacitating and killing any that attempted to swarm Zabuza from behind.

Haku was starting to get bored of the battle when he noticed one of the Kumo missing-nin trying to flee in his direction. The kunoichi with long green hair pulled out her tantōs and tried to catch Haku with a slash towards his kidneys as she dashed by.

Haku blocked the slash using a fist full of his senbon while going through the hand seals for another Sensatsu Suishō. The kunoichi was good enough leap back and block the individual needles using her dual tantōs before she charged at Haku again and kept trying to slash at him. The kunoichi was starting to gain ground using coordinated strikes, attacking high and low at the same time with both of her swords. Haku managed to throw a handful of senbon at her to force her to step back and begin deflecting the projectiles.

Both the kunoichi and Haku were distracted when they sensed a wave of malevolent chakra and shivered. The kunoichi knew that feeling and realized that Yugito or Killer B had arrived to kill her. She panicked and tried to dash in to finish Haku off before he could cast another jutsu and keep running. Haku, seeing he wouldn't have time to make the seals for Sensatsu Suishō, resigned himself to use the first jutsu he had ever created and simply held the ram sign and called out Hissatsu Hyōsō (Certain-Kill Ice Spears). The kunoichi had no chance at survival as several massive ice spears emerged around Haku at rapid speeds impaling the kunoichi through her torso and legs killing the kunoichi instantly.

Haku let out a resigned sigh and let the ice melt before stepping over the perforated body of his victim and began searching the battlefield for Zabuza again.

Team 7 and 8 prepared for the four dozen thugs that had survived the opening salvo and were charging in towards them. Naruto's line of defensive clones launched numerous volleys of shuriken followed by barrages of fireballs from groups of clones using Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) and Fūton: Daitoppa, which increased the speed and strength of both the shuriken and the fireballs. At least a dozen thugs fell to the combination of white-hot fireballs and wind enhanced shuriken tearing through the group. The remaining thugs had broken apart to evade the attacks with some engaging the clones and the rest continuing forwards.

Kiba shouted out to Akamaru, who had swallowed a pill and began their Shikyaku no Jutsu (All Fours Jutsu), Jūjin Bunshin (Man Beast Clone) combo and launched a Gatsūga (Fang over Fang) at the far right cluster of thugs. The twin cyclones drilled into a handful of the charging group that were clustered together and sent them flying backward with broken bones and shredded flesh from Kiba and Akamaru's claws.

The duo deftly twisted around without stopping their attack and continued their spin back towards a group of mercs who had run past them heading towards Sakura and Shino. The surprise attack managed to take out a few more men in the group before Kiba gave Akamaru the order to reform at his side and begin launching individual Tsūga (Tunneling Fang) at any of the stragglers that weren't down or crippled by their first attack.

Shino stood far in the back and sent out his kikaichū towards some of the thugs that had been shooting arrows and crossbow bolts at them. Besides throwing an occasional kunai and shuriken to finish off the ones he subdued, he hadn't needed to exert himself too much. It was best for him to remain out of the melee anyways. He continued to weaken and drain any thugs that were out of range of their close combat fighters, or were breaking through the defensive line of Naruto clones.

The thugs with ranged weapons were terrible with their aiming because of Magen: Henkō no Kōkei used by Sakura and Kurenai and had begun to organize volleys of attacks in their general direction to try and make up for their inaccuracy. After the opening salvo, however, Sakura was the only one reapplying the genjutsu. If it wasn't for Naruto's defensive clones, she might have been shot already. She just continued the pattern of using her genjutsu which she would then follow up with a shuriken or kunai to finish her targets off. She was almost out of shuriken and completely out of kunai when a Naruto clone handed her it's pouch and kunai holder. She thanked the clone who only nodded in response before she returned to picking off the mercenaries being subdued by Shino. She was almost out of chakra, but she still had the chakra seal that Naruto had given her at camp in case it was needed. Sakura was determined to try and be of some use, even if she didn't have a lot of skill compared to the others. Even if her career as a kunoichi would probably end when she returned to the village, she wanted to do whatever she could to redeem herself and each time she succeeded in eliminating one of those mercenaries she felt a little less useless.

Kurenai was quickly tearing through her share of thugs. It was almost boring how simple it was to kill these disgusting mercs. Every mercenary she had encountered were pigs so she felt no sorrow in killing them off. Kurenai flipped through the hand signs for Magen: Jubaku Satsu (Tree Binding Death) she repeated it a few times and watched as the thugs stood there glassy eyed. She quickly went through the group caught in her genjutsu and slit their throats before scanning the field to find more criminals to rid the world of.

Naruto was breathing heavily but not because of exhaustion. Most of his energy was being taken up by trying to suppress his senses and maintain his focus because of the turbulent emotions swirling around him. All the anger, fear, and killing intent coming off of the people alive on the battlefield combined with the adrenaline of his first battle was potent enough. When you added in all the memories he was receiving from each clone that was dispelled either through lack of chakra, or because they were dispatched in a violent manner, his focus was fraying. Even as Kurama continued to reassure and encourage him, he was losing the battle for control.

So far, Naruto had experienced being shot by arrows, stabbed by swords, and bludgeoned by clubs. That was not including the fact that he had incinerated and perforated at least 30 people and slit the throats of 4 different thugs with a kunai after dragging them partially underground. While he had not physically been involved with all of that death, the rapid dispersal of clones was making it hard for him to keep the memories organized. His control was hanging by a thread at the moment, and Naruto could feel Kurama's chakra within him stirring even though Kurama was trying to suppress his chakra as much as possible.

Naruto was forced to use another Suiton: Suijinheki when the next volley of arrows was launched towards him and the rest the Konoha-nin. While he was maintaining the wall of water, he scanned the battlefield to see if he needed to send any updated orders to the clones that were still active. He had a few clones stationed with each of his teammates strictly to use defensive jutsu to protect them from ranged attacks or if they were caught off guard. The clones with Sakura, Shino, and Kiba used Suiton: Suijinheki to protect them from the arrows. Sasuke, Hinata, Kakashi, and Kurenai were not in the line of fire so their clones remained on standby. His defensive line of clones had been whittled down by melee charges and a simple lack of chakra. He only had about 30 active clones remaining. Half of those clones were probably down to half chakra or less.

As Naruto waited for the rain of arrows to stop he spotted the various pools of water scattered throughout the field and came up with an idea to take out the group of bowmen and narrow the field of approach towards his teammates. Naruto sent a command to the clone behind him to prepare Fūton: Daitoppa. Once the last arrow fell, Naruto gave the signal and began clinging to the ground using chakra with his hands and feet. Naruto's clone finished his seals and Naruto dropped his control of the water wall right when the clone began to launch the massive blast of wind, pushing the wall towards the group of bowmen. The wall of water was blasted across the field but began to break apart because there was no longer chakra holding it together. When the wall reached the group, it wasn't as solid, only knocking a few of them off their feet and drenching the rest of them.

One of the bowmen taunted Naruto about helping him clean his armor off before they all began to draw and fire another volley. Naruto was not deterred, however, because his plan had been partially successful. With a mental command to his clone, they both began running through hand signs once again. The clone managed to finish his seals first and started spewing a powerful blast of water towards the bowmen using Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet). Naruto finished his hand signs and holding his hands out before calling out Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder) Naruto directed the lightning chakra from his hands into the stream of water the clone was blasting at the group of bowmen. The lightning traveled through the stream and into the pool beneath their feet shocking the group of bowmen and temporarily paralyzing them. A few of the clones that were still active from the flanking group dashed in and finished off the bowmen by slitting their throats with kunai as they lay helpless on the ground. Naruto couldn't help but gag at the thought of watching that when those clones dispelled.

Naruto scanned the rest of the battlefield and began preparing attacks for the remaining mercenaries that were engaged with Zabuza. He saw Root was involved against the Kumo-nins and couldn't help but want to cheer Yugito on he watched her cut one down before flipping away from some attacks. Naruto stopped watching Yugito when he felt some of Hinata's clones get dispelled and moved to support her along with some of his remaining clones.

A group of three mercs had managed to dispel a few Naruto clones protecting Hinata and engaged her directly. She was deftly blocking and parrying their clumsy strikes. She Jūkened several tenketsus on the first man's arms and legs, and he fell to the ground groaning from the pain. She had to duck and leap backward when another thug came to back up his fallen friend by slashing at her with his kusarigama, striking at Hinata's head before spinning the blade around to send a follow-up slash towards her stomach.

One of the Naruto clones finished off Hinata's fallen foe and countered the thug with the kusarigama by throwing a kunai followed by a small cluster of shuriken. As the thug evaded those attacks by deflecting some with his kusarigama while sidestepping to the left, the Naruto clone ran through the hand signs for Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball). A second clone guarding Hinata, who was concealed underground, due to Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu), grabbed the man's ankles to keep him still. The man screamed as he was severely burned and fell dead to a follow-up kunai from a clone. The Katon clone dispelled due to a lack of chakra leaving the Doton clone alone.

The last remaining clone scowled as he saw the third man, who had pushed Hinata away from him with a volley of shuriken, was that bastard who wanted to rape Hinata. The clone ran towards the man and drew a kunai planning to stab the man from behind.

Hinata dodged the kunai swings from the Kumo missing-nin that had engaged her. The missing-nin hopped back before she could close any of his tenketsu. He then threw the kunai and followed it with a handful of shuriken to prevent her from closing the distance. Hinata ducked under the kunai not expecting him to follow with shuriken, but she was able to react and roll to her right just in time to avoid the shuriken.

After she had gotten to her feet, she saw the missing-nin dispel the Naruto clone that attacked him. She didn't hear what he had called the attack but saw lightning chakra radiate from his body destroying the clone. Since the clone had been charging in to stab him, it didn't have time to evade.

The missing-nin turned back to Hinata with lightning running between his hands and looked her over with a disgusting leer on his face.

"You should just give up now girl. I don't want to leave any burn marks on that beautiful face of yours. Besides, you'll be enjoying all the attention soon enough. You won't be able to get enough of me when I'm through with you."

Hinata scowled as she set her stance and waited for an opening. She didn't want to rush in while he had that lightning active, but she would trust in her Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation) to keep her safe.

Sasuke had already cleaved through two of the thugs quite easily with his Chokuto and was eagerly looking for more. He needed experience if he was to avenge his family and, so far, these thugs were proving no challenge.

He was forced to cut down a few arrows shot at him before rolling back away from an opponent with a naginata. This wasn't good for him. The naginata was dangerous for the shortened Chokuto he wielded and this mercenary actually knew how to wield it properly.

The man pushed Sasuke around the battlefield using fast lunging stabs and quick, narrow slashes to take full advantage of the range of movement and length of his naginata. He was also smart enough to keep his assault continuous to stop Sasuke from using a jutsu. As Sasuke evaded another swipe by jumping backward, his feet landed on the corpse of a thug offsetting his balance and causing him to stumble.

Sasuke watched as the man smirked and drove his naginata forward. Time seemed to slow down, and Sasuke thought that he had failed before a blur of black and orange blocked his vision. Sasuke looked up to see Naruto impaled through the chest and holding the naginata blade even as it cut his hands to prevent it from moving forward.

Sasuke experienced a moment of shock and grief as that image was imprinted in his memory by his newly activated Sharingan. The grief was about to give way to anger and rage until the Naruto clone gave him a soft smile and then poofed out of existence. Sasuke was torn between being pissed and being grateful, he could never tell if it was Naruto or one of his damn clones and he had actually thought that Naruto had just died for him.

Sasuke quickly calmed and re-entered the fight, he would get Naruto back for that later somehow. He didn't hesitate as he saw the man step forwards doing quick slashes to keep him at length. The mercs attacks seemed slow and pathetic now as his Sharingan revealed the man's attack pattern and Sasuke easily saw the opening he needed. Rushing in quickly he used a reverse guard to catch the naginata as it swung towards his right side. Sasuke dashed forward and pivoted bringing his Chokuto down and slicing the man's neck almost to the bone.

The man grabbed at his throat futilely but could only gurgle as the blood gushed out of his veins and over his hands. He fell dead a few seconds later with his blood rapidly pooling around him.

At that moment, Sasuke looked over and noticed he was standing near Hinata, and she was facing a man who appeared to be launching a lightning jutsu towards her.

Sasuke began the hand signs for the jutsu that Naruto had given him, hoping it was enough. He called out Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder)and held his hands out to launch the lighting towards the man. He was surprised when "Naruto" called out next to him Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet).

The stream of water went through the lighting that Sasuke had launched and became infused with lightning. The Kumo-nin tried to evade since water would disable his lightning shield, but he was too slow and the combination of water with his lightning shield and the Raiton: Jibashi caused electricity to course through his body partially electrocuting him and burning some of his organs.

Hinata wasted no time dashing in once the jutsu ended and unleashed her Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams 64 palms) before the man could hit the ground. Hinata sealed all the most painful tenketsu with the first 32 strikes then switched to attacking his organs with the remaining 32 attacks. The nin spasmed with each hit due to the force of Hinata's palm strikes and sharpened chakra being driven into his body. Blood began to pour out of his mouth and nose as Hinata pulverized his organs.

As he fell to the ground dead, Hinata saw an injured thug get up and charge towards the Naruto clone and Sasuke with a sword. She turned towards them and called out to them in warning before she began dashing forwards to try and help. The clone managed to Kawarimi away while Sasuke turned and evaded his first slash easily.

The thug followed up with an overhead slash that Sasuke blocked with an overhead block. At that same moment, Hinata dashed forwards with a palm strike to the man's abdomen blasting him with chakra causing him fly backward and spit out blood. He then jerked upwards as he was stabbed by a kunai in his back by a Naruto clone. His life ended when he was beheaded by Sasuke following through off his overhead block.

The clone had exhausted all its resources and threw a small wave at them before it poofed out of existence.

Sasuke and Hinata looked around battle field to check for threats but didn't see any near them and smirked at each other before rushing over towards where Team 8, and possibly Naruto with his remaining clones, had begun to gather with Kurenai to watch Kakashi facing the missing-nin leader.

Kakashi was in the flow of battle, quickly dodging and evading the thugs with ease and dispatching them with his kunai. He didn't even need to use his Sharingan against them. He had been keeping a close eye on Yugito and Root as soon as she evaded their opening attack and knew that he didn't have much time before that battle was ended. He would prefer to have all other distractions cleared so he could reform his group and come up with a quick plan to protect his genin.

After Kakashi had slain yet another useless merc, he was halted in his tracks by one of the Kumo missing-nin who stood in the middle of the road surrounded by corpses and leaking killing intent towards him.

The missing-nin recognized Kakashi right away. "Well if it isn't the Copy Cat Kakashi Hatake."

"I'm afraid that you knowing my name is the only advantage you will have," Kakashi replied as he settled into a stance.

Kakashi sighed, he didn't want to get into a drawn out battle. He didn't know what the jinchūriki had planned, and he really didn't want to find out. He would get rid of this nuisance and fall back to Tazuna hoping that the jinchūriki would leave his cute little genin alone.

'It's such a lovely day too. Nothing like a blood bath before noon to set the mood.' Kakashi thought.

"Don't act all tough with me! I was a Tokubetsu Jōnin in Kumo before that damn Hyūga fiasco and with your head the Raikage might just forgive me and let me rejoin the active roster." the Jōnin said.

The Jōnin then flipped through hand signs and launched Raiton: Raikyu (Lightning Ball) and threw the ball of lightning towards Kakashi, who countered with Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Blade Jutsu). The blade of wind cut through the lighting ball dissipating it and continued on towards the Jōnin, who defended with Doton: Doryūheki.

The mud wall shattered when the Jōnin shot a Raiton: Sandāboruto through it at Kakashi's last known location but Kakashi evaded using Shunshin.

Kakashi flipped through some hand seals and called out Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Fire Jutsu) launching 6 small fireballs at the Jōnin who just strafed to the right to avoid them.

The missing-nin dashed in towards Kakashi after the last fireball was evaded while finishing hand seals and calling out Raiton: Gian Yari (False Darkness Spear) a spear of lightning came out of his mouth flying at Kakashi, who had to Kawarimi with a broken sword behind the Jōnin.

The Jōnin turned around and began to charge Kakashi with a kunai drawn. Kakashi evaded most of the attacks, but the Jōnin managed to stab Kakashi in his leg and smirked. Then "Kakashi" disappeared and the Jōnin was shocked with lighting from Kakashi's Raiton: Kage Bunshin.

The Jōnin's last vision was Kakashi's Chidori erupting out of his chest before he fell to the ground dead when Kakashi removed his arm.

Kakashi sighed and reminded himself to thank Naruto for those chakra seals again. He still had a majority of his chakra after that fight because of those seals where the Raiton: Kage Bunshin would have cut him down to below half by itself.

Kakashi quickly signaled for the team to reform into a defensive position and Team 7 and 8, along with the remaining Naruto clones, gathered together. He was just about to give the order to fall back to Tazuna when they were hit by the first wave of malicious chakra from Yugito activating her two tails. Kakashi could see the unsettled look in Kurenai's eyes and the shock from his genin as they shivered from the malice emanating from her. He decided it would be best to order the teams to fall back to Tazuna and let the remaining Root bastards, that appeared out of nowhere, deal with the Kumo jinchūriki. He could only hope that the woman didn't lump them in with the Root attack and chase after them. If she did, he only hoped the suppression seals he had for Naruto would work on her as well.

Just before Kakashi could give the order, however, he felt a second, much larger wave of malevolent chakra fused with blood lust and killing intent begin to build up behind him.

Naruto had just started processing all the memories and actions of the battle and was overwhelmed by the carnage which strained his fragile control to the limit. All the death, blood, and screams, as well as the attacks that eliminated his clones, kept replaying in his mind which was forcing him to relive the negative emotions during the height of the battle, even though the situation was now calmer. It would only take a little push for Naruto to lose control and draw on Kurama's chakra in his emotional daze. Kurama didn't know if Naruto could handle the emotions in his cloaked state since his emotion sensing ability would be even more amplified. Cutting off the senses wasn't an option because that would leave Naruto unconscious and all his clones would dispel. That little push came when he was hit by the wave of Nibi's chakra and, for the first time, experienced true blood lust.

Yugito's blood lust, combined with the adrenaline and Naruto's weakened state of mind awoke the thrill for blood and the exhilaration of battle inherent in every mortal creature's spirit. The primal instincts that had been buried by generations of humans living in civilized societies rushed forth and carried his logical mind away.

For the first time, the wellspring of Kurama's chakra began to leak out of the seal faster than it could be contained and like a crumbling dam, Kurama's chakra began to pour out at an accelerated rate which was increased by the adrenaline flowing through Naruto's veins. Kurama snarled as he realized that the kit was about to go berserk and activate his chakra cloak in just a few minutes and his team had just gathered in front of him.

Kakashi and Kurenai froze in fear as this chakra was all too familiar and much more potent than what Yugito had unleashed. Kakashi slowly turned his head toward the source of the chakra and his heart stopped as he realized that Naruto was losing control. The rest of Team 7 and 8 had also turned to the origin of the new chakra and were now openly staring at Naruto in shock and fear. The Naruto clones had begun to back away from him slowly and were grimacing in pain at the sensation of the chakra that was emanating from their boss.

Naruto's was clutching his head and was hunched forwards while tendrils of violent red chakra were swirling around him when suddenly the chakra began erupting from Naruto like a geyser. He fell down on all fours like a dog and after a minute or two, the chakra stopped erupting from him, but his body was still surrounded by a cloud of red chakra. Naruto opened his eyes revealing malicious red orbs with cat-like pupils. His teeth were bared, and his canines had grown into sharp fangs. His whisker marks were darker and wild instead of the normal graceful lines. Naruto let out a low growl as he spotted the group of people frozen in front of him.

Yugito, who had just finished off the remaining Root bastards, instinctively froze at the predatory feel of Kurama's chakra. The demon within her screaming to retreat in an absolute fear that Yugito had never felt from the demon. Nibi's fear was so potent it flooded through Yugito's system, and she couldn't stop herself from fleeing away from that chakra.

Naruto, who had been focused on the potential threats in front of him, was growling out a warning when he caught sight of sudden movement out of the corner of his eye and turned his focus onto it. His predatory instinct to chase his prey was triggered as he sensed the creature's fear and saw it attempting to escape. He let out a demonic roar that almost sent his comrades flying and dispelled all of his remaining clones in the area. He charged off after Yugito with the thrill of the hunt roaring through his veins and a thirst for blood.

Kurenai had flashbacks of the night of the attack and shivered. She remembered watching the Kyūbi tear the village apart from a distance, trapped behind a barrier at the Sandaime's order. She felt helpless and scared as she heard the roar of the Kyūbi and the screams of terror and death.

Shino realized why his kikaichū had been so afraid of Naruto on his first introduction and wondered if Team 7 and 8 would even be capable of subduing Naruto in some way. With Naruto's ability to make clones and this new highly dangerous power, he was certain there was no way they would be capable of defeating him. Shino began calculating possible strategies that might succeed in catching him off guard and rendering him unconscious.

Kiba felt like an idiot. He felt like the biggest idiot in the world, the more he thought about it. He actually had been trying to challenge Naruto as an Alpha and finally realized why his mother went to great lengths to put him in his place when she heard he was challenging Naruto. If what he just felt was any indication, he was lucky that Naruto didn't simply destroy him for his impudence. When that chakra began pouring out of Naruto, Kiba felt actual terror for the first time in his life and judging from Akamaru's shivering inside of his jacket he was certain that Akamaru agreed with him.

Sakura didn't know what to think. What she just felt was a demon from hell, a monster from your nightmares and she had beaten on and belittled him for years without him even laying a hand on her in defense.

What a complete and utter fool she had been. Even the raging Inner Sakura was cowed, and the True Sakura gained more control over her psyche when Inner Sakura realized that she was lucky she didn't get them both killed.

Hinata had tears in her eyes as her sharp mind quickly connected the dots. All the mystery surrounding Naruto had suddenly become clear. The Hokage's interest and protection, the attack on the orphanage and the hatred of the villagers, suddenly made sense. She felt despair at the thought that the kind and caring Naruto she knew would be lost to the demon within him.

She had overheard the elders and her father expressing concern that the "jinchūriki" might succumb to the manipulation of the demon, but as soon as she entered the room, they fell silent. Later that night she approached her father and tried to discuss it with him only for him to severely reprimand her for asking and sternly warning her to forget everything she heard and never mention it to anyone again. Hinata had been taken aback as her father had never been so harsh towards her, even in the past when he had questioned her capability to be an heiress.

Sasuke was in shock that Naruto had contained something so powerful. He had no idea what it was, but now he understood why Danzō wanted Naruto so badly. If Root managed to get their hands on Naruto with that power he had, they would be unstoppable. Sasuke knew that he could never let Naruto fall into Danzō's hands. He didn't know what to think about how that chakra felt and wondered if it was some kind of bloodline. Sasuke remembered that Naruto had said he had "special chakra" but thought that was simply a convenient excuse to hide a secret. Apparently "special chakra" was a more accurate description than he thought.

Kakashi felt fear, but it was not of the Kyūbi it was for Naruto. If the Kyūbi escaped, there wasn't much he could do to stop him but if the Kyūbi broke the seal that meant Naruto would be dead. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if Naruto died especially if he discovered that he truly was Minato's son.

Kakashi turned to Kurenai to snap her out of her daze and get her to return to Tazuna with the rest of the genin so he could go after Naruto but was interrupted by the sound of Gato and the remaining thugs coming down the road towards them. Team 7 and 8 barely even registered their presence, too caught up in their thoughts about what they just witnessed happen to one of their teammates.

Gato, not having seen the shit storm that just occurred, was in the belief that everyone was now worn down and tired making them easy prey. He only had about 30 thugs with him and had absolutely no idea how insignificant that number was against the people standing in front of him.

"So Zabuza after all that talk you were unable to take down even a bunch of brats. I should thank you all for getting rid of those useless idiots, now I don't have to pay them either." Gato said with a gloating tone before him, and the rest of his loyal mercs began laughing.

Zabuza and Haku were standing there stupefied at what they saw and felt coming off that little blond kid. Zabuza was glad that he decided not to mess with the Konoha-nin after that little display. Zabuza knew that Copy Cat Kakashi would have been a problem on his own, but with whatever that brat was packing, that was a battle that hardly anyone walked away from intact. Zabuza had been so surprised at the events that had just occurred that he had totally forgotten about Gato for the moment, focusing only on the direction that Naruto had run off towards and wondering just what the hell that Kumo chick and that blonde brat were.

Zabuza, Haku, and all the Konoha-nin were drawn out of their thoughts and finally focused on Gato when they heard him all of his thugs laughing along with him.

It was at that moment when Gato began to realize that something had gone wrong.

Gato fell to his knees as he was blasted with the combined killing intent from Zabuza, Haku, Kakashi, and Kurenai. His remaining thugs were cowering in fear, too scared to even run as they have been fully overcome by the killing intent.

Before Gato could say anything more, Zabuza and Haku descended on his thugs cutting them down with ease until only Gato remained. Zabuza had a grand time taunting Gato with how he was going to introduce him to true pain and listing out all the various things Zabuza liked to do to scumbags and backstabbers.

Zabuza and Haku carted Gato off towards Gato's boat to take them back to his headquarters and clean him out of everything valuable. Afterward, Zabuza decided he would let him beg for his life for awhile before removing his head from his shoulders.

The Konoha team just watched Zabuza and Haku drag Gato off while the were trying to figure out what was going to happen next. After a few minutes, Kakashi managed to gather his wits and issue some orders.

"Kurenai take the rest of the genin and go back to Tazuna. I don't know what would have happened to Naruto's clones when... well, you just make sure Tazuna is safe." Kakashi said awkwardly before he began to turn towards where Naruto ran off.

"Wait, Kakashi-sensei! What about Naruto-kun? Shouldn't we go help him?" Hinata said

Sasuke nodded his agreement.

"No. With the state that he is in, he may not recognize friend or foe. I have an ability given to me by the Hokage that should help him regain control. You guys go back and guard the bridge builder That's an order!" Kakashi said firmly before running off in the direction Naruto went.

The rest of Team 7 and Team 8 watched him disappear into the woods for a few moments before heading down the road towards the spot where they had left Tazuna. They would be surprised to see Tazuna and his guards still inside a barrier held by Naruto's clones who all had grim looks on their faces.

"Excuse me clone-kun but can you tell me if Naruto-kun is okay?" Hinata asked after approaching one of the clones that was keeping the barrier powered.

"The last memory I got from the boss was when he lost control. Whatever that lady did to him seemed to make him just black out, and he is out of control, but if someone can calm the boss down, he will go back to normal." the clone replied in a comforting tone.

"If they can get close to him. The boss is way more powerful in that mode. He's more likely to stop once he reaches the limit of damage his body can take." another clone retorted.

"Hey! Don't talk like that! The Boss will be fine in no time ** _!_** " clone number 3 said indignantly.

"Yea! Don't scare Hinata-chan with that talk, you will only piss the boss off more." The first clone that replied said to the second clone who spoke.

"All of you shut up! The boss is in enough trouble as it is already. You guys know what is going to happen now, and you guys are just making it worse." the last clone hissed.

The clones all looked dejected at that thought before they adopted the stoic face.

Hinata and the others attempted to get more answers, but the clones wouldn't respond to any more questions after that. Tazuna asked if the danger had passed and if he could continue to the construction site now or if he should just head back to camp instead.

Kurenai relayed the outcome of the battle to Tazuna, who was relieved, but Kurenai decided it would be better for Tazuna to head back to camp until the remains from the battle were cleared and the bridge was checked for any reinforcements or traps the mercenaries might have set. The Daimyō's men offered to run the sweep for the Konoha-nin since they had not seen battle yet.

The Naruto clones, not having any specific instructions beyond maintaining the barrier, decided to guard Hinata since they remembered that the boss wanted to make sure that Hinata always had guards with her. One clone, henged into a cat, circled around her ankles to try and cheer her up while one disguised himself as a samurai from the Daimyō. One took off to scout ahead while the final clone just walked alongside Hinata.

After the group returned Tazuna to the camp, Team 7 and 8 stayed to protect him while the Daimyō's men gathered a large group of workers to clear the battlefield and inspect the bridge and surrounding areas for any more hostile activity.

 **With Yugito**

* * *

Yugito managed to finally reign herself in and regain control over the panicky fear that had overcome her senses. She was about to disengage her chakra cloak and try to recall what happened when a red blur emerged from the brush behind her, slamming into her with enough force to send her flying several feet.

She managed to right herself while in the air due to her combat reflexes and landed gracefully in a defensive stance facing the direction she was attacked from. She wheezed slightly since the attack had managed to knock the wind out of her and she was subtly trying to regain it back. Her eyes were snapping back and forth trying to identify the threat.

Her eyes were drawn towards the Konoha genin enveloped in a red chakra cloak charging at her rapidly. She evaded by ducking his slash attack and swiped him across the ribs. His approach was predictable and sloppy, but before she could taunt him, she noticed that her attack had caused practically no damage to the genin at all. Her Nibi enhanced claws, which were capable of shearing through most armor, had barely scratched his torso and she watched the small cuts that she had managed to make close and heal before her very eyes.

Yugito's mind was racing as she tried to understand who this little brat was before she quickly put it all together. The only possible explanation was that this little Konoha genin was the Kyūbi jinchūriki.

She barely had time to evade his next rush of attacks as he dashed at her with incredible speed and began clawing at her wildly. It took all her cat-like agility to avoid his wild attacks, but she was able to counter and send a high powered kick to launch him back through a tree and into the brush.

Yugito didn't have a chance to even take another breath before the boy came flying out of the brush, less than a second later, and managed to land several swipes across her body through her chakra cloak. His chakra enhanced claws were tearing into the muscles on her arms and stomach and shredding through her skin. She could feel the Nibi focusing more chakra towards her wounds, trying to help her heal while ranting at her about something, but she was too busy trying to evade the wild attacks from the boy to pay any attention.

Yugito started to get angry at the little brat and began to counter by returning more vicious swipes. She had to concentrate on focusing more chakra to her claws to pierce through his chakra cloak and saw that she was starting to cause some real damage, but the boy was too far gone to really care and was increasing the rate of his attacks on her.

Yugito decided that the berserker melee attacks weren't working. Even though he was taking deeper cuts and scratches across his arms and chest, his wounds were healing within a few seconds. Yugito dodged another swipe before trying to throw an overhand elbow to his temple to stagger him, but he simply turned his head and caught her elbow between his teeth before biting down.

Yugito screamed out in frustration and pain before punching the boy in the face a few times, dislodging him from her arm. His fangs carved small furrows into her forearm, shredding her arm wraps as he stumbled back from the force of her punches. Yugito kicked him while he was off balance, sending him flying a few feet back before she leaped back to increase the distance between them even further. Yugito focused chakra into her mouth and spat out her Nezumi Kedama (Mouse Hairball) towards the boy which split to become a rain of fiery projectiles.

The boy took a deep breath and expanded his lungs before letting out a roar. The roar created a huge shock wave which sent all of the projectiles flying backward. Yugito strafed and dodged the returning fireballs then sent another Nezumi Kedama, which managed to strike the boy as he had been in the process of charging towards her immediately after he sent out that roar.

The multiple projectiles hammered into the him causing him to cry out before he landed on all fours and stared at her. Suddenly his killing intent rose, and Yugito watched as a single tail began to form and started to wave around behind him, almost in a taunting manner.

'Shit that was just his initial cloak stage, and it was almost comparable to my two tail cloak.' Yugito thought as she caught her breath. 'If he weren't out of control I wouldn't stand a chance.'

The boy dashed at her in a burst of speed too quick for her to follow and she was tackled by him, She was preparing to roll backward with the momentum and kick him off, but her vision suddenly went black as she was forced into a mindscape.

She looked around in confusion and was about to yell at the stupid demon when she stopped short and saw the Kyūbi staring down at her with its teeth bared and his tails flaring wildly behind him. Yugito's heart stopped, and she couldn't breathe when her eyes fell onto the Kyūbi.

The fucking Kyūbi was there, and it had no cage to keep it contained. Yugito cowered in fear and began to backpedal slowly as if trying to placate a bear she had stumbled across. She was halted in her progression by bumping into something which caused her to look up and see the Nibi outside of its cage as well, looking down at her.

She stumbled away and turned her back towards the wall keeping both of the demons in her sight and praying for some miracle. She had a hell of a battle subduing the Nibi the first time she was allowed to confront the demon and gain mastery over its chakra. That was in a controlled environment with support teams to pull her out if she was losing control to the demon. Now she had to not just deal with the Nibi directly, but the Kyūbi, who was rumored to be at least five times stronger than the Nibi.

Yugito tensed when the Kyūbi made a move and drew closer towards her before letting loose a rumbling growl that shook the mindscape. Instead of continuing forwards, however, the Kyūbi looked down and began lowering its head towards the ground. She then noticed the boy that was attacking her earlier laying there seemingly unconscious. The Nibi apparently took an interest in the kid as well because instead of moving to attack her the Nibi moved forwards towards the Kyūbi and lowered its head to study the blond closely.

Yugito decided it was wise for her to run while they were distracted with the boy. As she took off towards the hallway she spotted from the corner of her eye, she began trying to come up with a way to get out of this place, but her thoughts were halted when the hallway she was approaching vanished leaving only a wall in its place. Yugito whirled around in fear looking desperately for another route, but there was no other way out. She was trapped in this room with the Kyūbi and the Nibi free to do whatever they pleased with her.

" **You can't escape like that, girl. Only I can let you out of this mindscape. I will not allow you to return to your body just yet, we have business to attend to."** Nibi said

Yugito had started to calm herself to try and help her focus on getting out of this alive. When she heard the demon mention the mindscape she immediately tried to force her way out of the mindscape like she had been taught during her jinchūriki training. However, all her attempts to leave failed and Yugito didn't know what to think anymore.

The Nibi must be trying to play tricks on her because there was no way that she had just observed the vicious Kyūbi pick that boy up gently before settling down into a relaxed position and placing the boy on top of his paw. He should be shredding the boy to pieces or swallowing him.

The Kyūbi huffed as if in response to her thoughts. She tried to force her way out again before she tried to alter the mindscape to put a wall between them. When that did not work, she realized that the demon was telling the truth and that the only way out was if the Nibi let her leave. Remembering the lessons from the Third Raikage about speaking with the demon she put on a brave front and looked the Nibi in the eye.

"I don't care what business you have just let me out of here! This was not a part of the arrangement we came to when I successfully beat you on Genbu (Island Turtle). I won't listen to any of your lies or manipulations so let me out of here now! I won't let you loose to attack Kumo again!" Yugito shouted.

The Kyūbi snorted again before swishing his tails and resting his head on the paw not occupied by the unconscious boy before closing its eyes.

Nibi turned towards her **"That's not true. My first jinchūriki went out into the remote mountains to the north of the village near the end of her life to set me free. The next thing I know, that cursed Third Raikage was attacking me to seal me away into an object as if I were some sort of** ** _thing_** **to be stored away. Then I finally manage to break free of that prison only to be attacked once again and sealed away into you. I just want to be free, like anything else in this world."**

"Shut up! I told you I'm not listening to your crap! Now let me out of here!" Yugito shouted shakily.

" **Hmph. I don't know why you bother with that loud mouth fool. She can not be trusted with our goals. Expel her from this place so we don't have to deal with her filth any longer. I feel my kit will need a bath after being in her presence."** the Kyūbi said with a growl.

Nibi hissed at the Kyūbi **"Always so grumpy! Even I would have thought you would have calmed down now that you have a kitten of your own. Fine."**

Yugito found herself in her own mindscape and finally relaxed a bit, but she couldn't leave at all. She tried to exit the mindscape for several minutes but was unsuccessful. At least, she was able to modify the landscape like normal, and the demons were no longer there.

Yugito stared at the Nibi's empty cage and began to worry. Now that she was no longer openly panicking, she began to review everything that occurred so far on this disastrous mission and the biggest question on her mind was kind of goals did the demons have?


	20. Confessions of a Bijū

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

 **AN: Warning:** This chapter contains lots of **BOLD** **.** I know I tend to find it really annoying, but please bear with it for the sake of continuity.

Edit 4/21/16

 **Chapter 19**

 **Confessions of a Bijū**

 **Naruto's Mindscape**

* * *

" **So Kurama what miracle has occurred that you have adopted this kitten as your own?"** Matatabi said.

 **"** **The kit is a pure soul, unlike the rest of the mortal filth that has infested our world,"** Kurama said before tilting his head to study Naruto's unconscious form. **"The kit disdains any lying or deception and is selfless. The only time I could convince him to lie to people, or even take what was necessary for him, was if I convinced him it was for the greater benefit, and even then the kit would still feel guilt. He would only relent on his morals when he felt he was being selfish and ignoring my feelings."** Kurama finished.

" **Oh? That is quite impressive. Do you really feel that your cute little kitten is the one that can help us?"** Matatabi asked.

" **Did you not feel it as well when you studied him closely? Do you not see, even now, how his aura is reaching out trying to merge with yours as it is with mine?"** Kurama asked.

Matatabi narrowed her eyes for a bit to look closer but didn't see anything, so she settled down into a relaxed position like Kurama. After a few minutes, she saw a tendril of golden orange light stretching towards her from Naruto.

" **It's usually much stronger, but I fear that it will become tainted if we can not recover him from the blood lust quickly,"** Kurama said sadly.

" **Then we must settle the rage in our chakra so that the kitten can recover. I have learned that suppressing your chakra alone is not enough to calm our containers. If you solidify and compact your chakra further, so it becomes denser it will help calm the kitten."** Matatabi explained. **"Denser chakra aids in suppressing the emotions flowing through to your jinchūriki by slowing the movement of our chakra into their system. Let us both focus on solidifying even further and that should stop the blood lust."** Matatabi said as she settled down.

Usually, Kurama would snap at anyone telling him what to do but in this situation he had to admit he was less knowledgeable. He had never had a real relationship with any of his previous containers and had less experience being sealed away than any of his brethren. Kurama and Matatabi both focused on compacting their chakra to make it as dense as possible.

Thousands upon thousands of years of being pursued and attacked by humanity had left a lot of residual anger and rage in their chakra, which easily fed the most instinctual nature of their container's spirit. Since their being was comprised entirely out of chakra, all those feelings and memories had infused with their chakra. Even if the bijū was calm at the moment, the rage of a hundred years was still traveling through their chakra bodies.

It was only through advanced nature and shape manipulation that the bijū developed their physical forms to mimic all manner of creatures. From fur to shell, from claws to tentacles the only real commonality that they shared was a representation of their tails. Even the bijū were unaware of where their tail designation had come from since the amount of chakra they were capable of containing had already been established before they had gained their sentience.

Soon, Kurama sensed Naruto beginning to stir on his paw. He gently grasped Naruto with his other paw to keep him from thrashing about in case he was still in the berserker mindset.

Naruto felt warm and secure finally. For a time, all he could remember was wanting to chase something and kill it. He wanted to tear into its flesh and drink its blood. Suddenly it was like he was blinded wandering around through the darkness trying to find something. His body felt an extreme heat that was almost burning but also a biting cold that felt worse than any snow or ice he had felt. As he wandered in that dark place, he started to wonder if he had died, or if his friends had survived the battle.

Now as the warmth surrounded him, he began to stir and was bombarded with the sensations of fear, anger, and rage. Images of death and carnage continued to flash through his mind, and he began to feel revulsion.

 **"** **Calm down, kit. It is over now."** A voice called out to him.

It was familiar, but he couldn't recall who it was. All he knew was that they felt _safe_. They felt like... something he couldn't describe, but it was nice, and it drew him in like a warm blanket you wanted to envelop yourself in when it was cold out.

Naruto opened his eyes and once his eyes focused he saw him. He was the safe one but he... why couldn't he remember his name? In fact, he couldn't remember hardly anything. Only those images where he was killing people and people were killing him. He had died so many times and had killed so many people. It didn't make any sense. How could an arrow have killed him when he had been electrocuted by that man attacking her or was it the spear through his chest when he protected him? His mind was so clouded and confused at the moment. He knew them, but he didn't. Maybe _he_ would help him understand.

Kurama saw Naruto open his eyes and look at him, but he had a blank look on his face and hadn't moved or blinked. Kurama that realized that the kit must still be partially disconnected from his mind. Kurama placed him on the ground of the mindscape to help his container reestablish a connection to his logical mind.

As soon as Naruto's feet contacted the ground of the mindscape, a flood of memories washed over him, and he began to retch in disgust. He collapsed onto his hands and knees with tears pouring out of his eyes.

"Oh, Kami. I killed so many people. So many and they were burning and screaming, and then it all went red, and all I could think about was blood and how I wanted blood so badly. Kurama, what have I done..." Naruto trailed off as he began sobbing.

 **"** **Its okay, kit, you did not harm any of your companions if that is your concern. The rest of that filth deserved their deaths do not feel pity for them."** Kurama said.

"But..." Naruto tried to say

 **"** **No! Do not feel sorry for that filth. They were murderers and thieves, they rape and steal for pleasure. They were nothing but greedy corrupted scum who deserved nothing more than what they got."** Kurama said sharply, **"Do you not recall their plans for the white eyed vixen? Do you not remember what they spoke of doing to her? What of those Root snakes who are seeking you out and the Uchiha brat? What of all the things those snakes have done to others? Do you think they deserve mercy?"**

"I... I know you are right b-but it still feels wrong Kurama. There was a part of me that wanted to tear into them and to see their blood spilling out. How could I feel that way? It's wrong to feel like that! I feel like a-"

" **No. Naruto you are far from a monster. All humans were animals at first, and that instinct remains even after generations of evolving to the point where they no longer needed those instincts, those first instincts always remain."** Kurama said in a placating tone. **"Your spirit is born of your body and thus, will never be entirely free of those instincts. The reason you felt such things so strongly is because all instincts are tied to an emotion and, as I had warned you before, my chakra will amplify those feelings. That is why you lost control completely."** Kurama explained gently. **"That is why you must remain calm and focused so that your logical mind is not overwhelmed."** Kurama fell silent for a moment to let that information sink in before he continued speaking. **"What is truly important is that you detest such actions, and now that you have experienced and understand where those instincts are based off of, you can begin to develop the will to control them."**

Naruto just nodded shakily before clambered up onto Kurama's paw. He plopped down face first and started crying to release all the pain and guilt he felt. The bijū just let him be until his sobs subsided to sniffles.

Matatabi's heart went out to the poor kitten. She had never seen any mortals act like this over killing thugs and bandits. Most of her containers had enjoyed killing bandits and mercenaries. Even when it was as challenging as tearing through a paper bag, they still seemed to revel slaughtering them and almost all her containers had actively used their blood lust for every battle. Even Yugito, who claimed to despise her and called her a bloodthirsty demon, was quick to pull on her chakra when enraged.

Yugito denied it, but she reveled in killing her enemies. Yugito always acted like she was noble and above such a thing, but Matatabi could tell that she joyously used that blood lust on the Root ninja. She would have continued on, killing everyone else in the area if not for the boy unleashing Kurama's chakra as he did. Then she was able to capitalize on Yugito's instincts at that moment and flood her with overwhelming fear so that she would run. Matatabi had no doubt she would have gone after the rest of the kitten's team because of the death or her friend.

This little kitten was distraught about killing those thugs and revolted by that blood thirst. Instead of pawning off the blame of those emotions onto Kurama he accepted the truth and didn't even get angry that it was Kurama's chakra that had forced him to succumb to those feelings. He truly was pure and innocent.

" **There, there, little kitten everything will be all right."** Matatabi purred soothingly.

Naruto shot his head up and said "Huh? Who was that?" he wiped his face off on his arm and turned his head around spotting Matatabi.

"Are you one of Kurama's friends?" Naruto asked as he stared up at the giant blue and black flaming cat.

Naruto studied Matatabi and noticed she was lying in the same position Tora always was when sleeping in one of his planters. Matatabi's paws were tucked underneath her and her tail wrapped around her side. He noticed that her "fur" was in constant motion with black swirling through it like a ghostly flame. Her yellow and green eyes fixed on him, and her head was lowered as she studied him. Instead of being frightened by her appearance Naruto thought Matatabi was beautiful. Having Kurama as his constant companion must have desensitized him to giant otherworldly creatures.

" **Why yes. I am Kurama's friend and thank you for the compliment little kitten."** Matatabi said.

"Um, my name is Naruto it is nice to meet you," Naruto said with a slightly red face he hadn't realized that Kurama's friend could hear his thoughts also.

" **Nice to meet you, Naruto. I am known as Matatabi."** Matatabi replied.

"How did you get in here?" Naruto asked.

" **I established a link with her, kit. It is an ability all bijū share with their jinchūriki and each other."** Kurama explained.

"I'm glad you got to see your friend again, but, Kami, we are going to be so screwed Kurama. There is no way jiji isn't going to learn about this." Naruto said flopped down onto his back and put both of his hands over his face.

" **Let's worry about that later. Right now we have more important things to discuss."** Kurama said.

"Okay, Kurama." Naruto rolled onto his side to face Kurama's right eye as it focused on him.

" **I brought Matatabi into the mindscape because we had hoped to speak with her jinchūriki as well since this truth involves all of you, but she refused to listen so we had to remove her because we can not avoid revealing these secrets to those who distrust us. It is important for you to understand one thing, first of all, Naruto."** Kurama said seriously. **"I _hate_ humans. I _despise_ them with my very being, but I am not out to wipe out the human race from the planet or destroy all their villages in the way that the humans would have you believe, but something must be done about humanity's actions because it is a danger to us all. For you to understand completely, I will have to start from the beginning."**

"I understand Kurama," Naruto said. Naruto didn't need his senses to know that was the truth. Kurama had always talked about how most humans were corrupt and if they weren't, then they were beneath his notice.

" **Now the bijū existed in the world for millennia before humans ever existed but we did not have a form as you see now. The bijū lived as chakra flowing throughout the world in all living things and all the elements. Like regular chakra, we could be called upon to be used for abilities similar to your jutsu before we would return to the land and continue the cycle of chakra."** Kurama explained, **"As you know, chakra exists in some form in everything and for the longest time the bijū were simply a part of that, chakra in its natural form, or as some people call it Natural chakra."** Kurama said.

Naruto's listened intently interested in learning about a history that few would ever learn about.

 **"As our sentience evolved we began to watch the creatures of the world out of curiosity and fascination."** Kurama's voice took on a more wistful tone that Naruto had never heard from his fox companion. **"We watched humanity evolve from the ancestor of the apes, and as time passed, they became more advanced than the other creatures and began to learn how to utilize chakra. These humans were in balance with nature and lived wandering lives, roaming throughout the lands following the prey herds that provided their food and competing with the other predators for survival. They would use chakra to hunt or heal, but they also performed rituals with their chakra feeding it back to the land because they had a belief that chakra was a gift granted to them by spirits of nature. The different tribes of humans would always feed their chakra into these places which they saw as divine or unique due to their deviations from everything around them. Things like an unusually large tree, an oddly shaped rock formation, or a place that an unusual creature they worshiped would reside. In this way, the cycle of chakra remained balanced."** Kurama said in a respectful tone.

 **"During that time, we had begun to adopt the forms that you see now, based on the creatures we liked to watch the most. The human population of that time was small, and they didn't utilize chakra as extensively as humans do now creating a massive surplus of chakra that was maintained by their traditions or feeding chakra back into the land. With this abundance, we were able to create these forms and wander the lands since there were no other creatures to threaten the balance. There was no conflict between these primitive humans and us** **as they either avoided us out of fear or revered us as these spirits of nature."** Kurama's tone took on a hint of amusement as he continued. **"We did not care for such matters, but we were capable of living in harmony with each other. There was a tribe of humans that used to stay near one of my dens during the winter for some time that would leave offerings to me. While I had no such use for sustenance in that manner, I will admit that once I mimicked the sensory organs of my chosen creatures, I found some of the scents interesting."**

Naruto was so enthralled with the story that he had reverted to his old childish habit from the orphanage. He was laid out flat on his belly and had his head propped up with both his hands. His knees were bent towards his back slowly swinging back and forth as he stared up at Kurama.

 **"Then I traveled to the far side of the world to visit the other continents and see the creatures that live there and it was quite different from here, so I lingered for awhile studying the animals and immersing myself in the environment and chakra that flowed there."** Kurama let out a sigh as he continued to reminisce on a distant but happy memory. **"There were no humans evolved over there so it was quiet and peaceful in that place and the chakra flowed differently than it did over here because of it. I spent quite some time trying to understand why the chakra flowed so differently and after some time, I realized that it was because of humanity that the movement of chakra in our area was so different. It was all because there were no creatures in those lands that used chakra at all."**

Matatabi chimed in at that point. **"While Kurama was away the humans in this area of the world began to develop rather quickly. They began to worship the Kami or follow the path of the Buddha, so the practice of returning chakra back into the land began to die out."** Matatabi said sadly. **"They also became more proficient at using chakra for different purposes, but there were a few of the humans that became especially adept at the usage of chakra. They began to teach others how to increase their capability of using chakra for different reasons. One human had traveled to the various tribes showing the healing and nurturing power of chakra. How they could replenish the environment when they had eaten all the fruits and vegetables in the area or how they could heal the sick and dying."** Matatabi's melodic voice became deeper with disdain. **"Other humans used their adept abilities in chakra for greed. They conquered other tribes of humans, placing them into servitude or wiping out entire families and clans because they would not bow to them."**

Naruto openly frowned when he heard that part.

 **"** **As both of these adept humans gained power, they also gained prominence and tribes would begin to gather around them. Generations passed, and their offspring continued their work. More tribes began to gather with those who sought balance or be conquered by those who sought power. Some of the greedy tribes even willingly joined with the power hungry as they gave into their base instincts and reveled in the blood lust."** Kurama let out a huff of contempt but remained silent as Matatabi continued with the story. **"Eventually, the humans evolved to the point that they no longer had to wander to survive. They established the ability to grow plants and raise animals. In this time, the first villages began to exist as those who sought balance banded together to defend against those who sought power. The cycle of chakra remained intact because we were able to balance the draw of chakra from the humans with the restoration of chakra from our own massive reserves and the addition of Agriculture increasing the amount of plant life overall. Since there was such a dramatic increase in cultivated plant life, the land was able to regenerate the chakra it had lost before it would draw from our reserves."** Matatabi paused to let Kurama continue.

" **It was at this time that I returned to these lands and was startled by what I had seen. The humans were in open warfare against each other across the land and utilizing chakra in destructive means."** Kurama said with his voiced laced with disdain. **"It was disturbing to me, but it was not my concern if the mortals wished to eliminate themselves. The only real tragedy was all the damage caused to the environment. I was not too concerned about this, at the time, since I had more than enough reserves to help the land restore what was lost and I have always been capable of increasing the flow of chakra to help repair the damage at a greater rate."** Kurama said.

 **"** **Then the villages grew in size and began to expand into areas where we had made our dens,"** Kurama said with a growl. **"Some of my brethren simply relocated like Matatabi here or Kokuō, while I preferred to defend my territory from their destructive ways."**

Naruto frowned at that thought. He knew Kurama wasn't a goody two-shoes, but couldn't he just move away from them? He said he had multiple dens.

Kurama snorted **"Would you have simply moved away from your den if those Root snakes or the rabid pink banshee decided to move in and attack you for no reason?"**

Naruto looked sheepish. "I guess I wouldn't be happy about that either."

 **"** **Hmph. The next major event that occurred was when one of the humans learned how to contain one of us bijū inside a human creating the first jinchūriki. Fūinjutsu did not exist, and the humans were too stupid to understand how the cycle of chakra works inside their own bodies, so the containment jutsu was sloppy."** Kurama said in disgust. **"The man only saw this as a positive result since they could simply leave the jinchūriki out in front of the advancing army of their enemy like a faulty explosive tag ready to explode."**

Naruto had a grim expression on his face. Even the first jinchūriki had been treated as a lesser being. It was as if jinchūriki became a different race to them instead of a human with a seal on their body.

"Is what they teach us in school today accurate then? I thought it was our physical energy and spiritual energy combined that created the chakra system within us." Naruto asked.

 **"That is a basic way of understanding how the chakra within you flows, but something can not be created from nothing in this world,"** Kurama explained. **"In truth, your spiritual energy draws chakra from the world directly, while your physical energy draws chakra from the creatures and plants that you eat for sustenance,"** Kurama grumbled in a tone that he used when he was annoyed.

Naruto, knowing why Kurama was annoyed, felt sheepish that he had interrupted Kurama. "I'm sorry I just had to know if everything I was taught was completely wrong."

 **"Do not worry yourself about it, kit,"** Kurama said nonchalantly. **"I knew you would have questions, even if you now know more about how chakra works than any other human in history. I hadn't planned on explaining how it functioned in your body to such detail, but I see now that it will help you better understand the true nature of chakra."**

Kurama swished his tails before continuing. **"Once the containment spell broke the captured bijū, Son Gokū, rampaged the area in retaliation for his incarceration. He hunted down the man who contained him and found him hiding in his village. Son Gokū learned that the entire village had planned this action and decided the best course of action was to destroy everyone involved so that this idea wouldn't spread."** Matatabi growled her displeasure but didn't say anything.

 **"Unfortunately for us, this caused the opposite effect. Word had spread and out of fear the remaining villages decided to seek us out to either attack and destroy us to remove the threat, or to try and contain us to use against their enemies."** Kurama said with a growl, but Naruto couldn't be certain he was more upset with Son Gokū or humanity. **"For centuries, the humans tried to kill or contain us as before, but most of us were able to defend ourselves successfully and avoid that fate. Then the offspring of those fools would swear revenge against us for protecting ourselves and humanity would continue to develop ways to capture us or eliminate us completely."** Kurama said in an annoyed tone.

 **"While the others had been sealed away in objects or pseudo-jinchūriki,** **their methods were still not effective enough to keep us sealed away for extended periods of time. My brethren would be able to escape and restore the balance, or they were forced to reform, and their reserves helped alleviate the damage."** Kurama said with a snort. **"Since myself and Gyūki had managed to remain free the longest, we were still able to make up the difference for our brethren being sealed and keep the cycle from falling apart.**

 **"Finally, we reach more current history where the villages had become as you know them today. Konoha was founded by one who had been a part of the group of humans that believed in balance and harmony, and his partner was one who had been a part of the group of humans that believed in domination through power. There was some hope amongst the bijū that humanity might return to feeding chakra back into the land because that man's ability was focused entirely on feeding his chakra into the earth and growing plants that contained vastly more chakra than usual. He grew the forests around Konoha, and there was an opportunity for the abundance to return."** Kurama's voice now took on a very bitter tone. **"Yet our hopes were dashed by humanity, once again, since that** **same man decided to hunt us down and sealed us all away, with the aid of the Uzumaki clan who had finally developed fūinjutsu strong enough to keep us imprisoned with ease. He felt that distributing us like tools based on our power levels, to rival and ally villages alike, would stop humans from warring since each village now had equal power at their disposal, but he was foolish to believe that humanity would stop warring since there will always be humans who lust for power and domination. After seeing all my brethren caught, I was prepared to flee to the other continent and try to find a way to fix the cycle. Before I could leave, however, that damn Uchiha found me and used his filthy Sharingan eyes to force me to attack, but you already know that story because I told you about it before."** Kurama growled.

"You're talking about Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha who fought at the Valley of the end right?" Naruto asked.

 **"Correct. This is why I have become so knowledgeable about fūinjutsu because it is the greatest threat to us. In a way, I was fortunate enough to be sealed in the woman who had developed the seals that were so effective against us. Through her eyes is where I gained most of my understanding for fūinjutsu."** Kurama said with a huff.

 **"Now that you understand the bigger picture you will have a greater understanding of the threat that is facing the world now. Since humanity has made certain my brethren and I remain sealed for over a century, we have not been able to maintain the balance. While we can help restore and stop some of the damage whenever we reform, the humans always immediately seal us again right away, because of this the cycle has broken and the world is suffering because of it."** Kurama said in a grave tone. **"** **As long as the bijū remain sealed in jinchūriki, the cycle of chakra can not be restored. It is why bijū who are in a jinchūriki when they are slain take a long time to reform because our reserves are being used by the land to try and repair the damage that has been accumulating. We can only reform when the land has generated enough of a reserve. Now some humans foolishly believe that we reform after a set amount of time, but that is false."** Matatabi let out a huff after that statement. **"In reality, humans have not been as successful in slaying jinchūriki to realize that it is taking longer and longer for us to reform since we are now sealed for longer periods of time. The flow of chakra is being disrupted to a degree that, within a dozen generations, if things are not done to correct the balance the land itself will start losing enough chakra to sustain itself. Once the land begins to lose its chakra, it will seek out chakra to correct this balance."** Kurama gave Naruto a pointed glance before asking the big question. **"Since the bijū are sealed in humans where do you think the land will look for this chakra?"**

Naruto gasped and covered his mouth. "It will drain all the humans, and if we get drained of all our chakra we will die! Everything will die! We have to tell them about this they have to understand ** _!_** "

" **Do you think they will believe it, kit? Do you think you can really convince the old monkey goat about what I said?"** Kurama said.

Naruto deflated at the thought. "You're right. No one would ever believe me. They will think that you have just corrupted my mind and are trying to manipulate me to free you, but I can sense you aren't lying. Things would be so much easier if people can just sense lies like we could."

Matatabi snickered. **"Not even I have that ability kitten. Kurama was the one that has that developed that capability and by essence, you gained it when he was sealed inside you. However, you are correct in that manner. Things would be a lot smoother if we all could sense such things."**

"I promise you Kurama and you too Matatabi I will help you find a way to stop this somehow. I bet with fūinjutsu I can find a seal that would work!" Naruto said excitedly as his mind began to calculate the possibilities. "We can make it so that they can't seal you at all! You said your chakra was permanently lost when my father used the Shiki Fūjin (Reaper Death Seal) maybe I can find a way to modify it or make a new seal so that you can't be sealed at all." Naruto said.

 **"You don't need to do anything like that, kit. I have already developed a seal that should suit our purpose when used in combination with an ancient jutsu. However, it will require a lot of work on your part to gather what is needed. It will take all your strength and many years of training to seek out these items, and ensure that you have the strength to use this jutsu."** Kurama took on a solemn tone as he continued. **"** **You will also have to flee Konoha at some point, which I know is painful for you, but it must be done. Take comfort in the fact that you will have several years to spend with those you are close to, and that, in the end, you are protecting them from harm."**

"...I understand, Kurama. What do I need to do?" Naruto said solemnly. He didn't want to abandon the village, but he would do what was necessary to save it. He couldn't stand by and let this catastrophe happen even if he had to sacrifice his home and possibly be labeled as a traitor.

 **"Are you certain you wish to aid us? If this is discovered, you will most likely become an outcast of your race. You will be seen as an enemy or they will believe that we have seized control of your mind and will feel like they are freeing you, by slaying you. I also don't want you to feel entitled to help because of your promise. You have already kept your promise to me Naruto I see you as if you were apart of me."** Kurama said before he nudged Naruto gently with his nose.

Naruto got all watery eyed and hugged Kurama's snout. "I'm glad Kurama. I trust you more than jiji or any of the others because I know you are always with me."

" **Hmph. Enough with the crying, kit, you will be entering maturity soon."** Kurama grumbled

"I want to help you Kurama ** _!_** No matter what. I can't just go about my life ignoring something like this! Even if I become a traitor, or they start hunting me, this problem is bigger than me or the village. I think because of your hatred for humans you think it will be impossible to do what you want without declaring war on them. I believe we can find a different way without all the humans turning against us. You said that there were humans who wanted harmony and balance, and I believe those humans still exist in this world and will help us."

" **Hmph. Look at all those fools in the village, do you really think things will get better for you with them? You even disregarded their significance. Imagine now when they learn the truth."** Kurama said.

"It doesn't matter what they think. I can only let my actions dictate who I am while the others watch and come to their own beliefs. It has worked for me so far and even what jiji has told me has proven true. 'Time changes how all things are viewed' For good or for bad it doesn't matter to me. As long as you aren't asking me to kill innocent people for no reason or destroy villages, then it won't matter." Naruto said

 **"** **Very well, Naruto, for good or for bad we remain together on this path,"** Kurama said.

 **"** **Before you start to explain, Kurama, let me grant him the second gift of nine. Time in the real world has elapsed to the point where we will face discovery soon, and I must depart."** Matatabi interrupted.

" **Very well. Go over to Matatabi, kit; her gift will hurt a bit at first, but it will be worth it. Do not be afraid."** Kurama said.

Naruto slid down off Kurama's paw and approached Matatabi's outstretched paw. He hesitated for a moment not sure what to do.

" **Go ahead and place your hand on my paw, kitten. It won't hurt for long, I promise."** Matatabi said.

Naruto placed his hand on Matatabi's paw and thought 'soft' before blue chakra flames surrounded him. Naruto gritted his teeth as the scalding hot chakra swirled around him and entered his body traveling through his pathways and into his core where chakra creation originates.

The heat died down, and his burns healed rapidly as he felt Matatabi's chakra merge into his. Naruto noticed that his chakra felt thicker and seemed to flow slower than it did before.

"Thank you for your gift, Matatabi." Naruto bowed

 **"** **Oh, aren't you just a precious little kitten."** Matatabi cooed before grumbling towards Kurama. **"You were always so damn lucky Kurama. To think** ** _you_** **amongst all of us would get the most cooperative container."**

Matatabi turned her focus back to Naruto. **"What my gift to you, Naruto, is my blue flame ability. Like how your chakra is merging with Kurama's, I have combined a portion of my chakra with yours also, so it's like you are carrying a piece of me with you always. My blue flame will increase your affinity with fire jutsu making your jutsu blue. It will also let me contact you or Kurama when we are within range of each other."**

"Wow! That's really cool, Matatabi! Thank you again. Sasuke is gonna be so jealous when he sees it ** _!_** " Naruto said, but he felt a twinge of pain inside him and wondered how his friends felt about him now. Would they be afraid of him or hate him like the rest of the villagers?

" **Now, kit, let us discuss what will be necessary to conduct the jutsu I was telling you about,"** Kurama said to distract him from his melancholy.

" **Good luck, kitten! My hope lies with you. I have faith you can do it."** Matatabi said before fading out.

" **Now, They will know we have established contact, and you have to prepare yourself to be attacked or imprisoned on your return to that cursed village,"** Kurama said.

"I don't think jiji will do something that extreme, yet. I know he cares for me also, and he will try to do what he can if he thinks it can "save" me from you." Naruto said.

 **"Hmph. It doesn't hurt to prepare for the worst."** Kurama said.

Naruto reluctantly nodded. He still had faith that his jichan would fight for him still.

 **"Pay close attention now kit. First, I will reveal the purpose of this plan and what will be needed so that we can both prepare. While I can keep this information to myself to ensure that it remains secret, I do not want to leave you in the dark because I want you to know the truth behind my actions. Keep in mind that if you do not keep this hidden the plan will likely fall apart and become impossible so I am counting on you to keep our movements secret. I know how much you hate to lie and manipulate people but when you start to, remember the cost."** Kurama said. **"After that, we will create a plan in case the village becomes hostile towards us."**

"I won't let you down Kurama. I promise." Naruto said

 **Outside of Naruto's Mindscape**

* * *

Yugito groaned as she was suddenly and forcefully ejected from her mindscape by that damn demon without any warning. She didn't know what the demons were plotting, but it couldn't be good. Yugito opened her eyes and saw that not too much time had passed while she was trapped. No more than an hour at most. As Yugito moved to sit up, she noticed an odd weight was holding her down.

Yugito looked down to see the young Konoha genin unconscious on top of her. This little brat was the Kyūbi jinchūriki and for some reason, the demons seemed to have a lot of interest in him. She didn't know what that meant, but this was an opportunity for her to make up for this disastrous mission and hopefully avoid the ire of the Raikage.

She knew that the missing-nin were most likely dead. She had watched as the Konoha-nins obliterated everyone in the area before she lost control and went ballistic on those Root bastards.

So much for being peaceful tree-huggers, that opening salvo had to have killed at least 40 of those mercenaries in one shot by her estimates. Unfortunately, the Raikage would mark it as incomplete since she didn't have another witness alive to corroborate the events. Yugito teared up as she thought of her slaughtered friend. Root had eliminated her team so they couldn't vouch for her and there was no way she was going back over there to try and claim the bodies or other identifying items.

She thought about what she should do. The demons were up to something, but this boy was too young to know any better. She could take him with her and would probably get rewarded for bringing another jinchūriki to Kumo, but the Raikage might also be pissed since Konoha would be up in arms about losing their jinchūriki.

That left her with only one other option. She would have to kill him and free him from whatever plotting the demons were doing. The Kyūbi would take ten years to reform and probably attack Konoha again. Without the Kyūbi jinchūriki, they wouldn't have the power to launch an assault directly on Kumo so they would have to argue for compensation of some sort. That might annoy the Raikage, but she could claim self-defense as even the Konoha team had seen the boy was out of control.

Yugito rolled the boy off of her and onto his back before she stood up. She began mentally weighing the benefits and the downsides of both options as she looked down at the young boy. It was a shame the boy was adorable and probably in the same situation that she had been. Either taken from his home or his parents killed so they could force a demon into him and ruin all chances for him to have a normal life. She decided she would spare the boy the misery and end him quickly.

Yugito readied her blue chakra claws but found that the Nibi was being uncooperative. After a few minutes of arguing, she just ignored the demon and pulled out her kunai instead. Such a shame, a single claw would have left hardly a mark, and if the boy had parents or people that cared for him, they would have had some peace knowing that the child wouldn't have felt a thing as he died. Now he would feel the pain as he bled out. It would be quick but not quick enough.

"I'm sorry, kid but your better off not suffering what they plan to do. I hope you find peace." Yugito said as she pulled her kunai. Her senses warned her of an incoming threat and she managed to pivot and deflect an incoming kunai. She was forced to leap back when a Konoha Jōnin appeared in front of her and slashed at her with another kunai.

The Jōnin took up a defensive position in front of the boy, and Yugito cursed as she recognized just who this man was. She knew she could take the Copy Cat Kakashi under normal circumstances but with Nibi being uncooperative and screeching in her ear, she didn't want to risk it. She couldn't afford to show weakness, though, or he may take advantage and capture or kill her while she was vulnerable.

"I wouldn't think of doing that if I were you, Kumo. When the Hokage gets word of this, there will be hell to pay." Kakashi said as he revealed his Sharingan

"Hah! if I kill him now Konoha wouldn't stand a chance against Kumo with two perfect jinchūriki, and I'll probably be doing the kid a favor freeing him from the influence of that demon. Do you really think you can stop me? The container of the Nibi?" Yugito said cockily.

"Regardless, I won't let you harm him, even if it costs me my life. The rest of my team will be here any minute. Did you really think Konoha would have their jinchūriki on a team without a bijū suppression squad? Everyone knows no one keeps their bijū contained like we do." Kakashi bluffed.

Inwardly, Yugito felt a little concern. Most people believed that the Mokuton was lost to Konoha, but there had been rumors of an Anbu member who was capable of using the Shodaime's bloodline. If there was a Mokuton user nearby, she was screwed. Even with the Nibi's help there was no way to break free of the bijū suppressing jutsu. Konoha had also inherited some of the Uzumaki sealing techniques which were a significant threat.

"Don't threaten me! I'm not afraid of any of you, but you are lucky that the Raikage doesn't want to cause an incident. I only wanted the Kumo missing-nins dead, and you finished them off, but the Raikage will hear about your Root squad killing my comrades. I won't give you an out by attacking now. Konoha will have to answer for the murder of my chūnin squad." Yugito said before she took off back towards the sand bar to meet the fisherman.

If she was quick, he would still be in the area since he promised he wouldn't leave until the tide had changed, and the tide wouldn't change until early evening. The only saving grace of this whole mission would be the fact that Konoha was entirely to blame for killing four chūnin. Even if they did try to deny it, there were Konoha shinobi there to witness Root's attack, and she was confident they could still hold Konoha responsible for not ensuring their "disbanded" black ops team was actually disbanded.

Maybe the Raikage would sever the alliance, and Kumo would mobilize against Konoha. Once she settled things with the damn demon and got back to her full power, she would get to make Konoha pay for killing her parents by annihilating as many of those bastards as she could. A girl could only hope.

Kakashi watched the Nibi container leave with a sigh of relief and then hurried over to Naruto. Kakashi looked him over for any major injuries, and while he didn't seem injured, his clothing was tattered as if he had taken some significant damage and his breathing was a little more shallow than he would like. Kakashi summoned Pakkun and asked him to relay a message to the other team that he would be taking Naruto back to camp.

Once Pakkun set off, Kakashi picked up Naruto gently and carried him back to camp. He was right about one thing; this mission went way more sideways than he could have imagined. He was certain that his cute little genin would be crowing for weeks about their successful S-rank mission once they came to terms with the amount of death they had dealt, and what they had witnessed happening with Naruto.

The Hokage was probably going to be pissed about the whole situation with Kumo, but Kakashi had enough of his own anger to not feel so concerned. Come hell or high water; he would learn the truth about Naruto Uzumaki.

 **Bridge Construction site – Nami no Kuni**

* * *

Hinata and Sasuke were staring off towards the direction they last saw Naruto run off towards. When Naruto's clones had dispelled the barrier and followed along they still held out hope that Naruto was all right. The clones had remained with them for almost an hour and followed along when Team 7 and 8 began to escort Tazuna back towards the construction site once the battlefield was cleared.

As they started to make their way back down the road, however, the clones all suddenly dispersed without any warning. Now all they could do was sit and wonder what had happened to their teammate. Hinata and Sasuke both knew that Naruto's clones dispelling in that manner could only be due to one of three possibilities.

Naruto dismissed them himself and he was fine.

Naruto lost consciousness, and they dispelled which could mean he's in trouble or that Kakashi had to knock him out to regain control like he has stated.

Naruto was dead.

Sasuke had a frown on his face and his hands in his pockets to hide that he was clenching his fists. How the hell did things get so damn out of control? When that Kumo team showed up and started attacking the thugs, Sasuke thought it was a blessing in disguise. He was ready to focus on Root after he completed his combination attack with Kakashi. Then Root went after the other Kumo team that showed up, and things were looking even better.

He had been confident in his abilities as he slashed through the mercenaries like they were training targets until that asshole with the naginata showed up. The thought started to fill Sasuke with rage. How could a mere mercenary be capable of killing him? How could he gain the strength needed to get revenge when a simple chakra-less bandit could take him down.

The image of Naruto impaled in the chest, gripping the blade with his bare hands to protect him with that smile on his face flashed before him. Even if it was just a clone, Sasuke knew that the clones held the same personality as the original. The smile on Naruto's face wiped away his growing rage and instead filled him with fiery determination.

Naruto couldn't die; he couldn't lose another person. Sasuke owed him too much, and if Naruto was willing to take a blade for him, the least he could do was return the favor.

He knew that the village hated Naruto for whatever that power was, but what was it exactly? He had heard whispers of demon brat or monster, but Naruto had never behaved like that in the least so somehow those idiot villagers had learned about his power. After all the shit people had put him through, Naruto hadn't hurt a single person. Hell, he never even given anyone a moderate injury during a spar, so he couldn't understand why the villagers hated him.

Maybe it was some crazy bloodline that people didn't understand since his parents were unknown. Civilians were always freaked out by bloodlines that they didn't understand, and some quite ordinary shinobi were often treated as freaks because of it. Maybe they hated him because they were too weak to kill him and he didn't care enough about any of them to be hurt by their hatred.

None of that mattered to him, though, even if Naruto had some crazy unstable blood line Sasuke didn't see Naruto as a threat and he just hoped his friend was okay.

Hinata stood stiffly in the traditional Hyūga posture with a flat look on her face to prevent emotions from leaking out. Internally she was a wreck, the clones following her gave her some solace, but when they dispelled suddenly, she couldn't help but fear the worst.

While she had remembered the stories about the Yondaime defeating the Kyūbi in her youth, as she reviewed historical reports as part of her heiress training she had come across a lengthy report that described jinchūriki in detail. From that report, she had learned the Kyūbi couldn't actually die and was under the belief that the Yondaime had somehow managed to force the Kyūbi to disperse and that the Kyūbi had merely reformed somewhere else in the world. That report, plus what she had overheard her father and the elders discussing made things clear to her now.

Now it made perfect sense as to why Naruto was such a political time bomb and a village pariah. Naruto with his gorgeous blue eyes and cute whiskered face held the Kyūbi inside of him. Naruto, who was calm and caring towards his friends and had never shown a malicious bone in his body to his sworn enemies, held the Kyūbi inside him.

The Kyūbi that was defined as a natural disaster and was malevolence and hatred in physical form was inside of Naruto, and she had been completely unaware. She had studied him with her Byakugan more than once, during training, and had considered his odd chakra color to be due to his dual affinity for Wind and Water, which was extremely rare to have. People could master and become proficient but to have dual natures naturally was usually only reserved for people with bloodlines...

Hinata almost gasped aloud at that thought. She hadn't even considered that he could have some sort of bloodline. That would explain why he was chosen to hold the Kyūbi. While the Kyūbi could also be the cause of Naruto's dual nature, most reports of the Kyūbi attack had mentioned fire, not water and Naruto had not drawn on the Kyūbi's power before this day. She was certain of that fact. That feeling of rage and malevolence was too strong and overwhelming for it to have been simply hidden or suppressed.

Naruto had always had enormous chakra reserves, beyond anything she had seen. Even Kakashi-sensei's reserves were comparable to Naruto's, and Kakashi was an experienced ninja who had been training and increasing his reserves for at least a decade more than them. Naruto's physical stamina seemed endless as he would perform an intense workout, followed by sparring and training, followed by a run or another workout. Then he would still have the energy to walk around town with Sasuke and herself talking about various things or hanging out together.

Hinata silently prayed that Naruto was okay. She hoped that he hadn't lost his kind and caring nature to that malicious beast inside of him. Hinata began thinking of ways to help Naruto with his burden. She could make his favorite onigiri more often and perhaps learn to make ramen for him. There were also a few rare plants that the clan had acquired recently; she would order the gardeners to make cuttings for him knowing that he liked to tend to a garden.

Kurenai was lost in her thoughts as well. She had been afraid of what was going to happen to her team when both of the jinchūriki began to use their demon chakra. That Kumo jinchūriki had butchered 16 apparent Anbu members in mere moments. She didn't know who those Anbu were, but whoever they had belonged to had just lost a significant force in under three minutes.

She had heard rumors of jinchūriki battles in the past, and it was said that they sometimes fundamentally changed the landscape around them. Destroying mountains or creating lakes with the power of their attacks. That Kumo one barely seemed to be exerting herself, and while she didn't witness Naruto do much, that roar alone had almost blown her off her feet, and the speed at which he chased the other jinchūriki was incredible.

As she thought about it more, everything turned out exceptionally well for the utter disaster this mission became. Her genin team came out of the battle relatively unharmed. She knew there would probably be tears, anger, and confusion as they came to terms with their first kills tonight and over the next few days.

She couldn't help but feel some sympathy for Team 7. They had, by in large, taken out most of that force and with such a display of power. Kakashi truly was an inspiration as his team had covered each other during battle so effectively and without hesitation. She couldn't help but be concerned for their mental health, though. Right now, they were fixated on Naruto but when, come what may, that situation was resolved they would have to deal with the fact that they had slaughtered so many men. Even if they were just bandits and thugs, knowing that they had a hand in incinerating a group of people was a heavy burden.

Kurenai sighed as she went over the aftermath in her mind. Despite the fact that her genin team had made it out of a situation that would give Anbu squads pause, she still had to face the music for her behavior as well as Sakura's situation with the Hokage. The fallout from this mission was going to be immense already.

Shino was processing his feelings on the thugs he had killed in the battle. He knew that it was normal to feel discomfort and unease at the situation and that common symptoms of "first kill stress" as he father had labeled it, was to reconsider one's position in life.

As Shino reflected on everything in his life so far, as his father suggested, he decided that the path he had chosen was the proper one for him, and he would continue onward knowing that he might have to perform distasteful deeds such as killing when necessary.

His thoughts turned toward Naruto, and he felt some sympathy for the blond. The Aburame were better treated, for the most part, but there was always that separation from the rest of the villagers who would be "creeped out" by the hive living inside of their body. It often made it difficult for his clan to associate with the village. Because of this, the Aburame clan had to often find methods to provide goods for themselves, as there were too many civilian businesses that would discriminate against them.

Shino had known early on that something was off about Naruto because his kikaichū were the offspring of queens in his father's hive. Since their primary source of nutrition came from feeding on chakra, knowledge of poisonous chakra was the first thing that was passed on to their offspring. His kikaichū had warned that it was more than just poisonous, but corrosive as well, so even exposure to a certain degree could cause the collapse of the entire hive since the chakra would spread as it eroded.

Shino had wondered how Naruto managed to contain such corrosive chakra within him and had been wary of trying the chakra storage seal that he had been given. However, his kikaichū had surprised him when they gave clearance to test the seal, and it didn't affect his kikaichū in a harmful manner. They did report that it gave them some discomfort, just like the others had mentioned when they used the seal.

In fact, the kikaichū had determined that Naruto's chakra was more nutrient dense than most others and if not for the Kyūbi within him, he would be an ideal host for some of the more chakra intensive variants of kikaichū his family had been breeding. The kikaichū were willing to adapt to the discomfort just to gain access to more of his chakra and had requested that he obtain more for them.

Shino decided to try and come up with an arrangement with Naruto to acquire more of those seals if he recovered from this event unharmed. His father would probably pay good ryō to have a better feed for their experimental hives. Naruto had already granted him valuable knowledge for the future when they had discussed how to counter the seals he had used during their spar. Naruto had determined that if the kikaichū could smell the chakra-infused ink, they could drain the chakra from seals through the ink, rendering them ineffective but there was a risk of harmful backlash. Naruto had supplied some barrier tags for him to utilize and train his hive on how to perform the task as well as making some suggestions on how to attack the seal. With that limited knowledge, his current hive had already established a 25% success rate at disabling the tags, without any negative effects, in just two weeks time. Shino didn't think that his father had ever considered this method, and if his suspicions were correct, his entire clan would benefit from this knowledge.

Kiba was going through everything that had happened over the past few weeks. At first, he had learned that he had been a huge jerk to a genuinely nice guy. Only to realized that said nice guy could have toyed with him like he was a newborn pup before demolishing him with half a thought. It was a sobering experience for him, and now he began to truly understand why his mother had said to squelch his instincts in all matters until you were in the heat of battle. Kiba had held the belief that the Inuzuka's senses and attacks could only become stronger when following those instincts. He had noticed that his attacks were usually stronger, and it was easier to understand Akamaru when he followed his gut.

After the sparring event, Kiba had been trying to regain ground with Naruto, it had been cool to hang out with him and Hinata, but Naruto was still distant towards him when compared to how Naruto had treated him before the Academy. It made sense to him, though. He had been such a jerk, and everyone was wary around a dog that had bitten them in the past. He hoped that Naruto would be okay since Kakashi seemed to feel that it was something Naruto couldn't always control.

Kiba had felt awesome during the battle with him and Akamaru. His senses were alive as he and Akamaru tore through those thugs and he felt pride that his training had paid off, but he still felt queasy when he recalled how some of the thugs had been ripped apart by their combined attacks. It wasn't a pretty or quick way to go; that was for certain. In the end, he wouldn't let it bother him too much. Those assholes deserved it for attacking them in the first place. They were just lowly scum anyways.

Sakura was worried what would happen to her now. She knew that everything she had done would be held in account, even with how the mission turned out and the revelation about Naruto.

She had some concerns that her other personality would take over again while she was fighting those thugs and while it had been making snide comments and cheering her on as she killed the thugs, it hadn't tried to exert its control again.

Ever since the sparring incident when Sakura took control over her mind, the other personality had resorted to constantly saying degrading things about the others, taunting her for her weakness, or trying to piss her off in order to get her to act out in some manner. When that foul chakra came out of Naruto, however, she could feel her other personality slink further into her subconscious as if to hide from it. Now she hadn't heard a single peep from it in all this time.

She prayed that her career wouldn't end now. The last thing she wanted to deal with was her mother. She did love her mother, truly, but she didn't want to spend the rest of her life being bitter and lashing out at everyone while trying just to scrape by. If she managed to overcome the damage she had caused to her own life, she swore she would sign up for that Iryō ninjutsu class she saw a flier for before they left on their mission. With her chakra control, she could become a medic-nin.

If she couldn't remain a shinobi, then she would beg to be allowed to take the class so she could become a doctor instead. Working long hours with tons of money would be perfect. She would get her mother off her back by paying for her expenses, and she would no longer have to deal with the unhealthy environment she had been raised in.

Inoichi had put things in perspective for her, but he had encouraged her that a gentle transition between her personalities was the best route. Normally they had specific medicines used to suppress an additional personality, but she had a violent allergic reaction to the medication, and all the different types contained the same ingredient she was allergic to.

Now, Sakura had to wonder if that would have worked. It seemed like her inner bitch wouldn't have been tamed until she stood up for herself and proved she wasn't weak. It had taken seeing her kunai plunge into Naruto's chest and that look on his face to wake her up finally. She had pushed all her problems off to her other half because she was too used to blaming everyone else for everything wrong in her life. Then she could just hide in her corner and avoid dealing with the harsh realities of life. When her other personality had taken that action, Sakura realized that the only way to fix her life was to take control of it.

After she had felt that chakra from Naruto, she came to a realization. She hadn't truly lived her life despite existing in the world for 13 years. When her other personality was in charge, it was like she was watching her life as if it were a play, yet during the battle, she had felt bolstered by her determination to prove her worth. As more and more thugs fell to her genjutsu or kunai, she had begun to feel things that she had never felt before. The rush of adrenaline, the heat of anger, the encouragement of confidence, the warmth of happiness or the bone chilling fear that froze you in your tracks. Now she wanted to live and experience life for all it was worth instead of hiding away in her subconscious. Even if she had to deal with the pain and suffering, at least, she could experience joy and peace as well.

The group was drawn out of their thoughts when they heard scratching at the door. Akamaru sniffed the air along with Kiba before they gave the all clear and opened up the door.

Pakkun strolled in, slightly panting from running. "Finally found you guys, your scents had me running all over the damn place. I got a message from Kakashi he said he is bringing Naruto back to camp."

"Is Naruto-kun alright, Pakkun?" Hinata asked.

"The little pup looked pretty roughed up from what I could tell and wasn't conscious, but he was alive," Pakkun replied.

"Thank you Pakkun. We have to remain with the client, for now, but Tazuna has only ordered an inspection of the bridge to make sure the battle did not cause any structural damage. Tell Kakashi that we will return to camp in three hours time." Kurenai said.

Pakkun nodded before he exited the office and made his way back towards camp at a more leisurely pace.

Team 7 and 8 breathed out a collective sigh of relief. Maybe not all for the same reasons but, at least, they hadn't lost anyone, and the mission was nearing an end.


	21. Dawn Before the Storm

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

grammar edit 4/21/16

 **Chapter 20**

 **Dawn before the Storm**

 **2 days later – Konoha Campsite – Nami no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto awoke with a groan of pain. His body was stiff and sore all over as if he had gone through several rounds of intense workouts with level 4 gravity seals or something. His throat was also parched, and he had no idea where he was.

Kurama had laid a lot of information on him about the history of the world, through the eyes of a bijū at any rate, as well as "the plan" as Naruto had dubbed it. It was going to be complicated, difficult, and the thing he hated most, he was going to have to do his best at subterfuge which meant misdirection and lies if necessary. He really hated it when he had to lie to people.

Since he had lost control of his emotions before blacking out entirely, Kurama was not aware of his current circumstances. He could only account for his battle with Yugito and that he hadn't killed his teammates, which was a relief. He hoped Root didn't already imprison him or that he was lying in a ditch somewhere.

Now he had to get up and find out where he was. Then he would find his team, face the music and reveal as much of the truth as possible. Kurama had agreed with him that they could no longer pretend that there was no contact between them. It was well known that when a jinchūriki had drawn on their bijū's power the bond was established. It was up to the bijū at that point to make contact for certain, but with everyone already suspicious of Kurama's interest in Naruto, there was no possible way for them to hide the fact.

Kurama was initially against telling the Hokage the truth of how long they had contact. He was firmly in the belief that the Hokage would over react, but with some solid arguments from Naruto, he finally relented. Naruto even promised that if he sensed any hostile intent from the Hokage, he would flee the village immediately. Kurama was still displeased with the situation, but at least, Naruto was willing to leave the village if there was a threat. It would be hard for the kit to be out in the world as he is now, but Kurama knew of some places where they could potentially lay low for a few years and gain strength before setting out and gathering what they needed.

Naruto had convinced Kurama that all of it had to come out now if they even had a chance for moving "the plan" ahead in the future. There would be initial suspicion on them at the start but by the time they were ready to move "the plan" forwards that suspicion would have died down.

Telling the Hokage would also help further his training because he could actively begin utilizing Kurama's chakra and mastering his chakra cloak now. Naruto still clung to the hope that if they offered a safe environment for him to use the chakra and allowed the Hokage to supervise every training session, the Hokage would allow it and eventually they could rebuild his trust over time.

Naruto squinted for a bit to let his eyes start to adjust to the influx of light before he slowly opened them fully and looked around at his surroundings. He was in a tent, but it wasn't his, not a bad sign so far. He felt something warm pressed against his leg, so he looked down to figure out what it was and spotted a tan colored ninken sleeping against his leg. The ninken had long ears and brown fur on his ears and paws. If he remembered correctly, Kakashi had called him Biscuit.

Naruto sighed in relief. At least, Kakashi had found him and taken care of him, and since he wasn't tied up, he had hope that Kakashi wasn't planning on killing him at the moment. Biscuit lifted his head up and looked at him when he heard Naruto sigh out loud.

"So, you are finally awake. Kakashi has been worried about you." Biscuit said.

Naruto cleared his throat and asked in a scratchy voice. "How long have I been out for?"

"You have been out like a log for two days now. I'll go fetch Kakashi now." Biscuit said before he stood up and stretched. After he shook himself, he turned and trotted out of the tent.

Naruto just closed his eyes again in preparation for what was to come. Soon he felt the sun on his face for a moment as the tent flap opened up and Kakashi entered the tent.

Kakashi crouched beside him. "How are you feeling, Naruto?"

"I feel stiff and sore all over, and I don't remember everything that happened yesterday but other than that, I think I'm okay now," Naruto said.

Kakashi held out a canteen for Naruto to grab, then helped him sit up so he could wet his throat.

"Don't drink it too fast. Your throat will need time to adjust." Kakashi warned.

Naruto nodded and took small sips until his throat felt normal then drank a bit more before capping the canteen and handing it back to Kakashi.

Kakashi set the canteen down. "Biscuit told me that you are now aware that you have been out for two days. Can you tell me what you do remember?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto cleared his throat again and went through his memories.

"Well, I remember Zabuza and the thugs intercepting us on the path to the construction site. After that, it gets... weird because some of my memories were what my clones experienced instead of me. I do remember clearly that I felt Yugito coming with some other Kumo ninjas." Naruto said as ran his hand through his hair.

"By Yugito do you mean the Kumo jinchūriki? How did you know that she was coming?" Kakashi asked.

Kakashi didn't realize until the day after the attack that Naruto had very accurate information that he shouldn't have been aware of. He also knew that Sasuke and Naruto were aware of something else going on in Nami no Kuni but were keeping tight-lipped about it.

"Where are the others at right now?" Naruto asked with his eyes closed and his face set in a serious expression.

"Why would that matter Naruto?" Kakashi asked

"Because I need to know if it is safe to talk about you know who," Naruto replied.

Kakashi felt a sense of dread overcome him. Kakashi cursed his rotten luck; apparently things were about to get worse than yesterday.

"The rest of our team and Team 8 are at the construction site, Naruto. You don't have to worry." Kakashi said softly

Naruto felt a bit of his dread lighten when Kakashi had said "our team" and let his frown soften. "The Kyūbi told me she was coming."

Kakashi took a deep breath when he heard that response then asked. "Why would the Kyūbi tell you about that?"

Naruto at this point lifted his head up and looked Kakashi directly in the eye. He held that contact for a few moments as if deciding something before he let out a sigh and said.

"Because the Kyūbi has always warned me when something dangerous is coming after me."

Naruto kept eye contact with Kakashi as he processed that information and reached out with his senses. He didn't feel anything negative from Kakashi just yet.

"What do you mean by "always" Naruto? Are you saying that the Kyūbi has been speaking to you this whole time?" Kakashi asked

"Yes, sensei. I think we need to hold off on that discussion for when we report this fiasco to Hokage-jiji if you don't mind," Naruto said with a sigh.

"I don't know, Naruto. This is a really big revelation. I can't help you unless I know exactly what is going on." Kakashi prodded.

"I know, sensei. I really do ** _!_** The only reason I mentioned it is because I know this news will affect you guys also, but jiji was clear about discussing this kind of thing outside of his office." Naruto had a pleading look on his face "Please trust me sensei. I don't want to hurt you guys that's why I'm going to reveal the truth about everything to you and jiji when we get back."

Kakashi just sighed but didn't say anything. Naruto could tell that Kakashi was reluctant to wait and was unsettled by the news.

Naruto hung his head afterward and mumbled. "I didn't say anything at first because nothing had ever affected me in such a way before and I was protecting myself since the villagers, and everyone else treated me so badly. Now, it doesn't matter what happens to me because after I had lost control yesterday, I realized I was a danger to you guys. I won't be able to live with myself if I hurt or kill you guys because I lost control. So, I will reveal everything, and we will just have to wait and see what happens to me now." Naruto said with a shaky sigh.

Kakashi put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto, you shouldn't have been trying to carry this burden on your own. I can understand that you wouldn't have trusted me or the others because of how we acted to you before, but the Hokage cares for you. He would have helped you with this."

"It wasn't ever a problem before this. It was just when that battle started then Yugito flared the Nibi's chakra. It just woke something inside of me that was frightening. Now I know I can't just ignore it like before. I have to get used to it, to learn how to control it so that I'm no longer a risk to you guys anymore." Naruto said as he looked back up to Kakashi.

"Okay, Naruto," Kakashi said in a calming tone. "We will wait until we get to Konoha before we talk about this again but the others are going to ask a lot of questions. I can tell them it's an S-rank secret but don't feel bad if they get upset at you not telling them." Kakashi patted Naruto on the shoulder.

"I won't, sensei." Naruto rubbed his face before he decided to get some information from Kakashi, "What did happen after I ran off after Yugito? I mean I saw a lot of different things from my clone memories, but I'm not sure what the outcome was." Naruto asked.

"Well, Gato and his thugs were pretty much annihilated with Zabuza and Haku taking all his riches and leaving for Kiri. The Kumo missing-nins were killed along with the thugs and apparently that was the primary objective for the Kumo-nins that became involved. Now the Root teams were unexpected as well, but I have a feeling that you and Sasuke were expecting them, weren't you?" Kakashi said in a disappointed tone.

"Well, we heard something about that in town, and while I thought we could trust you with that info, Sasuke said you had been a part of Root also and couldn't be trusted, so I didn't say anything," Naruto said sheepishly.

Kakashi sighed "I'll admit that Danzō approached me after the Kyūbi event while I was upset about losing someone close to me. I was still young then and was easily fooled into spying on the Hokage for him as a double agent." Kakashi hung his head in guilt before continuing. "As I began to uncover evidence on all the subversive elements in the village I realized that the Sandaime wasn't involved in anything nefarious. Everything that was suspicious or illegal involved Danzō or Orochimaru and they both had dealings with each other as well. So, I showed what I had to the Hokage, but it wasn't enough to get Danzō removed from the council since he had always used Root members as his proxy, and Orochimaru fled the village before we could apprehend him."

Naruto could tell that Kakashi was telling the truth. "What happened to the Root guys then?"

"The Kumo jinchūriki wiped them out before she ran away from you," Kakashi said with a smirk. "By the time I found you she was going to try and kill you while you were unconscious but I managed to drive her off."

"Well, thanks for that, sensei. I was afraid that I would wake up in a Root base or in a ditch somewhere." Naruto said.

"Mah, Mah don't worry about things like that, you are still a part of Team 7 and a shinobi of Konoha. I know you haven't seen the Will of Fire from the village as you should, but you should be aware that the others have been worried about you, not scared but worried." Kakashi said.

Naruto nodded he felt a little comforted by Kakashi's words, but he would wait until he could sense their emotions before he would believe it entirely.

"The bridge will be completed in eight more days. Then we get to enjoy the festival they have planned after that. Team 7 will report back to the Hokage immediately while Team 8 will escort the bridge builder home." Kakashi said.

"I suppose I should give you your tent back then," Naruto said before he moved to try and get up and make his way out, but Kakashi stopped him.

"I don't know exactly how much damage was done to you because of your healing capabilities, but I think it would be better for you to take it easy for the next few days just to be certain," Kakashi said.

"I'll be fine, sensei, just sorer than usual. It's not a big deal. I can go to my own tent at least or sit by the fire." Naruto said with a yawn.

"Just humor me then. Why don't you lie back down and see if you fall asleep again? If you wake up in just a few hours, then you can move around, if you don't then, at least, you will have gotten more rest, and we can see how you feel tomorrow." Kakashi said.

Naruto just let out a sigh but laid back down. He could tell that Kakashi wasn't going to budge. Despite his assurances to Kakashi that he wasn't tired, Naruto fell back asleep after a few minutes.

Kakashi stepped out of the tent and told Biscuit to go back inside and watch over Naruto.

Kakashi sat down and got the campfire started since the evening was approaching and the rest of the Konoha-nin would arrive in a few hours. Kakashi thought over everything Naruto had said, and it did explain a lot of things that had been questionable.

Naruto's behavior around people and his stoic mode had made some sense before, but if you add in the Kyūbi, it made a lot more sense. Naruto was a lonely and isolated young man in a village that held lots of animosity towards him. Add in a highly intelligent being with hatred for said village whispering in his ear and it would only be natural for Naruto to keep everyone at a distance.

Kakashi thought more about Naruto's personality type and felt that if not for Danzō and his damn interference, they wouldn't have ever had to worry about this problem. Naruto may act like an introvert in all things, but Kakashi could tell that he was really an extrovert in disguise with trust issues. An interesting dilemma for someone with that personality type.

The Kyūbi no doubt took advantage of this and, if Naruto had been a true introvert, it could have become a real problem. However, Naruto still exuded a calm friendliness if you treated him normally, and he could be accepting of almost anyone or anything as long as it didn't go against his moral compass. This made Kakashi believe that he hadn't been deceitful out of malicious intent but out of fear instead.

Just from how Naruto spoke when he had revealed that the Kyūbi warned him about dangerous things Kakashi could tell that he was scared. Kakashi could also tell that Naruto trusted the Kyūbi to some degree, but he couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. The fact that he was willing to reveal everything now made Kakashi feel a little better about the situation, but it would depend on what was revealed entirely.

He knew the Hokage would avoid doing anything drastic unless it meant the imminent corruption or destruction of Naruto. He might have a bad knee-jerk reaction to the situation since he is so close to Naruto, but the Sandaime was infamous for maintaining his game face.

'Well, he might be too concerned with the five other issues that we mention in this mission report to act rashly. Maybe I'll drop the possible war with Kumo part last to help alleviate his overall shock.' Kakashi thought as he chuckled quietly to himself.

Yes, this mission report would be long and arduous, but he could enjoy the fact that his little genin team completed an S-rank that would have been tough for Anbu corps. He would take his team out to celebrate and introduce them to sake.

Most would consider it early to introduce alcohol to his genin, but it was an old tradition in Anbu that you went out to eat and drink for surviving a particularly fucked up S-rank mission and his cute little genin deserved it. He would have to mention it to Kurenai too.

It would be interesting to see what type of drunks his genin were. He would bet his Icha Icha collectors edition that Naruto would be a happy drunk who said embarrassing things, Sasuke would probably be that sullen drunk, and Hinata? He would have to think about that one, but he would guess she would be the wild drunk of the bunch. Those who usually suppressed their behavior normally typically cut loose once they drank enough.

Naruto emerged from Kakashi's tent a few hours later to relieve himself and clean up a little. He then went into his own tent for a bit and changed into a fresh set of clothing. He was sad for the loss of a shirt and his hand wraps, but his pants were salvageable with a little mending. He used his recovery seal to retrieve what he could from his tattered wraps and was fortunate only to lose two dozen shuriken and a few kunai.

He sat by the fire mending the tears in his pants and checked over his hip pouch and kunai holster for damage as well. Once his gear was looked over and mended, he decided to go back to work on the security seal until the others arrived from guard duty. It would help calm his nerves for the inevitable confrontation that was about to occur.

Naruto was so focused on the seal he was trying create that he did not even sense the others enter the camp and stare at him, nor did he sense Hinata until she tackled him off the log he had been sitting on.

"Naruto-kun your all right! I was so worried!" Hinata said as she hugged Naruto from the side.

Both of them were sprawled on the ground, and Naruto looked around in confusion until he saw Hinata clinging to him tightly. Naruto didn't expect this reaction and was at a loss on how to respond, so he opted to pat her on the back. He blushed in embarrassment when he realized that Hinata was pinning him to the ground.

"I'm okay now, Hinata-chan. Everything will be all right." Naruto said reassuringly.

Hinata realized what she had done and quickly scrambled off him with a blush before recomposing herself.

Sasuke walked up and held his hand out to help Naruto up. As Naruto grabbed Sasuke's forearm, he pulled him up to his feet. "What the hell happened to you Naruto?"

"I can't really tell you that here, Sasuke. I'm sorry, but the Hokage won't let me reveal that without his permission. I promise that I will tell you when we get back to Konoha and report." Naruto replied.

"What you all witnessed was an S-rank secret punishable by death by order of the Hokage. If you reveal any information about what you saw to anyone without permission not only will you be executed but anyone you told will face execution as well." Kakashi chimed in seriously as he eyed Team 8.

"Are you gonna tell us about what the hell that was also?" Kiba asked.

"I'll see if the Hokage will let me, Kiba, but my team has to know for sure," Naruto said.

"Well, even if you don't tell us, man, I'm glad you're okay. We didn't know what the hell happened to you then you ran off after that crazy bitch. Man, that whole day was just intense." Kiba said while Akamaru came up to Naruto with a slight whine for a pat.

"I'm sorry I worried you guys I just... when she came I kinda lost control and had to go after her," Naruto said before kneeling down and giving Akamaru a good petting.

"Well, it's good to see that everything is back to normal again. Why don't you guys fill Naruto in on what has happened for the past two days while we prepare dinner?" Kurenai suggested.

Teams 7 and 8 sat around talking while a fish stew was bubbling over the campfire. They discussed how guard duty had been, how Zabuza had come a day ago to thank them for letting him have all the fun with Gato before leaving with Haku for Kiri.

Apparently Zabuza only went missing-nin because of the bloodline civil war and their Mizukage, who had gone crazy. Zabuza had to flee when the Mizukage came after him for harboring Haku. Now Zabuza was gathering ryō to help fund the rebellion against the Mizukage and Gato provided more than enough for a good start.

Hinata had told Naruto how the whole nation viewed Teams 7, 8, Zabuza, and Haku as heroes and that citizens were planning to throw a festival in their honor after the bridge was complete. This news came as quite a surprise to Naruto as he had no idea the people would be so grateful to have the bridge finished. Hinata explained how Gato had an iron grip on the townspeople and had been increasing taxes on goods imported or exported, then charging them for protection fees from his own thugs. Naruto was glad that the bastard was dead and felt better about killing those thugs as they did.

They all talked about how they had dealt with their first kills and the different advice they had received from their parents or siblings. Naruto only told them about the guilt he felt, leaving out his little crying session and his blood lust, but after hearing about all the things Gato had done to the people, his guilt left him. He wouldn't like killing in general, but if he was killing scum like that, he wouldn't feel bad about it.

The awkwardness that had been present when they first spoke to Naruto faded away, and slowly the teams began to return to their normal behavior, for the most part. Sakura remained distant but cordial with Naruto as did Kurenai.

Both teams settled down for the night while Naruto offered to take watch since he wasn't tired anymore. Kakashi told him he would only allow him to take watch tonight if he rested in camp one more day before rejoining them on guard duty. Naruto relented since he could use that time to complete his work on the security seal so he could train with Kurama's chakra as soon as they got back to Konoha.

Once everyone was asleep Naruto sent out his clones in a perimeter before entering his mindscape to get more practice with his sealing. There was no discussion between him or Kurama as both were content just to enjoy each other's presence while things were calm.

 **9 days later - Town Hall Square - Nami no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto was walking around the center of town just enjoying the atmosphere in general. It was nice to be able to walk around a festival without sensing all those negative emotions from the villagers or having people glare at him. It also helped that the festival wasn't based on bashing Kurama like the festival that always occurred on his birthday.

Naruto didn't know how he felt about the hero worship that he would receive on occasion, but Hinata instructed him that it was proper etiquette to accept the gifts gratefully and thank them so that they didn't feel insulted. Naruto felt like he was taking advantage of the situation but decided to listen to Hinata and just accept what they gave him. As a result of this, Teams 7 and 8 were loaded down with various souvenirs, flowers, even some formal clothing tailored just for them.

The seamstress had insisted on outfitting them because Gato had been especially forward to her and her daughter. When they had both rejected his advances he began raising the rates on all the cloth she attempted to import and raised her rent in order to force her into servitude. The seamstress, her daughter, and a handful of volunteer housewives had fussed over Teams 7 and 8 all morning and until the afternoon when they had finally finished the outfits and thanked them again for freeing them from Gato.

So now, Naruto was dressed in his new formal wear which was a light blue juban (under kimono), solid dark blue hakamas (Pleated pants), and Dark blue haori (kimono jacket that remains open) with light blue clouds embroidered on the edges of the sleeves and along the hem. He was glad that he had the foresight to put several storage seals inside of his haori, or he would be loaded down with bags like the others were. Fūinjutsu was so convenient; he just couldn't understand why people didn't use it more often.

Naruto felt guilty for accepting these things because he honestly didn't feel like a hero. Hell, his clones had done most of the work, but Kurama convinced him that he had been essential to his team's survival and that it was understandable for him to lose control with his first exposure to combat. Especially since the level of violence he had been exposed to was beyond the level he should have experienced in his first combat mission. Naruto was happy that he had finally gotten his security seal concept down yesterday evening. Kurama had approved of his pencil prototype and after a few attempts with ink and brush, he managed to make the seal function like a conventional security seal without requiring any additional controls to maintain the desired effect.

He put his seal into test the next night during watch by flaring his chakra repeatedly from small to large bursts inside the area he sealed off, and Kakashi didn't come running. He didn't think Kakashi could have slept through that. Kurama also confirmed that the new seal worked precisely as he had intended by absorbing dispelled chakra to power the blockers and the containment areas. However, Kurama had noticed that because of the way he had integrated the different rings of the seal array and how those rings were modified, this seal had added a surprising but unintended consequence. The seal was somehow draining natural chakra and using it to power the strength of the seal. This functionality was dangerous because if the seal was left alone, it would eventually drain the life out of everything in the area unless they fed it with a different source of chakra. Naruto was crestfallen when he learned about the problem and decided to scrap the seal and start over again, but Kurama had told him to hold off. After Kurama had studied the seal quietly for the rest of the night he came up with a simple fix Naruto would need to add the seal and the problem would be solved.

The good thing, however, was that he had inadvertently unlocked new potential seals that dealt with natural chakra. Natural chakra was typically resistant to most fūinjutsu. No one that Kurama knew of had been able to make a seal that converted natural chakra to the base of spiritual (Yin) and physical (Yang) chakra. Fūinjutsu was typically either based on Yin only or Yang only with ways to convert Yin to Yang and vice versa. It was an exciting revelation to them both since it meant Naruto would soon be able to create all kinds of seals that were unprecedented. Kurama was excited because if there was a way to convert nature chakra into yin or yang, that meant it was only a matter of time until they could convert yin or yang into natural chakra without having to wait for the chakra cycle to do this on its own.

Naruto was drawn out of his thoughts of fūinjutsu theories by Hinata and Sasuke's approach. Both Hinata and Sasuke were wearing their outfits as well but were holding several bags of gifts they had received. Hinata was dressed in a light blue yukata that had large white roses in various stages of blooming scattered around it while Sasuke opted for a full black set like Naruto's with the Uchiha crest embroidered on the back.

"Oi, Naruto! Let's go and play some of the games. We can probably clean up on the prizes if we wanted too." Sasuke said.

"Okay. I wonder what kind of prizes they have?" Naruto said

"Besides the usual baby turtles or baby fish, probably some stuffed animals or cheap jewelry if it's anything like the festivals at home," Hinata said.

Team 7 moved towards the game booths and explored the types of games available. Besides the goldfish scooping, balloon fishing, and ring game there was an interesting cork kunai game that caught their attention.

The object of the game was to throw a cork kunai and hit one of the different sized unmarked boxes standing on the shelves. The three genin had a lot of fun attempting to knock some of the boxes down with the very light weight and flimsy kunai. Since they only got three kunai for 100 ryō they tried to knock one of the bigger boxes down with their first two before saving their last one to hit a smaller box.

In the end, Sasuke won a set of scented bamboo fans from one of his boxes while Naruto received a small wooden Maneki-Neko (Beckoning Cat) statue holding a gold painted ryō coin with its right paw and it's left paw raised. There was even a matching Omamori (luck or blessing) charm that looked like a tiny scroll holder on a beaded tassel. Hinata got an elaborate scroll painting of a beach at sunset.

As they moved on from the games section, the three decided to enjoy some of the traditional festival treats. The trio found themselves waiting in a long line to get some Takoyaki (battered ball filled with octopus, green onion, pickled ginger, and tempura). Naruto needed to relieve himself, so he handed ryō off to Sasuke to pick up his order and left the line.

Naruto went to the nearest restaurant to use their restrooms. After he had left the restaurant, he heard a commotion in a nearby alley and went to investigate. He saw three bandits threatening an elderly woman before they pushed her to the ground and he decided to intervene.

"Hey! Leave her alone you bastards." Naruto yelled out.

The bandits turned around to look at Naruto. "Well if it isn't one of those damn Konoha brats."

"We should teach you a lesson for interfering! Gato paid us well until you showed up." A second bandit said.

"If you know what's good for you just walk away, you little shit." the third warned.

All three bandits drew their weapons which consisted of a knife, a sword, and a club.

"Hah, you think I'm afraid of you? We killed a lot of your buddies at the bridge, but if you were too stupid to get the message, then I have one just for you. Leave her alone and get out of town or you won't live to see the morning." Naruto said as he got into a ready stance.

"Shit man, he's right! They killed everyone there. Maybe we should just leave like Tomo said and go to that new village in Ta no Kuni." one of the bandits said.

"What, are you scared of a brat? They were probably just exaggerating what happened." the lead bandit with the sword said.

"We don't know for sure because no one came back alive, man. Didn't you see what those guys did to Gato?" The first bandit said shakily.

"We need money to get out of town before the Daimyō comes after us. How else are we going to pay for the ferry." The third bandit said.

"Don't be such cowards! We outnumber him easily." The leader said.

"Oh? You think so?" Naruto said with a smirk before he made the sign for Kage Bunshin and created five clones to surround the bandits. "I can make a lot more than that too, fools. So get lost and find another way out of town. If I see you bothering this old lady again, you won't leave alive."

"Forget this! I'm outta here. I'm not messing with a shinobi." the first bandit said before running past one of the Naruto clones towards the back of the alley.

The second and third bandits looked at each other for a minute before they also ran after the first bandit.

"Oi, obasan. Are you okay?" Naruto said as he approached the old lady.

"I'm fine now thanks to you boy. I have to thank you for helping me; those bandits always rob my jewelry stand. I am grateful." The old lady said as she tried to stand, but she wobbled a little before leaning against the wall of the alley.

"Are you sure you are okay? Do you need me to help you to the hospital or something?" Naruto asked

"Oh no, I don't need to go to the hospital. I just hurt my leg a little when I fell, but it's nothing serious. Why don't you help me walk to my stand so I can properly reward you eh?" The old lady said.

"Well, I'll help you, but you don't need to reward me for it," Naruto said with a small smile before he held his arm out for the old lady to hold.

The old woman grabbed onto Naruto's arm for support and led him out of the alley, away from the festival.

"Such a kind young man you are. There aren't many like you these days. The old lady said.

The old woman led Naruto down the street turning the corner at an intersection and stopped at a stand in front of a small home.

"Ah, here we are, please accept a reward. I don't have any grandchildren to spoil so you can take their place for the day." the old lady said with a laugh.

"Don't worry about it. I don't want to take any of your business away. Besides, it's the right thing to do." Naruto said as he saw the stand hadn't even been hassled while it was left unattended and there looked to be some expensive jewelry. It was also strange that no one was around this area at all when the entire town was packed with people.

"Nonsense, you see I don't have much business as my pieces are special. You see these items are designed for particular people. I do not allow anyone just to choose what they like. For you, I have some very special things, and it would please me to give them to you. Will you deny this old lady her happiness?" the old lady said.

"Okay, obasan, but perhaps there is something else I can buy from you?" Naruto relented but felt uneasy. He sensed something strange from this lady, but it wasn't negative.

"Tch, such a nice young man. You don't need to pay me for anything. I won't accept it from someone who bears such a burden as you do. No, you have a big journey to go on that is most important and what I want to give you will help you." the old lady said with a smirk.

Naruto's eyes widened when the old lady said that.

"Burden... How do you know about that obasan? Who are you really?" Naruto asked.

"Mmm, it's not important for you to know that young man. It is only important that you wear this." The old lady said as she opened a small wooden box.

The old woman pulled out a necklace that had a very sophisticated medallion. The medallion was about half the size of a shuriken, and it hung from a silver braided chain. In the center, there was a strange color changing gem in the shape of a crescent moon set into a silver half circle that appeared to be missing the right half as there was an empty space in the center.

Around the left side of the medallion, several stones were going from black to blue to a clear white. When Naruto looked at it, he felt the same positive feeling he had experienced with his Gama-chan and the orange coat he had as a kid.

"You can feel it is attuned to you, can you not?" The old lady said as she unclasped the necklace and moved towards Naruto.

Naruto was rooted in place, unable to move or speak but for some reason he wasn't afraid at all. He could only watch as the old lady approached and put the necklace around his neck and clasped it in the back.

The old lady stepped back and said. "This was made especially for you young man and it awaits its missing half; the gems are imbued with special properties to help you on your journey. "

She lifted the pendant up so Naruto could see her describe each stone as she pointed to it.

"The moonstone in the center helps with inspiration and clear thinking by balancing emotions." She moved her finger to the small stone that was above and slightly to the left.

"Black tourmaline to provide strength to your body and spirit" She moved her finger towards the outer edge of the pendant to the next stone. "The sapphire below it to give you intuition and insight, Her finger moved to the stone on the outer edge.

"This dark blue topaz helps calm rage and control your temper by providing clarity and focus." Her finger drifted below to the next stone. "A lovely smokey quartz to help your endurance and give you serenity." Her finger moved to the last stone "and finally the purest zircon for spiritual growth and wisdom."

She pulled on the collar of Naruto's juban and slipped the pendant underneath where it dropped down against Naruto's bare chest. She then straightened out his kimono and smoothed away any wrinkles before placing her palm directly over his heart, covering the medallion and gently pressing the cool metal into his skin.

"You feel it don't you? That feeling that it belongs to you? That it soothes you when you are in pain? The old lady said almost reverently. The old woman's hand began to glow with a bright light and Naruto felt the metal warm up before feeling the sensation of something entering his body through the medallion.

Naruto could only close his eyes as the feeling washed over his body as if it were chakra, but it didn't travel through his pathways and tenketsu. It was like the feeling he got when he bonded with Kurama for the first time. It was peaceful and warm causing everything to fade away but that feeling.

"Yes, you are such a such a kind young man with a pure heart I can see it. Now be a good boy and take these boxes with you. You know which ones to give to your companions. Don't forget you still have to find the other half of your pendant. Now move along child, your friends will worry about you if you don't hurry." A voice said.

Naruto just nodded and took the small bag full of boxes before turning and walking away with an unfocused look in his eyes.

The old lady grinned as Naruto walked away from her stand. With a wave of her hand, the old lady disappeared leaving an empty stand in front of a small abandoned house.

The Darkness was a fool to think that it would be unseen when meddling with events. The Light was quite capable of its own meddling as well, and Naruto now had the tools to counter those attempts quite nicely. Hopefully, the medallion would guide him back onto the right track when the time came.

Hinata and Sasuke had gotten their Takoyaki and were holding a few plates for Naruto when they began to wonder where he went. It was crowded, but they didn't think it would take this long for him to return.

Sasuke spotted Naruto walking out of an alley and called out to him before making his way over with Hinata following behind him.

Naruto seemingly snapped out of a daze and looked around like he was confused.

"Naruto, over here," Sasuke called out louder.

Naruto finally looked in their direction and moved towards them. "Oh hey, guys. Sorry, I took so long, but I found this cool shop and had to buy some things."

"Hn, you could have come and got us first instead of making us wait baka," Sasuke said with a snort.

"Oi! Don't call me that! Besides, I got you guys something." Naruto said as lifted up a small cloth bag that dangled from his wrist by the drawstring.

Naruto fished around inside the bag for a second before he pulled out two small boxes. He handed the gray box to Sasuke and the white box to Hinata. Naruto began to dig into his Takoyaki happily while they looked over their gifts.

Sasuke opened his gift and saw a golden rope necklace with an intricately carved piece of circular dark jade that had two lion dogs on it. The one on the left was climbing up with an open mouth while the one on the right was climbing down with a closed mouth.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his gift. Sasuke had never felt compelled to wear any type of jewelry before but decided he wasn't opposed to wearing a necklace, and it was small enough not to be intrusive during a fight, so he studied the carving for a moment before shrugging and putting in around his neck.

"Um thanks, Naruto, this looks pretty expensive," Sasuke said.

Naruto merely waved off his thanks with the stick of takoyaki he was currently eating and continued to chew.

Hinata gasped as she pulled her necklace out of the box. She studied the silver three strand necklace carefully and was surprised at the quality of the gems.

The first strand was a short length, almost like a choker, with small blue lace agate cylindrical beads that were staggered with two small round silver beads framing a larger round silver bead.

The second strand was a silver rope necklace that hung down below her collar bone and had blue opals in an oval shape with silver settings.

The final strand was a braided silver rope that hung down just above her cleavage and had the largest lapis lazuli teardrop pendant she had ever seen. The tapered cylindrical stone was held in place by a delicate silver loop and wire wrapping around the narrow tip of the radiant blue gemstone.

"Naruto-kun this looks like it is all real. This necklace must have been expensive! Thank you Naruto-kun, You shouldn't have." Hinata said breathlessly.

The necklace was absolutely beautiful and was exactly something that she would have chosen for herself if she saw it in a shop. The fact that Naruto chose it specifically for her made her heart flutter.

"Don't worry about it, Hinata-chan. This necklace was made for you." Naruto said

Naruto set his food down on a nearby window sill to help Hinata clasp the necklace around her neck when he noticed she was having trouble. Naruto couldn't help but smile at the way Hinata's face lit up while she admired the way the necklace sparkled from the numerous festival lanterns around them.

Sasuke showed his necklace to her and after she studied it for a moment before she complimented the jade carving.

"Naruto-kun where did you get these from?" Hinata asked as she studied the lapiz lazuli teardrop.

"It was this small shop that had a stand outside of it, and the old lady offered them to me, she even gave me one for free," Naruto said as he pulled his own medallion out of his kimono and showed it to them.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow when he saw Naruto's medallion; it looked like it was incomplete and it was kind of large in his opinion.

"Oh, that is so beautiful Naruto-kun could you show me this place, please?" Hinata asked.

If this owner was selling these types of items for cheap, she would love to see what else they had. She hardly had the opportunity to shop for jewelry and if these pieces were any indication then Nami no Kuni was miles ahead of the Konoha jewelry she had seen.

"Oh, sure. It was this way." Naruto said as he walked back toward the alley. Sasuke just shrugged and followed after them. He could care less about jewelry, but he didn't feel like wandering around the festival alone.

Naruto lead them out of the alley and down another street. He turned a corner, and there was a small house with an empty stand out front, but the lights were out, and the curtains were drawn. It looked like the place had been vacant for awhile.

"Huh, I guess the old lady left already," Naruto said with a frown.

Hinata was a little disappointed and worried that the old lady might have conned Naruto in some way, but the feeling of disappointment left as she fingered the pendant. All her misgivings faded away, and she was left with that same warm and inviting feeling she would feel when she sat next to Naruto while he worked on his seals. It might not be real but it was beautiful, and the best thing of all was that Naruto had thought of her when he bought it.

Sasuke liked the necklace he got. He didn't know much about lion dogs, but they looked pretty awesome, and the cool, smooth texture on the back of the jade seemed to make his fears and anxiety melt away when he rubbed it with his thumb.

The three decided to head back to the festival and see what other stands and shops were selling. Kakashi had told them that they would likely get paid for an S-ranked mission, if not an A-rank, which would mean a very large amount of ryō either way. So they felt like splurging a little after all the stress they had endured.

All three walked back down the road side by side and made their way back to the town square wearing their new necklaces, and all three were wearing small smiles on contentment on their faces.


	22. Revelations

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

grammar edit 4/21/16

 **Chapter 21**

 **Revelations**

 **2 days later - Konoha East Gate – Hi no Kuni**

* * *

Team 7 approached the Eastern gate of Konoha leisurely, which was at odds with how the team was actually feeling right now. All four of them felt a sense of trepidation at what was to come when all the events came to light. It had been just over a month since they had set out on their first "C-rank" mission and they had not sent any mission updates since they feared that whoever the traitor was would intercept them and possibly gain intel that could be detrimental to their defense of Tazuna.

Kakashi had decided not to rush back too quickly so that the time between their arrival and Team 8's arrival with Tazuna wouldn't be more than a day. Once they settled all their accounts with the Hokage, he would then take his team out to celebrate their first completed S-rank.

The morning after the festival they remained just long enough for the dedication ceremony to watch "The Great Kiriha Bridge" (Mist Leaf) open for business. Team 7 then slipped away and took the first ferry that left the island nation, leaving Team 8 behind to accept all the accolades from the mayor and the Daimyō on behalf of Konoha, Zabuza, and Haku.

The closer they drew to the gate, the more nervous Naruto became. He would have to reveal a truth he had spent half of his life trying to hide, and it was a subject that he knew the Hokage was very sensitive about. Revealing his ability to communicate with Kurama had the potential to turn his life completely upside down or end it. At Kurama's insistence, he had covertly obtained and sealed away supplies in case he needed to flee the village today. Naruto hoped that it wouldn't come to that. A small part of him still had faith that his jiji wouldn't turn against him, but he knew that the council might tie his hands.

Sasuke was nervous about how Danzō was going to retaliate once he learned his plan had failed. Sasuke was alone, most of the time, without any guards. While the Uchiha felt confident he could defend himself fairly well, he knew that against multiple Anbu level opponents, he would lose.

He glanced over at Naruto and decided he should probably take the blond up on his offer to talk to the Hokage about it with him. He might get protection from the Hokage like Naruto if they reveal how the Root operatives had planned to come after him as well.

Hinata was nervous about revealing the information leak about her arrival in Nami no Kuni and how her father would react. To learn that someone was willing to sell out the heiress to Kumo was a troubling thought. She didn't know the purpose of that second Kumo group that arrived but if they were there for her and they sent one of their jinchūriki, which sent quite a powerful message at how serious they were in claiming her.

She would have to be very careful in how she relayed the info so that her father had a very accurate picture of what happened. She hoped that Naruto would reveal his status as a jinchūriki so that she could openly discuss him with her father.

Kakashi was worried about Naruto and the repercussions of the shit storm that came up in Nami no Kuni. All those elements coming together on one mission was practically unheard of, and the possible fallout had the potential to be disastrous. He just hoped the Hokage wouldn't be too pissed about the whole mess and that he didn't find Kakashi at fault for how they reacted to those events.

After the team checked in at the gate and filled out the required forms, they hit the rooftops to get to the Hokage tower as fast as they could. It was time to rip the bandage off quickly and hope for the best.

 **Hokage's Office - Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hiruzen was waiting anxiously behind his desk for Team 7 to arrive, but his anxiety didn't show on his face. He appeared the to be the picture of calm as he read intelligence reports from villages along the shores leading to Nami no Kuni as he puffed on some cherry tobacco.

Two weeks ago some merchants had started to spread rumors around about a bloody massacre going on in Nami no Kuni. Those rumors were then corroborated by fisherman and travelers who had been visiting or working within the nation as recently as four days ago. With no updates from Teams 7 or 8 since they had left, Hiruzen was worried for his shinobi. It was normal to send weekly updates by messenger bird or summoned creatures if a second team was called in for support, but for some reason, both teams had gone silent since Team 7 was dispatched.

He had been relieved when he received word from the gate teams that Team 7 had checked back into the village and were all accounted for, so that was one wayward team to cross off his list, he just hoped that nothing terrible had happened to Team 8.

He saw the seal light up on his desk and channeled chakra into it. A short time later Team 7 walked into the room and stood at attention. Hiruzen studied the team for a few moments and took note that all of them appeared to be in good health, for the most part, but Naruto was showing signs of nervousness and guilt.

"Kakashi I am glad to see you all back and well, but I have to wonder why you decided to go silent on a mission like this," Hiruzen said in a questioning tone.

"Well, Hokage-sama, that's kinda complicated. It could be because there was a leak about our genin teams makeup and location provided the day we left for the mission to some missing-nins from Kumo in Nami no Kuni. Then again, it could be because someone tampered with the emergency mission scroll you received or the four squads of Root that showed up to attack us. Oh and let's not forget that the Nibi Jinchūriki showed up, and we might be going to war with Kumo soon. That might be a factor as well." Kakashi said in a bored tone.

Hiruzen didn't appear to be affected, besides the fact that he was completely still and hadn't responded in any way. A few minutes later he decided they were serious and answered.

"Okay, apparently that was not some kind of prank or joke so let's start from the beginning then," Hiruzen said with a sigh.

As Kakashi relayed all the events that occurred on this now officially labeled Accursed Bridge Mission, Hiruzen went through almost every range of emotion possible.

His first thought 'I'm really too old for this now. I'm going to have to talk to Tsunade when she arrives next week.'

His second thought. 'It's a miracle things turned out as they did, but there are too many concerning factors here, and they aren't even done with the bad news from what I can see. Naruto-kun looks almost afraid.'

"So let me get this straight then. Someone tampered with the emergency request scroll and eliminated or took two of the prisoners who have now been unaccounted for since a week before you were dispatched. Then you arrive in town and learn that someone leaked the location of the Hyūga heiress." Hiruzen said as he began to load his pipe for another smoke.

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged a look as if communicating silently before Sasuke nodded.

"We also learned that Root was there to capture Sasuke and me" Naruto added.

Hiruzen gripped his pipe tightly and bit down on the tip in rage. "Why didn't you mention this Kakashi?" Hiruzen said while leaking some killing intent at him.

Kakashi began to sweat a little but was saved by Naruto.

"It was our fault, jiji. We didn't tell him because we didn't know if Kakashi was in Root also," Naruto said while Sasuke nodded his confirmation.

"Why would you think that, Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked.

"It's a long story, jiji, but you need to hear the rest of what happened on the mission before you can understand everything. It is one of the two things we have to talk about," Naruto said.

"One of two?" Hirzen asked.

"The other is about the Kyūbi since that also became an issue during the mission," Naruto said in a weighted tone.

Hiruzen felt his stomach drop. Apparently the thing he dreaded most had already occurred.

"Okay, Naruto-kun. We will continue with the mission report first," Hiruzen said.

"Now where were we... Right, so you learned about the leak of Hinata's arrival in Nami, and I am assuming that Naruto-kun or Sasuke learned of Root's plans when you gathered in town but kept this information from Kakashi. Then you discovered that Gato and the Daimyō were practically at war for the country and that there were more mercenary forces to contend with. Is that correct so far?" Hiruzen asked.

Team 7 nodded.

"So you approach Zabuza since Gato is going to betray him, and eventually, he agrees to attack Gato's forces along with the missing-nin who were after Hinata. Next is an incident that occurred between Naruto and Sakura which I am awaiting more details from Kurenai correct?" Hiruzen looked at Naruto.

"Yes, jiji. I think it's important that you hear what they have to say, but the only thing I do have to say about that is while I can't forgive her yet, I don't think it's her fault jiji. She is sick; she needs help." Naruto said

"Very well. I will wait and see what they have to say, but I don't know if I can let something like this go, Naruto-kun, it is serious." Hiruzen replied in a gentle tone.

"I understand, jiji, but I can't blame someone for coughing because they have a cold," Naruto said

"So, after the event with Sakura and Naruto, you manage to work on some co-op tactics between the teams and prepare for the attack to commence. The day of the event a battle occurs between the mercs, Root, Kumo missing-nins, Kumo's jinchūriki and a four-man chūnin team, and Gato." Hiruzen finished.

"Well, the mercs tried to go after everyone. The missing-nins focused mainly on Team 7, the Jinchūriki and her team began to engage the mercs probably with the intent to kill the missing-nin, but Root intervened attacking the jinchūriki and killing her teammates." Kakashi replied.

"Then I'm guessing the next thing that occurred are the events involving Naruto's tenant and even after all that the mission was still a success," Hiruzen said almost in disbelief.

"Correct. Team 8 should be nearing Konoha with Tazuna in town within a day or two. We figured we should arrive before them and relay the news since we couldn't trust that our mission reports wouldn't be intercepted as well." Kakashi said,

"Well, I agree with your assessment Kakashi. Team 7 will be awarded credit for an S-rank mission as well as the ryō amount expected from such a mission of this degree. However, I will require a mandatory two-week break from missions and training. This break is non-negotiable." Hiruzen said before he pulled out a few forms and filled them out quickly before stamping them and handing them to Team 7.

Naruto and Sasuke frowned but didn't say anything, Hinata remained poised but was unhappy with the break because she would have to deal with the stupid elders if she didn't have training scheduled, and Kakashi just simply nodded.

"Unlike with D or C-ranked missions, you will need these vouchers to receive your pay. Take them to the requisitions office on the first floor to redeem them." Hiruzen said.

"If that is all you have for me regarding the mission..." Hiruzen began as he eyed Naruto. He was planning to clear the office so that he could discuss the Kyūbi with Naruto alone, but Naruto interrupted him.

"Wait, jiji, I think they should know the truth. I want them all to stay," Naruto said with a serious look on his face.

"Okay, Naruto-kun but I must warn them now that this is an S-rank secret and revealing it to anyone will result in execution. Do you all understand?" Hiruzen asked.

Sasuke and Hinata both stated that they understood and moved closer to Naruto in support.

"Very well, Naruto-kun, tell me what happened with the Kyūbi," Hiruzen said preparing himself for the worst.

"Well, jiji I think the first thing I need to say is that while this was the first time I used the Kyūbi's chakra since he was sealed inside me, I've been speaking to him for a lot longer," Naruto said while looking down at his feet.

Sasuke and Hinata gasped when they heard that. Hinata knew he was a jinchūriki but that the Kyūbi was speaking to him was an even scarier thought.

Sasuke was in disbelief; he had been confused when Naruto mentioned the Kyūbi during the debriefing, but when he recalled the event at the bridge he began to gain some understanding. He just didn't understand how the Kyūbi could be inside of Naruto and that it was even capable of speaking.

"Naruto-kun are you saying that you have been in contact with the Kyūbi and never mentioned it to me? How long has he been talking to you?" Hiruzen asked in a hurt tone.

"He started speaking to me after the attack on the orphanage. I was afraid to tell anyone. All the villagers were saying that the Kyūbi was convincing me to destroy everyone. I was scared that if they found out that the Kyūbi was speaking to me, they would attack me again. It felt like everyone was after me and I didn't want to cause you more problems. I'm sorry." Naruto said in a pained tone.

Hiruzen had a dejected look on his face. Six years the poor boy had been vulnerable to the maliciousness of the Kyūbi. All because of his failure to protect Naruto from being attacked, he had been too afraid to trust in any of them. The Kyūbi had probably been tormenting him this whole time and because Naruto had no real close bonds he didn't have anyone to share the burden with.

"Naruto-kun, I know things were frightening back then but what about recently? Things got better for you in the Academy didn't they?" Hiruzen asked.

"Well, at first, there were those instructors who were casting genjutsu on my tests and teaching me the wrong things. If it weren't for the Kyūbi dispelling the genjutsu, my scores would have been worse. The Kyūbi also warned me when people were planning to hurt me so I could avoid them. I know I promised to tell you if the Kyūbi wanted me to do something wrong or remove the seal, but the Kyūbi never asked me to do something bad or open up the seal. The Kyūbi was helping me so I thought it wouldn't be worth the trouble of stirring things up." Naruto said.

"I understand that Naruto-kun, and I believe you when you say that you didn't think the Kyūbi was trying to cause trouble, but I must know what kinds of things the Kyūbi has said. Has it ever sought to convince you to do anything?" Hiruzen asked.

"Well, it always talks about how it hates humans in general, it doesn't like any Uchiha because of what happened with Madara and Hashirama but has begun to tolerate Sasuke. The Kyūbi really hates all the villagers and the village itself but, it doesn't speak poorly about the people who treat me normally or with kindness." Naruto grew silent for a moment before pressing on. "The one thing it has ever tried to convince me of doing is leaving the village." Naruto murmured.

"How does it try to convince you to do that," Hiruzen asked in a serious tone.

He was studying Naruto carefully, and so far he was not showing his telltale signs for when he was lying or hiding something.

Hiruzen had become very familiar with Naruto's tells and knew that Naruto had been hiding some things from him in the past, but he had hoped that it had been simple things like cutting class or causing trouble. The Kyūbi most likely convinced him it wasn't doing anything malicious or played up Naruto's fears of the villagers retaliating against him to keep anyone else from finding out that the Kyūbi had already established contact with him.

"The Kyūbi often asks why I stay here when people hate me so much. Tells me that people would treat me better somewhere else. Then I just tell the Kyūbi that Konoha is my home, and my friends live here. The Kyūbi will just usually point out bad things about the village after that." Naruto said.

Both Kakashi and Hiruzen grimaced at the thought. If Naruto didn't have the few friends that he did have, they would have probably lost him long ago. The idea that Naruto had been on the knife's edge sent a chill down both of their spines. Kakashi especially knew he had screwed up and was only lucky that Naruto had such strong convictions, or his actions might have helped drive Naruto off.

"The Kyūbi hasn't ever asked you to remove the seal or made you do something bad at all?" Hiruzen asked.

Naruto just sighed. "No. it doesn't do anything like that ** _!_** They Kyūbi tells me that it likes to see what I would decide to do instead. I guess you can say it is like a game for the Kyūbi to test me. When that incident with the Scroll on my graduation day occurred, the Kyūbi told me to take the scroll from Mizuki because it might be important. When I saw what was inside of it, the Kyūbi just mentioned that I could always copy the techniques before giving it back to you. When I decided not to copy anything the Kyūbi congratulated me for not being greedy like all the other humans."

"Honestly, all the Kyūbi has done is help me. It helped me find those fūinjutsu scrolls and helps me make seals and how to use them best. It helped me understand my sensor abilities and my chakra manipulation. The Kyūbi didn't even want me to draw on its chakra until there was a safe place to do so." Naruto said as he looked into Hiruzen's eyes.

Hiruzen felt uneasy at the whole situation. He didn't know what the Kyūbi's game was but it was, evident that it had gained some level of Naruto's trust if not all of it. That was probably the most unsettling thing for Hiruzen because Naruto was a very trusting boy and the Kyūbi's influence had only been countered by a handful of people at most when the entire village should have been supporting him. If only he had not been discovered so soon, the Kyūbi might still be asleep, and Naruto would have more friends and peers to help him. It was too late for that now, all he could do is try to strengthen Naruto's ties to the village. Who knows what steps the Kyūbi had taken to sabotage Naruto's ability to remain loyal, he would have to think of ways to counter its influence somehow.

"I believe you, Naruto-kun, but I can't trust the Kyūbi isn't doing these things to try and gain its freedom, and the Kyūbi's freedom will only result in your death. Because of this, I have to be cautious. Don't you see? Could you simply be content being imprisoned for an indefinite amount of time?" Hiruzen asked.

"I understand what you are saying and in most cases I would agree with you but, I know for a fact that the Kyūbi is honest because I can sense negative emotions from everything. If they want to lie to me, steal from me, attack me, if they hate me or even if they just kind of dislike me I can feel it. I've always sensed the Kyūbi's emotions as far back as I can remember. So I can say that it isn't lying or manipulating me in any way because I would feel it." Naruto said emphatically.

"So you can tell if anyone is trying to do anything harmful at all? How do you know that it doesn't control these senses or bend them?" Hiruzen said seriously.

"It's an inherent part of being a jinchūriki, because our chakra is merging because of the seal I gain that ability. It was those negative emotions that made me lose control and call on the Kyūbi's chakra for the first time. It was a new feeling that I had never felt before, and the Kyūbi couldn't stop me before I lost control." Naruto said.

Naruto dare not mention that Kyūbi had suppressed those emotions in the past to test him. If he did, they would never believe that Kurama had been helping him. Naruto knew that Kurama had suppressed things in the past, but he couldn't block his own feelings, only the feelings of others.

"The Kyūbi actually tried to stop you?" Kakashi asked with some surprise.

"Yea, Kyūbi knows that I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I killed one of you and the Kyūbi always wanted me to train first, so I don't lose control because those negative emotions get amplified when you use bijū chakra," Naruto replied.

"So you never actually used the Kyūbi's chakra before that day," Hiruzen said.

"No. I haven't. It wasn't safe for me when I was younger since I didn't understand everything I was sensing. Once I got control over the negative emotions and learned how to decipher the differences between them, my body was still too young to start. I also had to gain enough knowledge in fūinjutsu to make a seal that would allow me to contain the chakra otherwise the village would panic and probably try to kill me again." Naruto replied.

Hiruzen sat back and puffed on his pipe for a bit before speaking. "You are right about the villagers reacting in a panic if they sensed the Kyūbi's chakra but what about your body now that you have used this chakra?" Did it cause you harm?"

"I don't kn-" Naruto started but then stopped talking suddenly.

 **"No, the damage was less than I had believed it would be. You will still need to limit how often and how long you use my chakra to be safe, but since your body is preparing to claim that white-eyed vixen, there should be no problems with training."** Kurama said with a smirk.

"No any damage that was done the Kyūbi healed. The Kyūbi also says that it didn't effect my body as bad as it believed since my body is starting to mature." Naruto said with a red face.

"The Kyūbi is talking to you right now?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto nodded.

"What is it saying?" Hiruzen spoke up before Kakashi could ask.

 **"You should tell them how the white-eyed vixen has jumped you once already; their reactions should be quite amusing. Especially the old monkey goat."** Kurama said with a chuckle

Naruto got really red-faced and began fidgeting in a shy manner. "Just being a jerk right now, that's all," Naruto mumbled lowly.

Hiruzen and Kakashi raised an eyebrow at Naruto's reaction and response. Was the Kyūbi teasing Naruto about puberty or was it being graphic? Naruto only reacted that way when teased about the opposite sex.

"Naruto-kun, come over here," Hiruzen said as he beckoned Naruto to approach him. He felt hurt at the somewhat wary look that Naruto had as he approached.

Hiruzen put his hand on Naruto's head and ruffled his hair which caused Naruto to close his eyes.

"Naruto-kun, did you really feel that I would simply hand you over to Danzō or kill you because of this? I would never do anything to harm you." Hiruzen said softly

"I didn't think you would, but I wasn't sure because I could always tell you were hiding things from me also. When I finally learned about what those things were, I have to admit I was mad at you for awhile for not telling me but eventually, the Kyūbi helped me realize that sometimes hiding things from others is necessary to protect them. I didn't want to cause you any more trouble. People already say things about you because of me, and you have been the only one who has cared for me. I was hoping that the less attention I drew to you the less of a problem I would become." Naruto said solemnly.

"You were never a problem or a burden to me Naruto-kun, It was my duty to help you. I didn't do so well at my duty because you were attacked and now you have such a burden on your shoulders. I am sorry that I couldn't have spared you from what you had to go through Naruto-kun but, you were never meant to carry this burden alone. Don't keep things like this from us anymore Naruto-kun; we are here to help you. You can tell I am being honest, can't you." Hiruzen said softly.

Kurama snorted in contempt at being labeled a burden but made no comment.

"I'm sorry jiji. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings like that," Naruto said as he tried to hold back his tears.

Hiruzen pulled Naruto into a hug. "There is nothing to forgive Naruto-kun. I am not happy about it, but you only reacted how anyone in your situation would. If things had not turned out the way they did, I know this wouldn't have become an issue. Just remember Naruto-kun I will always care for you regardless of what happens."

Naruto nodded and held onto Hiruzen like a lifeline. He had been so afraid that he would lose his jiji and would have to flee the village.

After a few moments, Naruto pulled away. "We have to try and do something about Danzō jiji. After everything that he did in Nami no Kuni, he is planning something terrible."

"While I was unaware that he was moving against you in Nami no Kuni, I am more aware of his meddling then you think. I can not say anymore because I risk him going dark and changing those plans which would make it difficult to counter or stop him." Hiruzen said with a smirk.

"What about what happened with the Uchiha jiji?" Naruto asked while tilting his head over to Sasuke.

"Hmm before we speak about that I'm afraid I will have to ask Hinata to leave. Unless Sasuke is willing to share this information with Hinata." Hiruzen said.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke with a questioning look on his face and Sasuke shook his head. Naruto just nodded and looked forwards.

"Okay, Hokage-sama I will take my leave then," Hinata said before walking out the door; she stole a quick glance back at Naruto before she closed it behind her.

 **Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hinata's mind was a whirl with everything she had just learned. She had wanted to comfort Naruto so badly after she heard everything that had happened to him and was quite surprised at how close Naruto was to the Hokage. She was happy that Naruto, at least, had him to lean on with all of this. Having the Hokage on your side could only be a good thing.

Then the whole thing with the Uchiha and Root? How were they involved in the massacre? Perhaps Itachi had been a member of Root following orders, and they simply pinned all the blame on him to prevent backlash from the other clans? That was a possibility for certain. If the Hyūga had believed that the Hokage would authorize the massacre of a clan, they wouldn't hesitate to leave the village or rise against them. She was certain all the other clans felt the same. The Hokage was obviously involved or knowledgeable to some degree, but for what reason?

She would have to bring this up to father carefully, so she doesn't let anything slip that she gained this knowledge from the conversation she had just witnessed. She wouldn't betray her teammates like that, and it wasn't a confirmed threat to the clan yet. Plus, she was under an order from the Hokage to keep silent about everything she had just learned.

She could just mention the Root ninjas and the Kumo missing-nin seemed to be working in conjunction with each other to capture her. The Hokage had not classified that aspect of the mission. That should be sufficient. If she were only implying about the connections between the two, her father wouldn't make any outright accusations since the evidence was flimsy at best, but it would set the clan information seekers in the right direction. She had to wonder how many Hyūga spies Root actually had on their roster.

Hinata sighed at that thought. If there was no such separation in the clan, then it would be less likely that the Branch members would be tempted by money or the chance of being free from the caged bird seal. Perhaps she could get Naruto to work on a possible alternative in the future. He was quite skilled in fūinjutsu already, and she knew he would enjoy it since he always seemed happiest when he was working on a seal.

Hinata smiled to herself when she recalled the red-faced and embarrassed Naruto when he had mentioned puberty. It was so cute how flustered he got. Even the Kyūbi wasn't immune to his charms it seemed.

Hinata exited the Hokage Tower and headed towards the Hyūga compound.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

"So what made you guys believe that Kakashi was involved in Root?" The Hokage asked.

"I was told that Kakashi had been affiliated with Root at one time, so I was wary of him. He was known to fail all his genin teams and once I learned that Naruto was also a target for Root and that someone had given information about Hinata to the missing-nins. I thought he might have only accepted us so he could have Root capture us outside of the village." Sasuke said.

Kakashi couldn't help but grimace at Sasuke's statement. When put together like that, he could understand why Sasuke hadn't trusted him.

"I am assuming that Itachi spoke to you that night then if he was the one that told you about Kakashi. What did he tell you about the events that took place?" The Hokage asked.

"Yes, He pulled me into his Tsukiyomi and replayed the event from his arrival at our compound till the moment when he had to flee from the Anbu," Sasuke said. He clenched his fist at the memory.

Naruto put his arm on Sasuke's shoulder in silent support.

Hiruzen sighed. "I didn't know of the attack until Itachi had come to me and warned me about what he had seen. Unfortunately, Root has always had members dug into a large portion of Anbu because they were a legitimate black ops organization authorized by the Nidaime during the Second Shinobi War. Since then, it has been a constant battle to sniff them out to keep tabs on them or remove them entirely. The Uchiha Military Police Force had been quite effective at finding and eliminating them which I believe was the main reason for him targeting your clan."

"Whatever Danzō may have become now, he was at one time a loyal patriot of Konoha. His moves would have never brought the village into jeopardy before, but after the events of the Uchiha Massacre, I cut most of his funding and support away to weaken him. Since Root was established by a wartime decree by the Nidaime, it requires the council's approval to disband the group entirely." Hiruzen exhaled a large puff of smoke and rubbed his eyes. "Unfortunately, the council is in his pocket, and I didn't have the evidence to bring him up on charges to have him removed. Since he is a part of the council appointed by the Daimyō, I would need to involve the Daimyō as well."

Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe. "I know that most of the operatives that volunteered for re-education were most likely moles, but I couldn't, in good conscience, just label them all as spies or traitors in the hopes that some were legitimately willing to leave that life behind. Many of my trusted guards were a part of that group, and I know I can trust them, so I felt I had to give the others the same chance."

"Know this, though, Sasuke. I did give Itachi the order to flee the village, and I did mark him as a missing-nin, but I also ensured that only hunter-nin and Anbu teams that are loyal to me were assigned to pursue him to placate the Daimyō. In fact, it is usually considered a rest mission between more challenging assignments and is treated like a paid vacation. Do not worry about Root pursuing him, though; Itachi is not on his own completely as you may have thought. In truth, Itachi has been working with Jiraiya to find evidence to implicate Danzō and the traitor Orochimaru as well." Hiruzen said reassuringly. "Once we have the evidence we need I will clear him of the false charges and allow him to rejoin the village without penalty with a public announcement of his innocent and his assistance in exposing a traitor. If all goes according to plan, of course." Hiruzen said.

Sasuke gave a small smile at that thought. At least, his brother wasn't alone and had some support. He still had to worry about Root and the others, but Jiraiya was not only one of the Sannin, but he was also infamous for evading and infiltrating every village with ease. If anyone could help keep Itachi safe, it would be him.

"Do you also know about Danzō having Shisui's eye Hokage-sama?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes. I am aware of this development and it truly shows how depraved my team mate has become, I do not know for certain if he has used the ability that Itachi warned me about, but we have been able to counter his influence in the capital by disbanding his organization as legitimate. I know it is not enough, but I trust that Itachi and Jiraiya will find something soon, their last report to me was promising." The Hokage said.

Sasuke felt a bit of the weight he had carried all his life finally lift off his shoulders a little. He was glad that he decided to listen to Naruto in the end and bring it up to the Hokage. At least now there was less he had to wonder about. Some of those questions and fears had been cleared up, and he could focus entirely on what was important. Killing Danzō in a slow and extremely painful manner.

"Hokage-sama I was wondering if it was possible to get into one of the high-security apartments like Naruto has. I think that Danzō has become desperate and may attack me on the Uchiha grounds." Sasuke said with a scowl.

It irked him to have to leave his family home like a coward, but he had to be realistic. He could still maintain the grounds when necessary but for now, he would need a safer place to build up his strength and prepare.

"That will not be necessary, Sasuke you can remain in your home. I have two Anbu teams stationed over that section with a third that checks the grounds during patrols. It would be an ideal place for people to attempt to infiltrate the village now that your clan is no longer there to discourage them. Plus, I didn't want to leave you alone and unguarded in an empty district that could become the target of scavengers." The Hokage said.

"Now, if you boys have nothing further for me then feel free to go home and relax. You had a very tough mission and should be proud that you have done so well. Naruto-kun, I want you to come by here in the morning so we can discuss your individual training and what it will require all right?" The Hokage said.

"Okay, jiji. I'll come by first thing," Naruto said with a nod before he turned and walked out of the office.

Sasuke bowed to the Hokage and followed Naruto out.

Hiruzen let out a weary sigh as Kakashi approached. Hiruzen had a feeling that Kakashi had figured out the truth finally. It was inevitable after spending a month around Naruto regularly, anyone who was familiar with Minato would.

"He is Minato's son isn't he?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, he is Kakashi, and before you get started on your rant, I know that what I had done was wrong, but I felt it was for the best at the time. For the first six years, everything seemed to be going fine. While it wasn't the best life, he was safe and cared for. Root had no idea about him because he was hidden in the civilian side of the orphanage, but then three foolish children managed to unlock his chakra without supervision, and it all went downhill from there." Hiruzen replied.

"What about Tsunade or Jiraiya? What about me? I would have raised Naruto and protected him with my life Hokage-sama." Kakashi growled.

"Tsunade would not have been able to balance both Naruto and her medical-nin training. Tsunade would have insisted on being able to establish her standard for health care and raising Naruto. This situation would have resulted in Naruto being dragged around the country constantly, and he wouldn't have as many ties within the village. While I have faith in Tsunade's strength, it would have been easy for Root to steal Naruto away when she was operating on a patient or delivering a child." Hiruzen took another drag off his pipe and exhaled before continuing. "Jiraiya raising a boy would have been a disaster even if he didn't have his spy network to maintain. Jiraiya will make a fine master for Naruto when the time comes, but he would have been a horrible influence on the boy if he raised him." Hiruzen shook his head as he thought about his wandering student before turning his sharp gaze on Kakashi.

"You were just too young, Kakashi. It is one thing to have field experience as a shinobi but to raise and feed the boy? Could you really imagine yourself changing his diapers and cleaning up his vomit? You were also still in a bad place mentally at that time, Kakashi, and you know that is the truth."

Kakashi had his head lowered and his fists clenched, but he couldn't deny that the Hokage was right. He had been a mess after the Kyūbi attack. Danzō had manipulated him so easily; he might have even been convinced to hand Naruto over to him.

"Naruto needed to have a humble upbringing to counter the power he would contain within him. If one of the clans had adopted Naruto, he would have been prideful, or he would have simply treated as a political tool which I could not allow. I suppose we should be grateful that Naruto inherited more of Minato then Kushina or who knows what the Kyūbi might have convinced him to do by now." Hiruzen concluded.

"I hope your right Hokage-sama. I hope that the Kyūbi isn't merely playing the really long game. If Inoichi's reports were accurate, then it would be in its nature." Kakashi said.

"All we can do is keep an eye on Naruto-kun and offer him our support. If he can learn to trust us and we don't violate that trust, then it won't matter what the Kyūbi wants because Naruto-kun has Kushina's stubborn determination." Hiruzen said confidently.

"So you are aware that Danzō is plotting to kill you and become Hokage then?" Kakashi asked

"Yes, not all the details, but I am certain he will make his move during the Chūnin exams. The fact that both Iwa and Kumo had expressed interest in attending was what made that clear." Hiruzen said in a calm tone.

"You think both Kumo and Iwa will invade?" Kakashi asked with a narrowed eye.

"No. Kumo is probably still on the fence and will wait to see what happens," Hiruzen said as he exhaled another cloud of smoke. "If anything, they will move to capture whatever resources they could use for themselves while Iwa fights with us. Naruto-kun will probably be on that list now since he has made contact and even run off one of their jinchūriki without any training at all. The Raikage will definitely have his eye on Naruto-kun now."

"So Iwa for sure. Who else would join in since Iwa alone won't nearly be enough to defeat us, even with all the time they have had to build up their forces. Minato-sensei made sure of that." Kakashi thought out loud.

Hiruzen thought it over for a minute before responding. "I can't be certain yet but it would either be Kusa and Oto or Suna and Oto. Though I suspect all three might be involved, if what Jiraiya has sent me is true."

Kakashi was stunned by that revelation "Suna? They are allied with us, though! Why do you think Suna would invade?"

"The Wind Daimyō has been reassigning missions from Suna to us instead because he was displeased with how their jinchūriki had developed. Too much of a loose cannon, apparently on a visit to the capital he frightened the Daimyō's council and family. Apparently, they have also failed to assassinate their jinchūriki at the Daimyō's order." Hiruzen stated. "Rumors say that the jinchūriki has murdered over twenty-five villagers and fifteen shinobi, not counting the failed assassins. Jiraiya tells me that he was able to observe the jinchūriki for a short time and that he is completely unstable." Hiruzen sighed.

"Six years... their jinchūriki can't be much older than Naruto because the Ichibi broke free less than two years before the Kyūbi attack," Kakashi said with a disgusted tone.

"It pains me to think of Naruto-kun becoming like that. We were fortunate that the villagers calmed down to a degree and didn't attempt anything serious." Hiruzen said as he turned his gaze to look out the window. "It's sad, really, that they can't realize the truth. Kumo treats their jinchūriki well and look at how powerful they are rumored to be." Hiruzen said.

"Is that why you want to help Naruto train with the Kyūbi's chakra?" Kakashi asked.

"The main reason is that chances are we will be facing one if not two jinchūriki during the invasion and Naruto-kun might be our only hope of stopping them if Jiraiya doesn't return in time," Hiruzen said sadly. "While it unsettles me, I can not let my fear hold him back since he is going to be a target regardless of how I feel. I have confirmation from Tsunade that she will arrive next week and will stay put as she is aware of what is occurring, but I haven't had word from Jiraiya at all, and that is concerning."

"Does Tsunade know the truth about Naruto? I know Naruto seemed to be close to Shizune." Kakashi said with a devious grin.

Hiruzen grimaced for a minute. "No. Shizune was told not to mention Naruto for security reasons, and she was unaware that Minato and Kushina even had a child. Tsunade still believes that Naruto-kun is dead."

"Well if Naruto runs into Shizune with Tsunade nearby, you are going to be in a world of hurt," Kakashi said with amusement. "What about Jiraiya? Is he aware?"

"No. Jiraiya is also unaware, but I have been giving the things Jiraiya had bought before Naruto-kun's birth to him. The toad wallet and the fūinjutsu kit were what I was able to salvage before Jiraiya sold them off to the consignment shop." Hiruzen tapped the mouthpiece of his pipe against his lip in thought. "Now that I think about it, those scrolls that Naruto found might have been from Jiraiya. I might have to have a word with that fool about pawning such dangerous things in the future." Hiruzen mumbled.

"Well, Hokage-sama, if there is nothing else then the only thing I will mention is that both Team 7 and 8 plan to celebrate the mission the night after Team 8 returns at Yakiniku-Q. You know the old tradition for completing a screwed up S-rank I am certain that Naruto would be happy if you could attend," Kakashi said with an eye smile.

"As much as I would like too, I will be unable to participate with all that is going to happen soon," Hiruzen said with a shake of his head before throwing a glare at Kakashi. "Just don't get them too drunk Kakashi, especially Naruto-kun. Kami forbid he ends up an angry drunk like Kushina was." Both Hiruzen and Kakashi shivered at that thought.

"My money is on the cheery chatterbox like Minato. Who knows? He might let slip more of what the Kyūbi has been saying." Kakashi said in a joking manner.

Hiruzen just sighed and shook his head at Kakashi before dismissing him with a wave of his hand.

'Naruto-kun please don't lose yourself in all this mess.' Hiruzen thought before returning to reading more intelligence reports.


	23. Echos from the Past

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

grammar edit 4/21/16

 **Chapter 22**

 **Echos from the Past Rebound into the Future**

 **Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Naruto entered his apartment and plopped down onto his couch in exhaustion. He should be unpacking or take a shower but he just really needed to take a moment and unwind.

He had just left the Hokage's office, and things went well, for the most part. The pain that he saw in the Hokage's face had been too much to bear for Naruto. After all the Hokage had done for him, it felt almost like he had betrayed the kind old man and it hurt Naruto to think of it in that way.

" **You did what was necessary and even if you had told him in the past, the situation would have only gotten worse by now,"** Kurama said reassuringly. **"It is fortunate that this occurred when it did, however. Do not feel sorry for the old monkey goat. You are sparing him unnecessary worry and heartache."**

 _'I still feel so bad, Kurama. I feel like I have betrayed him.'_ Naruto said sadly

" **It was not betrayal; you were protecting yourself, and as I have said before in the past, he was keeping things from you. Why do you think he was not surprised that you were keeping things from him? That is why he was not surprised but hurt when you revealed the truth."** Kurama said pointedly.

 _''Gah, that just makes me feel even worse.'_ Naruto buried his head into the couch cushion further.

" **The old monkey goat would have constantly worried. Now he will still worry, but he has something tangible to observe. Once you being your training with my chakra, he will see you master control and will feel better. Before he had nothing substantial and that would only leave him to imagine the worst. He is getting old, and you might have spared him a heart attack with all that worry."** Kurama said with an amused tone.

 _'Don't even fuck around like that Kurama! I'm serious.'_ Naruto clenched his fists at the thought he might have caused him to die.

" **Relax, kit; I was only trying to lighten the mood. As I said, we always knew this was going to happen eventually anyways. It was inevitable. The timing of this revelation has come at the most opportune time for us."** Kurama said reassuringly.

 _'I guess you are right about that. I will just have to hope that training with your chakra goes well, and jiji doesn't have to worry about, me anymore. He already has so much to worry about, and I'm sure I have no idea about half of it.'_ Naruto said as he got up and began to unseal his camping equipment for cleaning and inspection.

He spotted a small bag and was confused for a moment before he suddenly remembered he had purchased something for the Sandaime and Kakashi. He set the two boxes aside next to his Gama-chan to take with him in the morning. At least, it would help alleviate his guilt even if he hadn't purchased it for that reason.

Once he had all his camping equipment organized into what needed cleaning and what ready to be stowed away, he began putting away the clean items and turned his attention to his remaining uniforms. He had lost a shirt and a pair of arm wraps to Yugito, and a few of his other shirts and pants were beginning to show advanced signs of wear.

" **Remember, kit, you will start growing rapidly soon, so either you will have to buy things much too big for you or you will need to replace everything much faster,"** Kurama advised.

 _'So, maybe just shirts for now then.'_ Naruto decided. _'I'll have to look at the rest next year I suppose. I hope they still have this same style in stock.'_

With the items stored away and his clothing sorted, Naruto turned his attention to taking care of his camping equipment.

 _'How do you think Gyūki will take the news? I know you said he was never one to hate humans and preferred to try and work with them instead. Do you think he will oppose the plan?'_ Naruto asked as he cleaned his tent with a damp cloth.

" **Gyūki will listen to reason above all else. Once Matatabi explains everything his jinchūriki may decide to assist but we will have to wait and see about that. Knowing how Gyūki is, he will have just as good of a relationship with his jinchūriki as we do."** Kurama said.

 _'I hope so. It is hard enough for us to be treated like monsters or weapons but to have to worry about jinchūriki turning against one another as well?'_ Naruto said sadly.

" **Hmph. It matters not, we will focus first on those things that you can do."** Kurama said before listing off their priorities. **"As you train with my chakra, you will strengthen our bond and adapt even more to the potency of bijū chakra. This will allow me to further help your chakra manipulation to where you won't need to use as many hand seals for jutsu if you require them at all. Next, you find the key to the seal so that we can form a complete bond and give you the ability to use a full transformation and learn the bijūdama. Then we will be strong enough to start collecting what we need for the plan."** Kurama finished before adding, **"Even if we are forced to become outcasts at that point, there won't be much in this world capable of stopping us."**

 _'You sound way too excited about that sometimes. If I couldn't tell any better, I would think you were planning some ultimate destruction or world domination.'_ Naruto said shaking his head.

At least, he wouldn't have to worry about his friends or the Hokage looking at him strangely now when he had conversations with Kurama. He knew things would still be a bit awkward, but at least, they understood what was going on and hopefully time would help them realize that there was no threat to them.

The thought of his friends made him a little uneasy. Sasuke didn't seem too bothered by the revelation, and he hadn't sensed anything bad from Hinata when the whole conversation took place. He felt a little relief that all the secrets that had been piling up throughout his past were finally out. Naruto had not realized just how heavy that burden had been to him until the weight had lifted from his soul, once the initial fear and stress had disappeared at any rate.

Kurama huffed **"Do not concern yourself with thoughts about your comrades now. You will sense if their opinions have changed, but don't get too comfortable with reacting to our conversations in front of others or else those who don't know the truth will still assume you are as crazy as the rabid pink banshee."**

 _'I know, I just can't help the feeling. Sasuke and Hinata are my teammates, and they are quickly becoming my best friends. As for Sakura, hopefully, they help her be less rabid and less banshee then she might not be so bad after all. She didn't seem too bad after she killed my clone._ ' Naruto said as he put his tent away and began to pile his laundry together with his sleeping bag and towels.

Kurama snorted with amusement. **"Perhaps you should send your army of clones out to be abused by the villagers as well and cure all their foolishly misguided anger and pain."**

 _'I probably would have before if I thought it would help, but now I don't care that much. All I need are the ones close to me. If someone else wants to join the group, I won't mind, but I'm not going searching for more anytime soon.'_ Naruto replied in a nonchalant tone as he hefted his dirty laundry and headed towards the laundry room.

" **Who would have thought the Uchiha brat would be in that group. Though I must admit, for an Uchiha, he is not as much of an arrogant and selfish little fool. Perhaps the Uchiha are like an overgrown herd that just needed a little culling once in awhile."** Kurama replied with a grin.

' _A little? There are only two of them left that we know of. Who knows about the masked man himself he maybe just an eyeball collector like Danzō.'_ Naruto said incredulously.

" **If you knew the rest of the Uchiha before they were killed, you would think that the cleaning was sufficient,"** Kurama said with a growl.

 _'If you insist. What about the other bijū how do you think they will react?'_ Naruto was curious about the other bijū and who their jinchūriki were. Most information on them was kept close to the vest except for Kumo, who liked to flaunt theirs.

" **If I manage to find a way to contact Chōmei and Kokuō** **they will be willing to agree. Son Gokū, Shukaku, and Saiken will be very hard to convince. You may even have to establish dominance over them like that dog breath boy had tried to do to you. As for Isobu, he will be a wild card as his preference has always been isolation. He may simply be willing to let humanity suffer its fate."** Kurama said.

 _'I don't even know how I will get in contact with Son Gokū or Kokuō being Iwa jinchūrikis. Konoha is allied with Taki, so I might be able to get a mission and run into Chōmei. The same will apply to Shukaku in Suna.'_ Naruto said while he loaded up the washers in the laundry room.

" **Saiken and Isobu will be the hardest to establish contact with if what the silver sloth pervert mentioned was true. If the Mizukage caused that much chaos, then you can be certain that at least Isobu convinced their jinchūriki to flee while he could. Saiken is like Isobu in that way and has also most likely gone to ground."** Kurama said with a yawn.

 _'Yea. I didn't even think about that. Kiri has always been at odds with Konoha since the fall of Uzushiogakure. That is a place I have to go to visit someday, regardless of what happens. I doubt there is anything left but at least to see the land my mother came from.'_ Naruto leaned against the wall and adopted his stoic pose.

" **That will have wait for some time when you leave the village to gather what is needed,"** Kurama said.

 _'I know, Kurama, I know. Hopefully, tomorrow everything gets sorted out then I can begin training with your chakra.'_ Naruto replied with a little excitement and nervousness mixed in.

" **Do not be so concerned, this will be ideal for you to block out that blood lust in a controlled setting so that when you are in the midst of battle it will just seem like an annoyance. It will take a lot of effort on your part, however. You need to remain calm even if those you keep close are in danger, or the emotions can sneak up on you during a vulnerable moment."** Kurama said seriously.

 _'I understand I have to maintain my focus above all else. I guess I will have to try meditating more often, but it's difficult when I constantly feel the pull of the mindscape.'_ Naruto replied as he gripped his necklace subconsciously.

The washer alarm went off so Naruto moved his clothing to the dryer and hung the sleeping bag up on the bar that hung over the laundry room sink so that it could dry naturally.

 _'Hmm, I think I will go for some ramen after this is done. I wonder how much ryō we will get from an S-rank like we did.'_ Naruto said

" **Tch, why does that matter? It isn't like you need anything crucial."** Kurama said with a snort **. "Unless you are reconsidering training in kenjutsu."**

Naruto shrugged. ' _I thought about it, having a weapon like that could come in handy but at the same time I think a sword would end up running counter to how I want to fight. Perhaps I will just leave that to Sasuke.'_

" **It wouldn't hurt to learn as you can not rely on your teammates all the time, but you will not be closing the gap with your attackers as much since you can always use Kage Bunshin or seals. Just practice using your kunai in defensive situations more and that should be sufficient."** Kurama said

 _'I wonder where jiji will let me train with your chakra at? I wouldn't know of any place that someone else might try to use or wouldn't scare the villagers half to death.'_ Naruto thought.

" **Perhaps in one of the caves inside the Hokage mountain. I have seen different ones from when I was sealed in the other two."** Kurama said offhandedly.

 _'Maybe or perhaps out of the village in the woods.'_ Naruto replied.

A short time later the dryer buzzer went off, and Naruto began to fold his clothing before putting it in the basket. He checked on his sleeping bag and saw that it was still slightly damp but not enough to cause an issue if he let it hang on his balcony to dry.

 _'Guess we will find out tomorrow. What do you think I should work on now? Since we got that security seal down.'_ Naruto asked as folded the last of this clothing and put them in the basket before taking down the sleeping bag and exiting the laundry room.

" **You should get the privacy seal down, but that won't take long because it is really just a modified version of the security seal. With your modification, however, it might be a little more complicated than before."** Kurama replied.

Naruto walked back into his apartment and put his clothing away into the dresser by his bed before getting ready to take a shower.

 _'I will have to learn the one on the scroll originally or somehow integrate it into the current security seal I have already. Hmmm... That might be a better idea after all. Those things should just be one seal anyways I don't think anyone does one but not the other.'_ Naruto said as he let the hot water run over him for several minutes before grabbing his shampoo and washing his hair.

" **Tch. If you add on the privacy seal, with how your security seal is currently, you would have to maintain the seal by feeding it chakra every so often. The ring formations you have used is not sufficient to support an additional three ring seal on top of it."** Kurama lectured. **"The privacy seal would simply drain the security seal until they both shut down due to a lack of chakra. You would be forced to remake the seal every time you went away for some time."**

Naruto thought over Kurama's words for a moment while he began to soap his body up with suds. _'So I would either need to charge it manually or link a storage seal to the central combination then... No that wouldn't work I still have no idea how to do a residual release.'_

" **There are several methods of doing a residual release seal that should suit your needs."** As Kurama spoke, a few images of different seals flashed through Naruto's mind like photos.

 _'That third one you showed me. I think I could make that one work.'_ Naruto said.

" **After you finish your meal I will show it to you again to copy and test in the mindscape,"** Kurama replied.

Naruto finished his shower and dressed in some regular clothing. He grabbed his Gama-chan and headed out to Ichiraku's. It had been far too long since he had that delicious miso ramen with roasted pork.

 **Hiashi's Office – Hyūga Clan Compound**

* * *

Hiashi and Hizashi sat next to each other as they reviewed everything Hinata had relayed to them during her mission to Nami no Kuni. Both men were unsettled by what they had heard and were worried about the possibly deeper implications for this action against the clan.

"So you are saying that it had seemed these Root operatives were working in conjunction with the Kumo missing ninja but not the Kumo team itself?" Hiashi asked as he stroked his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

Hizashi had a frown on his face as he looked to his son, Neji, who was openly scowling.

Neji had become very close to Hinata as they grew because she was one of the few people in the Main Branch that openly treated him like family. Hizashi could tell that the thought of the future heiress being kidnapped again had made Neji furious.

He couldn't help but be proud of his son. He had sworn to protect Hinata like Hizashi had sworn to protect his brother when they were younger. Hiashi had been a lot like Hinata in his youth, but their father had not tolerated his brother's insistence that the branch and main families be integrated with a seal that didn't cause subjugation.

Hizashi had to endure the punishment seal more than once from a teary-eyed Hiashi in his youth, as their father knew that it was more effective to force Hiashi to use the seal on Hizashi to keep him in line and "cleanse him of his foolishness." Eventually, Hiashi managed to become more efficient in hiding his machinations from his father so that Hizashi didn't need to suffer. Hizashi had sworn to support Hiashi and help him gain power so that one day the Branch family would be free. Neji had followed in his footsteps, and Hizashi couldn't help but feel pride in his son.

"Yes, father. Somehow the missing-nin knew that I was going to be on that mission and when the attack occurred, if not for the main Kumo ninja's attacking the group of thugs, I fear that Root would have absconded with my teammates and me as well," Hinata said.

"That would be Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki wouldn't it?" Hiashi asked.

"Correct father," Hinata said.

"A prime target for Danzō indeed. Root's movements used to be much more subversive than this. The loss of gaining the Uzumaki boy for his forces must have really set Danzō off balance to attempt something like this." Hiashi said.

"Brother, what of the information regarding the heiress? Do you think this maybe due to the spies that were not caught during the Kumo incident 9 years ago?" Hizashi asked.

Hiashi pondered it for a moment. "It could be possible that Danzō had made some deal with Kumo to acquire Hinata for some other incentive that is not known. It was not unheard of that Danzō would do such a thing to further his own goals. It was with Danzō's help that the uprising in Amegakure (Village Hidden in the Rain) was successful with Root support. How he managed to defeat Hanzō the Salamander with rebel upstarts is a troubling thought since Hanzō had fought all of the Legendary Sannin to a stand still." Hiashi replied.

"Why would you believe that Root was involved in my kidnapping father?" Hinata asked.

"After we began to investigate your kidnapping attempts, we had managed to uncover some old evidence that a few of the Main branch elders had given Branch member children to Root because of blackmail. These elders had given at least 3 children away going as far back as 10 years before your birth. Once I learned of this, I had those elders branded and killed with the punishment seal as a message to the others." Hiashi said with a hint of malice in his tone before a small frown formed on his stoic face. "Unfortunately, because of the amount of time that had elapsed, the children were undocumented and their parents unknown. It is possible that the elders had stolen them from the Hyūga orphanage, or eliminated their parents and reintegrated them into the clan once they had completed Root training. This means that there are at least three moles, if not more, that have infiltrated the branch family." Hiashi growled.

Hizashi had a thoughtful look on his face as he ran through all the Branch members of the Hyūga clan that would fit into that age bracket. While Hizashi was considered the unofficial head of the Branch family, there were at least 300 members total, and it would be difficult for him to weed them out since they have had at least 15 years to cover their tracks.

"How would we be able to tell if they are Root operatives?" Hizashi asked.

"We would need to check them for seals on their tongues and on the back of their necks. The tongue seal prevents them from saying anything incriminating about Danzō or speaking about Root. The seal on the back of their necks is unknown, but some believe it is an immolation seal or a memory seal waiting to destroy or wipe their mind in case they are discovered." Hiashi commented.

"With the Chūnin exams coming up you might be able to request an increase in guards. With that order, we can order physical exams for all Branch members that are applying for a guard position. There is always a high turn out for guard recruitment in the Branch family since the extra privileges and pay are lucrative, and I think the opportunity to gain access to restricted areas or the village itself might be a good lure for any moles who aren't in a guard position already." Hizashi said.

"I will see if I can get the elders to agree. I think it would be best considering the events that occurred to Hinata in Nami no Kuni. We will also need more people to keep an eye on Hanabi now as well since the attempt on Hinata failed." Hiashi replied.

Hinata stiffened at that thought. Hanabi was only a four years younger than Hinata, but she was also an unmarked Hyūga, who had just entered the Academy. Hanabi was such a happy child and was showing promising talent with her Jūken already. Hinata would hate for her to get dragged into the political messes already and Hinata had found that having guards around you was stressful since it always reminded you of the danger you are in. She didn't want her sister exposed to that.

"Perhaps, father, you could start her advanced training a little earlier. I can spend more time working on jutsu at Kakashi-sensei's request or joining the Iryō Ninjutsu classes that Tsunade-sama is going to be teaching here in the village before the Chūnin exams. I think it is an opportunity that I should not pass up father." Hinata said.

"Yes, of course, we will modify your schedule of training to one day that does not conflict with the class. One does not turn down an opportunity to learn from one of the Sannin after all. You will need to work harder on your chakra control if your instructor has already started you on elemental training." Hiashi recommended.

"I have already started on my elemental manipulation during the Nami mission, so I think, with some more help from Kakashi-sensei, I can have it up to a sufficient level by the time the classes begin," Hinata replied.

"Oh? Did you learn your chakra affinity already? What element did you discover?" Hizashi said curiously.

"I have a strong affinity to Raiton with a minor affinity to Katon," Hinata said.

"Raiton? That is quite rare for a Hyūga but can be very useful. I have a few scrolls for you with some Jūken based attacks that utilize that nature. I will give those to you in the morning tomorrow, to study before we review the basics on your new training day. You will have to take care to keep those attacks hidden unless they are necessary for your survival and do not practice them around others until they are revealed." A smug expression appeared on the clan leader's face as he spoke. "All of our enemies believe that the Hyūga are limited to close range, and that works to our advantage as long as we ensure that those who witness those attacks do not survive them, we can maintain that advantage. For now, we will schedule to train on Saturday Morning." Hiashi said to Hinata before he turned his attention to Hizashi.

"Yes, father," Hinata replied with a bow.

"Hizashi, I think you and Neji can continue working with Hanabi on the basic stances and strikes during your warm ups and I will start her focus on the Hakke branches of Jūken training in the afternoon." Hizashi just replied with a nod and Hiashi turned his attention towards the branch prodigy.

"Neji you will start watching over Hanabi whenever Hinata is away for training and missions, The rest of the time you will remain by Hinata's side when you are not training with your team or on missions." Hiashi shot his daughter a stern glare. "Hinata, this means that Neji will accompany you on all excursions into the village unless Kakashi is with you, this is not negotiable." Hinata merely bowed once more to conceal the frown on her face. There was no use arguing with him when he took that tone of voice.

Hiashi continued with his directives. "To make up for your lost individual time Neji I will allow you to attend Hinata's training days on Saturday and her previous training day on Thursday evening. I think it's time you learn the Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation) and Hakke Kūshō (Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm). With Hinata and Hanabi now being potential targets for Root and Kumo, I will authorize your instruction in the Main family techniques to ensure you are capable of protecting them from all threats."

While Neji was unhappy to lose all of his free time, the fact that he was going to learn two of the most powerful and restricted techniques reserved for Main branch members more than made up for it. In fact, he might be able to use these new techniques to skip out on some of his team practices. While he didn't hate them, Guy and Lee were just too over the top for his tastes and often their training just devolved into one massive workout session while Neji and Tenten went off to do their own thing anyways.

"I won't let you down Hiashi-sama!" Neji said with a bow.

Hizashi frowned. "I am pleased that you would give my son this opportunity brother, but what of the elders? You know how angry they were that Neji had even learned theHakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō (Eight Trigrams 128 palms) on his own, I thought for certain they would kill him."

"The elders will accept my decision whether they like it or not. Clan rules dictate that I can authorize any level of training to a guard assigned to the heiress. Your son is a prodigy Hizashi, and he deserves to learn both the Kaiten and the Hakke Kūshō because of his hard work. Besides, I think having him display such a showing in the Chūnin exams would be worth seeing the looks on some of their faces." Hiashi said with a rare smirk.

Hizashi and Neji also smirked with Hiashi while Hinata openly smiled, they loved nothing more than to ruffle the elder's feathers whenever they could, especially in public since the Hyūga always put a lot of emphasis on saving face. Forcing them to lose their composure publicly was one of the best ways to humiliate them.

"Now leave me, I have much that needs to be done in light of this recent news," Hiashi said before turning back to his desk.

Hinata, Hizashi, and Neji all bowed and left the room.

 **Next Morning – Hokage's Office**

* * *

Naruto walked up towards the Hokage's door and was waved in by his assistant. As he opened the door to the Hokage's office, he was surprised to see Kakashi leaning against the back wall.

"Yo," Kakashi said with a lazy wave in his direction.

"Hi, Kakashi-sensei. I didn't think I would ever see you at an appointment before me." Naruto said with a smirk.

Before Kakashi could reply, however, the Hokage interjected. "That is because he was supposed to show up two hours earlier. At least Team 8 didn't have to wait for him before giving their report."

Kakashi just shrugged nonchalantly he already gave them one of his patented excuses earlier he wouldn't be bothered to repeat it. Everyone knew they were ridiculous, but it was his thing now. He was just happy that the Hokage was including him in this discussion because he would finally learn the entire truth.

"So is everything going to be okay with them then?" Naruto asked tentatively.

The Hokage gave Naruto a stern glance. "I understand you were upset at the time, Naruto-kun, but you shouldn't ever speak to a Jōnin like you did to Kurenai even if she was being unreasonable."

"I understand jiji, but after what happened with Sakura, it almost seemed like she was disappointed that Sakura didn't actually kill me," Naruto said with a pout. "I mean who demands that someone accept the apology of a person trying to kill them? It was like my position didn't even matter to her." Naruto said as he crossed his arms.

"That is the only reason you will not be punished for your behavior because her actions and her inability to remain in control of her genin during a spar was unacceptable. A Jōnin should have been more than capable of stopping her student before they went too far." the Hokage said.

"Kurenai and Sakura will not go unpunished for this event, Naruto-kun, so you shouldn't have to worry about that kind of behavior again." The Sandaime stated. However, I needed to be clear that you must respect the chain of command regardless of the situation unless it is in violation of our Shinobi guidelines or puts you in unreasonable danger." The Hokage said with a commanding tone.

"Yes, jiji. I won't let it happen again." Naruto replied with a small bow of his head.

"Good. Now, after our conversation yesterday I assume that the Kyūbi already informed you of your heritage am I correct?" The Hokage asked.

Naruto only nodded with a bigger frown on his face.

"Now, understand, Naruto-kun, on some aspects of this knowledge, my hands were tied by the remains of an impartial will that were left behind by your mother," Hiruzen said sadly. "The knowledge about your parents I withheld because of the many enemies your parents had accumulated over their careers. Once you were discovered, I feared this knowledge would have only added more trouble to your life, and you already had to deal with more trouble than I would like from the villagers and Danzō." The Hokage explained.

"He is right about that Naruto." Kakashi cut in. "Sensei didn't let more than a handful of people know that he was even involved with Kushina or that she was pregnant. They hid her pregnancy from the village because there were always ambushes and assassination attempts targeting Minato-sensei directly and anyone associated with him." Kakashi said with a sigh before a far off look appeared in his eye. "I can't count the number of missions I have been on that were merely designed to kill or capture me in an attempt to retaliate against him, and your mother had been targeted by Kumo more than once. " Kakashi added.

"I know, jiji, sensei. Like I said, I was angry about it at first, but Kyūbi explained about some of that to me when he first told me about them." Naruto said with a slight frown.

"I'm glad that you learned the truth Naruto-kun. I didn't like to keep this information from you either but it was for your own safety." The Hokage said with before a smile appeared on his face. "Since you have learned your parent's identities, I am allowed to release some things from your inheritance now because of the incomplete status of your mother's will. There are some things that I can not let you have access to because your mother designated that these particular items be withheld until you obtain the rank of Chūnin or the age of majority whichever comes first. I will tell you about what is waiting for you and let you look over the items you can not receive." Hiruzen said as he pointed out a very large scroll leaning against his desk.

"When I entered my private office in the Sarutobi compound on the night of the attack, I found your mother's partial will and a note that was hastily written by your father with instructions on how to obtain these items and what they wanted to pass down to you. First off, you should know that the Namikaze house located inside the village proper was destroyed in the attack but do not let that get you down. Because Minato wanted to keep his relationship with Kushina a secret, they also had a secret house on the outskirts of the clan district near the park and training grounds. This house is what held most of the items they wanted to remain secure and is difficult for anyone to access." The Hokage unrolled the scroll revealing several large sealing arrays.

Naruto was already impressed with the scroll alone. The storage seals on the large scroll were more sophisticated than what he had learned, and it allowed for multiple different arrays that were capable of pointing to a shared space or different individual areas. Naruto only had the capability to create a single space so his storage seals were incapable of expanding in size after they were created. This scroll could hold items of any shape or size if he was correct in his theory.

"If you wish to move into the second house now, I see no problem with it, but I can't grant you the title or land deed for it because it was mentioned in the partial will that we found. Secondly, there is a sizable amount of ryō that is being held in trust which has to remain withheld for now. Finally, the land deed for the land where the Namikaze house once stood will also transfer to you at that time. The land in the village itself was re-purposed into what you know as the Merchant district, and you technically own the buildings which consist of few shops and an apartment building." A smirk grew on the wizened Hokage's face before he continued. "Since I was the executor of the will, I allowed the construction of the buildings with ownership rights to remain in trust for you. The businesses and apartments have all signed long-term leases and the rent from those leases has been added to a separate account that I will give you access to now since, technically, those leases are not a part of the will. I have been using this account on top of what is allotted to orphans to cover your expenses since you left the orphanage, so in a way you have been providing for yourself mostly." Hiruzen showed him the deeds to the land, the lease agreements, and the bank book.

Naruto was surprised to see that he technically owned the Yakiniku-Q restaurant, a clothing shop attached to it, the old couple's grocery store across the street and the apartment building next door to the grocery store.

Hiruzen resealed the deeds and lease agreements but kept the account book out to give to Naruto. Activating a separate seal revealed several notebooks and scrolls which Hiruzen spread out across his desk before he began to describe the contents for each one.

"These are the things I collected at your mother's instructions. Some things were left behind in the clan district house because they were already secured and I was unable to find a way to retrieve them safely. These were her fūinjutsu notes for what she was working on at the time as well as the training program she had begun to put together for you when you were old enough to learn. Her instructions did not specify when to give these items to you so I was waiting to pass them off when you made Chūnin along with the rest of your inheritance. Since you already know the truth I will just give them to you now, but keep them safe, Naruto-kun, these might be the last documents for teaching Uzumaki Fūinjutsu remaining in the world. Hopefully, she will provide the answer to the security seals in the home, and you can gain access to those items. She didn't mention anything beyond the fact that there were important scrolls regarding your history so I guess there are hidden items from her home in Uzushio before she arrived here in Konoha. " Hiruzen said.

"Wow, jiji! She was really amazing at fūinjutsu," Naruto said in awe as he looked at some of his mother's notes. It was way out of his league right now. He looked through the scrolls themselves and saw that there were steps for learning the first five fundamental levels before beginning the advanced theoretical studies on fūinjutsu to begin custom seal creation. From what he was seeing the Uzumaki focused directly on seal symbols and ring formations before allowing the student to move on to seal creation itself.

 _'Damn, Kurama I went about learning in an entirely backward way if my mother's instructions are any indication.'_ Naruto said as he read the scroll labeled "Beginner." It was mainly a list of functional focus symbols and support symbols most of which Naruto had never seen before.

" **Indeed, this must be the actual reason why the Uzumaki's were so successful in sealing arts. I do not recall your mother making this, however, perhaps it was during one of the times where I hibernated for a few years out of boredom or it was passed down to her. Once we are done here the first thing you should do is have a group of clones read through each of the first five levels so I can memorize them along with you. Then I can aid you in learning, and we can secure these scrolls somewhere safe."** Kurama said in an excited tone.

 _'Yea. Maybe I should just have jiji hold on to her notes and the advanced scrolls, for now, to make sure they remain safe. Just from looking at this first scroll I have a feeling there is quite a bit I still need to learn before I can attempt the others.'_ Naruto replied.

 **"Take the first two advanced theoretical scrolls with you, It would be more convenient to have those on hand instead of troubling the old monkey goat more often,"** Kurama said. Naruto nodded in agreement with Kurama before looking up from the scroll.

Naruto didn't notice that Kakashi and the Hokage were studying him carefully at the moment. They both noticed the unfocused look in his eyes that appeared briefly before he nodded. Both men were documenting any behavior from Naruto that indicated when the Kyūbi was speaking to him to try and learn any signs that the Kyūbi was influencing him beyond mere discussions.

"Jiji, I think I will take the first five instruction scrolls and these two advanced scrolls for now, can you hang on to the other stuff for me? I don't want to risk it becoming stolen or damaged." Naruto asked.

"Of course, Naruto-kun, I will keep whatever you don't take with you within the vault until the time comes for you to claim your inheritance." The Hokage said before he resealed the other items and activated another seal array.

Naruto took the instruction scrolls and set them aside with one of his larger sealing scrolls. He wasn't sure just how much stuff he would receive today, but he had one more empty scroll and a few open seals in his pockets available. Hopefully, they were enough.

"Finally, we have the things your father wanted me to acquire for you as well. Your father didn't have much time to dictate his final wishes, unfortunately. All that he mentioned was that he had given me Kushina's incomplete will and how to bypass his security seals inside the home and to secure everything I could find for you. Since Minato's instructions are not covered by the will, you are free to take anything that he left behind right now. I searched the home multiple times and was able to locate a hidden seal that contained a scroll, secured by a blood seal, and a notebook describing how he developed his most famous technique. " The Hokage said in a serious tone.

"You don't mean..." Kakashi said with a wide eye.

"I was unable to verify the contents of the scroll but given the fact that this scroll was bound to that notebook and secured with a blood seal leads me to believe that the scroll contains your father's Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God) technique. The notebook has descriptions on the original jutsu created by the Nidaime and some early concepts showing his modifications to the Nidaime's technique." Hiruzen said as he tapped a medium sized faded yellow scroll that sat on top of a standard sized notebook.

"I guess there is only one way to find out then," Naruto said before he picked up the scroll and examined the blood seal. After a few moments, he bit his thumb and smeared a small amount of blood over the scroll before placing his right hand over the seal and holding his left hand in the half ram seal. He channeled chakra into his right hand before calling out "Kai." Naruto felt a drain on his chakra for a few seconds, then saw the sealing script spread over the scroll before it vanished.

Naruto removed his palm and saw that the blood seal had disappeared so he gingerly opened the scroll. The scroll was actually two different scrolls rolled up as one. The first appeared to be a taijutsu style that his father developed called the Hurricane fist and seemed to be centered on the use of the Hiraishin and another technique Naruto had never heard of called the Rasengan.

Naruto looked at the second scroll and saw the details and, as the Hokage had expected, it was the details on the Hiraishin.

"Well jiji you were right, this scroll has the Hiraishin, but it also has a taijutsu style called the Hurricane Fist," Naruto confirmed.

"It is as I thought then. I don't have a problem with giving it to you Naruto-kun, but you must know that people will go to any lengths to obtain that scroll if they discover that you have it. I want you to think about this carefully before you decide to keep that scroll or not." Hiruzen said seriously.

Naruto did not reply as he was too busy studying the notes for the Hiraishin and speaking to Kurama.

 _'Wow, Kurama. Father was just as good at fūinjutsu as mother! This seal is really complicated, but its array is so simple. How does that even work?'_ Naruto said while sweat dropping.

" **It appears to be a personalized modification to a group technique meaning that because it was so specific to his chakra signature and body structure, he was able to cut out most of the unnecessary additions to make it safe for a general purpose use. This will not be usable, as it is, but with your mother's notes and the notes he used to create this seal, I can help you reconstruct one that you can use, but it will take quite some time. We can speed up the process of creating a usable version, but it will be a generic version, and the other mortal filth will surely steal it from you."** Kurama said as he studied the seal.

 _'Maybe we should stick with the individual for now. It could be bad if we created a general one and the wrong person got their hands on it. Iwa is still recovering from the damage my father did to them during the war and they would probably give it to everyone just so they can destroy Konoha.'_ Naruto said grimly.

" **Agreed. The more foolish mortal filth without this kind of ability the better off the world will be."** Kurama grumbled.

Naruto openly smirked _'Father gave you a lot of problems with this jutsu that night did he?'_

Kurama just growled.

"Naruto-kun did you hear what I told you?" the Hokage's voice brought Naruto's attention back to reality.

"I'm sorry, jiji. I didn't hear you. What did you say?" Naruto said while looking up.

"You seemed to space out there while reading that scroll. Is there something wrong?" The Hokage asked curiously.

"Oh, sorry about that, jiji but I was just discussing with the Kyūbi about how the jutsu works and if I should keep this jutsu specific to one person or general so anyone could use it," Naruto said sheepishly.

Kakashi and Hiruzen both just stared blankly at Naruto. Did Naruto and the Kyūbi really just decipher the Hiraishin that quickly?

"That is for you to decide alone Naruto-kun. I had already labeled this jutsu as a clan jutsu so it falls under clan protection even if it was derived from the Nidaime's creation originally. Whatever you decide I will support you, but as I said earlier while you were distracted, people will go to any lengths to acquire this technique if they learn you have it. Do you really feel that you can keep that scroll safe?" The Hokage said.

" **Keep the scroll for this one on your person but have the old monkey goat keep the notes safe. I will show you a seal that will keep it safe but is not capable of holding anything more small sized items. We can not leave this jutsu to chance, and it will require a few years of study to attune it to you directly. Once you finish all the training scrolls, we will claim the notes and put our focus on this."** Kurama's voice cut in.

 _'What about the Hurricane Fist scroll, will it fit or should I just give it to jiji to hold onto, I mean without this_ _ _Rasengan ___jutsu or the_ _ _Hiraishin ___it might be useless to learn right?'_ Naruto asked.

" **Take them both anyways, If the silver sloth pervert teaches you the** ** **Shunshin ******as he promised then you can utilize that plus the** ** **Kawarimi ******to make use of this taijutsu style as most of the stances focus more on attacking with kunai instead of this** ** **Rasengan**** **,"** Kurama said.

"I think I will hold onto this one jiji. I can keep it safe since it is small enough but the notes for it I think you should hang onto," Naruto said.

The Hokage nodded and picked up the notebook to seal away. He had his concerns but he would leave it in Naruto's hands, and since the notebook seemed to be the key to breaking down the jutsu itself, he figured that Naruto or the Kyūbi felt that separating the two would keep it secure.

Naruto looked over the rest of the items and saw that it was mostly some mundane stuff that was still interesting. Some note on techniques that were unsuccessful and a journal with personal entries that Naruto would like to read at some point.

"I think maybe it's safer for you to keep the rest of these as well, but I will keep this," Naruto said as he picked up the journal to read.

Naruto hoped he could learn more about his father by reading his personal journal and maybe learn some things about his mother too.

"Of course Naruto-kun anytime you want to see these things I will be happy to collect them for you, but I must ask that you do not reveal your heritage to anyone, not even your teammates, until after you reach Chūnin rank at least." The Hokage said.

"That's fine. I probably wasn't going to reveal something like this for awhile anyways. I would rather not deal with any fake attitudes towards me. I know how much Sasuke hates it." Naruto said

The Hokage chuckled as he put everything back into the large scroll and leaned it against his desk. Then he pulled out a folded and partially wrinkled piece of paper and handed it to Naruto.

"This was the letter that was written by your father that night and was with your mother's will, I can not give you the will itself as it was filed away in the capital to ensure that your heritage was legally protected and could not be seized by the village."

The Hokage handed the note to Naruto who looked at it for a few minutes but instead of opening up the note to read it like he thought he would, Naruto sealed it away into his arm wraps. Hiruzen didn't say anything, but he suspected Naruto would prefer to read it alone so that no one could see his reaction.

"Now as for a training area, for you to use the Kyūbi's chakra, there is a location outside the village where there are a series of vast caves. This cave system is unique in that several of them are made of stone that is chakra resistant. You should be able to train in there without worrying about the villagers discovering it." The Hokage said.

"Is it far from the village?" Naruto asked.

"It is sufficient enough that the villagers shouldn't feel or sense any chakra being used, but you will have to be careful of using large-scale attacks, and most shinobi or sensors will still be capable of sensing chakra usage." The Hokage replied

"So I will still have to use the security seal I created to make sure no one can notice me using the chakra at all then.." Naruto noted mainly to himself.

"Oh, you managed to learn that seal already?" The Hokage asked with some surprise.

"I made my own version since the Kyūbi's chakra would break through all the other security seals once I reached a certain level. The one I created uses the chakra expelled around the seal to power itself so that the more chakra that is used, the stronger it gets." Naruto explained.

"That sounds quite sophisticated, Naruto-kun. May I see an example of this?" The Hokage asked.

"Oh, of course, jiji!" Naruto said before unsealing his photo book from his thigh pocket. The book had full page laminated sleeves allowing a person to store papers in the book safely. Naruto opened up the book and flipped through a few pages before he pulled out the proper sheet.

The Hokage studied the seal on the sheet and was amazed. It was a crude way of managing a more complex seal, but it worked. He was surprised that Naruto managed to utilize an advanced behavior using basic level marks. However, there were a few parts of the layout he didn't recognize.

"What is the modified sensor for Naruto-kun? And these additional marks here? I do not recognize them." The Hokage asked.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "Ummm well you see the first time I made the seal it was draining all chakra that was expelled which included the Natural chakra from the land and trees itself. It would have remained active until it drained everything so the Kyūbi told me how to change it so it wouldn't look at Natural chakra as a source to be consumed."

"That explains the sensor but what about these marks?" The Hokage said. Inwardly he was shocked at the revelation that a seal could affect Natural chakra and how potentially dangerous it could be.

"Those are the ones I created to drain the chakra and turn it into a form that was compatible with powering the barrier itself. I think the Kyūbi said that it turns Nature chakra into yin or yang chakra." Naruto merely shrugged as if it were nothing special.

Kakashi and the Hokage just looked at Naruto incredulously.

"Naruto-kun this has the potential to be very dangerous. Will you show me any seals that you create like this before you use them? If you aren't careful, the repercussions could be very devastating, and I would be responsible for the fallout. Do you understand?" The Hokage said seriously.

" **I see no reason to keep these things from the old monkey goat. You should agree to his terms. It will help to reduce their scrutiny over us in the long run."** Kurama added quickly.

"Okay, jiji I will show you all the seals that I make before I try them. Do you want me to copy all the ones I have already made? I know that reverse gravity seal really showed me how dangerous it could be to make custom seals." Naruto thought with a slight shiver.

Some of those failures had been quite destructive. Though now that he thought it over the seal itself was still highly dangerous so the destructive nature when it failed was probably a good indicator he had ignored. Naruto made a mental note to look into the reverse seal from scratch one of these nights.

"If you could please, Naruto-kun, I would greatly appreciate it. If I feel that some of your seals will be useful for the village after some testing, I will give you credit and pay you for them unless you would prefer that they remain secret." The Hokage said.

"I don't think that the ones I do have should be secret except maybe the reverse gravity seal since it drains all my chakra quite quickly. I will let you know about any of the new ones I make." Naruto said.

Kakashi didn't even want to know what kind of seal could drain Naruto's chakra quickly.

"Thank you Naruto-kun. Now let's return your inheritance scroll to my vault then we can head to your new training grounds." The Hokage said with a smile.

"Wait! I almost forgot again," Naruto exclaimed suddenly before he unsealed two small boxes from his arm wraps. "I got these for you at the festival in Nami no Kuni. I thought you would like them."

He handed a medium sized brown box to the Hokage and small and skinny rectangular silver box to Kakashi.

Hiruzen opened his box to reveal a dark red wooden pipe with an intricate silver root like inlay along the stem, with the bowl being a highly detailed carving of a forest of trees similar to the one made by the Shodaime. The wood had a nice strong fragrance which reminded him of one of his favorite tobaccos that were no longer available for purchase.

Hiruzen looked at Naruto and smiled when he saw the childish look of anticipation on his face.

"This is a wonderful gift you have gotten me, Naruto-kun. Thank you very much." Hiruzen said before giving Naruto a hug.

Naruto returned the hug happily. "I'm really glad, jiji. The lady said it was made of rosewood from the other continent. She said it symbolizes kindness and a good heart. I thought about you when she mentioned it. I didn't mean to hurt you like I did yesterday, jiji. I really believed I was making things easier for you so that you didn't have to worry about me as much."

"As I said before, Naruto-kun, you don't have to be sorry. It is my duty to worry about you, and I have already forgiven you, and I hope you have forgiven me as well. I will treasure this gift you have given me." Hiruzen said while patting Naruto on the back tenderly.

Kakashi meanwhile opened his box with curiosity not certain why Naruto had bought him a gift in the first place. Inside the box was a rectangular slab of metal with a string of dark green beads.

Naruto looked over at Kakashi as he studied his gift curiously.

"That, sensei, is a book marker with a secret in it," Naruto said mysteriously.

Kakashi merely raised his eyebrow before studying it further. It seemed to be entirely solid until he noticed the edge near the string of beads was slightly rounded directly in the center. Kakashi tugged on this rounded portion to reveal a small flat dagger hidden inside the book marker.

"Quite the clever little bookmark. Thank you, Naruto. I will keep this with me always." Kakashi said with an eye smile.

"Your welcome, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said with a nod.

Hiruzen returned Naruto's inheritance scroll to the vault while Kakashi and Naruto were talking. Afterward, he came out and motioned them to follow him.

Kakashi, Naruto, and the Hokage left the tower and after a quick stop at the Sarutobi compound headed out to the cave system through a secret underground tunnel.


	24. An Evening of Dinner and Plotting

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are a property of Masashi Kishimoto. Kikusui Junmai Ginjo is a product of KIKUSUI Co. and is amazing sake. Killer B raps inspired by Busta Rhymes but is nowhere near the quality that the artist is capable of because I am terrible at writing rap lyrics and don't really listen to that type of music.

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Biju/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Biju/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

Edit 4/21/16

 **Chapter 23**

 **An Evening of Dinner and Plotting**

 **Later that Night - Yakiniku-Q Restaurant - Konoha**

* * *

Teams 7 and 8 sat around the table grilling their meats and eating happily while Kakashi and Kurenai were quietly arguing about buying them sake. Kakashi decided he would buy his team the sake, regardless of Kurenai's arguments to the contrary.

Kakashi ordered four 300ml bottles of Kikusui Junmai Ginjo "Chrysanthemum Water" sake that is known for its smoother taste and less burn since the producers ferment the rice at a low temperature for a longer period.

Perfect for introducing sake to his cute little genin.

The waitress came and set down these pleasant looking light blue bottles with an attractive light blue and orange label, and small sake cups for each bottle.

Kakashi distributed the bottles and cups to his team and at their curious looks, began his explanation.

"Okay, Team 7. Keeping with a tradition that I learned from my own sensei on the first completion of an S-rank mission, we will partake of dinner and sake. The rules here are that you can not pour for yourself, and you must finish your bottle. Since you are still such cute little genin, I got you the cute little bottle but traditionally a regular sized bottle is required." Kakashi said with an eye smile.

"Hey! Why didn't we get any sake?" Kiba asked.

Shino and Sakura looked towards Kurenai.

"Because! I don't agree that you should start drinking at this age!" Kurenai said with a huff.

"Sensei, weren't we allowed permission to purchase alcohol with our Genin certification?" Shino asked

"Yes but that comes with a stipulation of being purchased for use during infiltration missions by providing means of gaining information through non-lethal means," Kurenai stated.

"Aww, cmon sensei! It's not like we are going to become a bunch of drunks! It was an S-Rank mission." Kiba exclaimed while thumping his fist on the table.

"Yes. Please let us, sensei. Won't it foster more cooperation between us if we share in their tradition?" Sakura asked.

"All right, but I'm going to get one bottle, and you are only allowed to have two cups. After that, you can make your own decision but don't forget we have training in the morning, and I will be especially hard on you if you aren't fully functional." Kurenai said with a glower before flagging down the waitress.

After the waitress had arrived with the extra bottle and cups, Kurenai poured for her team while Kakashi had his team pour to the right.

Kakashi filled Sasuke and Kurenai's cups while Sasuke filled Naruto's cup and Naruto filled Hinata's cup.

Everyone held their cups aloft shouting out Kanpai! (Cheers) and swallowed their cups in one gulp.

Kakashi and Kurenai both laughed at the various reactions.

Naruto just blinked a few times before he let out his breath in a whoosh and shook his head a few times like a dog. "Hey, that stuff didn't taste too bad, but I was not expecting it to kind of burn like that," Naruto said

Hinata squeaked and covered her mouth to hide her embarrassment. While the sake wasn't bad, it wasn't as smooth as the clan sake, and it burned a lot more.

Sasuke merely grimaced for a bit then took a few sips of his water before coughing lightly.

The reaction from Team 8 was more telling since Kurenai just purchased the House sake.

Kiba practically howled after he downed his shot and had watery eyes as he took a gulp of water.

Shino did not appear to have a reaction, but he picked up his glass of water and drank most of it right away.

Sakura started coughing and then began to chug her water as well.

"Wasn't too bad? That stuff burned like fire!" Kiba exclaimed.

"Well it did burn, a little, but it actually tasted quite nice," Naruto said. "At least, mine did," he added as an afterthought.

Sasuke nodded his agreement with Naruto. He liked it a lot and would keep a mental note of the brand so he could buy more of it later.

Hinata just smiled she had already had experience with quality sake due to her training as clan head. The clan had always produced a few barrels of sake a year for private ceremonies and weddings. Her clan sake was smoother and drier than the one Kakashi chose but was not as sweet either.

"Oh, I know that look there Hinata. Next time you should bring some of your clan special," Kakashi said as he began to pour the next round for Sasuke and Kurenai.

"Oi, can I try yours instead Naruto?" Kiba asked as he held out his cup.

Naruto just nodded and filled up Kiba's cup while Kurenai poured from her bottle into Naruto's cup.

"Would you like to try mine instead Sakura?" Hinata asked. She was interested in comparing the house sake to what Kakashi had selected.

"Oh. Yes please, Hinata. I would be grateful," Sakura said as she picked up her cup and held it out for Hinata to fill.

Kurenai then filled Hinata's cup for her with the rest of the remaining house sake.

Another Kanpai later and the group drained their second cups.

Naruto practically gagged after taking his before shaking his head like a dog again. "Oh man, that stuff was much worse."

Sasuke simply drained his cup and managed to handle the sake easier this time. He didn't understand why Naruto bothered trying the house sake when Team 8 had unanimously agreed that it was terrible.

Hinata also made a face before nodding in agreement with Naruto. That stuff was just low quality and probably not aged for much longer than necessary.

"Yea. Yours was way better then the first one I had," Kiba said.

Sakura nodded her agreement as well. The sake Hinata had given her was a lot better, but she didn't want to drink too much. Inoichi had warned her that her personality might break through and until she completed all the steps in her therapy program she shouldn't get inebriated.

"The burning sensation was quite unpleasant, but I am not opposed to the taste overall. Something to be reserved for special occasions is my belief." Shino said.

"That is an excellent sentiment Shino. Too many good Shinobi have fallen to drinking as a coping mechanism, and it never ends well. Remember that." Kurenai said seriously.

"Up and at em' my cute little genin! Your bottles are only half way drained!" Kakashi said in a cheery tone.

He knew they would start feeling the effects soon, and he wanted them to drink it all before they ate so they would get thoroughly sloshed and possibly incoherent too.

Team 7 simply refilled each other's cups and drank them down until they drained their bottles while Team 8 finished cooking their meat and vegetables on the grill. Team 7 then started to use the grill to cook their meat as well, but after awhile Kakashi had to take over as the effects of the sake began to take hold.

Naruto had adopted a modified version of his stoic pose with his eyes closed in contentment and a rare smile on his face. Not so chatty but definitely cheery. Kakashi had to wonder if the Kyūbi could get drunk but figured it wasn't likely. He had seen how much Gamabunta could drink one time when Minato pissed him off and had to make it up to him. It cost Minato pay from 5 S-ranked missions to satisfy Gamabunta and cleaned out one year's worth of a distilleries reserves.

In truth, Naruto had been chatting up Kurama, who had gotten annoyed by his drunken ramblings and had gone to sleep. Naruto, completely unaware that he was chatting up Kurama while he snoozed, just continued to ramble on about various things like how pretty Matatabi was, and theories as to why Kurama had such large ears.

Hinata, it turned out, was more of a snuggler as seen by the way she was clinging to Naruto's right arm with a far off look on her face and a big smile. Kakashi could only chuckle at the fact that Naruto seemed completely unaware, or he would have been blushing up a storm and get all flustered.

Sasuke was now swaying while brooding instead of brooding at a stand still. On occasion, he would let out a languorous hum of boredom before returning to his brooding. Mostly he was reliving memories from when he had seen his father and mother drunk or the first time Itachi got in trouble for coming home drunk, even though he was in Anbu at the time. His mother would probably be pretty upset with him if he came home as he was now, but his father would have laughed it off as long as he wasn't too slovenly and off balance.

Kakashi waved down a waitress and called for the check once they had eaten all the food. He was glad to see them so relaxed at the moment and happy that he had shared this tradition with them. Hopefully, they would have a lot more in the future, minus the screwed up S-rank missions of course.

Kurenai and her team had departed a short while ago since they had training scheduled, but Team 7 being off for two weeks could afford some down time. While Kakashi knew they would want to train hard for the Chūnin exams approaching, Kakashi didn't feel two weeks would harm the development of their skills.

Kakashi knew that Naruto would probably still try to head to his training ground when he recovered tomorrow, but he probably wouldn't get past the Hokage. Kakashi wasn't planning on dragging the other two into any form of training for the rest of this week. Perhaps after next week, he would let them work on their chakra control. After that, they should master any new jutsu easier and sharpen any taijutsu or kenjutsu skills just in time to take the exams.

"Well, team, it is getting late so we should all probably call it a night," Kakashi announced.

Hinata didn't respond at all to his statement and just tightened her grip on Naruto's arm.

"You know what sensei? I think you are absolutely right." Naruto said in a slur before trying to stand up and found that his arm was tied down by something.

He looked down at his arm in confusion before he realized that Hinata was holding onto him while half asleep.

"Oi Hinata-chan! Hinata-chan! C'mon we have to go now Hinata-chan." Naruto said while trying to pull his arm out of her grip.

Hinata just pouted and shook her head a bit. She was far too comfortable to be moved from her spot. Naruto's aura was completely open right now, and Hinata just wanted to sit there and absorb the delicious warmth he was radiating. He was like a warm blanket and a giant teddy bear combined into one adorable being.

Sasuke stood up and wobbled a little before leaning against the wall as he waited for the others. He was a little upset that he had gotten off balance so easily, but he felt _good_ right now. Even when memories of his family at this restaurant began to plague him, it wasn't as bad as it normally was. If it wasn't for his disturbed equilibrium he might have wanted to drink all of the time, but he couldn't afford to be so off balance and vulnerable.

"Hinata-chan C'mon we have to go now. We can't stay here anymore." Naruto whined as he started shaking Hinata with his hand.

Hinata scowled before standing up quickly sending Naruto off balance for a moment before he grabbed the table to stable himself. Luckily the table had been cleared so when the table tilted partially; nothing slid off onto the floor.

Hinata also swayed dangerously as Naruto also knocked her off balance before Kakashi stabilized her.

"Oi, Naruto, why don't you help Hinata here while I help Sasuke," Kakashi said as he eyed Sasuke slump further down the wall.

Naruto didn't appear to react to Kakashi's suggestion, and Kakashi was about to repeat himself when Naruto suddenly snapped his attention towards him.

"Huh? Oh right, help Hinata-chan home got it!" Naruto said.

"C'mon Hinata-chan its time to go," Naruto said before he took her from Kakashi.

Hinata clung to his arm again and leaned her head on his shoulder before sighing contentedly.

Kakashi took a hold of one of Sasuke's arms around his bicep and straightened him up, once he was certain Sasuke wasn't going to fall over he let go and watched him trudge out of the restaurant before following after Sasuke.

Naruto and Hinata followed after them with Naruto occasionally stumbling due to their combined swaying. Kakashi fell back to keep his eye on all three of his genin once he saw that Sasuke was not having as much of a problem with walking as he thought.

Team 7 made their way over to the Uchiha compound first to drop off Sasuke at his home. Once Kakashi was confident that Sasuke was inside with the door locked, he then led Hinata and Naruto towards the Hyūga compound.

Naruto, by this time, had begun to sober up due to his high metabolism and Kurama's assistance at purging the poison from his system. Currently, he was blushing since Hinata was leaning on him heavily and he could feel her body pressed against his arm. As they neared the compound, Hinata tripped over a crack in the paving stones and started to fall forwards.

Naruto shot his left arm out around her waist to steady her before he began to blush even harder when Hinata moved in closer to his embrace. Her face was buried in the crook of his neck and her breath was tickling him in a manner that began to make him feel strange.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself since his heart started to race for some reason. The last time someone had hugged him it hadn't felt like this and Naruto was a little confused.

Kakashi was looking on in amusement but did nothing to interrupt the moment. Even if they were tipsy Kakashi could tell Naruto was too embarrassed and shy to do anything forward.

"Um, Hinata-chan what are you doing?" Naruto asked awkwardly.

Hinata just hummed but didn't say anything. Naruto was so sweet and warm she didn't want to let go.

Naruto placed his hands on her shoulders and began to push her away from him gently.

"Hinata-chan we are at your home now. I'm sure your father is waiting for you." Naruto said.

The mention of her father snapped Hinata out of her daze, and she blushed as she noticed that she had been hugging Naruto in front of the compound. Hinata just nodded quickly before bidding them both good night. She turned around rapidly and stumbled into the Hyūga compound.

Hopefully, the gossips didn't see her being so forward with him. She needed to tread carefully if she wanted to develop a relationship with Naruto or the elders might try to use him against her. She wouldn't allow that to happen.

Naruto let out a breath; that was certainly weird. He never felt like that when Neko had hugged him and wondered if the sake had caused those kinds of feelings or if it had simply amplified them, sort of like how Kurama's chakra amplified negative emotions.

Kakashi walked Naruto to his apartment even though it was apparent that Naruto didn't need any assistance. It was silent between the two for a few minutes before Kakashi decided to speak up.

"So, are you going to move into that home now or will you remain in the apartment?" Kakashi asked.

"I think I will wait to move into the home. I will need to have better knowledge of my mother's seals to maintain the security and it will be safer from Danzō here I think." Naruto replied.

Kakashi merely hummed in agreement. It would be a risk to remain in that home because of all the privacy walls, and while the security seals were formidable, Danzō had proven himself to be somewhat proficient at fūinjutsu at least. Knowing how Danzō worked led him to believe that he was much better than anyone realized.

It wasn't too much longer before they arrived at Naruto's apartment building and before Naruto headed towards the stairs leading up to his floor, he turned and faced Kakashi.

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei. I had fun tonight," Naruto said sincerely. He didn't get to go out and eat with a group for dinner too often. Most of his socialization came from lunches with his teammates and occasional meals or cloud watching with Shikamaru and Choji on weekends.

"Don't mention it Naruto. We are a team, after all, this is only the beginning for us," Kakashi said with an eye smile before he waved and left.

Naruto watched Kakashi walk away with a sad smile on his face before turning and entering his apartment. He hoped that he could manage to pull everything off without leaving. Things would be bad enough if he succeeded but if he had to abandon the village and go missing-nin, he was certain his team would feel betrayed if he did.

 **Raikage Tower – Kumo**

* * *

Yugito had double-timed it back to Kumo as fast as possible, and now she was exhausted and cranky. With the help of the fisherman dropping her off near the coastline of Kaminari no Kuni closest to Kumo, she had managed to make the trip back in just under two weeks time.

She had been constantly pestered by the damn demon going on an on about its plight trying to convince her that it was innocent during her whole trip back. While waiting for admittance to the Raikage's office she snapped at the demon, telling the Nibi, for the twentieth time, that she would not take her words with an ounce of salt. The Nibi just hissed at her but remained silent.

Yugito knew she shouldn't be so mean to it since that would cause disharmony and probably force her to dominate the Nibi in a battle again. She had a feeling it would be much harder this time around. She should try to make some peace with it, but she wouldn't listen to any of its fairy tales.

 _'Look here Nibi; I am not ever going to listen to whatever stories you spin so let's just come to some kind of arrangement so that we can be capable of coexisting until I die or you finally break free of the seal.'_ Yugito said.

" **Fine. If that is the way it has to be, so be it. I would prefer to have your cooperation but since you refuse, here are my terms for an arrangement. One, I don't want you to attack that cute little kitten of the Kyūbi. Two, you will not mention anything about our meeting in Nami no Kuni. You can talk about engaging him, but you will not mention anything about the shared mindscape we created or anything we heard. Three, if requested, you will help train the kitten of the Kyūbi without prejudice. As long as you honor those rules, I will cooperate with you as I did before and I won't bother with trying to convince you of the truth anymore."** Nibi growled.

 _'I don't know what you are plotting, but it better not bring trouble down on Kumo. I won't let you attack the village again.'_ Yugito said fiercely.

" **That is no longer your concern since you refuse to cooperate. Now, do we have a deal or not?"** Nibi snapped.

 _'Fine no more of your fairy tales and full cooperation and I keep quiet about your plotting for now. If I see you planning harm to Kumo the deals off. If you no longer make attempts to socialize with me, in return I will help train the boy if requested."_ Yugito said.

" **That's acceptable then, human, we have a deal,"** Nibi replied.

Yugito snorted but didn't reply. She would have to keep her eye on B since he had a friendly relationship with his demon. She didn't know why he had such a relationship with the demon as he claimed it was his "partner" in all things. It was probably why he was always talking crazy like he did. She never remained in the shared mindscapes they created for long as she didn't want to be in the presence of the Ushi-oni (Ox Demon), those beady eyes and all the tentacles made her really nervous.

The Raikage's secretary waved to Yugito to get her attention and notified her that the Raikage was ready to see her now.

 **Raikage's Office – Raikage Tower**

* * *

While Yugito was waiting, the Fourth Raikage A was having a heated conversation with B his adopted brother and jinchūriki of the Hachibi.

B looked similar to his adopted brother A, with light blonde hair in corn rows with a white hitai-ate and a tattered scarf around his neck. He wore the standard chūnin vest with a thick red rope belt to match the red hilts of the seven red short swords on his back. He wore off black pants with a white wrap around the thigh just above the knee, white and red armored shin guards to match his white and red arm and wrist guards. He wore simple black shinobi boots and a temple-less sunglasses.

"I told you B, do not test me on this. I will keep my answer as tentative for now and we will remain in contact. In the end, Kumo will benefit more from this arrangement." A said.

"Don't be waving to and fro like that bro. That tool is scheming and the fool deserves a reaming. Don't play into his hate or we are having trouble at our gate." B rapped out to A.

"Gah I don't know what half of that is supposed to mean but I am not trusting that man by any means. Kumo will be in a better position if we do not declare our intentions out loud. Some of the council are most likely on his side but if we stall we can force a better deal for us in the long run even if it is a risk to wait." A said.

"Killer B gets it, bro! We going with the flow, for show. Keep the villains chilling so the beans won't be spilling." B replied with a nod.

"Send Yugito in. I need to know what happened in Nami no Kuni." A yelled out.

His assistant nodded and left the office to notify the secretary.

Yugito entered alone with a grim expression on her face looking like she hadn't had any chance to rest for a week.

"Raikage-sama we ran into a serious problem in Nami no Kuni and I don't know if there will be the opportunity for repercussions against us for it," Yugito said.

"What happened Yugito? The reports I have heard from the traveling merchants make it sound like some kinda war zone went on down there!" A asked.

"That is pretty much what happened, Raikage-sama. Due to the ferry being out for repairs our team was delayed until that last day but I managed to procure a small vessel for my team with the aid of a former Kumo citizen who relocated to Nami no Kuni. My team followed reliable intelligence to the location that the missing-nin would be in before they departed."

Yugito sighed then continued. "When we arrived at the scene my team was ready to engage the missing-nin but they had joined a large group of mercenaries and were assaulting some of the local guards. Unfortunately, those guards were also under the protection of two Konoha genin teams who also engaged the mercenaries at the same time as us."

"What! Damn it Yugito, you better tell me you didn't engage the Konoha genin." A slammed his fist on his desk causing it to shatter.

"Raikage-sama things got out of hand after that moment. I had no intention of engaging them and stayed well out of their protection formation, but the genin unleashed a large combination attack on the group of mercenaries we had engaged. As myself and my team evaded the first attack a second attack was launched at us by four squads of Root who bypassed the mercenaries and engaged us directly. The rest of my team was killed by the Root squads and I had no choice but activate my two-tailed chakra cloak to survive and finish off Root." Yugito explained.

"Damn what a fucking mess. The Hokage would never send a genin team on a mission like that there had to be more involved. What happened next?" A asked calming down a little.

"My chakra cloak apparently triggered a reaction in one of Konoha's genin which I confirmed from Nibi that the boy is the Kyūbi jinchūriki. They boy lost control and began an assault on me directly. I tried to flee, at first, since the Kyūbi's chakra was overwhelming, but he was fast enough to keep up with me in his uncontrolled initial phase. I was only able to survive against him because he was completely out of control. I managed to land an explosive attack on him, but he had charged in my face at the same time and the concussion of the blast knocked me out. When I regained consciousness he was unconscious on top of me. I was going to finish him off, but the Jōnin sensei of the jinchūriki arrived and claimed to have a bijū suppression squad in route, so I fled instead." Yugito concluded.

She hoped the Raikage wouldn't question her any further on the events. She had run through her report a few times to come up with a plausible lie to cover up the incident with the shared mindscape to keep her deal with the Nibi.

"If the boy is a genin and lost control that means that the Kyūbi was likely in hibernation until now. The Hokage probably won't waste any time trying to teach the boy how to control his power now. How far did he manifest when you fought him?" A said curiously.

"He was only slightly slower than me in his initial chakra cloak phase but much stronger and he healed almost instantly. My claws couldn't cut through his cloak unless I reinforced them with more of the Nibi's chakra. When he manifested a single tail he was beyond my speed and it was only due to his lack of control that I survived. I am certain I could hold him off or finish him in full transformation but if the battle went long and he drew more tails he might be too much for me." Yugito said with a shiver.

"Man little nine throwing down before he's grown up making him blow up like a land mine. Hachibi ain't freaking because Kyūbi doesn't like speaking. Still with shorty flying loose its best to call a truce. Things will really be dire if we try to mess with the fire." B said while eyeing A with a weighted stare.

"Say it normally before I Aian Kurō (Iron Claw) your face B. Now is not the time for your foolishness." A said as he raised his arm in a threatening manner.

"Fine. Hachibi thinks that the Kyūbi won't be willing to work with their jinchūriki especially because he is young, but if the boy gets too angry or frightened it wouldn't take much for the Kyūbi to take control and break free," B said in a serious tone with a put off expression on his face. His rhymes never got any respect.

"This definitely changes things." A said before falling quiet for a few minutes.

"Well, first things first, I wouldn't be surprised if Root was either in place to keep tabs on the jinchūriki or you pulled them off of their main objective by attacking those mercenaries while Konoha was engaged Yugito. You should have disengaged, even if Konoha was within a protective formation they might have still had an objective with those mercenaries. The missing-nin would have been dead or would have fled and you could have easily tracked them and finished them off."

"I'm sorry, Raikage-sama. I will take full responsibility for my actions." Yugito bowed.

"Don't worry about it. We got an out because of Root's involvement. I will just send a strongly worded letter about the loss of our Chūnin to save face. In fact, this may play into my plans better than I realized." A said as an idea came to him suddenly.

"B your team made Chūnin last year, right? If I remember correctly they can't be much older than 15 so they can easily play the role of a genin team with a year or two of experience. I want you to assemble them right away and bring them here B." A said.

"Yo, big bro why you looking around when D-man's team is ready to throw down. C's always coming through with his crew. The will be the winners you wanna form a team with and they will be the ones to plot a scheme with." B rapped.

"Because we only want the best to get access to the village and work on a secondary objective. I won't risk fresh genin no matter how skilled, and the rest of our chūnin are too old to play off as being an unskilled genin team. They won't be able to fool Konoha's sensors since their chakra levels will be too developed. I will fill you in as soon as you assemble your team here. Yugito you are dismissed as well." A said.

B nodded and left the room with Yugito following after him.

"You okay little sis you're looking ready to hiss," B asked Yugito.

"It's just there was too much going on in that last mission and those Root bastards cut down Mai and all the others, just like they killed my parents. At least, I killed them all." Yugito said with a grin.

"Their deaths sounded fitting and its truth that you are spitting but are you sure that you are fine after your fight with little nine? I've been calculating the fight you've been replaying and the math just don't equate how you managed to meet your fate." B said in a questioning tone.

"I'm telling you that's what happened alright so just back off. I woke up and he was on top of me unconscious with his clothing in tatters, but all his wounds were healed. I would have finished him off, but the Nibi was being uncooperative at that time." Yugito said.

B just nodded at her response then held out his fist for the obligatory fist bump. "Okay, two. Chill out and be cool, we cool?

Yugito just sighed and rolled her eyes before she fist-bumped with him. "Yea B we are cool."

During the meeting, Matatabi had been trying to convince Gyūki to have a private conversation about what happened with Kurama but Gyūki was reluctant since he always shared everything with B. After several minutes of arguing with the stubborn Matatabi, Gyūki finally relented and created a private mindscape for them to meet when B fist bumped with Yugito.

Once Matatabi secured Gyuki's promise to not reveal what Kurama planned to the humans and just to consider supporting their efforts, she began to relay what Kurama had told her from the moment they first sensed each other in Nami no Kuni until Matatabi left Naruto's mindscape.

 **Kumo Shinobi Sector**

* * *

B thought it was odd that Gyūki felt distant after he fist bumped with Yugito but just chalked it up to the ushi-oni going to visit Matatabi for a bit. It wasn't uncommon for him to do that to avoid his rhymes. People seriously gave him no love for his lyrical genius.

Gyūki, on the other hand, was thinking over the plan and had to feel somewhat suspicious that the Kyūbi was taking advantage of a poor likely mistreated young boy. Even if Matatabi was convinced that Kurama was genuine, he still couldn't believe that Kurama could show any care or compassion to a human. He was as bad as Son Gokū when it came to annihilating villages in the past. If the plans he heard earlier, being formed by the Raikage, would lead him to Konoha he would try to link with the boy and see the truth for himself.

While his current jinchūriki was a bit foolish, he was a free spirit who didn't really like violence and tried to avoid fighting when he could. Yet, he never failed to keep up with his training and making himself stronger to support his brother in trying to make Kumo the greatest village in the world. Now if he could stop with his silly word blabbering he would be just fine.

Gyūki believed that there was a way that the bijū could remain sealed in humans to avoid conflict and still maintain the balance of the chakra cycle. He had already seen results of his plan beginning to take fruit with B, and while it took a lot of time and effort to get the process started, the results were starting to make up for the trouble and complications that arose from the start.

By creating his bond with his jinchūriki, he had been able to begin re-balancing the chakra in the area slowly. B also had no issue with the plan, as it was, because he was more than happy to sit still and work on his rhymes in remote locations while Gyūki did his thing. However, Gyūki would admit that it was very slow going and he would only restore a fraction of the missing chakra around Kumo by the time B became too old to keep him contained anymore. That was counting the fact that Gyūki wasn't even trying to strain against the seal in any way.

Then he would have to start the process all over again once he reformed or was sealed into someone like B who was willing to bond with him so easily. That was why he was skeptical of Matatabi's belief that Kurama had already established a significant bond with his jinchūriki already. The boy was young and innocent by Matatabi's description and would easily be swayed by his brother who had been so full of hate since Son Gokū's first capture.

If the bond was legitimate between Kurama and the boy, then he would convince B to try and get the boy to travel with him to Genbu and see if he can establish a full bond with Kurama at that point. With a boy that young, and Kurama's ability to increase the natural regeneration of chakra from the land, they could begin to restore the balance without resorting to drastic measures like Kurama's plan detailed. Kurama might not like it but once Gyūki showed him the results of his efforts, he might be able to convince Kurama to try out his method instead.

If Gyūki was honest with himself, Kurama's plan disturbed him. That particular jutsu was unreliable in the results and could result in a disaster for the one using it. While Gyūki didn't despise humans, he knew that they were inherently selfish, for the most part, and wouldn't be willing to deal with that kind of potential trouble just for someone else, let alone a bijū. Especially when most of them considered the bijū as simple demons that were better off dead.

While Gyūki was pondering over the situation, B had checked a few of his team's popular hangouts before making his way to the training ground to see if they were there.

 **Training Ground B - Kumo**

* * *

B finally found his team practicing in their designated training ground. Karui, Samui, and Omoi were currently practicing their Kumo-Ryū (Cloud Style) katas against some training dummies as he, approached.

"Hello, sensei. Is there a mission for us to complete today?" Samui asked as she saw B approaching.

Samui sheathed her tantō into the red saya resting horizontally across her waist as B approached. She had ice blue eyes and short light blonde hair in an asymmetrical bob cut with straight bangs.

She wore a light gray short sleeve v-neck shirt with an asymmetrical hemline that only reached her hip on the right side while draping down towards her knees on the left. Her chūnin vest had been modified into a corset-like obi and underneath she wore a kusari shirt to cover the cleavage of her developing breasts and a dark gray knee length skirt. Her forearms were covered with red bracers while she had calf high shinobi boots.

"My students got me floating with all your showboating. Skills to make your enemies ill. The Raikage isn't fronting so we best roll out before he get the scroll out and have to stroll out before he has a blowout." B said with his arms crossed.

"What the hell does that even mean?" shouted Karui.

Karui had just completed a swing against a target dummy before she turned to shout at B. Karui had long red spiky hair held out of her face by a white bandanna hitai-ate. Her golden eyes seemed to glow due to her milk chocolate colored skin.

She wore a light gray loose-fitting shirt with scalloped neck and sleeves which draped down past her hips, covered by the standard one-shouldered white chūnin vest of Kumo. She wore a dark gray wrap with a scalloped hemline over a dark teal mini skirt, kusari leggings, and thigh high off black shinobi boots. Her long katana saya was white to match her vest and bandanna.

'Oh man Karui will upset sensei, and then the Hachibi will break free and rampage the village which will cause us to become homeless until the Hachibi destroys another village then we will have an army chasing us. So unlucky.' Omoi thought.

Omoi had been sitting on a boulder resting when B approached enjoying a cherry lollipop that was always on hand for the young dark skinned man. He wore a loose fitting thigh length, light gray hoodie with a standard white Kumo chūnin vest, black loose fitting pants that had white wraps on his thigh, knee, and on top of this red scaled shin guards that matched his red scaled bracers. He wore the standard black shinobi boots and a black hitai-ate that contrasted against his white hair but matched, his dark eyes.

"Yo, the Raikage is waiting so don't make him think we be hating by flaking when he calls or he will put us through the walls you dig?" B said

"Let's just follow him like he says. Lead the way sensei." Samui said.

B lead his team to the Raikage tower and into the Raikage's office.

 **Raikage's Office – Kumo**

* * *

A was finishing up his false outrage letter to the Hokage and had sent a confirmation off to the other bastard involved in this mess. Hopefully, he would be able to kill two birds with one stone at the Chūnin exams in Konoha. He had balanced just enough anger to still be considered a wary ally but had demanded B and his team be admitted to the village for the Chūnin exams.

Normally a foreign jinchūriki would never be allowed into the village but since he had lost 4 Chūnin in an unprovoked attack and B's team was the closest to appearing as eligible genin, he figured he could push old Hiruzen to accept his demands to prevent a possible severance of an already shaky alliance. He knew the Sarutobi had to be aware of the moves Iwa and some of the lesser villages were making.

Sending B would also get another person off his back where he could watch the bastard better. He would also finally attend to certain domestic issues that have become problematic and have his team assess the potential of the Kyūbi jinchūriki.

While the Byakugan was nice, it would take too many generations to manifest and A would prefer to lure people willingly. It made more sense to have people working for your village's military to be happy and content instead of coerced and angry. It cut down on headaches and paperwork when everything ran smoothly.

His council's attempt at abducting the Hyūga heiress had only caused problems with the Daimyō and other nations because it was foolish and blatantly underhanded. It would always be obvious who had kidnapped the person and it would only cause tensions with all of the other villages.

While the Third Raikage was willing to lord Kumo's superiority over everyone. A knew that it was only a matter of time before enough of them grouped up to cause problems. It was better to negotiate from a position of strength, after all.

His reports on the situation in Konoha were old, but it seemed that the village had been inexplicably roused against the jinchūriki 6 years after the Kyūbi event and had attacked him in the orphanage that had been caring for him.

That coupled with the fact that the village still held animosity towards him, according to his latest report from two years ago, lead A to believe that what the other villages were planning for Konoha could work to Kumo's favor while simultaneously weakening all of his current enemies.

If the boy was ostracized enough, then perhaps, he would be willing to relocate someplace where they would treat him as a human, if not a hero, and he could learn to control the Kyūbi.

"Enter" he yelled out when a knock sounded at the door.

B entered the room followed by Karui, Samui, and Omoi who all stood before the Raikage and waited.

"Okay. I have an A rank infiltration mission for you. We will send you to compete in Konoha when the Chūnin exams are held. From this moment you will be restricted to D-rank and limited C-rank missions and your original mission records will be temporarily erased to maintain your cover." A said.

He heard some gasps from the Chūnin team but they didn't say anything.

"Once the Chūnin Exams begin in 5 months time you will be entered as a genin team competing in the exams and I will require one of you to make it to the finals, so I am invited into the village." A ordered, "While you are in the village for the 1 month period, between the second exam and the finals, you will do what you can to learn more about the Kyūbi jinchūriki Naruto Uzumaki and, if possible, become acquaintances with him." A put the finishing touches on his letter then attached it to a messenger bird waiting by the window.

"Now, once this mission is complete, all your records will be returned to normal as well as your rank so do not be concerned about that. However, you can not make it obvious that you are more skilled so reign in your abilities a bit unless absolutely necessary to make it to the final round. You will receive another updated briefing as the exams approach but this is a classified mission so do not talk about it anywhere that is unsecured do you understand?" A asked

"Yes, Raikage-sama" The trio of Chūnin replied.

"Good you are dismissed, B you stay." A commanded.

The Chūnin bowed then left the office.

B frowned at his adoptive brother. "You are planning on putting locks on the fox? Fooling with the Uzumaki will be like toying with the Shinigami."

"I want the boy to join willingly." A snapped. "It's not toying with anything if the boy leaves of his own volition. Besides, with all the people who are lining up for the invasion, Konoha might not be in a position to complain after the Finals and the boy might be in a worse situation if that occurs."

"Bro don't be taking that bait from the snake or the stone will leave us prone," B said in a serious tone.

"Don't concern yourself with that B you will have your own mission when you get to Konoha. I want you to assess the boy and even aid him a bit if he needs it. If you help him out with the Kyūbi he might be inclined to accept us easier if he needs to leave Konoha." A said.

B was about to protest when Gyūki cut in. **"B you should accept this idea. The young boy will need a lot of help with the Kyūbi inside of him and if the villagers mistreat him, we will be doing him a favor."**

 _'Gyūki, I despise war to the core and luring the fox from the trees will cause them to swarm us like killer bees.'_ B said with a frown.

" **Think about the boy, B. The Kyūbi despises humanity but he hates Konoha more. If you can convince him to leave that place he will only be better off. At least, convince the boy to leave just to train on Genbu, then let the boy decide for himself."** Gyūki coaxed.

"All right, bro, but I'm only doing this because Hachibi is convinced it would be better for him. I don't like the idea of doing this to our ally, though." B said in a serious tone.

"You just let me worry about that when the time comes B." A said.

 **Root Secret Headquarters – Konoha**

* * *

Danzō sat in his darkened office fuming at the failure and loss he had suffered in Nami no Kuni.

Four squads lost and his informants slaughtered or fled to Oto. He would be lucky if a few of them reestablished contact. How the hell did two genin teams and a group of mercs take out four squads of his Root? Even with Kakashi present, they should have been able to complete their objective while he was preoccupied.

"Danzō-sama, we have a report from the infiltration group in Nami no Kuni," Fū said while kneeling.

"What is our status then?" Danzō asked.

"All reports lead to outside interference from Kumo and after interrogating some of the escaped mercenaries that survived the battle, they are certain that one of the Kumo jinchūriki was responsible for killing our squads before she was run off by Naruto Uzumaki if the descriptions were accurate. From what the mercenaries described it is possible that Naruto Uzumaki utilized the Kyūbi's chakra." Fū said

"So the untrained jinchūriki managed to run off the so-called perfect jinchūriki. She must not be as tough as they spout or they did not wish to create an incident." Danzō thought out loud. "Is Hiruzen aware?"

"The moles in the Hokage tower confirmed that the Hokage has arranged to have the boy begin training with the chakra in a secure location, however, the mole was unaware of the location, and all my mind dives on Anbu guards or assistants to the Hokage have not allowed me to determine exactly where the boy will be training. Our last report saw the boy enter the Sarutobi compound for some time before leaving with his sensei to have a team dinner.", Fū reported.

"There is no need to continue trying to determine the training ground for now. It would not behoove us to take the boy from within the village as we will expose ourselves even more than this failed mission has. Until further notice, I want all operatives not involved in Operation Diamond to go silent. Also begin to have Sai prepped for a domestic infiltration mission to begin shortly after the Chūnin exams." Danzō ordered.

"Yes, Danzō-sama," Fū replied before bowing and leaving the room.

'All my plans now must rest on Operation Diamond. Then I will finally have all the pieces I need to make Konoha the ruler of the elemental nations.' Danzō thought as he reviewed the dossier of three agents who would be graduating from his program soon.

These three were integral to his plan and he had seen to two of their emotional conditioning programs personally. The third was proving resistant but her will was going to break before him, just like all the others.

While the two males had succumbed to standard training easily enough, the girl had proven resilient. He would have to increase their training and put more pressure on her before the Chūnin exams began.

They had to make up for their failure after all.


	25. Storm Surge

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

Edit 4/21/16

 **Chapter 24**

 **Storm Surge**

 **1 Week before Chūnin Exams – Training Ground 7 – Konoha**

* * *

Kakashi reviewed the dossiers on his cute little genin to convince the Hokage to allow them to enter the Chūnin Exams. He knew that they had a better shot at completing the exams then most other teams.

They had trained hard and completed quite a few C-ranks these past five months. Plus, he wanted to beat Guy again so he wouldn't have to pay for the next collectors edition of Icha Icha Paradise.

Kakashi looked down at the qualification forms he had completed in order to register his team for the exams.

* * *

 **Name:** Naruto Uzumaki

 **Age:** 13

 **Height:** 5' 0"

 **Weight:** 103 lbs

 **Hair:** Blonde

 **Eyes:** Blue

 **Blood Type:** B

 **Bloodlines:** None

 **Special Notes:** Three horizontal marks on both cheeks.

 **Taijutsu skills:**

Academy Style: Low Chūnin

Hurricane Fist Style: Mid Genin

-redacted style-: High Chūnin

 **Kenjutsu skills:** None

 **Ninjutsu:**

 **High Affinity:** Futon

 **Strong Affinity:** Katon, Suiton

 **Known Jutsu:**

Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm)

Fūton: Daitoppa, (Great Breakthrough)

Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Blade Jutsu)

Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet)

Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Formation Wall)

Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon)

Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu)

Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall)

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball)

Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu)

Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder)

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone)

Kage Shuriken no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone)

Shunshin (Body Flicker)

 **Specialist Skills:** Fūinjutsu level 5

Storage seal

Explosive tag level 1 – 5

Gravity seal: Reverse Gravity seal

Barrier seal

Chakra storage seal

Jutsu storage seal

Privacy seal

Security seal

Chakra draining seal

Gogyō Fūin (Five Element Seal): Gogyō Kai (Five Elements Unseal)

Sensor seals (7 varieties)

Ambush seals (3 varieties)

* * *

Naruto was pretty strong for a genin, thanks to his shadow clones, and while he was better at his taijutsu, it was still lower than he would like. Naruto could now reliably hold two tails of the Kyūbi's chakra for half an hour before he risked succumbing to the negative emotions still stored in the Kyūbi's chakra.

Next, he studied Sasuke's qualification form.

* * *

 **Name:** Sasuke Uchiha

 **Age:** 13

 **Height:** 5' 2"

 **Weight:** 98 lbs

 **Hair:** Black

 **Eyes:** Black

 **Blood Type:** AB

 **Bloodlines:** Sharingan

 **Special Notes:** 3 tomoe R/L eye

 **Taijutsu skills:**

Academy Style: Mid Genin

Interceptor Fist: High Chūnin

 **Kenjutsu skills:**

Chokuto: Low Chūnin

 **Ninjutsu:**

 **High Affinity:** Raiton

 **Moderate Affinity:** Katon

 **Known Jutsu:**

Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu(Great Dragon Fire)

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball)

Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Fire Jutsu)

Katon: Hōsenka Tsumabeni (Phoenix Flower Jutsu)

Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder)

Raiton: Bakurai (Depth Charge)

Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga (Lightning Beast Running)

Raiton: Sandāboruto (Thunderbolt)

Raiton: Gian Yari (False Darkness Spear)

Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Formation Wall)

Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet)

Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu)

Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall)

Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm)

Kage Shuriken no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone)

Shunshin (Body Flicker)

 **Specialist Skills:** None

* * *

Sasuke had learned an impressive amount of jutsu thanks to his Sharingan and a steady supply of chakra seals from Naruto.

He had to enforce a limit of no more than 3 seals per training session after Shizune had revealed that the density of Naruto's chakra had actually been stretching their chakra pathways and tenketsu slightly. If they tried to absorb more, they risked having tears in their chakra pathways, which would put them out of commission for an extended period of time, if not permanently.

Kakashi had started to use them as well, after that revelation, increasing his pathway and tenketsu size would allow him to grow his chakra reserves slowly. He realized if he continued to slack off in his own training, it wouldn't be long until his cute little genin were bypassing him. While his experience still kept him leagues ahead of them, with Naruto's massive chakra reserves, Sasuke's improvement in using his Sharingan and growing reserves, and Hinata's improved Jūken abilities, he could lose a fight simply through attrition or bad luck.

Kakashi looked over Hinata's dossier last.

* * *

 **Name:** Hinata Hyūga

 **Age:** 13

 **Height:** 4' 8"

 **Weight:** 84 lbs

 **Hair:** Dark Blue

 **Eyes:** White

 **Blood Type:** AB

 **Bloodlines:** Byakugan

 **Special Notes:** Heiress to Clan Hyūga

 **Taijutsu skills:**

Academy Style: Mid Chunin

Jūken: High Chunin

Hakke Sanjūni Shō (Eight Trigrams 32 Palms)

Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams 64 palms)

Hakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō (Eight Trigrams 128 palms)

Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation)

 **Kenjutsu skills:** None

 **Ninjutsu:**

 **High Affinity:** Raiton

 **Minor Affinity:** Katon

 **Known Jutsu:**

Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu)

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball)

Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder)

Raiton: Bakurai (Depth Charge)

Shunshin (Body Flicker)

 **Specialist Skills:**

Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm)

Herbalist

* * *

Hinata had started to hit a lot harder when she began training with Tsunade. Strength enhanced Jūken strikes were no fun at all. While her dossier wasn't as expansive as Naruto or Sasuke, she was just as capable if not more in her area of expertise. She was usually just toying with Naruto when they went at it in a straight taijutsu fight. He had to get on her case about holding back against Naruto too much since it was an area he still needed improvement on. Kakashi suspected that she had more clan jutsu in her arsenal but had not mentioned or displayed any of those techniques on any missions or during training. It wouldn't be a stretch to believe that she could actually have more moves in her arsenal that were unknown.

Kakashi didn't think anyone could argue against his team entering the Chūnin exams though he had heard all of the rookie teams were entering this year which was uncommon.

Kakashi looked over at his genin who were waiting for him as usual. It seemed that he was undetected at the moment since he was down wind and Naruto appeared to not sense him yet, but it was hard to tell with him sometimes. His sense of smell, hearing, and sight was exceptional, and Kakashi had to guess his range was about 100 yards for smell and hearing.

Kakashi used Shunshin to move into range to meet with his team.

"Yo," Kakashi said.

"Good Morning sensei" The trio replied.

"I have here the entry forms for the Chūnin Exams that are due to take place next week. Please fill these out and in 1 weeks time, present yourselves to room 301 in the Academy before 9 am with the completed forms. Do you have any questions?" Kakashi asked.

"Will we need to prepare for anything special?" Naruto asked.

"That, I can't tell you as it would be cheating. You will just have to prepare yourselves to face whatever the exam decides to throw at you to prove you are ready to begin doing higher level missions without out Jōnin support. Chūnin rank also allows you to stay outside of the village for more extended times than Genin are typically allowed." Kakashi replied.

"Okay, Sensei. We will ace this exam no sweat ** _!_** " Naruto said with a small smirk.

Sasuke also had a smirk on his face while Hinata merely smiled. They had all been working hard in the hopes that they would be allowed to enter the exams and test their skills. Kakashi had drilled them hard on everything from combat simulations to survival skills and the experience gained from the various C-ranked missions had bloodied them enough that they would no longer balk at killing when necessary.

"I have faith that you are more than ready but remember what I taught you. Look underneath the underneath and make sure to hide your skills as much as you can. There are foreign ninjas already arriving in town as we speak, so you should probably refrain from training anything you want to keep secret." Kakashi said.

"I am assuming that training is called off for the week then, sensei?" Hinata asked.

"That is correct. A lot of us Jōnin will be helping with setting up or monitoring our guests. We have to be careful this year as we have both Iwa and Kumo ninjas attending, as well as a lot of the lesser villages which may not be so friendly. Also, Naruto, you should be aware that the Hachibi Jinchūriki is expected to be in the village with his Genin team. Watch yourself. You have done much better, but we do not want a repeat of the incident in Nami no Kuni again. Understood?" Kakashi said seriously.

"I understand, Sensei, don't worry. I won't start anything even if they try to," Naruto said resolutely.

" **We have to seek him out as well as Shukaku. He is here as well."** Kurama added.

"Umm, Kakashi-sensei, did you know that Suna brought their jinchūriki also?" Naruto asked.

"I was not aware of that, Naruto, but I will mention it to the Hokage to see if he already cleared it. Any last questions before I go?" Kakashi said.

All three of the genin shook their heads.

"Very well. Good luck in the exams!" Kakashi said before he vanished in a Shunshin.

"Well, do you guys want to go eat or something?" Naruto asked.

"Hn. Let's go to that Omusubi cafe again." Sasuke said.

"That is fine with me. What about you Naruto-kun?" Hinata said.

"Sure. I already had some ramen before I came anyways." Naruto said with a shrug.

"Let's see who can Shunshin closer and no cheating with clones Naruto," Sasuke said.

"You're on! If I win, you have to buy me two Nikumaki (Pork soaked in soy sauce), and if you win I'll buy you two Katsuo (Dried Bonito)" Naruto said

Sasuke grunted his approval.

"What about me Naruto-kun? What if I win?" Hinata asked with a pout.

"Hmmm, well, if you beat me I guess I'll get you the Osekihan (red adzuki beans)" Naruto added.

"Okay, Naruto-kun. I hope you are ready." Hinata said

"3, 2, 1, Go!" Naruto called out before all three vanished from the training ground in a swirl of leaves.

 **Konoha Merchant District**

* * *

Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke appeared in a swirl of leaves close to the Omusubi Cafe, and Sasuke was declared the winner with Hinata in second. Naruto just shrugged at his loss and the three began to walk towards the cafe when they heard a commotion. He was glad that he didn't overload the technique and overshoot the cafe like usual.

Following the sounds, Naruto saw Konohamaru being picked on by a Suna-nin wearing, what appeared to be, a Black cat Kigurumi outfit. (Animal onesies for adults) He had his face painted with purple triangles and stripes and had a large wrapped package on his back that appeared to have brown hair sticking out.

Next to the Suna-nin in the Kigurumi outfit was a kunoichi with dirty blonde hair in four small pigtails that were teased and bangs parted down the middle. She was wearing a light purple battle kimono belted with a red sash over a shinobi kusari (shinobi chain) chest armor, kusari shorts that peeked out under her dress on her left leg, and a kusari calf protector on her right leg with black sandals. She had a large black Tessen (War Fan) on her back.

"Leave him alone, Kankuro. It's not worth the trouble." the kunoichi called out.

"No way, Temari, little brats like this need to be taught a lesson." The now identified Kankuro said with a sneer.

"Oi! Leave the kid alone, Suna. You'll regret messing with the Hokage's grandson," Naruto called out.

" **Kit, I sense Shukaku nearby in the tree. I am trying to contact him, but I can only sense madness and rage coming from him but not his jinchūriki. Be careful, something is wrong with him."** Kurama said.

"Oh, yeah? What are you going to do about it?" Kankuro said.

Before anyone else could respond there was a flood of killing intent directed at everyone and the Suna-nins froze with fear.

"Kankuro what are you doing." a voice called out from the tree above them.

"N-n-nothing, Gaara. I was just messing around." Kankuro said.

Naruto looked up at the Suna jinchūriki and studied his appearance.

"Gaara" had short messy red hair that was almost as spiky as Naruto's. He had heavy black rings around his eyes and the kanji for love tattooed on his forehead near his temple. His piercing light green eyes were boring into Naruto's sapphire blue as they stared each other down.

He was wearing a black combat suit over a kusari shirt with a white sash over his right shoulder and a thick leather bandolier over his left which supported a massive gourd that appeared to be cracked with special seals on it that he didn't recognize. His ankles were wrapped below the knees, and he wore ankle length sandals.

"Kankuro, let him go, or I'll kill you," Gaara said without taking his eyes off of Naruto.

"Yes, Gaara, whatever you say." Kankuro dropped Konohamaru, who ran off as soon as he hit the ground, towards the Hokage tower.

Gaara sand Shunshined down in front of Naruto and just stared at him, causing Sasuke and Hinata to stiffen in preparation for an attack. After a few moments of silence, Gaara spoke.

"Mother says I should be wary of you. What is your name?"

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. What is your name?" Naruto said in a friendly tone.

"Sabaku no Gaara (Gaara of the Desert) is what they call me... Mother want's your blood, you are powerful enough to prove my existence." Gaara said in a serious tone.

" **Kit, repeat what I say: 'Do not play these foolish games with me, Shukaku or I will show you your place.'"**

Naruto put a serious look on his face then repeated what Kurama said.

Gaara visibly recoiled for a moment before grabbing his head. The cork in his gourd popped out, and sand began to swirl around him.

Naruto flared a bit of Kurama's chakra, at Kurama's prompting, which caused the sand to settle momentarily. As the sand began to pick up again, a voice rang out.

"Gaara, stop it this instant. This is not the time or place." A man called out.

As he landed in between Naruto and Gaara, the man had his hands held in a Tiger seal as he stared Gaara down.

"Baki-sensei!" Kankuro and Temari called out.

The man identified as Baki was wearing a keffiyeh (Arabian head wrap) wrapped around his head with part of it hanging down over the left half of his face and two red markings that curved up his cheek towards his eye. He wore the standard Jōnin outfit for Suna, which was about the same as the Konoha Jōnin outfit only with black shirt and pants instead of dark blue and a dark khaki flak vest.

"Stand down now, Gaara. I won't say it again." Baki repeated.

The sand retreated into the gourd dragging the cork along with it before resealing itself.

"This isn't over, Uzumaki," Gaara said before following after Baki and the rest of the Suna team.

"Naruto-kun did you have to antagonize him like that?" Hinata chastised him.

"He is just like me, Hinata-chan. If I didn't act like that, he would have done something worse. I know it seemed like he wasn't going to do anything but he was, I could feel it." Naruto said with his stoic look in place.

"I... understand, Naruto-kun, but please be careful," Hinata said.

Hinata studied Gaara carefully as he walked away and was worried. That boy was obviously unstable, and his own teammates seemed afraid of him. Hinata couldn't help but wonder how he could become that way. Her experience around Naruto had led her to believe that most of the concern surrounding jinchūriki were unwarranted. Now, she could see why people had been so worried. The Suna-nin was completely at the mercy of his bijū. Naruto must be truly strong to withstand the influence of the strongest demon of them all.

"Hn. We will all have to be careful. He was going to go after us anyway, right Naruto?" Sasuke said.

"Sasuke is right, Hinata-chan. I'm sorry, but he would have made you guys a target because of what I am." Naruto said with a frown.

"I don't care about that, Naruto-kun. You are our teammate. We will stick with you through every trial." Hinata said passionately.

"Hn. If I can't save you from your own messes, who is going to hold off the Root trash while I kill that bastard Danzō?" Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Tch. You wish you could handle that old bastard. Don't worry, I'll keep you safe, Sasuke-chan." Naruto returned Sasuke's smirk with his own.

"Now, let's get our onigiri already. Gama-chan is ready to lose some weight today." Naruto said.

Team 7 turned and walked back to the Omusubi cafe to enjoy their well-earned onigiri from Naruto's poor Gama-chan.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hiruzen sat behind his desk as he eyed all the prospective Jōnin planning to enter their teams for the Chūnin exams.

"So, the support and logistics teams that are still active have already been registered in their version of the Chūnin exams by handling the organization and supply of the foreign ninja that are entering the village starting today. A few of those teams have opted to join in the full Chūnin exam as well. All we have to review now are the combat teams." The Hokage announced. "Assuming you have already supplied the necessary qualification forms, please state your team designation, members, and the reason why you believe your team is ready."

"Hinata Hyūga, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki of Team 7 are all ready for the Chūnin exams, Hokage-sama. All of my cute little genin have skills that are at least High genin level, and those are all offset by mid to high Chūnin level abilities. Add to that fact that we have a fūinjutsu specialist means they are more than capable."

Hiruzen read over the qualification forms briefly before responding. "Very well I will accept Team 7 as an entry."

Kakashi went back to reading his book while Kurenai stepped forwards.

"Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Sakura Haruno of Team 8 are all ready for the Chūnin exams, Hokage-sama. Shino and his insect jutsu, as well as his improvements to his taijutsu, have ensured that he is capable physically while mentally his strategies are capable of being on par with the Nara clan. Kiba has lost some of his brashness and his work with Akamaru has improved steadily. Sakura has conquered her individual challenges and has been working more on her genjutsu and iryō ninjutsu as well as polishing her taijutsu skills." Kurenai stated.

"Hmm, Sakura is still on probation for a few more years because of the Nami no Kuni incident," Hiruzen said with a frown as he reviewed their qualification forms. "Do you truly think she is capable of handling tense confrontations without Jōnin oversight?"

"I have spoken with Inoichi about this particular issue, and he believes the issue has been sufficiently resolved. Any relapses in her behavior will not be a threat to any others because of how the situation was created. Inoichi has also provided her with mental tools to ensure that there are no relapses and, so far, it has proven successful." Kurenai said.

"Very well, I will accept Team 8 as an entry, and if Sakura obtains a promotion, I will allow a reduction of her probation after 15 successful C-ranks," Hiruzen said as he added their name to the list.

Kurenai stepped back with a smile on her face as Might Guy stepped forward.

"Yosh! Tenten, Rock Lee, and Neji Hyūga of Team Guy are all ready for the Chūnin Exams, Hokage-sama. Their Flames of youth burn with fiery passion, and their skills are unrivaled. Tenten has displayed 100% accuracy in all thrown weapons and is proficient in any short or long range melee weapon. Rock Lee is a genius of hard work in Taijutsu and has surpassed his disability at using chakra while Neji is a genius prodigy of the Hyūga clan who has recently been granted permission to learn the Main Branch techniques even though he is from the Branch family."

Hiruzen just nodded as he reviewed their qualification forms.

"Very well, I will accept Team Guy as an entry," Hiruzen added them to the list.

Guy gave his trademark thumbs up with a sparkling smile before stepping back.

Asuma Sarutobi stepped forwards.

"Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka of Team 10 are all ready for the Chūnin exams. They have mastered their team formations from the previous Ino-Shika-Cho formation, and they have also been working on their individual skills." Asuma said.

"I am pleased to hear that they have made such an improvement, but do you really think Ino is ready for single combat?" Hiruzen asked. Her qualification form was really light on the list of abilities she had to use, and he wasn't certain she was truly ready.

"Of course. Who she draws in the finals could make or break her, but I think she will at least surprise you, Hokage-sama," Asuma said.

"Very well, I will accept Team 10 as an entry. Now that this is complete we have some other news that needs to be shared with you." Hiruzen said. He channeled three short bursts of chakra into the seal on his desk.

Soon the rest of the Jōnin entered the office along with the Jōnin Commander, council, and the clan heads.

"I have gathered you all here today because we have received confirmation that the villages of Oto and Iwa will be launching an attack during the Chūnin exam finals. This was confirmed by one of our undercover operatives and Jiraiya himself, who will be arriving back in Konoha within the week. While we do not have confirmation on these other villages, it is believed that Kusa and Suna will be involved as well." Hiruzen said in a serious tone.

There were a number of gasps and small conversations that traveled through the room at that announcement.

"Hokage-sama, if I may ask, I know we are aware of the Hachibi jinchūriki being in attendance from Kumo but were you also aware that the Suna jinchūriki is also in attendance?" Kakashi asked.

"Kakashi, how did you learn about this? We have not received notification or a request from Suna for him to attend." Hiruzen asked.

"I warned Naruto about the Hachibi being in the village, and Naruto asked me if I knew that the Ichibi was also in the village," Kakashi replied.

There were more murmurs around the room at that mention.

"You know what that means, Shikaku, Suna is definitely involved as well if they thought to sneak their jinchūriki into the village. We can only hope Kumo doesn't seek to take advantage of the situation." Hiruzen asked.

"Why is Oto trying to invade us Hokage-sama?" Asuma asked.

"That, we are unsure of. All we do know is that they managed to muster enough missing-nins to overthrow Ta no Kuni's Daimyō and establish a village. Most likely this is Iwa's work. I would also be more suspicious of Kumo if the insurgents from Ta no Kuni and Yuki no Kuni had not been making inroads into Kaminari no Kuni." Hiruzen replied.

"What are the plans for our defenses?" Chōza asked.

"Currently, we have the logistics and support teams running "Chūnin" exams on combat effectiveness. Very few of the other villages take part in these types of exams because they feel that their students who can not pass the academy are not suitable for shinobi work. In this way, we have the advantage because the civilians have already been ordered to cooperate with the evacuation testing as well as the gathering and distribution of rations, medical equipment, survival kits, and other essentials if this turns into a siege." Hiruzen said.

"The genin running those support and logistics teams are specialized in directing the civilians into specific shelters and will begin that phase of their "testing" shortly before the finals. They will then be responsible for the organization and distribution of said supplies to those within the evacuation bunkers so they will be out of the way for our counter-offensive." Shikaku added.

"We will have a meeting with the final briefing and updates on any intel we have collected during the one month break between the second exam and the finals. So, be aware during the next two weeks. Shikaku I want to you update the possible movements of invasion forces now that Suna is involved, I suspect Iwa will leave our west to them and advance on us through Kusa. I will reveal the final defensive positions and strategy at that final briefing." Hiruzen said before dismissing everyone.

Hiruzen gave a weary sigh. He knew the peace from the last war wouldn't have lasted too long, but he had hoped. After Minato had been made Hokage things had begun to get better. Even after the Kyūbi attack, there was still peace between everyone.

Now it seemed everyone was quite ready to jump back into war. He only hoped he still had the strength to lead the village through it safely. Tsunade had promised to begin transitioning into the Hokage role after the Chūnin exams since she still needed to hand off operations of the external hospital systems to different medical-nin.

Hiruzen just hoped he didn't have to go out with a bang. It was so common for shinobi to die in that manner, he thought it would be more novel to die in his bed peacefully after a somewhat boring retirement like most civilians did.

 **1 Week Later - Chūnin Exam Day 1 – Konoha Shinobi Academy**

* * *

Team 7 approached the Academy with their papers in hand ready to take on whatever they could throw at them. All three of them were excited and determined, for the most part, but they all still had a little trepidation in them because they would be exposed to foreign ninjas from almost every village in the elemental nations.

Naruto had added seals onto all of Sasuke and Hinata's clothing choices for the exams, so they were all fully geared out as if they were on a two-week long mission. Naruto had also created tons of extra chakra storage seals for himself and his teammates to use, just in case.

Sasuke and Hinata would be limited to two per day just to be on the safe side. Naruto had enough to refill twice a day for a week.

As they began to make their way up the stairs, they noticed a few Chūnin guarding the door and a group of genin crowded around it arguing. Naruto had no idea what they were arguing about, he just shrugged and walked up the next flight of stairs to the third floor with Sasuke and Hinata following without any comment.

Sasuke snorted in amusement at the fools who fell for that simple genjutsu. Hinata had also noticed the genjutsu but when Naruto only walked by she decided not to make any comment about it. Naruto didn't know that a genjutsu was active because Kurama had already flushed the invasive chakra from his eyes before Naruto even noticed.

Kakashi was actually waiting for them at the door to the testing area which surprised them.

"Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here?" Hinata asked.

"I am here to wish you luck, my cute little genin. Also, I am to collect your forms for registration. Remember what I told you on the day I gave you the entrance exam forms and you should do well." Kakashi said with an eye smile before collecting their papers and Shunshining away.

"Alright, let's do this," Naruto said as he opened the door and Team 7 entered the exam room.

Right away they noticed some killing intent directed at them, but they shrugged it off easily and took up a position where they could watch most of the lingering groups of genin and the entrance to the classroom at the same time.

Naruto immediately adapted his stoic pose and leaned against the wall while reaching out with his senses. He made a mental list of all the teams he was currently detecting in the building to find some identifying markers to help keep track of all the competition.

While each person had an individual identifying scent, it was still possible to determine teams by scent because each member would share similar trace scents due to close association with each other. Once the individual scents were grouped together, it was a simple manner of sniffing out trace scents from their home village. All of the five major villages had very different ecosystems, so it was easy to classify people into particular groups because of the terrain they lived in and the flora and fauna that was native there.

It wasn't foolproof, by any means, but it was a good way to sort through a large group of people and assign identifying traits to them before using other senses to analyze their strengths and weaknesses.

Three Iwa teams - (nine strangers that smell of minerals and dirt) – all hostile

Two Kusa team – (six strangers that smell of numerous foreign plants) – nothing sensed

Two Oto teams – (six strangers that smell like muddy water, and a hint of snake) - all hostile

One Kumo team – (three strangers that smell like snow and pine) - nothing sensed

Six Konoha teams – (three signatures that he could sense deception from)

One Taki teams - (three strangers that smell like lilies and lotus) – nothing sensed

Three Suna teams – (five strangers that smell like cactus and sand. Plus Shukaku) - all hostile

Two Ame teams – (six strangers that smell like rusty metal) – nothing sensed

The Suna teams being hostile was a surprise to him, since they were allies, but he wasn't sure if their hostility was due to him being a jinchūriki or if they were mad at Konoha in general.

Then there was the sense of deception he felt from a Konoha team. He couldn't pick out exactly which ones since the intent was not directed at him. He opened an eye to look in the direction of the teams he was unfamiliar with and took note of how they looked and how they smelt.

Kumo didn't surprise him because he figured Matatabi already spoke with Gyūki. Kurama was more silent than usual so Naruto figured he was either trying to work on contacting Shukaku, or was already communicating with Gyūki.

Kurama was currently in the process of trying to establish contact with Shukaku, but he was still blocked by something, much to Kurama's frustration. He would have to probably check the seal with Naruto's help and figure out why it was blocking their communication ability.

As the remaining teams entered the room, Naruto mostly blocked out the chatter as he continued sorting out the scents and emotions he was sensing around him. Ino's loud voice came screeching through his hearing making him grimace slightly.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun! I missed you so much. I haven't seen you in so long!" Ino said.

Naruto peeked over to amuse himself with Sasuke's scowl and wasn't disappointed. Ino had latched onto his arm and was going on a mile a minute about all the things she has done and how she wished she was with him instead.

Naruto waved at Shikamaru and Choji as they called out to him. They immediately made their way towards him and began to catch up with each other. He still visited them on occasion during the weekends, but it had been fewer and farther in between because they were all busy with training and missions in preparation for the Chūnin exams.

He was distracted from his conversation with Shikamaru and Choji by someone named Rock Lee, who start shouting about flames of youth and challenging the geniuses of Team 7. Naruto just disregarded him as he sensed one of the deceptive Konoha-nins, a silver-haired Konoha genin with glasses, approach the group.

He introduced himself as Kabuto and began to offer information on the other genin that were attending the exam, which was very suspicious in itself. That wasn't even including the fact that he had taken the exam 7 times total but still managed to remain a genin.

Naruto and Shikamaru both eyed each other with the same suspicious look. Naruto could tell that Shikamaru also thought something was off with the guy. Naruto took note of his scent, that was thick with medicine and sanitizer, to warn the Hokage when he could.

"YOSH! I want to know about the geniuses of Team 7, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki!" Lee called out, much to Naruto's chagrin.

So much for remaining subtle and how could he just disregard Hinata-chan?

"Ah, let's see here. Sasuke Uchiha the last member of the Uchiha clan. Reported to know over 15 jutsu with high-level taijutsu and kenjutsu. He has also managed to complete 35 D; 15 C; and 1 S-ranked mission." Kabuto replied.

The entire room stilled when they heard that a genin team had completed an S-ranked mission.

"Yea, that's right!" Kiba said cockily, "We totally rocked that mission didn't we Naruto! Sasuke!" Kiba said.

Kiba walked towards the group with Sakura and Shino in tow. Ino seeing her rival approaching decided to stoke Sasuke's ego a bit in an attempt to rile up Sakura. Lately, Sakura had been more subdued and didn't visit Ino as often as she used to, which caused Ino to become concerned.

"Oh, whatever dog breath like you could compare to Sasuke-kun," Ino shouted out before she turned to Sasuke "You must have been tired from doing all the work for those two. What good could they have done on an S-rank when compared with you." Ino said sweetly while batting her eyelashes in a coy manner.

Sasuke got annoyed at Ino at that moment and ripped his arm away from her. Ino had a shocked and hurt look on her face.

"Shut up. Ino, I may not give a damn about Kiba, but I can guarantee that you are nothing compared to Naruto." Sasuke snapped. He remembered how Ino treated Naruto in the Academy and while he didn't care back then, he wouldn't let her talk down to him now, even if Naruto preferred to let that kind of thing go.

He moved away from the others and took up a position on the other side of Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Choji.

All the Konoha genin were quite surprised at that reaction from Sasuke, excluding Team 7 and 8. Sasuke never bothered to defend or care for anyone, and here he was defending Naruto.

"Whatever, Ino. We were tearing it up down there. Like you would even know! I doubt you have even killed someone yet." Kiba said brashly.

Shino and Sakura decided to give themselves distance between Ino and Kiba since both of them were likely to start arguing loudly now. They also joined the rest of the group to leave Ino and Kiba to bicker amongst each other.

Kabuto cleared his throat. "Well, next we have Naruto Uzumaki of Team 7 reported to know over 13 jutsu with average level taijutsu and is at a level 5 rank in fūinjutsu."

There was another round of shocked reactions, and even Kabuto would admit he was surprised. It was rare that you found someone in that level of fūinjutsu that wasn't, at least, a Jōnin.

He would have to speak to Orochimaru-sama about this. Sasuke seemed really attached to Naruto and with those kinds of skills, plus being the jinchūriki, Orochimaru-sama could definitely make use of him, especially with Kimimaro's health in decline.

Naruto's default frown deepened a little as he heard his abilities revealed to everyone. That bastard had to pay somehow. He had to be a traitor to reveal that kind of thing in front of all these rival villages.

Before anyone could grill Naruto about his abilities any further, the room was brought to attention by the proctor Ibiki Moreno. He began calling out names and pointing to a seat before following up with a threat if they weren't seated in 30 seconds they would be eliminated from the exam along with their teammates. There were a few close calls as other teams tried to trip or block people from reaching their seats, but everyone succeeded in seating themselves within the time limit.

After taking their assigned seats, Ibiki had the spotters hand out the tests while he went through the rules.

"Okay. Listen up, brats. The rules are simple. You have one hour to complete the test. The exam is worth ten points and if you get caught cheating you lose two points. All these guys here will be keeping a close eye on you and will be keeping track. If you fall below four points on the exam, your team will fail. If one of you decides to quit, your team will fail. You may begin the test now." Ibiki said while starting the timer.

Naruto looked at the test questions quickly and saw that he wouldn't be able to answer quite a few of them. He was fairly intelligent, but some of this subject matter was still too advanced for him. Seeing the difficulty of the questions made it obvious that the test was designed to force them to gather those answers from someone else in the room. Probably the Chūnin proctors on the side watching for cheaters or the other genin who had already obtained the answers through cheating.

Naruto was glad he got assigned a seat next to Hinata, it would make it easier to copy off her if needed and it was much easier for her to reliably pull the answers from the answer key that the proctor and the other chūnin held.

Naruto discreetly slapped a small sensor seal tag underneath the desk where Hinata's test was located. Next, he placed another sensor seal underneath his test and linked the two together using his chakra. Picking up his pencil with his right hand, he set his pencil on the sheet, let his arm relax and closed his eyes while holding his left hand over the sensor seal under his test. He slowly began to channel a small amount of chakra into the seal to pick up Hinata's pencil movements for him to copy. He had learned this trick about sensor seals when he first began experimenting and practicing with sensor seals.

When trying to test a series of seals that would trigger based on movement, he found that the parent seal would record the action and then send it to the child seals that were linked to it. When he had been applying the child seal to another surface, a clone had brushed some papers off of the desk containing the parent seal. Naruto had felt the action clearly, almost as if his hand wanted to copy to motion. After some more testing, he determined that he could mimic or copy any action that occurred within a five-meter radius of the parent seal if he was actively channeling his chakra into the child seal. Further experiments showed the potential for using the seal as a way of information gathering and espionage since the user could essentially copy any messages or reports before they were even filed or sent.

Naruto was still trying to figure out how to make the seal record the pen strokes onto a scroll by ejecting ink in some manner. So far he hadn't succeeded in anything more than making a lot of mess in his mindscape and spraying Kurama in the eye with ink when he became curious about what Naruto was attempting. Needless to say, Naruto no longer worked on that seal while sitting next to Kurama anymore.

Hinata activated her Byakugan and began to write out the answers to the test. She knew that Sasuke would be able to copy the answers with the Sharingan, but she wasn't sure how Naruto was going to copy them. He was very smart, but a lot of these questions were tough to answer. She decided that she would write all of the answers down first before finding a way to get them over to him.

As she began copying the answers from a proctor with the answer key, she noticed that Naruto had his eyes closed with a look of concentration on his face and was copying the answers somehow.

She inadvertently paused when she first noticed his movements, curious to how he was copying the answers before she continued writing the answers down when a few of the proctors turned their attention towards her. Using her Byakugan panoramic view to observe him, she realized Naruto was somehow copying her movements precisely. She would have to ask him how he had managed such a feat later on.

Naruto had tuned out his surroundings as he focused on copying the motions recorded by his sensor seal. He thought for a moment he might have been caught when Hinata stopped, but she continued, and soon his test was complete. He had to erase Hinata's name and put his own at the top once it was done. Otherwise, the seal had worked like a charm.

Naruto removed both seals with a quick dispel action under the desk, then reviewed the answers he copied. Based on the questions he did know how to answer, he could deduce that they were all correct. He would have only been able to answer about two-thirds of the questions if he had simply tried to complete the test normally. If what Hinata had copied was accurate, he would have gotten a few of the answers wrong.

With twenty minutes remaining on the test, a few of the teams began to get desperate in their attempts to cheat. One Iwa team and a Suna team were eliminated for cheating as time began to run out.

Ibiki called a halt to the test and stopped the timer when there were 15 minutes left.

"All right, brats. Here are the rules for the final question on the exam. Before you are allowed to answer the final question there are certain circumstances you must know about. First, if you do decide to take this question and you answer it wrong you will be banned from taking the Chūnin exams for life. However, if your quit now and save yourselves the trouble, then you are free to retake the exams without consequence. If you do decide to give up your team will be forced to resign as well. You have five minutes to decide before I announce the question." Ibiki said.

As the remaining genin began to protest and ask questions, Ibiki slammed his hand down on the table.

"Silence! This isn't some mere Academy exam, and I ain't your sensei! Don't look to me to hold your little hands like a lost child. You have four minutes to decide before I announce the question. So, what will it be? Will you risk being a genin for the rest of your life? Are you confident that you can answer the question? You better hurry and decide you only have three minutes left and times a ticking." Ibiki taunted.

One of the Konoha genin decided to quit because he was nervous, which lead to his two teammates having to leave the exams as well. Shortly afterward, one of the Ame ninjas decided to quit, eliminating her teammates from the exam.

Naruto was confident that he would be able to find a way to answer the question regardless. As he sensed around the room, he could tell that the rest of the genin remaining didn't appear to be troubled by the last question either. He quickly looked over the remaining teams to see how many genin were going to move on.

Two Iwa teams

Two Kusa team

Two Oto teams

The Kumo team

Five Konoha teams

One Taki team

Two Suna teams

One Ame team

"So, we have some brats that think they know everything do they? Well then. I hope you are right because you only have one minute to save your ass from the embarrassment of being a lifetime genin. Imagine making a living off those D-ranks." Ibiki barked with a laugh.

After a minute elapsed. "Last chance, brats. Are you sure you are all ready for this?" Ibiki said.

None of the other genin responded. They just sat there watching Ibiki.

"Very well," Ibiki said with a grim expression before dramatically pausing for a few minutes. After he swept his eyes over the remaining teams, his expression changed from stern to pleased. "Congratulations! You have all passed the first exam." Ibiki said in a surprisingly cheery tone.

"What? Where is the tenth question we were supposed to answer?" Shouted an Iwa Kunoichi.

"The fact that I asked you if you were going to try and answer the question was the question itself. If you can't figure out why that was the final question, do yourself a favor and quit before the Second Exam you aren't ready and will probably die." Ibiki said with a scowl.

The Iwa kunoichi just sat down and glowered at Ibiki.

Suddenly, the window shattered, and someone flew in while wrapped up in a dark brown banner. The person spun around in a corkscrew sending two kunai flying into the ceiling of the classroom which unfurled the banner and revealed a kunoichi who was wearing only a knee length kusari body suit and a dark orange mini-skirt with metal shin guards over her ankle length sandals. Her ensemble was topped off with a tan overcoat that reached down to her calves. She had violet hair and light brown pupil-less eyes.

Naruto went red faced at the woman's apparel and turned his head away while the rest of the men were either staring in surprise or ogling her body. The other females were a mix of jealousy or embarrassment.

"I am Anko Mitarashi! The chief proctor for the second exam." Anko said jubilantly.

Anko then looked around the room and shook her head.

"Forty-eight genin remaining, huh? Well, I'll just have to make sure a lot more of you don't pass the second exam then." Anko said with a sigh. "Alright, brats, time for you to follow me."

Anko smirked to herself as she thought of all those invading teams available for the killing. The Forest of Death would get rid of a good portion of them.


	26. Snakes and Shadows

****Disclaimer**** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 ** **Bijū/Summon Speaking****

 _ _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**__

 _ _Naruto mental reply__

 ** _ _ **!**__** \- dattebayo

 ** **Warning: Graphic depictions of violence are present in this chapter.****

Edit 4/21/16

 ** **Chapter 25****

 ** **Snakes and Shadows****

 ** **Chūnin Exam Day 1 – Training Ground 44 – Konoha****

* * *

The remaining teams of genin arrived at Training Ground 44 and saw a double barbed wire fence with warning signs plastered every 10 feet.

There were three large tents set up outside the gated area with one tent off to the side and, what appeared to be, a few logistics genin sorting storage scrolls full of survival supplies by Naruto's estimates. A few of the genin he had seen around town and knew they were part of the non-combat team. Two tents were on the opposite side with curtains blocking the entrance so he was unable to tell what was inside, but he could smell more scrolls with fūinjutsu ink and a few people he didn't know.

"Alright, listen up, brats! I'm only gonna explain this once so if you want to waste daylight asking stupid questions feel free. I won't answer them, and the predators in the training ground behind you would be more than grateful to have an easy meal of stupid genin." Anko said snidely.

Some of the genin paled at that announcement, they didn't expect to have to face any predators during this test.

"Welcome to the Forest of Death the location for the Second Exam." Anko made a sweeping gesture to the warning sign riddled fence, "All teams will be required to fill out a waiver at the tent to your left and collect a storage scroll of supplies if you were too stupid to come prepared for a survival test and are too weak to forage on your own." Anko gestured to the single tent on the group's right side.

"Once we have guaranteed that you and your families have no excuse to blame us for your miserable deaths or failure, your team representative will enter one of the tents on your right and collect a scroll." Anko held up two scrolls one was dark blue while the other was white. "You will receive either a Heaven Scroll or an Earth Scroll. Make sure you don't fuck up and damage, destroy, lose, or read your scroll or your team will be eliminated." Anko said with a grin.

"The objective of this exam is to reach the tower with both a Heaven and an Earth scroll before seven days time passes. If you do not have both scrolls, you will be disqualified. If you are late, you will be disqualified. If any of your teammates are dead or unable to fight, you will be disqualified. Oh and killing is both allowed and encouraged in this portion of the exam so enjoy yourselves!" Anko said with a sadistic laugh.

A few of the genin shivered when hearing Anko laugh.

"Now, line up and start filling out those forms while there is still daylight. The giant man-eating spiders are much more active at night," Anko said with a nonchalant wave of her hand.

Team 7 lined up behind the rest of the teams to fill out their waivers and turn them in. They already had all the supplies they needed, so they waived off taking a supply scroll in case it was counted against them in some way. Once that was completed, Sasuke nudged Naruto to obtain their scroll. Naruto had an idea of what Sasuke wanted so he went into the tent and was given a Heaven scroll which he sealed away before exiting the tent so the rival teams wouldn't know where it was.

Sasuke looked at him in question, and Naruto sent the sign for ground with his left hand. Sasuke merely nodded then began to walk over towards one of the gates on the far edge of the clearing with Hinata and Naruto following behind him.

As they waited, they began to plot how they will obtain their necessary scroll and proceed. After a small debate, Sasuke suggested an ambush halfway to the tower so they had a good shot at finding someone on the way or they would be able to set a trap for the slower teams who may have been in combat already.

Hinata and Naruto agreed with the plan and prepared for the exam to start. After a few more minutes Anko shouted out the start of the second exam and the gates flew open.

Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke took to the trees immediately while Naruto sent out 5 clones to form a perimeter henged as various flying insects. It didn't take them long to reach the half way point due to the dense cluster of ancient trees in the forest. Before they dropped down from the canopy to set up their ambush site, however, Hinata brought the team to a halt with a hand gesture. She spotted a Kusa team trying to set up a, particularly nasty, explosive shrapnel trap. Using hand signs, she informed them that there was a trap and that the team had a heaven scroll.

Sasuke sent out a hand sign for a particular ambush tactic they had used before and began the hand seals for Katon: Hōsenka Tsumabeni (Phoenix Flower Jutsu) while Hinata moved right next to Sasuke and prepared two handfuls of shuriken. Naruto ran through the seals for Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) for his part of the combination.

As soon as Sasuke finished his seals and began to shoot out the flames, Hinata threw both of the shuriken volleys into the flames which were then enhanced by Naruto's wind jutsu.

Hinata leaped into the battle behind the flaming shuriken as two of the Kusa-nin were cut down by the wind and fire-enhanced shuriken, ending their lives quickly.

The third ninja that managed to jump out of range of the combination attack turned and threw a kunai at Hinata, but she had already landed by the time it neared her. Hinata evaded the kunai easily by strafing to the side as she charged before landing a Jūken strike to the Kusa-nin's heart, shattering the fragile organ and finishing off that team of ninjas in less than a minute.

Naruto rummaged through the corpses revealing an extra Heaven scroll which he stowed away. He couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the Kusa-nin. The fact that they had been caught off guard and eliminated so easily only led him to believe that they were not very experienced. They didn't even have the scroll that they needed which made their deaths even more pointless to him. Still, they all knew the risks and Kusa had always been unfriendly to Konoha so he wouldn't dwell on it.

Sasuke threw out the signal to move on once Naruto finished looting and Team 7 took to the trees to advance forward. As they began to draw closer to the tower, Naruto indicated that they were being followed and that the person was very strong. The scent he was picking up from their stalker was confusing him because it smelled of male and female at the same time. That didn't even occur when a man and woman were in close proximity to each other for extended periods of time.

Sasuke decided to set up an ambush for whoever was following them in the next clearing. Before they could reach that point, however, one enormous snake burst out of the trees suddenly and dove at the group causing them to split up.

The snake whipped around a tree towards where Naruto had jumped and snapped at him with a lightning-fast strike which Naruto barely Kawarimied away from in time. The snake quickly turned and began speeding towards Naruto before trying to strike at him again, forcing Naruto to jump further away from Sasuke and Hinata.

 ** **Naruto vs. Snake****

* * *

Naruto was trying to get back to his teammates, but this fucking snake was driving him away with snapping bites or tail swipes so Naruto quickly Shunshined back to gain enough distance to form a quick plan. Naruto created 10 extra powered Kage Bunshin ordering them to scatter and, hopefully, distract the snake.

The snake lunged into bite Naruto as he paused to make the clones, but he was able to dodge at the last minute while a clone planted three level 5 explosive tags on the snake as it zoomed past the branch he was perched on. The clone made sure to plant the tags at specific intervals to cause the most widespread damage to the snake. One behind its head, a few feet down its neck, and the last a few feet closer to its tail.

Naruto dove away from the snake before the clone triggered the tags, killing the snake outright.

He landed a little roughly because of the concussive force of the explosion, but he shot back up into the trees quickly. Naruto immediately started sniffing around to catch his bearings before rushing back towards Sasuke and Hinata with his clones spaced out around him.

 ** **With Sasuke and Hinata****

* * *

Sasuke and Hinata began to follow after the snake that had separated them from Naruto before they were stopped by an unyielding amount of killing intent directed at them. The intent was stronger than anything they had ever felt before, and it froze them in their tracks, causing them both to tremble in fear as the dense feeling bore down on them.

A sinister laugh drew their attention to a Kusa kunoichi standing in the clearing below them. She was staring at them while licking her lips with an unnaturally long tongue. Both of them shuddered in revulsion at the sight.

"Ah, finally I have found you, Sasuke-kun. I've been waiting for this moment for so long. Now it is time to see how strong you truly are." the woman chuckled before charging at Sasuke with super fast speed.

Sasuke was barely able to break free from the paralyzing intent directed at him and dodge the attack. Even with his Sharingan active, however, the kunoichi proved to be vastly superior to him in taijutsu, keeping him trapped on the defensive. Sasuke was barely able to dodge or parry the woman's attacks and was quickly losing ground to her. Just when he was about to get hit with a nasty kick, Hinata charged in and began attacking the woman with her Jūken strikes while Sasuke took advantage and began counter-attacking in tandem with her. He gritted his teeth as he watched the woman easily evade both of their attacks. The kunoichi was twisting and bending her body around their attacks with an infuriating smirk on her face. She looked more amused than concerned which only served to piss Sasuke and Hinata off even more.

After a forceful lunge from Hinata, the woman gripped Hinata's arm before kneeing her in the stomach while she bent over backward to avoid a left cross from Sasuke. Keeping a hold on Hinata's arm, the woman pivoted away from a thrust kick from Sasuke, elbowing Sasuke in the head as she spun Hinata around with surprising strength and threw her into a tree trunk.

Hinata had been dazed from the force behind the woman's knee and failed to recover in time to avoid slamming into the tree. Hinata slid down and landed roughly on a lower branch, her teeth gritted in pain as she took mental stock of her injuries. Hinata was certain that she had bruised ribs after that throw if not a few fractures. Hinata pushed through her pain and got back up before she dashed back towards Sasuke and the Kusa-nin, who had continued her assault on Sasuke.

Sasuke noticed Naruto and a few clones arrive while he continued to fend off attacks from the woman. Naruto held up a hand sign for a sophisticated attack combo they came up with recently. Sasuke briefly nodded before he Shunshined towards one of the clones, knowing the woman would be right on top of him. He was unable to block the next two attacks and was hit with a nasty jab cross combo from the woman before she suddenly jumped back to avoid the Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu) from Naruto clone 1 stopping her from continuing her assault.

While the woman jumped into the air, Clones 2 and 3 were already charging in and managed to apply a gravity seal level 3 and a chakra draining seal before they were dispelled by the woman's counter attacks.

While the woman was being distracted by the pair of clones, Naruto and Sasuke were running through the seals for Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu (Great Dragon Fire) while two clones were next to them preparing Fūton: Daitoppa. Before the woman could land and rush towards them, the attack sequence was completed, and the twin fire dragons were speeding towards their target. The dragons twisted around each other in a stream of blue and orange flame until the wind chakra from the clones powered the attack further turning both dragons into a mix of white and light blue. The attack sped up and hit the woman directly before she could avoid the attack.

The explosion rattled the clearing and destroyed several trees while fire began to spread throughout the canopy around them. Team 7 dropped down out of the trees to confirm they hit the woman, only to find the burnt husk of a mud clone. Sasuke and Hinata were unsettled by the thought that they had only been facing a clone this whole time. Naruto was reaching out with his senses to try and find where the woman went, but he couldn't sense anything until her scent suddenly appeared behind him. Naruto barely had enough time to throw up a sloppy guard before the woman unleashed a combo of punches and kicks on his body which sent him flying into a tree, stunning him momentarily.

Sasuke and Hinata, seeing the attack on Naruto, both gasped as they finally got a look at who the "woman" actually was. Orochimaru the Snake Sannin.

Orochimaru immediately turned to attack Sasuke again but was distracted as Naruto Clones 5 and 6 jumped in and applied the gravity and chakra draining seals on him again. As he dispelled those clones with simple taijutsu strikes, Sasuke began flying through hand seals and launched a Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder) towards Orochimaru while he was in close range. Orochimaru simply used Kawarimi to replace himself with a nearby log to avoid the wave of lightning.

As soon as he used the replacement, however, Hinata had launched a Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) towards Orochimaru. Orochimaru used Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mole) to disappear underground and tunnel towards Hinata. Even with her Byakugan active, Hinata barely jumped into a tree in time to avoid being grabbed because of Orochimaru's superior speed. Sasuke, who had begun to try another Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu, canceled his jutsu to jump into the trees as well.

Naruto quickly jumped up near Sasuke and Hinata and signaled for another combination attack. He began running through the hand seals for Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon) hoping to catch their attacker before she emerged from the ground. Sasuke used Shunshin to stand beside Naruto and ran through the hand seals for Raiton: Jibashi.

Orochimaru pulled himself out of the ground and turned towards Team 7 just in time to see yet another combination attack flying at him. Getting annoyed with this insufferable delay, he quickly used Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall) to block the combination and immediately summoned two giant snakes behind the wall to engage Naruto. With a sufficient distraction created, he quickly tunneled underground with Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu and waited for the chance to subdue the Hyūga pest as well. He had underestimated the strength of their group tactics and was losing valuable time evaluating his future body. He would have to stop playing around and get serious before an Anbu team arrived to investigate.

Team 7 didn't even have time to watch the fall out of the Raiton charged Suiryūdan before they had to drop down from the trees to avoid two large lunging snakes that flew out of the impact zone. One of the snakes managed to swat Naruto while he was in the air, sending him flying away from the group and crashing through the trees. The second snake made a passing lunge towards Hinata, driving her towards the ground before following the first snake that had chased after Naruto.

Hinata landed roughly but managed to roll with the momentum. She caught sight of Orochimaru approaching her from underground with her Byakugan and climb up the nearest tree to avoid being grabbed. Orochimaru was too fast, unfortunately, and cut off her escape by using Sen'eijashu (Striking Shadow Snakes) the second he emerged from the ground.

The snakes immediately begin constricting Hinata tightly, crushing her body and suffocating her until she fell unconscious. Orochimaru decided to spare her at the last minute and gave the order for the snakes to keep her alive. She might prove useful for some of his experiments. Who knows what kind of dojutsu could emerge from a child with both the Byakugan and the Sharingan. She had proven that she was capable enough for his attention, after all, this.

"Now that those pests are out of the way, I can test your actual strength without these bothersome distractions," Orochimaru said as he turned his gaze toward Sasuke. "I must admit Naruto-kun has proven to be quite useful. I think I shall take him along with you as well. Once my jutsu is complete, he will be your loyal bodyguard who will follow your every command." Orochimaru said with a sinister chuckle. "Won't that please you Sasuke-kun? To have true power of your own? With my training and power seal, you will be unstoppable, and you will have the Kyūbi as a loyal pet. There will be nothing beyond your reach, doesn't that sound delicious to you Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru said while licking his lips.

Orochimaru couldn't contain his excitement at marking Sasuke and taking that next step to his ultimate goal. With the Sharingan at his disposal, there would be no limits for him. He was only moments away from securing his long-awaited goal, and he had managed to find a few useful tools in the process.

"I want nothing from you, traitorous bastard. I won't listen to your lies so don't even bother. I don't want your training or power seal and Naruto will never become your pet either!" Sasuke shouted as he pulled out his chokuto.

Sasuke knew he was getting low on chakra soon and decided to use one of the seals Naruto had given him. While he had originally planned to save them for the finals, he couldn't afford to hold back anything against the Sannin. He could only hope to survive long enough for Naruto to finish off those snakes and help him fight this bastard off. Sasuke doubted any help would arrive since they were in the middle of a combat exam, but if he could convince Naruto to draw on the Kyūbi's chakra, that would definitely attract the attention of the Hokage and the Anbu. They would have to investigate to ensure that he hadn't lost control, and hopefully they would arrive in time to save them.

With the quick boost to his chakra coming soon, Sasuke took a deep breath to steady his nerves before he prepared a defensive stance. His Sharingan spun as he focused on Orochimaru and prepared himself for the battle of his life. One little mistake against this foe and it would end badly for him. Sasuke let his fear and anger fade until he was only left with grim determination. He couldn't falter here. He had to kill that bastard Danzō and avenge his murdered family, and this bastard was in the way of his goals.

Orochimaru watched the change in Sasuke's posture and was amused. "So, you finally decide to face me seriously hm? Excellent. I would have been disappointed if you relied too heavily on your teammates." Orochimaru licked his lips once more before his grin grew larger, "Let us see how good you are with that sword. If you impress me enough, I will give your teammates my gift of power as well." Orochimaru said before he opened his mouth wide like a snake and began to spit out his Kusanagi (Grass Cutter). Sasuke felt Naruto's chakra surge through his body and began to channel Raiton chakra into his sword before charging towards Orochimaru.

 ** **Naruto vs. Snakes Round 2****

* * *

Naruto felt Kurama re-link with his senses and was relieved. He could really use his advice against this guy, and Naruto was confident Kurama would be able to provide another perspective once he analyzed his memories of the fight.

 _ _'Damn it. Everything we've done to him, he avoids like it's a joke.'__ Naruto said in frustration as he circled around the snakes. He couldn't allow them to separate him as far as the previous ones did. Hinata and Sasuke needed him.

He drew the first snake closer to clones 7 and 8 who had readied a combination of Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu and Fūton: Daitoppa while Naruto himself threw three volleys of shuriken and used Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) as he landed. With the combination of white-hot flames and wind enhanced shuriken, the first snake writhed in pain before it fell to the forest floor. Naruto moved down to verify the snake was gone only to get caught off guard by a staggering tail swipe from the second snake. Naruto cried out in pain as he crashed through several smaller branches before he hit the ground roughly and skidded for a few feet.

Winded from the impact, Naruto barely managed to roll onto his feet in time to avoid the snake's tail from smashing him into the ground. Naruto quickly and directed his last two charged clones to launch all their shuriken at the approaching snake and follow up with Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone). Naruto quickly used Shunshin to appear next to his clones before running through the hand seals for Fūton: Daitoppa to speed up the massive volley of shuriken. The hail of shuriken flew through the trees shredding up branches before perforating the snake all over. The snake writhed in pain for a minute before it finally disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief once he saw snake number two dispel and leaned up against the trunk of the tree, panting heavily from exertion and giving Kurama a chance to catch up on healing all his injuries. After a few minutes, he sped off towards Hinata and Sasuke's scent.

" ** **Hmph. That is twice now you were too busy looking at your foolish jutsu instead of paying attention to your surroundings. Stop getting tunnel vision, kit. We also need to up your physical regimen more now that we have another powerful enemy to contend with."**** Kurama said.

 _ _'I know Kurama, but why is Orochimaru after us in the first place?'__ Naruto was beginning to panic as he spotted Hinata on the ground. Naruto took a kunai out and managed to shred the snakes binding her before he quickly checked her pulse. 'Thank Kami she is still alive.'

" ** **Don't concern yourself with what the snake is plotting at this time. Relax and focus. You have done extremely well with your companions on facing this foe from what I saw in your memories, but the snake is far beyond you. Tell your teammate to break off and flee. You can not defeat him."**** Kurama said seriously.

 _ _'You're right, but he's way too fast. I will need to use your chakra to hold him off for a bit since I will be faster than them with it on. I don't think I should hold back I will need two tails right away.'__ Naruto said.

" ** **Do not lose your focus, though," Kurama warned.**** ** **"Your opponent will only be surprised momentarily. He is experienced enough to be able to counter you even in that mode."****

Naruto continued at full speed to where he heard Sasuke fighting with Orochimaru and prepared to use draw out his two-tailed chakra cloak.

 ** **During Naruto's Fight - Sasuke vs. Orochimaru****

* * *

Sasuke new found resolve was quickly faltering as Orochimaru continued to taunt and toy with him in their kenjutsu battle. Orochimaru had controlled their fight from the very beginning, easily parrying and deflecting his strikes and making lazy counter attacks that Sasuke was hard pressed to avoid. Orochimaru kept Sasuke under pressure the whole time, even when Sasuke fled into the trees around the clearing. As he ducked another slash, he quickly channeled chakra to another chakra seal on his arm wrap. He had to block a vertical strike then jump backward when Orochimaru swiped the Kusanagi towards his stomach in a halfhearted attempt to gut him.

Sasuke countered with a straight thrust followed by an upward slash, but Orochimaru simply swatted the thrust away redirecting the slash away from his body. Orochimaru countered with his own slash which Sasuke used a downward block and pivot to push the sword towards Orochimaru's opposite hand creating an opening to his ribs and kidney.

Sasuke continued his pivot and slashed towards Orochimaru's kidney only for him to counter with a one-handed reverse block to mock Sasuke's strength before he kicked Sasuke off the tree branch they were fighting on.

Sasuke, in a last ditch effort, stabbed his chokuto into a passing branch to prevent his fall and feeling the chakra from the seal he activated earlier, began his next move by throwing ninja wired shuriken at Orochimaru. The Sannin batted them aside with his sword easily and let out a chuckle at his prey's feeble attempt at a defense. Orochimaru had easily noticed the trailing ninja wire remaining around and behind him but decided to play along to see what Sasuke was planning. Sasuke pulled on the ninja wire binding Orochimaru against the tree trunk before he fired off Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu with the ninja wire in his mouth.

The fire traveled quickly down the wire and appeared to surround Orochimaru, burning him to a crisp.

Sasuke was breathing heavily and searched himself to gauge his chakra reserves to find he was dangerously low. If that last attack didn't work, he was done for. When he spotted the body inside the flames, Sasuke began to let his guard down and relax before a slow clapping sound rang out behind him. Sasuke whirled around in trepidation only to spot what he feared most. Orochimaru emerged from a tree trunk completely unscathed. Sasuke looked back towards the dying flames and saw what looked like a snake skin in the shape of Orochimaru's body. His heart sank when he realized that he hadn't even pushed the Sannin in that battle. Not only had Orochimaru toyed with him the whole time, he apparently didn't even need to engage him personally. Using some kind of clone to fight him while he watched on in amusement.

"Very good, Sasuke-kun. You are truly powerful, and once I mark you as mine, your power will only grow." Orochimaru said with a chuckle before he took on a snide tone. "Fighting me is futile Sasuke-kun. Accept your fate by my side. Don't worry about losing your teammates. With my mark of power, Naruto-kun will become your loyal protector and follow your every whim. Perhaps the Hyūga girl could prove to be useful as well. No longer will your team be held back by this pathetic village. All of the elemental nations will be within your grasp. Prepare for greatness, Sasuke-kun, it will be magnificent." Orochimaru said while licking his lips.

"No! Stay away from me you freak! I don't want anything to do with a traitor like you. I won't submit to you, ever." Sasuke shouted in desperation and anger.

Suddenly, he felt the terrifying power of Naruto's Kyūbi cloak and felt relief. Naruto was practically unstoppable when he used the Kyūbi's chakra. Sasuke and Hinata had been allowed to observe Naruto train in the chakra caves a few times after the Hokage was convinced Naruto knew his limits. Naruto had argued that they would need to be familiar with the chakra in a combat situation so that they wouldn't be caught off guard by the overwhelming presence of Kurama's chakra.

Orochimaru was caught off guard when he felt a large source of malicious chakra wash over him before a red-orange blitz charged into him and began slashing and clawing at him. It was only his experience at evading that allowed him to avoid any serious damage. Orochimaru hissed in pain as the demonic chakra leaked into him through the large gashes Naruto managed to carve into his chest and arms. He barely avoided the twin chakra tails that thrust forward in an attempt to impale him. Orochimaru quickly used Shunshin to create some space between him and this new threat. He appeared on the opposite side of the clearing they had been fighting on and studied the jinchūriki carefully as his mind ran through a way to subdue the brat so he could mark them both.

'So Naruto-kun has come in contact with the Kyūbi and has apparently made some arrangement to utilize his chakra. This may cause problems with my Curse Mark of Earth. If I can find a way to cut off the Kyūbi completely, then I can still safely convert Naruto-kun to my side,' Orochimaru thought.

Orochimaru was no expert at fūinjutsu, but he had gained enough knowledge that he knew any seal with an even amount of prongs or rings would be countered by a seal with an odd number of prongs or rings. His spies had given him enough information on the Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Seal) so he knew how the seal was designed and what was needed to cut the Kyūbi off from interfering. If his theory was correct, then the Kyūbi would be entirely contained and unable to interact with the boy any further if he used the Gogyō Fūin (Five Element Seal). He would then remove the seal once Naruto fell to his will and the Kyūbi would be under his control.

" ** **Sasuke, this guy is way too strong. Take Hinata-chan and run while I hold him off. I will follow soon. Go!"**** Naruto shouted.

"Naruto, you can't face him alone..." Sasuke began.

" ** **None of us can face him, but I can run faster like this! Go, Sasuke, please. Take Hinata-chan and run. Hurry!"**** Naruto pleaded before he launched himself at Orochimaru again.

"Damn it, Naruto! I won't abandon you!" Sasuke shouted before grabbing his chokuto and following after Naruto to try and help. He wouldn't let that bastard claim his only friend.

Naruto had to re-engage Orochimaru when he charged back into the clearing towards him. Naruto was able to successfully attack Orochimaru with a few more slashes using his Kitsune taijutsu, but Orochimaru wasn't a Sannin for nothing.

"Fool! You aren't capable of holding me back, but I thank you for staying so I can give you my gift. It's a shame I can't give you the power of the Curse Seal of Heaven like Sasuke-kun, but this will work out much better in the end. Instead, I will gift you with my Curse Seal of Earth and shape you into the perfect bodyguard just like Kimimaro was. Do not worry, Naruto-kun. You will be able to remain at Sasuke-kun's side, but first, I must prevent the Kyūbi's interference." Orochimaru said.

As soon as Sasuke drew near, Orochimaru suddenly switched his focus from Naruto and launched himself at Sasuke while preparing the Gogyō Fūin (Five Element Seal). He would force Naruto on the defensive which would give him the necessary opening to subdue him.

Naruto, of course, intervened and using a boost of speed with Kurama's chakra, got to Sasuke first and pushed him away before he slashed at Orochimaru, who was ready for the attack. Orochimaru dodged the swipe then tried to reach in to rip off a part of Naruto's shirt and apply the seal directly but was repelled by the volatile chakra surrounding Naruto.

'I'll have to get that chakra off of him somehow, perhaps my most poisonous species of snakes would be enough to bring him down.' Orochimaru thought.

He was forced duck under another slash before leaping back to evade the chakra tails stabbing at him. Orochimaru quickly spat out a giant ball of white snakes towards Naruto, who was charging in to attack again.

The shakes dispersed into a cloud of thick purple smoke when slashed by Naruto. Naruto coughed as he inhaled the smoke before rushing to attack Orochimaru again. The potent poison struck quickly making it hard for Naruto to breathe and giving him vertigo which caused him to stumble and his attacks to slow down considerably. Naruto could barely stand as his body began to heat up rapidly and his heart began to race as the poison spread through his system.

Kurama was trying to purge the poison from Naruto's system faster, but the poison was highly volatile. If Naruto had not had his chakra cloak active, he would be experiencing even more crippling and severe symptoms. Unfortunately, for Naruto, the poison had affected him enough to disorient him to the point that he could no longer concentrate on drawing out Kurama's chakra. The red chakra surrounding him faded completely, and Naruto was left completely vulnerable.

Orochimaru wasted no time and dashed in while Naruto was disoriented. Orochimaru quickly yanked Naruto's shirt up to expose the seal on his stomach before he slammed the Gogyō Fūin into it, blocking Kurama from interfering with his mark and knocking the breath out of Naruto, who was already on the verge of passing out because of the poison he inhaled.

Orochimaru's grip on Naruto prevented him from flying away, and the Sannin lifted him up before yanking his head back by the hair to expose his neck with his other hand. Channeling chakra into his left fang, he activated the special mix of venom, ink, and tainted chakra sealed inside of the fang before biting into Naruto's neck causing him to scream in agony. Orochimaru focused on guiding the ink to create the seal array using his own chakra mixed in with some of the tainted chakra before releasing his fangs from Naruto's neck. The venom distracted Naruto's immune response and paved the way for the tainted chakra to spread uninhibited. Once the seal was established, it began dispersing tainted chakra throughout Naruto's chakra system further corrupting his normal chakra and increasing the spread of corruption throughout his body.

Kurama was not able to fully clear the poison from Naruto when the Gogyō Fūin cut him off partially. Kurama would have been cut off completely if the Yondaime had not made modifications to the regular Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Seal). Thanks to this change, Kurama could still leak some of his chakra through the Hakke no Fūin Shiki and begin breaking down the Gogyō Fūin by stressing the seal with concentrated bursts of his chakra.

Kurama had only managed to create a few large gaps in the seal when Orochimaru marked Naruto, and the tainted chakra entered Naruto's body causing Kurama to recoil from its foulness. Somehow this mark was generating tainted natural chakra before converting it into contaminated Yin and Yang chakra to spread throughout Naruto's pathways and pool in his tenketsu, corrupting the normal chakra cycling through his body.

Using the gaps that he managed to create in the Gogyō Fūin, Kurama fought the tainted chakra as much as possible by applying blocker seals on individual pathways, veins, and parts of Naruto's mind to stop the spread of corruption from affecting him too dramatically. Next, he began trying to surround the invading chakra with his own and isolate it inside the Hakke no Fūin Shiki where it would not influence Naruto directly. He was only able to safeguard some portions of Naruto's mind and body before he was cut off from Naruto completely. The tainted chakra had somehow moved to reinforce the Gogyō Fūin and limit how much access he could have to his kit's body.

Kurama could only watch as the foul chakra continued to spread throughout Naruto while he frantically worked at breaking through the Gogyō Fūin again.

Sasuke had been sent flying several feet away when Naruto had pushed him away from Orochimaru. He was barely able to avoid a painful collision with a tree by driving his chokuto into the ground and skidding to a halt. Sasuke dashed back towards the clearing hoping to help his friend only to watch Orochimaru bite into Naruto's neck.

"NARUTO! NO YOU BASTARD!" Sasuke shouted with tears in his eyes. Sasuke gritted his teeth and raised his chokuto in a defensive position shakily.

'It can't end like this! Not like this, damn it!' Sasuke thought as he steeled himself.

"Don't be frightened Sasuke-kun. You will be joining him soon," Orochimaru said as he unceremoniously dropped Naruto to the ground before he channeled his chakra to his right fang for the Curse Seal of Heaven and dashed towards Sasuke to claim his prize. Before he could reach Sasuke and extend his neck for the bite, however, he was forced to Kawarimi as a hail of flaming shuriken flew towards him cutting into the branch he replaced himself with and setting it on fire.

Orochimaru hissed in frustration as he saw Itachi Uchiha Shunshin directly in front of Sasuke. Orochimaru immediately closed his eyes and bit his lip for good measure. He had made the foolish mistake of underestimating Itachi's genjutsu abilities when he had tried to mark him a year ago. After an intense battle against the elder Uchiha, Orochimaru barely escaped with his left arm on fire from these black flames that he couldn't put out. He was forced to amputate that arm and claim the current body he was in. Orochimaru had resigned himself to taking Sasuke and raising him for a few years before claiming his body after that.

"This isn't over, Sasuke-kun. You will be mine soon, just like Naruto-kun." Orochimaru said with a sinister chuckle while fleeing underground with Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu.

"Nii-san (brother)! Thank Kami! I thought that bastard had me for sure, but Naruto..." Sasuke said trying to hold back his tears of grief and elation.

Itachi moved over to Naruto and studied the seal on his neck. He let out a silent sigh as his brother's only friend was now cursed with the worst type of seal.

"I'm afraid there is not much that can be done for Naruto-kun now Sasuke. I don't know much about fūinjutsu, but I know even Jiraiya is unaware of how to remove this mark completely." Itachi replied.

"Then Naruto... he's going to join that snake bastard? This can't be happening..." Sasuke said softly.

"He may not join Orochimaru, Sasuke. Naruto-kun has a chance to resist it, but the battle will be constant for him as Orochimaru can invade his psyche at will. Like any other form of torture, he will eventually succumb. Jiraiya has a technique that he has used to reduce the influence of these curse marks, but it was designed to be used on the Mark of Heaven not the Mark of Earth. The Heaven mark can be contained easier if the victim desires to fight against it. This seal is different in that Orochimaru uses some means of psychological torture instead of the lure of power. Naruto-kun can fight against it, but he will always have to be on guard." Itachi said with a small frown.

"You will have to keep your guard up around Naruto-kun now. Orochimaru __will__ use him to get to you. Every time Jiraiya and I have run into someone with this particular mark, they were on the brink of a mental breakdown, or they were already fanatically loyal to Orochimaru." Itachi's monotone took on a subtle tone of sorrow. "We have been trying to gather as much information as we can while raiding some of Orochimaru's research labs, but we haven't had any success. Keep an eye out for any odd behavioral changes in Naruto-kun or if his struggle suddenly stops without intervention for these will be likely signs that he has succumbed." Itachi said before he picked up Naruto.

Sasuke remained silent and still, trying to process everything that had happened. He didn't understand why Orochimaru would target him and couldn't come to terms that his only real friend might become an enemy in the near future.

"Sasuke, bring Hinata with you. There is a shelter nearby that you can take refuge in and rest. I must continue with my mission, but I will leave a clone to aid in guarding you until your team is recovered enough to proceed." Itachi said.

Once Sasuke picked up Hinata, both of the Uchiha brothers walked a short distance until a small cave came into view. Itachi set Naruto down, and Sasuke laid Hinata next to him.

Sasuke sat down with a sigh of exhaustion and rested against the cave wall. He couldn't believe he managed to make it out of that fight alive. Sure he was bruised and battered, but nothing was broken, and it should have been a hell of a lot worse.

'Naruto you took the worst part of all. Please, Naruto, don't give in. There has to be a way to save you.' Sasuke thought as he stared at his only friend.

"Nii-san, why would Orochimaru do this? Why would he come after me?" Sasuke asked in a shaky tone.

"While we do not know the full details, what we have learned is that he uses that mark to claim strong ninja to bend them to his will, but Jiraiya is certain there is a more sinister purpose. All prisoners we have interrogated have mentioned that Orochimaru will take people's bodies but for what purpose, we don't really know. He attacked me when I was investigating one of his bases and had mentioned that he wanted my Sharingan, but I was almost able to kill him. My guess is that he seeks your eyes now since he was unable to claim mine." Itachi explained as he pulled out a scroll and pencil and began writing a quick note. Once he finished with the note, he took out an Earth Scroll from his hip pouch.

"Take this scroll, Sasuke, so you can head to the tower as soon as Naruto-kun and Hinata recover. Kakashi and the Hokage will be waiting. Give this note to them for me. I must set things in motion so we can confront Danzō." Itachi said as he held out the scroll and the note.

Sasuke grabbed the earth scroll and sealed it away along with the note.

"You're going to fight Danzō then?" Sasuke said in a disappointed tone.

"Not yet. There is a more complicated plan in play to make certain he will not be able to slither his way out of this. I can not explain all the details to you now as I must hurry, but I will come to you before the finals and explain everything. We already have some evidence that strongly points to him providing Orochimaru the means to enter Konoha, but it will be what occurs after that will be the final nail in the coffin. " Itachi looked back at his brother with a small smile.

"Then Sasuke, we will finally have justice. Then we will finally have our vengeance, and we can all move on in peace. Mother, father, all the Uchiha can rest, and we will begin to rebuild stronger and better than before." Itachi said before poking Sasuke in the forehead with his fingers.

"I'm proud that you didn't lose yourself to vengeance and found a friend. Keep your faith in him, Sasuke, and support him but until that seal is gone, you must be ready to defend yourself if you see any strange behavior." Itachi said before creating a clone and disappearing in a flock of crows.

'Naruto won't give into that bastard anytime soon. He had to deal with the Kyūbi his whole life.' Sasuke thought.

Sasuke was certain that the demon had to be vicious based on some of the things Naruto had mentioned at times. He still didn't understand how Naruto could handle having someone constantly talk down to you and everyone else while maintaining his kind nature. He could only imagine having something constantly reminding him about the idiots in the village and tempting him to put them in their places. He could barely tolerate those hypocrites as it were and wouldn't feel guilty about making a few of those bastards suffer in the least.

Hinata woke up soon after Itachi left and began to look around wildly before Sasuke put a firm hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Hinata. It's over. He's gone." Sasuke said.

"Oh, thank Kami!" Hinata said in relief before she noticed Naruto unconscious next to her.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried out as she moved closer to begin to triage him.

"Shh, keep it down, Hinata or we will get ambushed. We can't afford another fight right now." Sasuke hissed.

"Yes, of course, I'm sorry. What happened to him? I don't see any injuries." Hinata asked in a worried tone. There were numerous tears in his clothing and some blood stains, but there were no wounds that she could find.

"Orochimaru marked him with this cursed seal on his neck," Sasuke said as he pulled down the tattered collar of Naruto's turtleneck to reveal the mark. The mark consisted of three small curved lines that radiated out from a small spiral in the center forming a sort of loose triangle that sat between the junction of his neck and shoulder.

Hinata gasped as she looked up at Sasuke with wide eyes. "You mean..."

Sasuke nodded "It is like the curse mark the Hyūga use but much worse. Orochimaru said it will bend Naruto to his will and that Naruto would eventually betray us to serve Orochimaru." Sasuke said with clenched teeth.

"No, No! Naruto-kun!" Hinata began to weep silently as she clenched her fists in Naruto's shirt and buried her face in his chest.

Sasuke put his hand back on her shoulder to offer her some comfort. He didn't consider Hinata a friend by any means but Naruto seemed to care for her, and she had been a good teammate to him by all accounts.

Hinata wept silently over Naruto for several moments as she released all the stress of the battle, frustration against cursed marks, and fear for Naruto's well-being. She slowly began to compose herself.

"Sasuke, you must be so tired. You and Naruto-kun did so much during that battle, and I couldn't do much of anything but be a burden. Rest now and I will keep watch for you." Hinata said sadly.

"That snake was just toying with all of us, Hinata, you and Naruto both saved me multiple times. He only intended to come after me from the start, but because you both saved me more than once, he took an interest in all of us afterward. I was the one who was a burden in the fight. He put more effort into keeping you two away from me and, in the end, it was because that bastard attacked me that Naruto was led into his trap. Maybe if I had listened to Naruto and ran away this wouldn't have happened, but I didn't want to just abandon him like that." Sasuke said in frustration.

"Naruto-kun wouldn't have seen it that way, Sasuke, but I don't blame you. I wouldn't have left him behind either. You know more than anyone how he is with the few friends he has." Hinata murmured, "Anyways, I suppose we should be pleased that we lasted as long as we did against a Sannin. Even if poor Naruto-kun had to pay a steep cost to save us both." Hinata said with a sniffle.

"He won't give in. I don't care what anyone says, so don't you dare lose faith in him too. My brother left us a clone to help with guarding. So don't be too worried about it. If you feel that you don't need rest, however, then I will take a quick nap. Wake me in a few hours regardless." Sasuke said.

"I'm fine. I slept more than enough during that fight." Hinata said the last part more to herself. She gritted her teeth in frustration. Why didn't she use her Kaiten instead of jumping? She had been so frightened by his killing intent she had fallen back onto simple basics that were useless against him. She should have remained poised and in control than they might have had a chance to escape.

Hinata kept watch with Itachi's shadow clone for the next few hours without incident, but she had been nervous for half of that time. She didn't know the truth behind the Uchiha massacre and everyone had claimed that Itachi had snapped and annihilated everyone. Sasuke had not shared the truth with her, but she wouldn't complain if Itachi decided to help in this situation. She chalked it up to assisting his brother by proxy, and she couldn't help but feel a little safer knowing that the Uchiha prodigy was helping in case Orochimaru decided to come back. Even if it was just a clone, it would, at least, draw the real Itachi back if Orochimaru returned.

She would end up being grateful an hour later when another Kusa team attempted to ambush them. The Itachi shadow clone actually did most of the work as it quickly put all of the genin into a genjutsu before he slit two of their throats with a kunai in a matter of seconds. It was a chilling reminder of why Itachi was hailed as a prodigy.

Hinata finished off the third genin with her Hakke Sanjūni Shō (Eight Trigrams 32 Palms).

Hinata looted that team's bodies for a scroll but found that they had already lost their scroll apparently.

"I don't have much chakra remaining, so I will only be able to cast another genjutsu before dispelling. Awake Sasuke-kun now and prepare yourselves for there is another team approaching." The Itachi clone warned.

Hinata woke Sasuke up and checked on Naruto. He appeared to be feverish and was tossing and turning slightly. She wet a handkerchief with her canteen and placed it on his head to try and comfort him in some way before Itachi's voice called her attention back outside of the cave.

"Get ready, Sasuke, I will put them all in a genjutsu for you but after that, I will most likely dispel. Be careful." The Itachi clone said.

Three Oto members neared the clearing where Orochimaru had instructed them to be. They saw the cave but they did not see anyone but the blonde kid Orochimaru told them to ignore.

On full alert, they entered the clearing cautiously looking out for traps. Suddenly, they heard Kin cry out in pain. "It's a genjutsu you idiots dispel it!" Kin shouted as she pulled a few shuriken out of her clavicle. They had barely missed severing her artery in her neck.

Dosu and Zaku flared their chakra to dispel the genjutsu just as more shuriken and kunai flew towards them.

Zaku stepped forwards and released his Zankūha (Decapitating Airwaves) attack from his palm to blast the incoming projectiles away from them.

Sasuke charged in with this chokuto towards Kin but was intercepted by Dosu, who blocked Sasuke's attack with his Kyōmei Supīkā (Resonating Echo Speaker) he threw a punch towards Sasuke to catch him with his Kyōmeisen (Vibrating Sound Drill) and attack his equilibrium.

Sasuke ducked under the attack and slashed at Dosu causing him to back up, but the effects of the sound waves took effect, and Sasuke became disoriented and dizzy. Before Dosu could capitalize on his vulnerability, Hinata charged in and began to seal some of his tenketsu before she was forced to use Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation) when Kin threw a flurry of regular senbon and her Shadow Senbon with bells attached to set her genjutsu up. Zaku at the same time launched his Zankūha (Decapitating Airwaves) from his palm towards Hinata and Sasuke, which impacted against the shield of Hinata's Kaiten harmlessly, protecting them both.

Unfortunately, Hinata had unknowingly made Kin's genjutsu set up more effective as the Kaiten had spread the bells all around the clearing causing an amplifying effect.

As Kin began her genjutsu, Hinata began to stumble while Sasuke, who was still disoriented from the Kyōmeisen, clutched his ears and fell to the ground. They both tried to dispel the effect, but the sound waves continuously reapplied the genjutsu rendering them helpless before the Oto trio.

"Hah! You bastards aren't so tough after all. Orochimaru will be pleased that we finished the Uchiha brat off." Dosu exclaimed in a cocky tone as he began to advance on Hinata and Sasuke.

Before Dosu could get close enough to finish them off, however, a rain of shuriken and kunai came out of the woods without warning, killing Kin instantly and injuring Dosu and Zaku. Immediately right after the rain of projectiles ended, Zaku was sent flying back by a strong attack followed by a shout of Dynamic Entry!

Team Guy had stumbled across the fight in progress, and Neji insisted on coming to Hinata's aid. Lee and Tenten couldn't deny him, so they re-positioned themselves for an ambush.

Neji charged in to engage Dosu while Tenten began to rain down more kunai and shuriken at Zaku to support Lee. Zaku took several devastating hits from Lee and was impaled by a few more shuriken before he was able to roll to the side and line Lee up with Tenten on her tree perch. Zaku unleashed his Zankūkyokuha (Extreme Decapitating Airwaves) from the tubes in both his palms blowing Lee through a few trees and sending Tenten flying off into the distance.

Neji had landed several devastating hits to Dosu, but Dosu was able to send out Kyōmeisen with a wild swing. Neji managed to pull off a Kaiten to drive him away before the sound waves became too much for him and he fell to his knees.

"You weak Konoha scum. Orochimaru will award us well for getting rid of you losers. Any last words before we finish you all off?" Dosu said in a blustering tone. In truth he felt like he had been hit by a truck and his arms were barely functional. If he had not managed to block some of those Jūken strikes, he would have been dead for certain.

"Go to hell! Oto trash." Neji spat in defiance.

"I guess I'll finish you off first before I have some fun with your cute little clan mate here," Dosu said as he kicked Hinata in the ribs causing her to cry out.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER YOU BASTARD!" Neji shouted as he struggled to rise to his feet.

"Hahaha, you fool! Go ahead and struggle, it will make it so much sweeter when I finish you off." Dosu said.

Zaku stumbled over towards Hinata and pulled her up by her hair before backhanding her across the face. "Now, bitch, you are going to watch as we slit that bastards throat then the real fun will begin," Zaku said to her.

Hinata saw Dosu dodge Neji's lunge before kneeing him in the abdomen and driving his elbow down into Neji's back forcing him back down to the ground. Dosu then pulled out a kunai with his functional arm and slowly raised it upwards, planning to drive it through Neji's spine.

"NO! NEJI-NII SAN!" Hinata screamed

 ** **During the fight - Naruto's Mindscape****

* * *

Naruto knew nothing but darkness after he had felt excruciating pain travel through his neck and spread throughout his body. It was a cold and malicious feeling that had enveloped him, and he was dazed by the sheer evil that was now surrounding him.

He slowly became aware of voices whispering to him. Taunting him, tempting him, coaxing him to embrace the darkness but something faint in Naruto recoiled at the thought. His mind was in turmoil and the voices began to get louder promising him peace if he just accepted his fate and embraced the darkness.

He heard another voice cry out in pain, one that seemed familiar and something in him wanted to help that voice, but he couldn't move, couldn't think straight with all these voices whispering to him.

" ** **Your teammates are about to die, boy, will you just lie here while they suffer?"**** A booming voice called out.

This voice was familiar also, but he couldn't remember. Naruto opened his eyes, and it wasn't dark anymore, but he was in a sewer in front of a giant cage and behind it was the Kyūbi.

Naruto felt that he should remember more about the Kyūbi, but it was as if the memory was out of reach just slipping away from his grasp. Obviously, he should know more since he wasn't surprised by the fact that the Kyūbi was here speaking to him, but he just couldn't remember. What the hell had happened to him?

" ** **Do you not care for your teammate? The female especially will suffer horribly before she dies, after all the care she gave you."**** The Kyūbi said to him.

The sound of a woman screaming brought up an overwhelming anger in Naruto and more of the voices began whispering to him in gleeful tones encouraging him to slaughter, to rend, to shower in the blood of his enemies. Something else inside him recoiled at the thought but stronger than all those other emotions was the desire to protect. He had to protect her no matter what, he couldn't remember who it was, but something in him was driving him to protect her.

" ** **Yes! Draw on my power as you have before and save her! Protect her with my power and none shall harm what is precious to you."**** The Kyūbi said with a sinister chuckle.

Naruto felt a tingle of potent chakra that was not his own and began pulling on it to gain the power he would need to protect, which caused his curse seal to activate for the first time. He wouldn't let them die, and anyone who was trying to hurt them would pay dearly.

As Naruto disappeared from his mindscape, the "Kyūbi" outright laughed with glee as he could hear Kurama's curses and roars of anger.

Now that the boy had drawn on his seal the process had begun and within a few weeks, Naruto would belong to him. Orochimaru began traversing Naruto's memories, that were not blocked off to him by the "Kyūbi". Spreading the tainted chakra would help to deepen his connection to Naruto's mind so he could read his thoughts and emotions in order to manipulate him easier, and he would also be able to look up useful information to torment the boy with later.

He would turn Naruto against the village, and once he made him kill all his friends, his will would break, and he would become his loyal servant, just like Kimimaro.

 ** **With Hinata - Forest of Death****

* * *

Hinata screamed out to Neji as she saw Dosu prepare to drive the kunai into Neji's spine.

Suddenly, a malevolent feeling burst through the clearing causing everyone to freeze in fear before they all simultaneously turned their heads towards the cave that this feeling was emanating from. Hinata and Sasuke immediately looked up to where Naruto had been resting. This was much different then when he used the Kyūbi's chakra. The Kyūbi was scary, but this chakra felt entirely different, instead of being hot with rage it was more cold and sinister.

Naruto had awoken, and his curse seal was active. Lines were spreading throughout his body in random vine-like patterns, and this vile purple chakra was flowing from him. As he brought his head up, Hinata saw that Naruto's eyes were different. His irises were red, like usual and the pupils were slit, but his sclera was black instead of white. Naruto's fangs and claws grew out larger than usual, and his whiskers were darker and thicker. Instead of the red-orange chakra surrounding him, he was covered in a sinister purple chakra cloak instead.

Naruto was trapped in a feral state of mind, but he recognized two scents that his mind labeled as friendly, and those friendly scents were tainted with two vile scents. There was one unfamiliar scent mixed in, but it was similar to one of the friendly scents so it was not deemed as a target for the moment. Naruto's mind latched onto the two vile scents as the first to be ripped apart and bared his fangs at the unwelcome presence that was close to the ones he wanted to protect.

With a roar, Naruto burst out of the cave at a blinding speed and severed Zaku into pieces with a cross swipe using both of his clawed hands reinforced with the tainted chakra. Zaku barely had time to cry out before he fell to the ground in pieces and gurgled his last breath out.

Hinata screamed as she was showered with Zaku's blood and entrails before she fell backward. She looked up at Naruto's altered form in fear and began to cry thinking that Naruto had been lost to her already.

Dosu was paralyzed in fear as he watched Zaku get torn apart. Before he could react, however, the beast had driven its arm into his chest cavity and gripped his heart before it began to rip upwards, tearing a path through his ribcage and sternum before the chakra arm emerged from his shattered clavicle. Dosu was dead before he hit the ground and Naruto merely grinned before he let organs he had collected in his hand fall to the ground.

Neji had managed to force himself up to his knees when he felt that chakra. He had fallen back on his rear and began to push away slowly when he saw Naruto using some kind of monstrous power to tear one of the sound-nin apart, only for him to turn around and slowly eviscerate the second one as if his bones were a mere nuisance.

Naruto turned his focus onto Neji when he saw movement and narrowed his eyes. It was still moving slowly, and it smelt similar to one of the familiar scents so it must not be a threat. He swung around and growled at a few more foreign scents that converged on his location. Naruto decided they were a threat and was crouching to leap towards them when he heard that familiar voice calling to him and the scent of tears.

Naruto turned to look back at those scents and saw his friends crying and smelling of fear towards him. This awoke Naruto's normal consciousness, and he began to regain control of himself.

Sasuke felt sick when he saw what happened to Naruto. He clenched his fists with pain as tears began to leak from his eyes. Naruto tore those guys apart like an animal. He had never seen Naruto act so viciously, even when using the Kyūbi's chakra against a large amount of bandits that had tried to ambush them on one of their C-ranked missions.

"Naruto-kun, please fight it! Naruto-kun, please come back to us!" Hinata cried out, her tears were flowing down her face, and she was sobbing loudly.

Hinata saw Naruto put his hand to his head and watched as the curse mark receded from him and his natural features returned. Sasuke and Hinata cried out in relief when he looked up, and they saw his blue eyes filled with confusion.

"Hinata-chan! Sasuke! Are you alright? What the hell happened?" Naruto said as he ran up towards them and saw them looking quite beaten and Hinata had blood all over her.

Naruto tried to search his memories for why his teammates were so hysterical when he noticed the mangled corpse of Zaku. Naruto was overcome with a sense of dread when he saw the corpse and somehow knew he was the one responsible. Naruto looked down at his hands and saw they were covered in blood and bits of flesh. He vaguely remembered drawing on power to protect his friends but then nothing. Naruto looked up when he felt Hinata crush him in a bear hug and began sobbing into his chest while Sasuke walked up to him timidly and gripped his shoulder tightly.

He looked back at Zaku's corpse and thought 'Did I do that? I don't remember it at all. Both of them were right next to that guy, I could have killed them both.' Naruto thought with dread.

"I'm so sorry, Sasuke, Hinata-chan. I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me." Naruto said in a whisper.

Sasuke just shook his head too tired to explain what happened. Hinata clung to him tighter while sobbing louder.

Their Naruto was back, for now, and they had all survived.


	27. From Shadows to Darkness

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto.

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

edit 4/21/16

 **Chapter 26**

 **From Shadows to Darkness**

 **Early Morning - Chūnin Exam Day 2 – Training Ground 44 – Konoha**

* * *

Naruto sat in the cave that Sasuke had led them to, trying to gather his thoughts and remember what was going on exactly. Hinata was still clinging to him and sobbing while Sasuke had simply laid out and had fallen asleep. Naruto began to rub his hands down Hinata's back to try and comfort her so she would stop crying. He hated it when he saw her cry; it hurt him to think she was in pain, but he didn't know what to say. What could he say when he didn't have any idea of what happened?

He remembered that they were taking the Chūnin exams but had no memories of how they entered the forest. He knew he had an extra scroll that was part of the objective, but that his scroll was the same as Sasuke's. He remembered that they had to reach the tower with two scrolls, but he didn't remember what the other scroll was or if there was anything else he should remember for this portion of the exam.

He had very vague flashbacks of fighting someone much stronger than him, but he couldn't remember any of the details. It must have been this person who damaged him enough to give him memory loss. If that was true, then who were the guys outside that his clones buried? Did he lose control of himself and manage to kill the guy off after hitting his head? None of it made any damn sense at all.

He could remember training with Kyūbi's chakra and hadn't lost control for a long time, and he never had a large chunk of his memories just missing as far as he could tell. There were random sections of his life just gone and every time he thought he would remember something it would just disappear from his mind.

He knew that the Kyūbi had a name, but he couldn't remember it. He also had no doubt that he trusted the Kyūbi for some reason, but he couldn't remember why.

Then there was the faint whispering he was hearing. It was like he was hearing people talking in another room but he couldn't exactly make out what they were saying. Was he starting to go crazy like Sakura? Was it the Kyūbi? Everything felt wrong in him, but he didn't know what was causing this feeling, or why he felt this way.

Naruto looked towards Team Guy with a questioning look. He could practically smell the fear and mistrust from them. Did they see the whole thing go down? How the hell was he going to explain it to them?

Naruto looked back at his teammates and could tell that they had been through a harrowing ordeal and was glad they were alright, for the most part. He hoped they didn't have to fight him when he was out of control; it would be too much for him to bear if he had been the cause of their wounds.

"Naruto-kun, I was so worried about you. I thought we had lost you for good. Please don't use it anymore. Please, Naruto-kun, promise me you won't use it anymore." Hinata stammered out in between her sobbing.

"What do you mean Hinata-chan? Do you mean my other chakra?" Naruto whispered to her hoping that Team Guy didn't hear him.

"No, Naruto-kun. The mark! Don't use that mark anymore, please." Hinata said before burying her head into his chest again.

"Mark? Hinata-chan what are you talking about?" Naruto asked with confusion.

Hinata lifted her head to explain when Naruto turned his head to see Team Guy approaching them with wary looks on their faces.

"Neji-Nii-san, thank you so much for helping us," Hinata said in between sniffles.

She began to wipe some of her tears with the back of her hand to try and compose herself more and grimaced when she saw the blood splatter. She turned her head to face Neji, Tenten, and Lee but continued to cling to Naruto for reassurance.

"Hinata-sama, are you sure it's safe?" Neji said with a loaded glance towards Naruto, who could only flinch minutely at the silent implication.

"You don't understand, Neji-Nii-san, please sit so we can explain what happened," Hinata said.

Team Guy warily sat down inside the cave and waited while Hinata composed herself.

Hinata told them of the battle with Orochimaru, pieced together from what she remembered and what Sasuke had filled her in on. She also spoke about the mark and what Orochimaru had told Sasuke about it.

Naruto tightened his grip on Hinata at the thought that he could have turned on his team and killed them. The image of that sound guy's corpse appeared in his mind, and he felt sick at the thought that he could have done that to Hinata or Sasuke. He didn't know how he drew on that power instead of using the Kyūbi's chakra, but he was determined not to use it again. The whispers began to grow louder, and they seemed almost angry and disappointed.

"We should proceed to the tower. We still need to find a Heaven scroll too." Tenten prodded wanting to leave.

Tenten was studying Naruto curiously trying to figure out what exactly he could have used to match what Lee had described to her. She had felt the foul chakra as she was leaping back but there was no sign of it now. That the snake Sannin could be controlling him and that frightening power she had felt coming from Naruto made her nervous. Only the fact that Naruto seemed to be genuinely worried and confused himself had prevented her from pushing her team to leave them immediately.

Tenten had flown over 45 feet away and managed to unseal a pair of axes and stab them into a tree as she flew by to stop herself from taking severe damage. She had been lucky that she had flown in between the trees and only hit a few small branches during her flight leaving her with some minor welts and cuts. By the time she returned to the clearing she had only seen the aftermath and was surprised when Lee whispered to her what happened. She didn't think Lee was even capable of whispering at all.

Lee had managed to make his way back into the fight only to witness Naruto tearing Dosu's torso apart. When Naruto turned to face him and Tenten he was stunned by the evil look in Naruto's eyes and how feral he looked with fangs and claws. Lee had never experienced so much malice and hatred radiating from chakra before and had to wonder just how powerful Naruto was and what was the cost for him to wield such power. While challenging him would be exciting, he couldn't help but wonder if it would be safe for a youthful contest between them. Lee decided he would have to talk to Guy-sensei to see if he knew about Naruto's power and if he could still challenge him safely.

Naruto recalled the extra scroll he had and began looking through his seals to find it. After peeking at a few, he found it stored in one of his pocket seals.

"Here, I have an extra one from the first team we attacked in the forest. You guys should take it for helping us with those Oto-nins." Naruto said as he unsealed the Heaven scroll and handed it to them."

"Maybe we should wake Sasuke and head to the tower now. Maybe Hokage-jiji can find someone who can get rid of this mark on my neck." Naruto said before averting his eyes from the others and whispering. "I don't want you guys in danger anymore."

"It's not your fault, Naruto-kun. You couldn't help what happened, and you didn't hurt us. You recognized us and gained control." Hinata said in an encouraging tone.

Neji didn't agree with Hinata, and he would be damned if he let her out of his sight. While he wanted Hinata as far away from Naruto as possible, he couldn't force her to do anything. All he could do was try to encourage her to take his advice when it came to her safety.

"We should all travel together for safety. If we leave now, we shouldn't run into anything too difficult for us to manage." Neji said.

Tenten and Lee nodded in agreement. They had some injuries but nothing too serious. Their team had not run into any trouble while they were traversing the forest and had rested earlier in the evening with a plan to ambush people before sunrise. It was fortunate for Team 7 that Tenten had discovered a stream near their campsite and saw the aftermath of Zaku's attacks. Otherwise, Team Guy might not have investigated the disturbance, and Team 7 would be in a lot of trouble.

Hinata finally released her grip on Naruto and stood up to stretch while Naruto roused Sasuke from his sleep. Hinata unsealed her canteen and a rag to try and reduce the amount of blood on her face and clothing. It would be nearly impossible for her to be completely presentable but it was to be expected, given the circumstances.

"Sasuke, we should head to the tower now and speak with Hokage-jiji. Can you travel or do you need to rest more?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke just shook his head and got to his feet. With a yawn and a stretch he nodded at Naruto and they left the cave. He would force himself to carry on even though he was exhausted. He had to hope that the Hokage could help Naruto in some way and getting Naruto to him sooner was more important then his fatigue.

 **Late Morning - Chūnin Exam Day 2 – Training Ground 44 Central Tower**

* * *

Both teams made short time approaching the tower despite their lack of rest. They ran into no other teams during their approach, and once both scrolls were submitted to the assistant proctor at the entrance to the tower for examination, they were admitted into the tower. Kakashi was waiting for them at the entrance and after instructing Team Guy to remain in the entry hall for their sensei, he quickly lead Naruto and the others towards an office where the Hokage and Anko were waiting.

After a debriefing of their battle in the forest against Orochimaru, the Hokage told Naruto to follow Kakashi to the basement so they could try using a suppression seal on his mark. Hinata and Sasuke had pressed the Hokage to allow them to remain with Naruto, but the Hokage forbade them from entering the sealing room and ordered them to rest in their rooms until early evening at least. The Hokage reassured them that no harm would come to Naruto when applying the seal and that they would be able to visit with Naruto soon.

Now, Naruto sat in a room covered with seals with his shirt off as Kakashi prepared the seal for the Fūja Hōin (Curse Sealing). As Kakashi was drawing the marks, he was explaining the process to Naruto and how it would work to keep the influence to a minimum. It was a shot in the dark as they had never dealt with this kind of seal before, but it worked on Anko's seal, so maybe it would help Naruto.

Naruto sat still and didn't respond as Kakashi was drawing the sealing array on his skin to link it with the larger sealing array on the ground around him. Not because he was ensuring that the marks didn't come out blemished. Instead, he was still because he was currently arguing with the Kyūbi about the seal. This argument bothered Naruto greatly because he could not recall ever having an argument with the Kyūbi to this degree.

The Kyūbi said that he had eliminated the influence of the seal and that it was safe for him to use but when Naruto would bring up the whispers the Kyūbi would simply wave Naruto's concerns off as a temporary side effect due to the changes made to their chakra flow. Naruto got an uneasy feeling, but something told him that he had always trusted the Kyūbi before and that he should listen to him.

It was just hard for him to take the Kyūbi seriously when he was telling him that Kakashi was a liar and that they are only trying to weaken him so they can force him to fail his exam and keep him as a genin to be easily controlled. Sure his memories were really spotty, but he was certain that Kakashi was only trying to help him.

At the same time, some part of him was in agreement because the Hokage had been quite concerned and had been trying to convince him to quit the exams. Naruto didn't want to quit the exams. He knew he was ready to be a Chūnin. He also knew that it was imperative that he gain the rank of Chūnin, but he didn't remember why. Something was driving him towards that goal, and he wouldn't back down from it.

The Hokage walked back into the room and observed Kakashi as he continued drawing the seal.

"Naruto-kun, I had heard you had contact with the Ichibi jinchūriki. Can you tell me anything about him?" The Hokage asked.

"I'm sorry, jiji, but I don't remember very much. I remember that he was very unstable. I also remember that Kyūbi said something was wrong with the Ichibi, and he was trying to fix it, but I can't remember how or why." Naruto said.

"Okay, Naruto-kun, but once this sealing is done, I want you to take it easy. You have enough to deal with and hopefully sealing this mark will help you regain your lost memories and help you with the voices you are hearing." the Hokage said as he gently patted Naruto on the head.

"I will, jiji. I need to be ready for the preliminary rounds in a few days." Naruto replied.

" **You shouldn't let him seal the mark it is just a chakra modification,"** Kyūbi said once more.

 _'I don't think that guy would attack and almost kill my friends just to give me a free chakra modification for the hell of it.'_ Naruto replied snidely.

" **He didn't, but I have modified it so it is safe. It will just throw off your chakra control if they seal it now. Can you afford to have that problem when you are fighting for your life?"** Kyūbi said.

 _'Look. Jiji wouldn't sabotage me like that. I already don't like the fact that I am missing random memories either. I will take a possible chakra control loss to be able to remember things. There are too many things that are blocked to me, and I have a feeling they are crucial.'_ Naruto said.

" **I am working on recovering your memories, so don't worry about that. Instead, you should leave the mark alone and focus on practicing with my new modifications to it so that the changes can be fully integrated into your system. Besides, it will help you use more of my power sooner."** Kyūbi said.

Naruto was now even more suspicious. He didn't remember much, but he did remember that the Kyūbi did not like him to overuse his chakra. He never encouraged it as much as he was now for some reason.

The Kyūbi would usually forbid him from using his chakra for a few days if he lost control in order to center himself. With his missing memories and his confused state, the Kyūbi shouldn't be trying to get him to use the chakra, especially if it was causing physical problems with his hearing and other senses.

 _'This change seems to be nothing but trouble can't you just remove it? Everything was just fine before.'_ Naruto said in a suspicious tone.

" **I am unable to remove the seal, but the increase in power is more than worth the trouble. I don't see why you are so against this? Don't you realize that the Hokage and Kakashi are just using you as a weapon? Even your teammates are just using you for their own ends. If they were really your friends, why did they get so scared when you used your true power? Why wouldn't they trust you to protect them with this power?"** the Kyūbi ranted.

Naruto thought over what the Kyūbi just said. Could it be true that they were just using him? The voices began to get louder, and Naruto began to doubt his teammates and the Hokage. Naruto let out a small sigh of exasperation, he couldn't think straight, and it seemed as if his thoughts were being twisted in some way. Something he thought was wrong suddenly began to seem proper. He knew there was a reason he could trust his friends, but he just couldn't remember damn it.

Naruto didn't notice when Kakashi put his hand on his shoulder before gently pushing him forwards so he could continue lining up the line of kanji on his lower back with the corresponding line on the floor. As Naruto was pushed forwards, he noticed his medallion in his lap.

'How did that get there? Did I accidentally pull it off when I removed my shirt? I should probably seal it away so I don't lose it.' Naruto thought before he picked up the medallion, and sealed it into one of his forearm seals that were empty.

Suddenly, it dawned on him why Kyūbi was behaving so suspiciously. It was so damn obvious he felt stupid. All the voices, all the strange behavior, was because of the stupid mark that Orochimaru put on him to make him some kind of mindless slave.

 _'Fuck off, Orochimaru! You bastard! I'm not going to listen to your bullshit. Get the hell out of my head. I'm not going to listen to your shit anymore, and I definitely won't use this mark for anything.'_ Naruto snarled.

" **So, you figured it out did you? Well, it doesn't matter because I won't let you talk to your precious Kyūbi again. He may have blocked most of your memories to try to stop me from taking control of your mind, but he couldn't block them all."** **Orochimaru said with a laugh.** **"It is only a matter of time before I learn all of your secrets. The Kyūbi can't help you now Naruto-kun. The only person you will hear from is me, and I will break you!"** **Orochimaru's tone went from taunting to malicious.** **"You will submit to me as your master soon. Feel free to resist all you want. In the end, all your efforts will be futile, and I will revel in your despair before you finally succumb!"** Orochimaru said before he began laughing again.

 _'I said shut up, you bastard! I won't listen to you.'_ Naruto said with gritted teeth.

" **Oh, but you can't make me Naruto-kun. I will be here whispering the truth into your ear day and night until you realize that you belong to me now. By the time I am finished, you will happily slay your precious teammates and maybe even your beloved jiji too."** Orochimaru cackled.

Naruto tried to block out Orochimaru's voice, but he couldn't stop that infernal laughing or the whispers that were getting louder. The whispering was driving him crazy, and it just kept getting louder and louder. He couldn't think straight, and he felt like he was drowning.

 _'No. I won't give in, you hear me! I won't give in_ ** _!_** _I promise I won't stop fighting, and I will find a way to get this fucking mark off me you son of a bitch.'_ Naruto mentally screamed trying to overpower the whispering.

Suddenly, he felt a hand slam down over the seal on his neck and a searing sharp pain travel across his body into the mark. Naruto screamed out in pain before gritting his teeth as the sharp pain turned into a burning feeling that traveled through his chakra pathways and into his brain. It seemed like he was burning for an eternity before he succumbed to the pain and fell unconscious. His body began to convulse violently as the seals fought against each other for dominance.

Kakashi caught Naruto as he fell forward and held him loosely until his convulsions stopped a few minutes later. From the amount of pain he appeared to be in during the sealing and the blank look Naruto had on his face before he began, Kakashi could tell that Orochimaru was exerting as much of his willpower on Naruto as possible.

The thought filled him with anger and a feeling of helplessness. The Fūja Hōin never had consistent results when used on the mark it was designed for and without Jiraiya here, they didn't have any other seals at their disposal. Kakashi only hoped that Naruto, at least, got some relief from the suppression seal.

Kakashi looked up at the Hokage, who had concern openly showing on his face. The Hokage merely sighed and motioned Kakashi to take Naruto to his room. The Hokage picked up Naruto's discarded shirt and followed after Kakashi as they made their way towards Team 7's room.

The Hokage opened the door quietly to reveal Hinata and Sasuke already asleep in their beds. Kakashi set Naruto down on his bed and removed his shoes before covering him with the blanket. He looked down at Naruto for a few more moments before he left the room. Instead of heading to the instructor's lounge, Kakashi made his way out of the tower to summon his ninken and conduct a perimeter patrol around the tower.

Hiruzen watched as Kakashi left the room and knew that Kakashi would probably wear himself out guarding the tower now that his team was present. It wouldn't really matter much to someone like Orochimaru. His student had already completed one of his objectives apparently, and if Hiruzen knew Orochimaru, which he did, he would prefer to spend his time diving into Naruto's psyche and bending him to his will until Naruto was molded into a loyal soldier that would feel blessed to do his will.

It had taken Anko so long to get passed that stage with her mark. Even though she openly hated Orochimaru, the mark would still sometimes alter her emotional state causing her to want to return to his side and be a good little apprentice to gain his favor. She would lock herself away in her apartment for a few days to fight off the influence. It would be three long years for Anko before the mark became completely dormant. Her mark was also the prototype of his work and appeared to be a mix between the Curse Seal of Heaven, that Jiraiya was more familiar with, and this new mark that they knew very little about.

Hiruzen watched as Naruto began to toss and turn in his sleep. Orochimaru was probably taunting him again. Hiruzen ran his hand through Naruto's hair, and he settled a little, but it was not enough and Naruto began to toss around once more.

If only he hadn't been so soft on Orochimaru when they caught him with those experiments. If only he had killed the bastard back then.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. It seems I have failed you again. I only hope you can forgive me for what I must do. When it is all over Naruto-kun, I will make it up to you. I just hope it won't be too late by then." Hiruzen muttered before he left the room.

In the depths of Naruto's mindscape, Kurama was furiously combating the tainted chakra on the Gogyō Fūin. He had heard Naruto's promise which made him proud. He could hear everything that Orochimaru was tormenting his kit with and was almost constantly growling at this point. He would make that snake bastard pay when he got this damn seal off.

He would have to reach out to Gyūki and Shukaku when they arrived as well. While he could remove the Gogyō Fūin, he didn't have the experience with combating tainted chakra like Shukaku did and he needed Gyūki to fix whatever had happened to Shukaku that made the tanuki go insane. He would save his kit before he could succumb to the torment and prevent that greedy filth from tainting Naruto and turning him into a mere tool.

 **Morning – Chūnin Exam – Day 7 - Training Ground 44 Central Tower**

* * *

Naruto awoke from another one of Orochimaru's twisted nightmares with a scowl on his face. He had mutilated all of the Rookie 11 with his tainted chakra cloak only to tearfully apologize to his jiji about losing control. Then he would watch himself stab his jiji in the back while he tried to comfort him about killing all his friends. Orochimaru really was a sick bastard. Naruto couldn't believe that someone that twisted could have been a student of the Sandaime.

Naruto went through his morning routine and dressed before sealing a bare minimum of his equipment away. The preliminaries were due to start tomorrow so they might have an opportunity to train one last time today. Naruto, for the first time in his life, didn't really feel up to it, but he knew that Sasuke and Hinata would be more concerned if he just holed himself up in their room as he had been doing the past few days. He would humor them so that they could, at least, get some of their own training done and be focused on their own matches.

His first attempt at training four days ago had been a disaster and with Orochimaru's constant taunting, Naruto was afraid he might lose control or call on the seal in his rage against the snake. He had left Sasuke and Hinata behind without a word and remained in their room avoiding everyone and having an endless internal argument with Orochimaru.

Naruto refused to leave the room the next day but with Hinata's pleading and Sasuke's taunting, they managed to convince Naruto to at least leave the room for his meals instead of eating the rations he had packed.

At least, most of his memories had begun to return to him over the past few days, but there were still key things he couldn't remember, and he had to wonder if Kyūbi was doing it to protect them from Orochimaru. Naruto wasn't sure if he should feel happy or frightened that those memories appeared because it could mean that Kyūbi was erasing the seal somehow, or that Orochimaru was gaining access to more of his memories which really made him worried.

Naruto walked over to the mirror and pulled down his turtleneck to look at the seal in the mirror. It didn't appear to look any different at all. Naruto closed his eyes as Orochimaru began denigrating his teammates again and set his face into his stoic mask. Lately, this mask had a more markedly pronounced frown, and Naruto was always tense and almost snappy at people.

Naruto opened his eyes as Hinata's voice drifted into his mind over Orochimaru's diatribe on how his teammates and the rest of the village deserved to be destroyed and how he could get his revenge on them if he just gave in. Naruto swung his gaze over to Hinata, who was standing near the door looking at him with some concern. Sasuke was also looking at him from the hallway with a small frown on his face.

"Naruto-kun, are you ready to get breakfast?" Hinata repeated.

It had started to become common for them to have to repeat themselves when talking to Naruto if he hadn't been looking directly at them when they spoke. It was hit or miss if Naruto heard them when he had that blank look on his face, and they often had to touch him to gain his attention when he was in his stoic pose with his eyes closed, where before he was always completely aware even when it appeared he wasn't.

"Of course, Hinata-chan. Let's go." Naruto said with a forced smile before he followed after her to the cafeteria in the tower.

"We will have access to the training grounds again for today if you want to do some light training before tomorrow," Sasuke added as he walked next to Naruto.

Sasuke had been watching Naruto like a hawk, and while sometimes it seemed that things were going to be fine, there would be moments where Sasuke could visibly see Naruto being affected. He began to space out more like when he spoke with the Kyūbi, and he was less aware of conversations going on around him.

"Hmm. I think it would be a good idea to try. My chakra control is still shit. I will just have to rely on my fūinjutsu instead if I can't manage to stop these fluctuations." Naruto replied with a frown before he began to space out again.

"Perhaps I can try sealing and unsealing your tenketsus, Naruto-kun. Maybe that will help?" Hinata said hoping to prevent him from drifting further into his mind.

She could tell Naruto hadn't slept well since they arrived at the tower. Sometimes, Hinata would wake up to relieve herself and watch Naruto tossing and turning in his bed while mumbling.

While he said the whispering was no longer so loud since the suppression seal was added, he could still hear Orochimaru speaking to him all the time. The very thought frightened her. That the enemy could be talking to you in your head constantly, it had to be unbearable, and Naruto had been dealing with it for 5 whole days.

Naruto tried to make her feel better by joking that he was used to hearing voices in his head because of the Kyūbi, but the Kyūbi had a much better voice and was less of an asshole. Unfortunately, that thought wasn't reassuring to Hinata because she didn't know the exact extent of Naruto's relationship with the Kyūbi and to her it was like trading one evil for another one.

"As much as that will hurt, I think we might as well try it. Couldn't hurt any more than normal right?" Naruto said.

Team 7 entered the cafeteria and grabbed their food from the buffet style breakfast before sitting down. They were joined shortly after by Team 8 and 10 who discussed how their portion of the second exam went.

Having been warned by the Hokage to keep the interaction between themselves and Orochimaru silent, Hinata just filled them in on their first fight with the Kusa ninjas and the attack by a second Kusa team with a modified version of the assault by the Oto ninjas.

"Man, there are some vicious bastards out there. Kabuto gave us his scroll because he said both of his teammates were killed, and one of the scrolls was destroyed when their bodies were incinerated by a Katon jutsu. He only managed to escape because a Suna team arrived to fight his attackers." Sakura said.

"If he was eliminated, why did he give you his scroll? He could have just left." Shikamaru said. Shikamaru was still trying to piece together what Kabuto's motive could be, he was certain he was a traitor.

"He was incapable of defending himself to reach the entrance and appeared to be quite frightened," Shino replied.

"Yea. He said whoever these guys were, they cut his team and a Suna team down without bothering to even take their scrolls. They apparently used a sophisticated genjutsu with ease and cut 5 of them down in like a minute. Must be some real bad asses. I wonder what village they were from? Kabuto was practically in a panic." Kiba said.

Sasuke and Hinata eyed each other both thinking 'Itachi'.

Naruto was eating mechanically with his stoic look on his face trying his best to tune out Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was going off about how fake and shallow his comrades were and how they were only pretending to tolerate his presence. Orochimaru was in the process of listing all the things Kiba and Sakura had said to him in the Academy. It was not a fun list to revisit for Naruto as it brought back some of the memories of the civilian children who had tried to make his life miserable.

"You guys had it much easier than we did! Just getting a scroll and heading to the tower isn't really fair. We actually had to fight and stuff." Ino said.

"That Taki team wasn't so tough, Ino. We were easily able to knock them out and take their scroll." Choji said.

"It sounds like Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata had the worst of it. Though something really scared Team Guy, they wouldn't talk about their fight at all." Shikamaru said while looking at Naruto.

"You don't know the half of it," Naruto mumbled sarcastically while Orochimaru cackled.

Shikamaru and Choji both knew something was wrong with Naruto but every time they tried to talk to him about it, Hinata and Sasuke would run interference for some reason. Naruto was usually more talkative, and you couldn't help but feel peaceful around him, but now he barely said a word to either of them and was almost cold and snappy, which was unheard of.

Naruto finished eating and just crossed his arms with a frown on his face and his eyes closed while he tried to tune out Orochimaru's play by play on their fight, and how much Naruto sucked according to him.

"Are you alright, Naruto? You seem more distant than usual." Choji asked with concern.

"It's nothing, Choji," Naruto replied shortly.

"Okay, Naruto, but you can talk to us also. We may not be on your team, but we are still your friends right?" Choji asked quietly.

Naruto felt guilty when he heard Choji's question. So he opened his eyes and looked directly at him before he replied.

"Yes, Choji. We are friends, you and Shikamaru were the first real friends that I ever had, and I won't ever forget that. Don't worry about me, okay? I'll be fine." Naruto said in an insistent tone.

Naruto was doing his best to ignore Orochimaru's taunts, but the fact that Orochimaru was right about his friends suspecting him of becoming a traitor wasn't helping his growing unease. If Choji and Shikamaru learned about his mark, they would be acting just like Hinata and Sasuke.

Hinata and Sasuke had been acting nice towards him still, but he could tell they were more guarded than usual. That and the fact that the Hokage and Kakashi had made a big deal of him not telling anyone about how Orochimaru had attacked them made him concerned.

" **Because they know you will be guilty by association with me. Isn't that what happened to you when people found out about the Kyūbi? They all thought you were the demon. Well, now they will all believe that you are a traitor and a demon. What will you do then Naruto-kun? When they all turn their back on you."** Orochimaru said with his sinister chuckle.

Naruto didn't reply, he didn't know what he would do if everyone turned their backs on him. He hated to admit it, but he felt lost without Kyūbi's presence.

" **You know I am right. Will you sit in a prison for the rest of your life? Will you offer yourself up for execution just to make them feel secure?"** Orochimaru taunted.

 _'If that's what they want from me, then so be it. At least, I won't be your fucking pawn.'_ Naruto snapped.

Orochimaru just laughed more. **"Oh you will be, Naruto-kun, and so soon. I can't wait till you bring me Sasuke-kun."**

Naruto openly scowled causing them 8 and 10 to look at each other in a worried manner.

Sasuke just nudged him under the table discreetly, snapping Naruto back into reality as he steeled his features again.

 _'I will never bring him to you. Never_ ** _!_** _'_ Naruto said firmly.

"Naruto-kun, let's go to the training ground and try what I suggested. What do you think?" Hinata interjected before they could start getting bombarded with questions.

Naruto just stiffly nodded before standing up quickly and walking off towards the training ground without waiting for them.

Hinata and Sasuke just exchanged glances again before quickly heading after him.

Team 8 who had some idea due to the events in Nami no Kuni all looked at each other and fidgeted as they recalled that crazy chakra they had felt from Naruto and became concerned. The Hokage had not allowed them to know the secret behind that chakra, and Naruto said he wouldn't reveal the secret unless the Hokage approved.

Choji and Shikamaru both noticed the glances and looked at each other wondering why everyone was so nervous around Naruto while Ino was just confused why everyone seemed so concerned about Naruto in the first place. She could understand Choji and Shikamaru but why was Team 8?

"Okay. What the hell is going on with you guys? Why is everyone so worried about Naruto?" Ino said in frustration.

"Sorry, Ino, but we can't tell you about that. The Hokage said it is an S-Rank secret punishable by execution." Sakura muttered.

Kiba and Shino nodded in confirmation while Team 10 was shocked.

"What the hell does that mean? Why is it such a big deal?" Ino asked.

"It's a secret for a reason, Ino, and you are better off forgetting about it. Trying to pry into something like this will only be troublesome." Shikamaru said.

It was better to deduce what happened instead of visibly trying to figure it out in his opinion.

"Don't give me that Shikamaru! I know you're already trying to figure it out in that head of yours." Ino said with a snort.

"Yes. Because figuring it out in my head won't cause me to get executed like you shouting at people to tell you will." Shikamaru replied.

Ino just crossed her arms and huffed. How else was the gossip queen supposed to get all juicy details?

"Just drop it, for now, guys. I'd rather not get into any trouble. I'm sure Naruto will be okay." Kiba said

Silence fell between the two teams before they decided to go their own way and left the cafeteria.

 **Central Tower Training Ground**

* * *

Naruto was on the ground groaning in pain while Orochimaru was laughing hysterically at him while Hinata struck at him to seal his tenketsu points.

Naruto merely groaned when Hinata asked how he was doing, as she finished sealing the rest of them off.

She watched his chakra blocking up in the pathways with her Byakugan and waited for a sufficient back up before she began unblocking all the points and watching his chakra flow again.

"There is something strange affecting your chakra flow here," Hinata said as she placed her hand over his stomach.

Naruto grabbed her hand quickly and opened his eyes. "It's better if you not mess with that, Hinata-chan."

Hinata just nodded and removed her hand from Naruto's slowly with a slight blush on her face. Naruto just closed his eyes again and tried to concentrate on his chakra flow. While it was a little better after his tenketsu were re-opened, it still was unstable.

Hinata helped Naruto up and watched as he tried to attack the dummy with Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) but the wind wasn't very strong.

Naruto tried Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet) and only a moderate stream of water sprayed out instead of a large geyser.

Hinata and Sasuke were both startled when Naruto growled and dashed forward to start punching the dummy wildly.

They walked up to Naruto and put their hands on his shoulders.

"Calm down, Naruto. What's happening now?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto took a deep breath then released it slowly before replying.

"I'm sorry, It's just that the asshole won't shut up. He said I'm going to die tomorrow because I can't cast a simple jutsu. All I can hear is that asshole in my head, and it's getting harder to ignore it. I haven't heard from Kyūbi either, and I don't know if something is wrong with him too." Naruto said.

"You're worried about the Kyūbi?" Hinata asked softly.

"I know it sounds weird or stupid, but Kyūbi is the only one who has been with me my whole life and has always helped me even if it was for selfish reasons or not," Naruto said with a shake of his head.

Naruto didn't actually believe that Kurama did it for selfish reasons, but he also knew that they would never understand his true relationship with Kurama.

" **Ha! You believe that demon would care about you? Of course, it was for selfish reasons! It's always for selfish reasons."** Orochimaru said with a chuckle.

 _'Shut up, bastard. You don't know anything.'_ Naruto snapped

" **Perhaps, I will just have to dig around and find out from your memories then,"** Orochimaru replied snidely.

Naruto just heaved an exhausted sigh. It was troubling that the bastard could access his memories. Would he be able to hear his thoughts and feelings as well?

"I don't think it's stupid, Naruto. Maybe it's a bit weird but don't worry too much about that bastard snake. If you lose to him, then I'll just keep kicking your ass until you wake up again." Sasuke said with a smirk.

Naruto just chuckled before shaking his head. "Of course, How could I forget. Don't worry, Sasuke. I'm not giving up. Someone will need to kick Danzō's ass for you."

Sasuke snorted before shoving him slightly. "Keep dreaming Naruto! Danzō is mine, you're going to be busy kicking Orochimaru's ass, remember?"

Naruto nodded. "I just have to work harder, that's all."

Naruto summoned 100 supercharged clones and had them review the level 1 chakra control exercises. He then used one of his chakra scrolls to refill himself so he could continue working alongside his clones.

Naruto split the clones into groups of four. 20 on Fūton, 20 on Doton, 20 on Katon, 20 on Suiton, 20 on Raiton.

Naruto then began working on surface clinging first, determined to make his way back up from the bottom if necessary. He wouldn't be able to do water walking since there was no pool of water nearby but he made up for it by practicing leaf sticking while walking up the tree.

Sasuke and Hinata continued on their chakra control also. They had already both mastered the Raiton level 1.

Sasuke had also mastered Katon levels 1 and 2 so he was trying his hand at the Doton exercise since the necessary things he needed to practice Raiton level 2 were not available to him.

Hinata was working on the Katon level 1 by trying to burn the leaf in her hand. Since she had some training with Tsunade in the medic-nin class, it wouldn't take her too long to complete the exercise. Then she could move onto to the rest of the elements. It would also help her improve her medical jutsu even more by fine tuning her chakra control even further.

Naruto found he had no problem with the tree climbing exercise while leaf sticking, so he moved onto the level 1 exercises. After Naruto cut a leaf successfully with Fūton chakra, he moved on to making a hole in the ground and refilling it with Doton chakra before creating the column of dirt. Surprisingly he was able to complete that exercise on his first attempt as well, so he moved onto leaf burning. The leaf burning took a few more tries, but he managed it. Naruto then unsealed his canteen to try and practice his Suiton chakra control.

Naruto poured a little bit of water into the palm of his cupped hand then placed his other hand over it and began to concentrate on his chakra. He imagined his chakra swirling through the small pool in his hand and began to expand it. His hand began to overflow with water signaling successful conversion of normal chakra to water chakra and Naruto started to feel better.

He moved back over towards the training dummy and tried his jutsu again. His jutsu were still not as strong as usual, but they were, at least, effective enough to use in combat now, even if they took more chakra than usual. Naruto felt some of the darkness in him begin to fade, and he started to relax a little for the first time in 4 days. Naruto reassigned all his clones to practice each of the jutsu he knew to hopefully increase their effectiveness by tomorrow. At this point, subterfuge from the other participants was the least of his concerns.

Unknown to Naruto at the time, Kurama had managed to make significant progress quarantining the tainted chakra from the Gogyō Fūin and had created significant gaps in the seal once more. He still couldn't establish contact with Naruto directly, but he was able to battle against the spread of tainted chakra and protect parts of Naruto's mind from the snake. Kurama didn't know how to cleanse the chakra. However, he found that he could effectively quarantine the tainted chakra by surrounding it with his own chakra, then solidifying his chakra to slow the spread of corruption.

Kurama had managed to protect most of Naruto's most vulnerable moments in recent time from Orochimaru's viewing, but he couldn't successfully block out things that occurred in the past.

Kurama had also been able to stop Orochimaru from reading all of Naruto's thoughts. Now, Orochimaru would only get feelings based on the thoughts and would have to improvise his torments accordingly.

In addition to his work on the seal and the tainted chakra, Kurama had made a tentative contact with Shukaku and Gyūki. Gyūki had made some progress in calming down Shukaku so that Kurama could learn more about cleansing the tainted chakra, but Shukaku was still too incoherent to provide a clear response to their questions, only shouting profanities and wanting to kill things one moment then begging for help the next.

Gyūki told him that he had encountered tainted chakra once before and was able to cleanse it by balancing the tainted chakra with pure Yin and Yang that he had broken down manually from pure natural chakra. While maintaining the ratio between them both, eventually the tainted chakra became so diluted that he was able to let the land reabsorb it and convert it back into natural chakra, instead of the land destroying it. It was complicated, and he had to find a dense source of natural chakra to draw from, instead of pulling from the area directly. He also had completed this when he wasn't sealed so he didn't know what effect it would have on Naruto.

With Kurama's current composition being mostly Yang chakra, he would need a concentrated source of natural chakra so he could use Naruto's naturally higher Yin reserves and supplement the difference by converting the natural chakra to fill the missing amount of chakra to maintain a balanced ratio.

He would need to draw more nature chakra and create a mini version of the world's chakra cycle to balance the chakra without causing damage to the kit's body. Kurama believed he could use the mindscape to do this since he was technically in a separate space and control the flow of chakra into Naruto as long as he was calm. He just needed a place where there wasn't as much damage to the chakra cycle so he could draw on the natural chakra without causing more damage. The only places he could think of was the other continent or the summoning lands which have remained untouched by humans for centuries. The cycle in those areas should be less affected.

The other continent was out of the question. They would never allow Naruto to travel there at his word. He knew Naruto's father had received the Toad contract from the Toad Sannin, but his kit had never met the Toad Sannin, and everyone that mentioned him said he always remained out of the village for long stretches of time. Kurama hoped the old monkey goat established contact with the Toad Sannin soon.

If he could get this damn Gogyō Fūin off of Naruto, he could convince Naruto to find the Sannin and try to get his signature on the contract. Then he could force the balance himself by having Naruto, hand over control to him.

It was dangerous, and if he failed to contain the chakra inside the seal properly, Naruto's body might turn to stone. That wasn't even considering the potential effects that exposure to perfectly balanced chakra could cause on the young kit's growth and development. He would have to hope Gyūki fixed what was wrong with Shukaku. Shukaku had always been more knowledgeable about manipulating the properties of chakra itself, especially when it came to mixing two elemental types to form other chakra natures, or cleansing his chakra of trace emotions.

It was why Gyūki and Kurama were so surprised to find him in the state he was in. Shukaku had typically maintained a tight reign over his emotions. Something very terrible must have happened to cause him to lose control to this extent.

Kurama just hoped he took enough pressure off his poor kit so he could perform well tomorrow. If he had contact with him, he would have convinced him to pull out of the exams also. The plan was not more important than his own sanity, but his kit had always been stubborn and determined. He wouldn't have him any other way.


	28. Antithesis of Light and Dark

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** Graphic depictions of violence are present in this chapter.

 **Edit 4/21/16**

 **Chapter 27**

 **Antithesis of Light and Dark**

 **Chūnin Exam Day 8 – Training Ground 44 Central Tower**

* * *

The day of the final exams had finally arrived and the remaining genin who had survived the treacherous Forest of Death were now lined up in the bottom of the arena awaiting their matchups. Their Jōnin sensei were lined up behind the Hokage as they studied their students with pride and concern.

Naruto had been feeling much better and was a little excited despite the snake whispering in his ear. He knew there were an uneven number of contestants, however, and he had a feeling that the Hokage would give him the bye onto the next round. He didn't like that fact, but he could understand where the Hokage was coming from. If he did get the bye, he would just have to show his real strength once he got this seal off of him over the next month.

Orochimaru just laughed at his naivety. The boy wouldn't last the month against his manipulations.

Naruto looked up as the Hokage addressed the assembled genin.

"Congratulations on completing the second exam. You have all managed to overcome the trials of the Forest of Death and have successfully reached the final round of the Chūnin Exams." The Hokage said.

"The final round is in a tournament style format to showcase the individual talent of shinobi from each village and offer a preview of the services,' can provide to those who would request a mission from us. Due to this fact, there will be a significant amount of dignitaries as well as the Daimyō themselves, who will wish to view the semi-final battles. Because of this, we will be holding the preliminary rounds now to reduce the number of contestants for the semi-final and final rounds to save time." The Hokage said.

A Jōnin then appeared with a Shunshin (Body Flicker) on the arena floor. He had a blue bandanna hitai-ate covering his brown hair and wore a standard Jōnin uniform.

"My name is Hayate, and I will be the proctor for the Final exams. The rules are simple you will fight until you are no longer able to continue. At which point, I will call the fight, and all combat maneuvers will stop. While killing your opponent is allowed, it is highly discouraged. Interference from your sensei or teammates will result in your disqualification." Hayate said in between sporadic coughing.

"Please direct your attention to the screen above for the first match. If your name isn't called, please proceed to the viewing balconies on the second floor." Hayate said before looking up at the board.

The board lit up with Kiba Inuzuka of Konoha vs. Akatsuchi of Iwa.

"Will Kiba Inuzuka and Akatsuchi remain on the arena floor please," Hayate called out.

All the Konoha genin wished Kiba luck before leaving the arena floor.

As Naruto watched the fight start his attention was drawn away from the fight by Orochimaru.

" **It is interesting how you consider him a friend after everything he did to you in the Academy. How many times has he turned his back on you before he comes back with a friendly face? Are you even certain he is really your friend?"** Orochimaru said.

 _'Kiba is my friend.'_ Naruto said firmly.

" **Is he really? You do know about how Inuzuka's are affected by the pack mentality. If your memory serves me correct, even the Kyūbi told you about this did he not? All of the sudden Kiba, who was your one time friend, becomes an enemy once he feels you are too weak only to suddenly become friendly when you show him your true strength?"** Orochimaru said with a hiss.

 _'He apologized before that. Even in Nami, he was trying to befriend me before I used Kyūbi's chakra.'_ Naruto growled.

" **Oh? Are you sure he wasn't just feeling sorry for you? After Sasuke had spilled the beans on your poor little upbringing, he might have felt you were simply a kicked puppy. Yet when you use the Kyūbi's chakra, he apologized again? I would say it would seem like Kiba submitted to the Kyūbi out of fear. Not out of friendship to you."** Orochimaru said with a snicker.

 _'What would you know about friendship anyways? You have to try and force people to be loyal to you asshole.'_ Naruto snapped.

 **"B** **ecause like Kiba here, your so called friends will turn their back on you for their own selfish reasons. At least, my method ensures that they would be loyal for life. Just like you will be when I'm done with you."** Orochimaru said before cackling.

 _'Shut up! I won't ever be loyal to you.'_ Naruto said with determination.

" **If you say so, Naruto-kun, but you know that is a lie. You are already mine, Naruto-kun. Just accept it."** Orochimaru retorted.

"Winner! Akatsuchi of Iwa." Hayate called out.

Kiba and Akamaru had put up a good fight but Akatsuchi with his Doton: Rokkudōmu (Rock Dome), and Doton: Doryūsō (Earth Flow Spears), formed a solid defense that Kiba couldn't break through.

Once Akatsuchi had used his Gōremu no Jutsu (Earth Golem). It was over for Kiba who was knocked unconscious. Akamaru could only stand over his master's body whining before the medics arrived to take him away.

"The next match is between Suzumebachi Kamizuru of Iwa vs. Shino Aburame of Konoha," Hayate called out.

Suzumebachi and Shino stared each other down while flaring their killing intent. The rivalry between these two clans was infamous since the Aburame clan had almost wiped out the Kamizuru clan during the Third Shinobi War.

Suzumebachi opened up the fight by using Hachi Bakudan no Jutsu (Bee Bomb) to create a cover for her Meisaigakure no Jutsu (Hiding with Camouflage) and the creation of her beeswax clone.

Shino used Kawarimi to move out of the blast radius with a loose rock left over from Kiba's match. Shino then sent out his swarm towards Suzumebachi's clone to begin draining chakra. As that occurred Suzumebachi's clone tried to evade the bug swarm while sending out her Hachimitsu no Jutsu (Honey Bee) attack on Shino directly.

Once the honey had successful covered Shino and made it hard for him to move, Suzumebachi, thinking that she had this fight finished, called out the Hachi Senbon no Jutsu (Thousand Stingers) attack on him. She watched on with glee as Shino was repeatedly pelted by her bees' stingers until it was revealed that "Shino" was actually an insect clone.

Shino reappeared on the other side of the room where he had henged into a piece of debris and threw a kunai into the back of the beeswax clone causing it to melt.

Suzumebachi tried to send out more bees for another Hachi Senbon no Jutsu, but her bees did not respond.

"Your hive has been disabled by my kikaichū. Surrender now or I will be forced to wreck your hive." Shino called out.

Suzumebachi looked down at the hive she had hidden with camouflage and realized that kikaichū were swarming all over it draining the chakra out of her bees.

She screamed out in rage before she raised her hand and forfeited. How did that bastard even find her hive so soon? She hadn't even used her summons or any other tactics.

"Winner! Shino of Konoha." Hayate called out before looking up at the board.

' _Shino never really treated me badly after he apologized and I couldn't really blame him when he was younger._ ' Naruto said with confidence.

" **His kikaichū simply see you as a resource to be devoured. Do you not make a hefty amount of ryō selling your chakra scrolls to the Aburame?"** Orochimaru said snidely

 _'I don't really care about the ryō in the first place. He is trying to improve his jutsu which relies on the insects. I don't mind helping a friend and he insisted on paying for it since they had nothing to offer me in return.'_ Naruto replied.

" **Is he really your friend though? I mean, think about it. How much time have you spent with him outside of missions or the Academy?"** Orochimaru said knowingly.

Naruto didn't reply as he couldn't dispute the fact that Shino was more of a neutral person than a friend. He had interesting conversations with Shino, and they always hung out during lunch and recess at the Academy, but they never actually met up and hung out like he would with Shikamaru and Choji or his team.

"The next match is between Sasuke Uchiha of Konoha and Kurotsuchi of Iwa," Hayate called out

Hinata and Naruto wished him luck before he headed down to the arena.

Naruto leaned in closer intent on paying attention to his match, but Orochimaru had other plans.

" **Yes. Watch him closely, Naruto-kun. You will need to know how to capture him for me after all."** **Orochimaru cackled.**

Naruto tried to ignore him.

" **He is such an exceptional specimen, is he not? He would absolutely flourish under me because he is just like me."** Orochimaru said with a smirk.

 _'He is nothing like you.'_ Naruto growled as he clenched his fists on the railing.

" **Is that so? Tell me, Naruto-kun, didn't he act as if you were a lesser being to him in the Academy? What was his dream for the future when you first met your team?"** Orochimaru said in a taunting tone.

" **I find it kind of interesting that he didn't even notice your existence until he learned about Root. You remember how he treated you then, don't you? He thought you were a traitor then, just like he thinks you are a traitor now."** Orochimaru said with a laugh.

Naruto was openly scowling at this point while gritting his teeth.

" **His plan all along has been to go after Danzō. He doesn't care about you or anyone else for that matter. That is why he is just like me. He will step over you to complete his goal and toss you aside like trash. Just like Makoto, Taro and Ren did."** Orochimaru cackled as he felt Naruto lose his cool.

The curse mark began to glow as it tried to break through the seal that Kakashi had applied.

Naruto began to shout at Orochimaru. _"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! HE IS NOTHING LIKE THOSE BASTARDS! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! I WON'T BELIEVE IT! YOU FUCKING BASTARD JUST SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH ALREADY!"_

Orochimaru just laughed again **"Such a naive little boy. After everything that has happened to you, still you fall for the simplest things. Believing that he really cares for you in some manner just like your so called friends in the orphanage. You can't deny that he looks at you with wary eyes now, Naruto-kun. You can't deny that one wrong move, and he will be ready to kill you or abandon you."**

Orochimaru sneered at Naruto. **"Sasuke is your 'so called friend.' Hinata is your 'so called friend.' Shikamaru? Choji? They are all your 'so called friends' and just like your other 'so called friends,' they will drop you for something bigger and better in their lives. That is your fate, Naruto-kun. Just like it is your fate to submit to me."**

" _Fuck off! I won't submit to you! Not now. Not ever."_ Naruto said before trying to calm himself.

Naruto felt an arm on his shoulder and practically snarled at Kakashi when he looked at him before he closed his eyes and started to breathe deeply.

"Naruto, are you alright? The mark..." Kakashi started

"I'm all right, sensei. The bastard is just really being mouthy right now, and he pissed me off." Naruto said in a calmer voice.

Hinata put her hand on Naruto's hand and gave it a small squeeze for reassurance. Naruto suddenly realized that he missed Sasuke's fight.

 _'I hope you missed the match too. You son of a bitch.'_ Naruto thought.

Orochimaru started laughing again. Sensing Naruto being spiteful of all things was exhilarating.

Orochimaru liked nothing more than corrupting the so-called incorruptible. Everyone fell for his machinations. Everyone was corrupted and vile with a mask of purity. Especially all the hypocrites in Konoha. It was incredible that Naruto had resisted him for this long when he could feel his seething hatred for the villagers buried underneath his noble facade.

"Congratulations on your win, Sasuke," Naruto murmured feeling a little guilty that he had not paid attention.

"Don't worry about it. It was boring how easy it was for me to kick her ass. You would have just fallen asleep anyways." Sasuke said in a bored tone.

Naruto merely hummed to confirm that he heard Sasuke while looking up at the board.

"The next match is between Shikamaru Nara of Konoha and Omoi of Kumo," Hayate said.

"You better win, lazy ass! No slacking off or I'll tell your mother." Ino called out.

Shikamaru scowled at Ino before heading down to the arena.

Shikamaru stood across from Omoi in a nonchalant pose waiting for Hayate to start the match.

As soon as the match began Omoi began charging at Shikamaru swinging his long katana with precision and grace while Shikamaru ran around dodging and evading without precision or grace.

Some attacks he would deflect with a kunai but mostly he would trip and roll under a horizontal slash or fall sideways to avoid a vertical or angled slash before getting up and running away again.

Most of the people watching were sweat dropping at the display while Team 10 was face palming in embarrassment.

Naruto, who had managed to disregard Orochimaru's comments for the moment, noticed that Shikamaru was dragging Omoi towards some of the rubble that was piled in the corner from a previous match. He was also certain Shikamaru wasn't actually that bad at taijutsu and was using his clumsiness to throw off his opponent.

Finally, it seemed like Shikamaru had enough, and he began to throw a few volley of shuriken at Omoi, forcing him to block the projectiles. Shikamaru didn't let up on his attacks as he strafed and kept throwing shuriken so that Omoi could only block and pivot to face Shikamaru's next volley.

Shikamaru threw a few more shuriken followed by a kunai before beginning his Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession). Using the shadows of the kunai and shuriken still in flight, he was able to speed up his Kagemane and catch Omoi before he could jump away.

Now it was B, Samui, and Karui's turn to facepalm in embarrassment.

Shikamaru muttered "Troublesome" before pulling out an explosive tag from a pouch that Omoi did not have and threw it some distance away from Omoi so it wouldn't cause permanent damage but the concussion would knock him out.

"Winner! Shikamaru Nara of Konoha."

All the genin congratulated Shikamaru on his win even if most were shaking their head at his antics. Shikamaru just nodded in recognition before returning to his spot next to Choji and looking up at the board with a bored expression on his face.

"The next match will be between Tenten of Konoha and Sabaku no Kankuro of Suna," Hayate announced.

YOSH! TENTEN! IGNITE YOUR FIERY PASSION WITH THE FLAMES OF YOUTH! Guy and Lee shouted.

Tenten went down to the arena red-faced with embarrassment.

Kankuro smirked at the stupid tree huggers. There was no way he would lose to this girl with that kind of sensei.

Once the fight started Tenten immediately pulled out two storage scrolls and used her Sōgu: Baku Ryūsei (Binding Meteor) to tangle Kankuro and the object on his back with a heavy weighted chain preventing him from evading. Then she jumped high into the air and began raining down projectiles on Kankuro.

Kankuro smirked from his hidden position as he saw mostly shuriken and kunai, Crow would be more then able to take those without nothing more than minor scratches, if that.

Tenten had noticed that none of the blades had been sticking to her target at all and frowned. 'Is he using some kind of armor? No, that wouldn't be possible as I hit areas that couldn't be armored at all. It has to be some sort of decoy or armor jutsu' Tenten thought.

Tenten decided since bladed weapons didn't work she would try blunt ones instead. Tenten pulled out a scroll from her pouch and unsealed an enormous Otsuchi (War Mace) that was almost a large as she was. The otsuchi had a large rectangular head with small metal wedges evenly spaced on the sides and face of the otsuchi. The otsuchi was designed to break through reinforced wood and most metals when enhanced with chakra. If there were any armor on her opponent, this would take care of it.

The rest of the genin raised an eyebrow when they saw the size of that weapon in comparison to the small little scroll she had pulled the weapon out of.

Tenten shocked everyone when she dashed in towards Kankuro quite quickly and swung her otsuchi at a downward angle before Kankuro could recover from the shock and evade the attack. The heavy mace practically crushed "Kankuro" into the ground to reveal a shattered puppet remaining inside the crater the war mace had created.

Kankuro swore as he had to replace himself with his Black Ant puppet he had set down at the side of the arena. His Crow decoy had been too heavily damaged by that massive mace, and he wasn't eager to find out what would happen to him if she brought that damn thing down on him while he was in a nice little bundle for her.

Kankuro sent Black Ant after Tenten trying to stab her with the arm blades and launching poison senbon from the various launchers in Black Ants' arms and legs.

Tenten had to drop the mace immediately to avoid being cut or stabbed since it was not effective at blocking attacks. If she tried to attack with it, even with her skill, she would be wide open for a counter. The otsuchi was only useful for that first surprise attack, or when you had support to cover you while you were overextended from your swing.

Tenten managed to Kawarimi with one of her earlier shuriken and unseal her chigiriki (staff like mace with a ball and chain) and twirled the chain around to deflect the projectiles before performing a complicated dance of twirling to repeatedly smash the heavy metal ball into Black Ant from different angles.

Like the otsuchi, the chigiriki was a specialized staff made of hollowed wood or metal with a chain that fits inside the handle and extended beyond the staff with a heavy metal spiked ball or cube. The chain could fit entirely inside the staff allowing the user to surprise the opponent by suddenly extending the chain mid-flight and increasing their reach.

Kankuro sent Black Ant in to close the gap and render the length of Tenten's chigiriki useless, but he was caught off guard when Tenten swung the chigiriki, and the heavy spiked ball nearly smashed into his face. If Kankuro had not halted in Black Ant's advance to evade, he would have taken that ball directly to his temple.

Tenten managed to swing the chain around and thrust Black Ant further out of range from her using the lower edge of the chigiriki, before continuing the momentum of the ball and chain and driving the spiked ball back down towards Kankuro again.

Kankuro was forced back up even further when the ball and chain came crashing down towards his head again He quickly countered by using Black Ant to send more poisoned senbon towards Tenten.

Tenten rapidly pulled back on the length of chain and began spinning the chain rapidly to reflect the senbon while dashing to the side to evade the rest.

Kankuro took the opportunity to send Black Ant in and stab the chain into the ground with one of the arm blades in the hopes that he would render that weapon useless and be able to put Tenten back on the defensive. Unfortunately, for Kankuro, Tenten was already prepared for this as it was a common problem with chigiriki. Since chigiriki were so obscure, however, people were unfamiliar with the nuances and Tenten's passion for all things labeled as weapons would serve her well.

As soon as Black Ant stabbed one of his detachable blades into the chain, Tenten triggered the numerous explosive tags stored inside of the ball, and the spiked ball exploded sending multiple heated shards of metal throughout Black Ant's housing and joints causing a significant amount of damage.

Kankuro cursed when he used his chakra strings to analyze the damage. He could continue, but this bitch would probably manage to destroy Black Ant, and he already would be hard pressed to ensure Crow was functional for the invasion. Kankuro decided he had to forfeit before Black Ant took too much damage and he would end up weaponless for the invasion.

Kankuro raised his hand and stated he was unable to continue the battle.

"Winner! Tenten of Konoha." Hayate called out.

Naruto was about to look up at the board to see who was next when his vision suddenly went black.

" **Well, well. Look what I found! Naruto-kun, let's have some fun with some of the memories of your life, shall we?"** Orochimaru said in a sickening tone.

Naruto shuddered and tried to move, but he was paralyzed as he felt a rushing sensation overtake his consciousness.

Naruto just slipped out of the hidden hole in the storage shed and was running into the woods to escape the bad feeling. There were so many people there to kill him, and he had to run away and hide from them all.

His breath was heavy because he was tired but he ran on like there were wolves at his heels because that feeling was chasing after him. He couldn't stop, or they would get him, they would hurt him, they would kill him.

He ran further and further into the woods heading towards the safety of the Lake and their fort. He had felt safe there with his only friends. Naruto had stolen extra cookies, and they had all met up at the fort to eat them all. He would get punished for it later, but he had felt it was worth it.

" **Even back then people were already using you. You feel that same feeling with your friends now that you did back then and look what they did to you."** Orochimaru's voice echoed through the vision, but Naruto couldn't respond. He could only re-enact this horrid vision at Orochimaru's command.

He began to near the lake. It would be safe there, that bad feeling was behind him now, and he would see his friends in the fort and everything would be okay again.

He heard voices. Could his friends be there already? He entered the clearing with a smile ready to feel the good feeling with his friends again only for reality to crush his fleeting hope once again.

" **Hmmm. It seems that happens to you quite often, does it not? How fate rewards you for your kind and caring nature. This is the truth of the Will of Fire it only leaves you open for the pain, but we will get to that later."** Orochimaru said

The men all spotted him, and suddenly that bad feeling came back, and it was stronger than before. They were shouting at him, cursing his existence, cursing his birth. The began to kick, to punch, to throw, to choke. They slammed him against the trees, against a rock, against knees and elbows.

Then the kunai entered his chest, and Naruto could feel it as if were in slow motion. The kunai parting his flesh and digging deeper, spreading the muscles and cracking through the sternum until it dug into his heart.

To everyone else, Naruto looked like he was simply staring down at the arena, but in his mind, he was staring up at faces that watched with vicious grins as his life began to fade. He was gasping for a breath he couldn't catch and wide-eyed at the sensation of his heart muscles seizing around the embedded kunai. Tears ran down his face while his blood flowed out of his heart and out of his chest.

He saw the village happily celebrating and enjoying the festivities while he lay bleeding out in the woods, even people he didn't know yet were dancing and singing as if they were glad he was dying.

 **"Look at everyone enjoying themselves happily while you lay suffering. A poor innocent boy was beaten and mangled by the vile filth of this village. Why do you bother? Even the Kyūbi has questioned your loyalty to this village. They all despise you and celebrate the very day all your suffering began with a big festival and party."** **Orochimaru said with disgust,** **"Tell me, Naruto-kun, what kind of birthday parties have you had?"**

Naruto jolted back into reality when he felt Hinata squeeze his hand again. He looked over at her and managed to shake the vision off quickly. He didn't hear everything she said, but he did hear her say "her turn" and he wished her luck. Seeing her look of concern, he forced himself to smile which she returned. Normally, that was enough to cheer him up, but right now all he could feel was the desolation he had felt as he lay dying in that vision.

He thought back to most of his birthdays and realized that he didn't even care to remember his birth date while he was in the orphanage, and once he was out of the orphanage he never actually celebrated his birthday at all. He would receive gifts from his jiji and sometimes Shizune and the Anbu, but most of the time he was holed up in his apartment alone because of the Kyūbi festival. It had never bothered Naruto before, but as he looked back and remembered some other birthday parties he attended, suddenly, it began to bother him.

Naruto then looked back down at the arena and tried to calm himself, but his vision went black again.

Naruto was getting dressed in his winter gear, and he was excited to meet his friends again. After that horrible night, things had started to look up in his life. He had Hokage-jiji and Shizune-nee, Neko-chan, Karasu, Shikamaru, Choji and most importantly Makoto-chan, Taro, and Ren. His true friends from the orphanage.

While Neko-chan and Karasu were always with him, for the most part, he knew they were guarding him on orders from Hokage-jiji, since they wanted him to be safe. Saru had been and always was distant with him, so Naruto treated him with the same indifference.

He also knew that Shizune-nee was told to look after him by Hokage-jiji, as well, but she was kind to him. He didn't sense the negative emotions from them, but there was always deceptions about something that they didn't want to tell him.

Even Hokage-jiji was hiding things from him. He didn't know what, but Kyūbi had said that sometimes it was necessary.

" **That is right. Lies, deceptions, manipulations, they are all necessary. That is why it is folly to act like a pure and noble being, Naruto-kun. Everyone is corrupted. Even you, as much as you try to hide it. You kept the Kyūbi secret from everyone and yet they didn't seem too disturbed by it. As long as you used your power for their goals, that is."** Orochimaru cut in.

 **" **Did you know that my sensei knew I was conducting experiments on people? Some of it, he even condoned. One in particular that he trusts almost implicitly. You are familiar with Saru are you not? Do you know why he was assigned as your guard? It's because my experiments gave him the ability to use the Mokuton. Abilities that are known for bijū suppression, even though he was aware that 64 of the 65 live test subjects that I experimented on all died. They were not much older than you were when the attack occurred, but yet my sensei let me flee anyways. Instead of capturing me or killing me, he let me escape. That old man that you think of so fondly has quite the blood on his hands, Naruto-kun. Even you have seen that his kind nature is a facade."**** Orochimaru chuckled before continuing.

" **I mean it is quite the coincidence, is it not Naruto-kun, that a Mokuton user was watching over you? Or what about your dear Karasu? You know from the Kyūbi about how the Sharingan was able to control him as a weapon for Madara, do you not? Is it a coincidence that the strongest Sharingan user of the Uchiha clan was also sent to watch over you? Or were they sent to watch you instead? To make sure that they could contain you if necessary. Or maybe they wanted to be able to control you, hmm?"**

The things Orochimaru said to him were starting to make him question things. Was it the mark or was there truth to what Orochimaru had said? Some of it was true, in a sense, but was it for the reasons that he said? In a lot of ways, Naruto could believe that the Hokage would have Saru and Karasu there to watch him since they were so concerned about the Kyūbi manipulating him. Could it really be that he was just more concerned about maintaining control of the Kyūbi?

Before Naruto could think about it more, the vision continued on, and Naruto had to watch on shakily as he knew what was coming next. The devastating pain he felt when his friends had betrayed him.

He felt the negative emotions emanating from them and how he hadn't been able to protect himself beforehand because he still wanted to believe that he had friends. He needed to believe that someone wanted him because of who he was. He had needed to follow them so that he could chase that wonderful feeling he had when he was with people who cared for him. So very few people cared for him, and almost everyone hated him.

He watched as they turned their backs on him and Makoto-chan tried to convince him to join Root with them to "just do what they say" she said.

The confusion of his first feeling of betrayal swarmed over him again. The tangled mess of anger and pain, of sadness and hate, how he wanted to rage and to cry.

How hard it was to hear them call his name in a panic as if they truly wanted him because of who he was and how he just walked away and never saw them again. How desolate he felt as he walked home and curled up on the couch to cry himself to sleep.

He noted the calendar that Shizune-nee had shown him to make sure he kept his appointments and how he had happily written his friends in for the days that he met them at the park. For the rest of the month that calendar would stab him like that kunai did, seeing their names listed on those days. Yet, even after all the pain and hate, he couldn't find it in himself to cross them out.

 **"** **Yes. It is quite interesting how sensei only began to spend more time with you than your so called friends once Root took an interest in you. I wonder if he was more concerned about Root using you against him, then he was actually worried about you? He kept your heritage from you, your inheritance, what else is he keeping from you, I wonder."** Orochimaru mused

Naruto was dropped back into reality after that memory and took a deep breath again to try and keep the emotions off his face. His head was starting to swim from all those dredged up memories and how they all seemed to look different now that he looked back on them.

Hinata was watching him with a distressed look. He had this blank look on his face when she returned from her fight and didn't even react when she put her hand over his again or called out his name. His hand actually felt cold and clammy, and he was trembling slightly. She was going to say something to him when suddenly he took a deep breath and seemed to be struggling to keep tears out of his eyes.

Sasuke and Kakashi had noticed the look on Naruto's face as well and were watching him warily. He seemed to be completely unaware of his surroundings, and they wondered what kind of things Orochimaru was doing to him.

Kakashi had sent a subtle signal to the Hokage, who made sure Naruto would pull the bye for the next round. It was underhanded, but they needed to get Naruto through this part quickly and trying to force him out would probably make the situation worse. Instead of drawing either Sakura or Ino as a potential opponent, they would fight each other and hopefully, realize how much work they actually needed before they could be considered true kunoichi.

Kakashi could only hope that the word they had received about Jiraiya was true and that he could be there to help Naruto tomorrow. Orochimaru appeared to be pulling out all the stops on him, but Kakashi couldn't help but feel proud that Naruto had essentially endured 6 days of continuous psychological torture before showing any signs of breaking.

Hinata squeezed Naruto's hand tighter as she watched that blank look enter his eyes again and it was almost like she could feel Naruto get farther away.

Now, Naruto was at his graduation day and was being approached by Mizuki about the scroll of sealing. He remembered wondering why Mizuki had the scroll in the first place and taking it to his apartment.

He recalled how torn he was over learning some of the things in the scroll and eventually how he was so worried that his jiji was going to kill him for taking the scroll and learning the Kage Bunshin.

He remembered the temptation to look further in the scroll, how it tickled his mind before he clamped it down ruthlessly. He felt his nervousness and sweaty hands as he leaped across the rooftops towards the Hokage tower. Thinking about what was going to happen to him for having this scroll full of forbidden techniques.

He had graduated that very day, and now he was involved with a traitor. That never ending doubt reared it's head in him again. That jiji didn't trust him, that the one man that had shown care for him didn't trust him and that maybe, he didn't really see him as a human at all. Just like the rest of the village.

That voice was a tiny whisper that he always attacked ruthlessly by reciting the things that his jiji had given him or done for him, but it was still there in the shadows always lurking, always waiting to strike out when there was a sliver of doubt.

"He's not really your Jichan, and he won't ever be! That's why you don't even call him that because even you know he isn't." the voice said or maybe that was Orochimaru this time, Naruto couldn't tell the difference anymore.

He handed over the scroll to his jiji and nervously explained what happened and what he did with the scroll, how he was sorry for reading the scroll and that he used the scroll to learn the Kage Bunshin. Yet Jiji wasn't surprised that he had a forbidden scroll that should have been secured. He seemed to be angry that he had it. As he began to explain what he had done with the scroll, jiji became concerned.

Naruto could tell he was worried. It was in his voice. It was the same voice that he heard from his jiji when they learned that the Kyūbi had taken an interest in him. That concern now was from what Naruto had learned from the scroll itself.

" **I also find it puzzling that the Hokage wasn't surprised that you had a scroll that was still thought to be secured but was angry instead. It was like he would expect you to steal a forbidden scroll of techniques. Why would he believe that you would be involved in a traitorous plot like that instead of shocked or surprised? It is because he never trusted you and he won't ever trust you. You have proven him right, in that case, have you not? Who can trust you after what you have done? Now you see why I create my minions like I am doing with you. It's so much easier to trust when they have been broken as you are."** Orochimaru said with malicious glee. He could feel Naruto's resolve slipping more and more.

 **" **My thoughts were only validated when he became oh, so, scared, when you told him you learned a jutsu didn't he? Did you know that some of Tsunade's medical jutsu are in that scroll as well? Yet your "jiji" automatically assumed you would pick the most dangerous or devastating jutsu from the scroll instead. It is not possible to him in his mind that you might want to learn the**** ** **Sōzō Saisei (Mitotic Regeneration)**** **."** Orochimaru added in a sympathetic tone.

" **Plus, there is your desire to stay loyal to this forsaken village. All the people who have shown you care have betrayed you in some manner. Let's look at the one teacher who didn't show any disdain for you. He tried to set you up for treason. I remember when I assigned that task to Mizuki. I had told him to choose a Jōnin or Anbu to frame for the theft, but he chose you instead. You will be cursed to always be betrayed by those around you. Naruto-kun, how long can you take that pain before you give?"** Orochimaru said.

Thinking he had finally got Naruto right where he wanted, Orochimaru remained silent to let his clever little show drive Naruto down the path he wanted. He licked his lips in anticipation. Soon he would have Naruto and Sasuke. He would be unstoppable!

Orochimaru didn't realize that he had made a mistake when he mentioned Mizuki at the end because it had reminded Naruto of something Orochimaru had taken great pains to keep out of his mind as he replayed these memories. Kurama.

Naruto remembered right away that he had suspected Mizuki but as part of his greed test, Kurama had blocked the negative emotions from Mizuki himself that year. Kurama had always performed this kind of test on him and they were always to make Naruto grow as an individual. If Kurama had not blocked Mizuki's emotions, Naruto would have never learned the Kage Bunshin, which pretty much defined him as a shinobi.

The one who helped him survive the pain of his attack, the pain of loneliness, the pain of betrayal. Kurama was always with him then and even now when he couldn't see him or speak to him he knew Kurama was still there.

Kurama taught him Fūinjutsu. The other recognizable skill that people who didn't even like him had to respect him for. Kurama taught him about sensing emotions and about how chakra worked in ways that no one else even knew.

His shape and nature manipulation of chakra, his healing, his senses were all because of Kurama, who saw him for who he was. Kurama, who didn't need Naruto for anything, and constantly reminded him of it. He was the one who helped and guided him through most of his life even inadvertently. Kurama could just sit and wait or could have simply chosen not to support him and let him die so he could reform. He didn't really need him for anything, but he _chose_ to help him. _Chose_ to trust him. Kurama the greatest birthday gift he could have ever received.

It wasn't just Kurama either, who showed him the good in being a good person regardless of your situation.

Jiji, who had given him that awesome fūinjutsu kit, who spent his spare time with him. The first person to introduce him to the caring touch of a grandfather when he ruffled his hair. The first person to actually fear for his safety. His jiji, who gave him his Gama-chan and while some people think nothing of a little kiddie wallet like that, to Naruto, it mattered because it had that feeling that told him that it belonged to him. That he belonged in the world and wasn't something to be simply ignored or eliminated.

Just like that orange coat which made people look at him. Even if it was just to laugh at him and he could care less because that bright orange coat brought a smile to his face anyways. That coat was the first step towards him spurning what other people thought about him. The step he needed to take most, to survive in a hostile village.

Just like the necklace he was wearing that he couldn't really remember getting but would never get rid of.

With those thoughts, Naruto was able to push out of his memories back to reality, but he had a grim expression on his face. Naruto faintly heard a scream of outrage and frustration but paid no attention to it.

He was disappointed in himself for letting Orochimaru exploit that childish fear and naivety that still clung to him. How had he let that fucking snake manipulate him so effectively? That he had been blinded by the good things that happened in those events that Orochimaru showed him.

The attack had been traumatic and terrible, but it set his life on the path it was now and led the way to a bond that people could only wish for. A bond that was only going to grow stronger.

The betrayal that had set him straight in his life and gave him a purpose. To establish his identity and forge ahead into life with determination. To stop paralyzing himself by caring about everyone's opinions too much. The betrayal that solidified his bond and woke him from his dark solitude.

The set up that backfired miserably on a stupid traitor and gave Naruto the tool he needed to become strong enough to accomplish what he needed. He was also given the greatest gift and the greatest advice he had received from anyone because of that event.

He finally realized what he needed to remember most of all. It didn't matter if you had a bad life. It only mattered what you made of it, and he would be damned to let that snake determine what he did with his. Now, he needed to remain focused and serious since Orochimaru was most likely regrouping to prepare his next attempt at breaking him.

If he was strong enough to earn the respect of the greatest of all bijū. He was strong enough to resist this fucking snake and make Kurama proud.

Naruto came out of his thoughts when he heard Hinata speak to him.

"Naruto-kun, are you okay? You weren't responding to anyone for awhile." Hinata asked.

He noticed that Hinata still had her hand over his and that she was looking at him with concern. He looked around in confusion for a bit and saw everyone had begun to leave the arena and that the semi-final brackets had already been established. How much time had he lost caught up in those memories by Orochimaru?

Sasuke and Kakashi had also moved closer to him while he was on that little trip down memory lane.

"Everything is just fine now Hinata-chan. I just came to a realization is all." Naruto said with a genuine smile.

Naruto could tell they were unsettled by what he said when they didn't respond and were looking at him warily. He was caught off guard by this and stopped smiling as he studied their faces. Naruto thought about what he said and realized that what he said combined with the fact that he never really genuinely smiled in public could be misconstrued as a massive change in behavior. He didn't want them to worry about him even more but telling them the truth was probably better than having them assume he had just become Orochimaru's pawn.

"I'm sorry that I was spacing out on you guys more than usual, but I couldn't do anything but relive all the memories the snake wanted me to see," Naruto said apologetically.

"What do you mean by reliving?" Kakashi asked.

"My vision went black and then it was like I was a little kid again during the orphanage attack, but everything was more detailed. I could see, hear, and feel everything with much more clarity and there were subtle changes that made me start questioning if those changes were things I forgot or were created by Orochimaru. He tried to use all that to turn me against the village, but he failed to realize that I had let all of that go along time ago. I realized that none of what he was saying or showing me really mattered." Naruto said.

"I'm glad you feel better, Naruto-kun. I hope things are better now that you remembered that." Hinata said.

"Well, the Hokage has someone who is due to arrive tomorrow to help you with your situation Naruto so be at the Hokage tower after 10 am," Kakashi said.

"Okay, Kakashi-sensei. I will be there." Naruto said with a brief nod.

"You also drew Samui of Kumo for your match in the semifinals. She's very effective with her tantō so be prepared for heavy stabbing with a light chance of lightning." Kakashi said trying to lighten the mood by changing the subject.

Naruto just nodded.

"Shall we go eat? Do you want to go to Ichiraku's? Hinata said in a cheery tone trying help.

Sasuke and Kakashi were looking at him to see how he would respond.

Naruto didn't feel like going out but decided to humor them. All he really wanted was to go home and hopefully sleep without any nightmares.

"I don't feel like it right now, but I wouldn't mind yakiniku or sushi right now," Naruto said with a shrug.

"Yakiniku-Q it is!" Hinata said. She could tell he was only humoring them if he turned down Ichiraku's but, at least, Yakiniku-Q also had a pretty good sushi bar to order from so it worked if Naruto decided he wanted sushi instead.

Sasuke and Kakashi merely nodded and followed Hinata out of the tower to head back into town.


	29. Cleansing Chakra

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

Edited: 4/21/16

 **Chapter 28**

 **Cleansing Chakra**

 **Next Day – Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Naruto woke up and stretched happily. For the first time since he was marked, he managed to get a good night's rest.

He headed into his bathroom to go through his morning routine before taking a long shower to enjoy the hot water running over him.

He had managed to have a little fun last night, even with Orochimaru's constant comments. Naruto bought the same bottle of sake that Kakashi had given to them for their first drink and managed to have a lovely evening of dinner and relaxation. It seemed being drunk either quieted the snake or Naruto had just become more oblivious to him because of the sake.

As the blond got dressed, he wondered why the effects of sake never lasted as long as it did for the others. Perhaps it was his stamina or the healing factor he received from Kurama. Something to find out when he was reunited with Kurama once more.

Naruto left his apartment for the Hokage Tower hoping that this person he was going to meet would be able to help him.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Jiraiya sat across from his sensei waiting for the arrival of the latest victim in Orochimaru's twisted games. Ever since he had lost his apprentice and his family on the night of the Kyūbi attack, he had put all his focus on finding his former teammate and making him pay for all his schemes.

The bastard always managed to get away while taunting him about being a dead last and a failure. There was nothing worse to Jiraiya then when that jackass would rub his skills in his face. Sure he was a bit goofy in his youth, and he was an unabashed pervert by his own admission but he worked hard, and he grew skilled.

Minato was proof that Jiraiya wasn't a failure. Minato was powerful, smart, charming and Jiraiya truly believed that Minato would have surpassed even the legends like Tobirama, Hashirama, and even Madara.

For a time, Jiraiya had been content enough in his life where he didn't feel the wanderlust that usually struck him. When Minato had succeeded his sensei as Hokage and began to start his family with Kushina, Jiraiya had almost felt complete. The vivacious pair had always made him feel like he was a part of their family and Jiraiya couldn't wait to spoil their little brat and teach him all kinds of things.

Then he got a solid lead on Orochimaru and had to leave the village right before Kushina was due to give birth, he had been reluctant to leave, but his contact had been adamant that he knew where Orochimaru was located so Jiraiya left to pursue the lead.

He ended up flushing out a base full of Orochimaru's experiments before battling his former teammate directly. Then Orochimaru ran away like a bitch, just like he always did, but not before taunting Jiraiya about Konoha burning at the hands of the Kyūbi.

Jiraiya had rushed back to the village only to see the village cleaning up from, by all appearances, a major disaster. Since it was still early in the morning, he quickly tried to find Minato at home and saw that their usual home was destroyed. Next, he tried the second house, but it was completely empty. This began to worry Jiraiya because Kushina should have been home with a baby in her arms if Tsunade was right on her due date.

Jiraiya then went to the Hokage Tower only to feel the bottom drop out of his world when he saw his sensei behind the desk with a solemn look on his face. Seeing the old Sarutobi enrobed in his old robes with the Hokage hat resting on the desk in front of him was all the confirmation he needed. He knew then that Minato was dead.

His sensei had filled him in on how the Kyūbi somehow escaped, appeared directly in the village and began rampaging through the village without warning. The civilian casualties were high, and the shinobi forces had been hit hard as well.

Minato and Kushina were able to subdue the Kyūbi but were both impaled through their chest and abdomen in a last ditch effort by the Kyūbi as he tried to escape. Minato still managed to complete the Shiki Fūjin (Reaper Death Seal) to seal the Kyūbi into an orphan child before succumbing to his wounds. The child was then hidden away from everyone for safety.

Jiraiya had become distraught and for a few weeks simply mourned after his lost surrogate family. He had then decided to amp up his spy network, even more, to find this masked man that Minato mentioned with his dying breath, and to find Orochimaru since he apparently knew about the event as well. The bastard probably was involved somehow.

That had been the beginning of his constant 3-year journeys out of the village with a few days of checking back in before he went out for another 3 years. Not even Tsunade would have been able to keep Jiraiya in the village.

Now, his old teammate had marked the jinchūriki, apparently, and was gunning for the Uchiha survivor as well. Jiraiya knew that Orochimaru had his hands deep into this upcoming invasion along with Danzō.

Hopefully, Orochimaru didn't do something foolish with the jinchūriki to cause the Kyūbi to escape again. He would have his hands full trying to stop it and either he or sensei would have to die to seal it away again.

Jiraiya was an intuitive person, he always had been, and he could tell that his sensei was hiding something from him. He just couldn't figure out what exactly. It was as if his sensei knew something really big was about to occur and was almost anticipating his reaction to it. As Jiraiya was running the possibilities through his head, the door swung open without a knock and Jiraiya couldn't breathe.

There standing in the doorway was Minato. It was like Minato had come back to life as a genin but he had whisker marks on his face and a more serious expression. The mini-Minato merely bowed to him briefly before walking up towards his sensei.

"Morning, jiji! Is he the man I was supposed to meet today?" the boy asked with a glance towards him.

"Yes, Naruto-kun, this is him. How are you doing today?" Hiruzen asked with a concerned tone.

Jiraiya was frozen when he hear the boy's name. Naruto. The boy who was to be his godson. It couldn't be possible. His sensei wouldn't have lied to him about something like this, would he?

"It's not so bad right now, jiji, but he still likes to make me relive my memories at random, so I'm sorry if I space out on you," Naruto grumbled.

"Is he okay, jiji? He hasn't moved or said anything." Naruto said as he looked over towards Jiraiya with his head tilted to the side and a curious expression on his face.

Hiruzen merely chuckled. "Naruto-kun, I want you to meet Jiraiya of the Sannin. He was your father's shishō (master) and like the others, he was not aware of your survival."

Naruto merely hummed for a minute as he studied the shell-shocked Toad Sannin.

He was sitting in a chair, but Naruto could tell that he was a very tall and large framed man who was probably pretty bulky in general. He had long white hair in a shaggy ponytail and large shoulder-length bangs that framed his face. There were red marks that ran from beneath his eyes to his jawline, reminding Naruto of a much narrower version of Kiba's own clan marks. The Sannin wore a flat green gi top over a kusari (chain mail) shirt and kusari forearm guards with matching gi pants and kusari shin guards. He wore a red sleeveless haori over everything and red geta sandals. He also had an enormous scroll propped up next to him.

Naruto gave him a few moments to recover before he approached. "Hello, Jiraiya-sama. I am Naruto Uzumaki and yes I am the Yondaime's son, but I didn't know that myself for some time." Naruto said.

Naruto cast a sly glance over at Hiruzen "Jiji, seems to like his secrets." he said in a conspiratorial whisper that was far too loud to be considered discreet.

Hiruzen merely sighed while he waited for Jiraiya to recover from his shock.

Jiraiya looked over at Hiruzen with a hurt look on his face "Is it really true sensei? Is he really Minato's son?" he said in almost a whisper.

"Yes, Jiraiya. It is true. I had to keep him a secret from everyone after the Kyūbi attack. Iwa was actively probing our defenses, Danzō was practically drooling over him, and the clan heads were all angling for him for various different reasons. It would have only been worse if they realized he was Minato's son." Hiruzen said with a sad shake of his head.

"Minato wished for me to keep him safe no matter what so I felt it would be best if he were hidden away as someone that wouldn't be seen as a high-value target or weapon. I had hoped to give him a normal childhood, but that was all ruined by Danzō." Hiruzen said wistfully.

"Why didn't you tell me sensei. You know better than anyone I can keep a secret." Jiraiya said as he shot out of his chair.

"Because you and I both know you would have taken a more active role in his life, and it would have been too obvious, Jiraiya. I regret that I didn't tell you sooner, and it was a mistake that I already apologized to Naruto-kun for as well. Even now this is a risk, but I couldn't ignore the greater threat to Naruto-kun, and that is Orochimaru's Curse Seal of Earth on him and how it may affect the seal on the Kyūbi." Hiruzen said.

"Fine! But this isn't over sensei. You are right, though, the seal is the greater danger at the moment." Jiraiya said as he looked down at Naruto.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. It was just such a shock to see you when I thought I had lost you so long ago." Jiraiya said with a look somewhere between longing and guilt. "You look so much like your father I thought you were him for a moment. I am very glad to meet you now, though, and I'm happy that you, at least, got to take your mother's name." Jiraiya said as he knelt before Naruto and placed his hands on his shoulders to study him closely.

"You should have seen the look on jiji's face when I chose it from the registrar. It was the Kyūbi's idea to mess with him by choosing that name." Naruto said with a snicker.

Hiruzen merely harrumphed at that comment. He should have known that it was too much of a coincidence.

"Is that so? So you are already in communication with the Kyūbi eh? How is that going for you?" Jiraiya asked nonchalantly but inwardly he was unsettled by the implications.

"I was in communication with him until that snake bastard put the mark on me," Naruto said with a growl. "The real Kyūbi is grumpy and hates almost everyone but isn't mean to me and helps me with fūinjutsu and chakra control. Kyūbi always says I amuse him with my choices and that he rather be entertained than to break free only to have to reform or be sealed again." Naruto said.

"So you can't hear the Kyūbi now because of the mark?" Jiraiya asked as he processed the other information. If the Kyūbi wasn't hostile, then he could probably teach Naruto to harness its power like Killer B.

"Yea. Orochimaru tried to act like Kyūbi, but he was acting suspicious and deceitful which I never sensed from Kyūbi, so I knew it was something else. It wasn't until Sasuke and Hinata told me what happened after the fight that I learned what actually happened. It was like a chunk of my memories were just gone until Kakashi-sensei used that suppression seal on me. After he had applied that seal, I started to get all my memories back slowly." Naruto explained.

"Alright let me get a look at the mark first then we will examine your seal to make sure nothing bad has happened to it," Jiraiya said.

Naruto nodded and pulled down his turtleneck to show Jiraiya the mark itself.

"Hmm, so it is definitely an improved version of his Curse Seal of Earth. Unfortunately, there is nothing that I know of that can remove the mark itself. I can put a stronger sealing method on it than what is currently here so Orochimaru can't run amok inside your head anymore but it won't block his voice out." Jiraiya said.

Naruto just nodded morosely. He had hoped Jiraiya could remove it, but a stronger seal was better than nothing he supposed.

Orochimaru was laughing and running through a list of insults about Jiraiya. Listing off all his failures during their time as a team under the Hokage, and how Tsunade consistently shut him down because he was a loser.

"Now, let's look at your Hakke no Fūin Shiki and make sure that is still intact," Jiraiya said.

Naruto nodded and lifted up his shirt before channeling chakra to his stomach.

"Well, that is... interesting. Do you remember being struck in your stomach at all Naruto?" Jiraiya asked.

"No. I don't really remember anything from the fight with Orochimaru and before that I wasn't really struck there directly by anyone." Naruto responded.

"Have you been having problems channeling your chakra or using it efficiently?" Jiraiya asked.

He had to be certain since this seal was directly over the Kyūbi's seal but it appeared to be a Gogyō Fūin (Five Elements Seal) or a really sloppy Shidaigenso Fūin (Four Elements Seal). The Gogyō Fūin would serve to block chakra flow while the Shidaigenso Fūin would attempt to contain the chakra flow within the seal which wouldn't be very effective but was a possible counter to the Kyūbi's influence. Jiraiya suspected it was the Gogyō Fūin since overlapping an even prong seal with an odd one would be the easiest way to block the Kyūbi, and Orochimaru was not very good at fūinjutsu.

"Yea. Ever since the Forest of Death phase of the exams my chakra control has been shot and very inconsistent. Almost like it is fluctuating instead of flowing. I had to redo a lot of my chakra control exercises just to use a jutsu that would be effective." Naruto said

"I think I know what caused that," Jiraiya said with a frown. "If I'm correct in my assumption it is what has cut you off from the Kyūbi as well. I can fix it, but it looks like the Kyūbi has also been working on it." Jiraiya said.

Both Orochimaru and Kurama heard what Jiraiya said and began to prepare themselves for an internal battle.

Orochimaru knew that as soon as Jiraiya removed that seal, the Kyūbi was going to come after him with a vengeance to try and contain him and torture him until the seal could be eliminated. He also knew that a lot of the areas he was blocked from by the Kyūbi would also be removed by the Gogyō Kaiin (Five Elements Unseal) since all the seals the Kyūbi had put in place were below five point arrays.

He had to dig into Naruto's psyche deeply as soon as that seal was removed. He figured he could hide away in Naruto's subconscious mind where the Kyūbi was blocked from by the Hakke no Fūin Shiki. Then he could continue to torment and break Naruto down freely.

Kurama was well aware that when the seal was removed, most of his defenses against snake bastard's influence would be removed as well. He would have to do something he never wanted to do and seize control of Naruto so he could lock his mind away behind the Hakke no Fūin Shiki where the filthy snake bastard couldn't reach him.

Kurama almost licked his chops in anticipation. If the snake did try to pursue Naruto beyond that seal, he would be at his mercy. He really hoped the stupid snake would try it.

"Sensei, you're going to need a good security seal to contain the chakra cause I have no doubt the Kyūbi's chakra will burst forth. It looks like it has been putting a lot of effort into breaking the block over the seal." Jiraiya said.

"Naruto-kun, why don't you put one of your special seals for now," Hiruzen said.

"Okay. Jiji!" Naruto said before he pulled out a seal tag from his hip pouch and placed it on the ground before activating it.

Jiraiya was impressed with the brief look he managed to take. That seal array looked pretty complicated, and there were a few elements that looked almost foreign to him, which was a surprise. He looked forward to seeing what the kid was capable of.

"Alright, Naruto. This is going to hurt badly just so you know." Jiraiya said as he began channeling the seals to his fingertips.

Naruto just nodded and pulled his shirt back up before bracing himself.

Jiraiya slammed his fingertips over the seal and called out "Gogyō Kaiin!"

Naruto felt a searing pain flash through his body and for a moment felt his bond with Kurama again with Kurama yelling at him to hand him control quickly. Before he could say anything, he felt a searing pain shoot through his head.

Naruto cried out in pain while clutching his head and collapsing to his knees before he reached for that bond he felt with Kurama and let himself fall into it like he was entering his mindscape.

To Jiraiya and Hiruzen, Naruto just appeared to cry out and collapse before passing out for a moment. Then a massive surge of the Kyūbi's chakra erupted from Naruto's prone form before retracting just as quickly.

Jiraiya and Hiruzen ran over to Naruto and rolled him onto his back to check on him. Naruto slowly opened his eyes, but Jiraiya and Hiruzen stumbled back as they saw his eyes were red with slit pupils.

"Naruto" shook his head slightly before sitting up and looking around. When he spotted Hiruzen and Jiraiya leaning over his face, he narrowed his eyes and snarled to make them back off.

"Kyūbi! What have you done? Release Naruto-kun now." Hiruzen said sternly.

 **"** **Listen to me you worthless mortals and listen well. If you wish to spare the kit the torment from that filthy snake, then you will need to find the key to the** ** **Hakke no Fūin Shiki****. **Once the key is found you must take the kit to Myōbokuzan (Mount Myōboku) and inscribe the key on the kit so that I can then gain access to the pure natural chakra there to remove this filthy curse mark."** Kyūbi-Naruto said.

"Why should I trust you with the key? Why would we need to go to Myōbokuzan?" Jiraiya replied.

 **"** **The curse mark uses tainted natural chakra, too tainted to be cleansed with a normal amount of chakra. I need access to the pure chakra of the summoning realms. I need the key so that I can release enough of the seal to make sure that I control the process of absorbing the natural chakra while keeping the kit safe."** Kyūbi-Naruto said before glaring at Jiraiya. **"You are a sage and a so-called seal master. How could you not figure this out, fool? I am certain you are aware of the dangers of what you refer to as sage mode on a young kit's body."** Kyūbi-Naruto snapped.

"How do we know that you won't just free yourself once we give him the key?" Hiruzen said.

 **"** **Silence! I have no desire to placate your foolish fears any longer. Shall I just release control and let the snake take full control of the kit? I will have no qualms about forcing my way out and laying waste to this village if that happens."** Kyūbi-Naruto snarled out before bearing his teeth at them.

"Wait! Don't do that! Let's not be hasty now." Jiraiya interjected while Hiruzen scowled at him.

"You just want the mark removed right? How about I keep the key and open what you need then reseal it up after everything is successful. Surely that is reasonable right?" Jiraiya said in a coercive tone.

Kyūbi-Naruto snorted. **"That is acceptable, but do not dispute me on how much the seal must be opened. Also, you must agree not to completely cut me off from the kit once you close the seal back up, or the consequences to the kit will be dire."**

"Alright, then. We have a deal, but I will need Naruto to be aware of signing the contract and performing his first successful summon before the toads will allow him to go to Myōbokuzan." Jiraiya warned.

Kyūbi-Naruto seemed to ponder this for a moment. **"The kit is aware of what needs to be done, but I will only be able to provide a small window without that snake causing debilitating pain to try and stop it. We will need to proceed to an area sufficient for one of these toads to inhabit unless you wish to cause collateral damage to this place."**

Jiraiya looked over at Hiruzen.

"If there won't be any flaring of your chakra you can use a regular training ground. If you do have to use your chakra, then we should proceed to the special training ground instead." Hiruzen said warily.

 **"** **The special training ground would be best. I will need to shelter the kit in my chakra to keep him safe from the snake during that time before I return him to the seal for protection."** Kyūbi-Naruto announced.

"Grab onto me and I will Shunshin us directly to the entrance to avoid any unwanted eyes," Hiruzen said.

Kyūbi-Naruto and Jiraiya put their hands on his shoulders before Hiruzen transferred them all to the tunnel entrance inside the Sarutobi compound.

 **Chakra Cave Training Ground – Outskirts of Konoha**

* * *

Kyūbi-Naruto stood in front of Jiraiya and listened as Jiraiya showed him the hand seals for summoning the toads. Jiraiya then summoned Gama and had him extend the scroll to be signed.

 **"** **The kit is ready. I will return control to him briefly and have him sign the scroll quickly. If the toads confirm him as a summoner at that point, I will return him to the seal and retain control until the mark is removed."** Kyūbi-Naruto explained.

"I hope he doesn't summon Bunta. He can be a real pain in the ass if he wants." Jiraiya mumbled.

There was a brief flash of Kyūbi's chakra before Naruto suddenly jolted forwards and bit his thumb. Naruto signed the contract quickly and then quickly ran through the signs calling out Kuchiyose no Jutsu as he slammed his hand down on the ground.

Because Naruto had not actively channeled his chakra since the Gogyō Fūin had been removed he naturally overcompensated resulting in overpowering the summoning technique and calling forth Gamabunta, much to Jiraiya's chagrin.

" **Oi! Jiraiya! Why the hell are you summoning me inside this cave! Are you trying to crush me or something?"** Gamabunta roared out.

Gamabunta was as flush as possible with the ground leaving only a small amount of clearance with the ceiling. Luckily for Naruto and Gamabunta, most of the stalactites in the designated area had already been knocked loose by previous jutsu training. Now, only a dozen much larger stalactites remained that were pressing in on Gamabunta's massive girth adding to his annoyance.

"It wasn't me that summoned you Gamabunta. Your new summoner in on your head there." Jiraiya said with his hands held up. The last thing he wanted was to blow even more ryō gaining Bunta's forgiveness.

Gamabunta rolled his eyes up to Naruto, who was prone on Gamabunta's head to avoid being squashed.

Naruto crawled down onto his nose so Gamabunta could see him easier before replying.

"I apologize for summoning you in this cave Gamabunta-sama, but it was my first attempt, and I was uncertain of how much chakra I should put in," Naruto said with a bow.

" **Hmmm, you look familiar to me, squirt. Who are you anyways."** Gamabunta said.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki son of Minato Namikaze," Naruto said while still bowing. He could feel Kurama stirring and knew his time was growing short.

" **Hmph. Well, at least, your more respectful then that brat Jiraiya. I will accept you as a summoner, for now, but you better prove yourself worthy before you dare sit on my head again boy."** Gamabunta said in warning.

"I understand, Gamabunta-sama," Naruto said before jumping onto a stalactite and sliding down towards the ground. Gamabunta returned to Myōbokuzan grumbling about being summoned in the most stupid places.

By the time Naruto touched the ground, Kurama was in control again.

"Damn. He didn't give you any trouble at all, lucky brat. I know I would have caught a lot more trouble from him for summoning him here." Jiraiya said.

 **"** **Tch. That's because the kit knows how to show the proper respect to those that are beyond him."** Kyūbi-Naruto replied.

"Yes, well. I suppose we should get this show on the road then." Jiraiya said with an awkward chuckle. "Just hop onto Gama here and we will be in Myōbokuzan shortly. However, I will have to talk with Ma and Pa about this process since they are the keepers of Myōbokuzan and will likely want to meet with Naruto."

Kyūbi-Naruto growled. **"I care not for such pleasantries, but the kit can not remain in this state for long as the snake is finding ways to attack him without traversing the seal. We have limited time, mortal. Keep that in mind."**

That was an outright lie, but Kurama didn't want to reveal the intricacies of chakra to these mortals, and he was eager to remove all the filth from his kit so that he could make sure his pure soul was still intact. Already he had sensed some lingering darkness inside of the kit's mind and hoped it wasn't permanent. He knew it was a risk, but he would purge the kit's whole chakra system once the individual taint was cleared and then try to regulate any strange effects to his growth or maturation process.

"Right. Gama, take us back to Ma and Pa if you please." Jiraiya said.

Soon Naruto, Jiraiya, and Gama disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Hiruzen returned to his office feeling helpless and concerned. All his hopes lie with the Kyūbi, and that fact was what disturbed him the most.

 **Myōbokuzan – Unknown Land**

* * *

Kyūbi-Naruto and Jiraiya arrived in a cloud of smoke to see two small toads standing in front of them.

Kyūbi-Naruto narrowed his eyes at them as he reached out with his senses. He didn't sense any hostility, so far, but he knew that most bijū weren't on good terms with the summoning creatures.

The summoning creatures were descendants of real animals that had been exposed to a raw burst of concentrated natural chakra during the early formation of the bijū, and these creatures had developed the ability to evolve at a rapid pace. Within three or four generations these creatures obtained pseudo-immortality and, eventually, intelligence that comes to all beings with unnaturally long lives and accelerated healing.

The various races made contact with different tribes of nomadic humans and either formed a symbiotic partnership with humanity or were worshiped as spirits of nature by other humans. However, all of the summoning races had small populations during those years and not long after they had established themselves within the world, the formation of human villages and widespread war began.

The summoning creatures feared their fledgling races would die out, so they left the humans behind and bringing some of their unevolved kin with them, found untouched lands with high amounts of natural chakra to bolster their numbers and guarantee the survival of their race.

The summoning creatures dispersed along species and claimed these various areas, but would maintain different ways of interacting with the humans that had been essential in their survival by forming contracts that were actual space-time jutsu in disguise.

The humans could call on them when they needed aid, but the home of the summoning creatures would remain safely hidden from everyone who wasn't an ally or loyal to those races. The blood used to summon was, in essence, a key to unlock the jutsu that the summoning creatures made, and any of the creatures could choose to answer that call if they desired.

Due to this, they were highly attuned to natural chakra itself and had wrongly believed that bijū were unnatural manifestations of chakra that were upsetting the balance of the world. Since it took multiple generations of summoned creatures to gain intelligence, they weren't aware that their creation was merely a side effect of bijū manifestation.

He wouldn't tell them that because nobody took the news that their existence was merely a result of an accident too well.

"Hey Ma, Pa I'd like to introduce you to Naruto here, but we have a situation that needs to be explained first," Jiraiya said.

"Well, Jiraiya-chan, what kind of situation are we talking about here?" Fukasaku (Pa) asked.

"Orochimaru marked Naruto here with a cursed seal. We have a way to remove the seal. However, it requires pure natural chakra to balance out the tainted natural chakra that is put into the curse seal." Jiraiya explained.

"Jiraiya-chan, are you suggesting that Naruto-chan learns sage mode already?" Pa asked.

"Not exactly, Pa, you see the Kyūbi offered to do it for Naruto since he is aware of the dangers of sage mode on a young boy's body," Jiraiya said sheepishly.

"Are you saying Naruto-chan is the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi?" Shima (Ma) asked in a scandalized tone.

"That's right, Ma. Naruto here was Minato's son and has the Kyūbi sealed within him." Jiraiya replied.

"So that explains why he is emanating two different and very foul auras right now, the poor boy," Shima said.

"Well, Jiraiya-chan, he seems a little too young for sage mode which would be needed to be established first, before you can direct that chakra into the tainted chakra. The Kyūbi won't be able to direct the chakra in a manner while there is any seal present," Fukasaku said with a frown.

"I know, Pa. That's why I'm going to take the key from Gerotora and loosen the seal so that the Kyūbi can create the balance himself without affecting Naruto's body." Jiraiya said.

Fukasaku and Shima looked at Kyūbi-Naruto for a moment while they discussed the situation among themselves quietly.

"Normally we wouldn't agree to this, Jiraiya-chan, but the boy is truly in a dangerous position. All we would require is to siphon some of the tainted chakra as evidence to use against Orochimaru. The Snakes may not be the most honorable of races, but they also do not approve of corrupting natural chakra. If we obtain this, we may convince the snakes to abandon Orochimaru as a summoner." Fukasaku said.

"That would be great, Pa. How do we go about doing that? Will it cause any problems for Naruto?" Jiraiya said with a devious grin.

If Orochimaru lost the ability to summon the snakes, then he would lose a great deal of his current jutsu arsenal. Plus, Jiraiya would really love to rub it in Orochimaru's face. He loved it when he first revealed sage mode to Orochimaru and watched how pissed off that bastard got that he had surpassed him.

Before Fukasaku could reply Kyūbi-Naruto interjected **"It will not be an issue. When I begin the process, I will be able to isolate the tainted chakra before purging it from the kit. You can collect the sample from the seal directly on his neck since I will be isolating all of that filth there."**

Fukasaku and Shima looked a bit shaken at his deep and gravelly voice.

"Sorry. Ma, Pa, I should have warned you, but the Kyūbi is keeping Naruto behind the seal at the moment because Orochimaru had begun to attack his mind viciously or we risked losing him otherwise." Jiraiya said abashedly.

"It's alright, Jiraiya-chan. Why don't you two head over to the toad oil pool while I prepare us some snacks." Shima said.

Jiraiya looked a little ill "Ah, You don't have to go through all that trouble on our account, Ma."

He knew what toads liked to eat and tried to avoid it at all costs.

"Nonsense. I'm sure Naruto-chan here will be hungry after all this." Shima said over her shoulder.

Kyūbi-Naruto merely shrugged and followed Fukasaku as he walked in a different direction.

Jiraiya felt sorry for Naruto as he followed after them. He wondered what it would be like to see yourself eating something like that and not being able to stop it.

As they walked to the pool, Fukasaku became curious. "How exactly is this supposed to work on removing the seal?"

 **" **To truly understand, you will have to know that the filthy snake used tainted natural chakra infused with small portion of his own spiritual essence for his curse mark. The tainted chakra is stored in the seal, and the body absorbs it and converts it into contaminated Yin and Yang chakra which travels through the chakra pathways and tenketsu spreading throughout the body and further corrupting more chakra. This allows the seal to keep a reserve of the tainted natural chakra to power itself. The snake managed to infuse this reserve of tainted chakra with his spiritual essence so he can attack the kit physically and mentally since the portion of his spirit can now travel through pathways that are tainted. Finally, there is a link mark within the curse seal that allows him to be connected with the target's spirit so he can influence and control them."**** Kyūbi-Naruto explained.

"So he can control the essence to attack any part of the victims spirit to mess with emotions or physical body such as the mind itself," Jiraiya added.

" **Correct. If I weren't holding the kit behind the** **Hakke no Fūin Shiki** **right** **now, he would be experiencing assaults on both his mental and spiritual being. The tainted chakra simply adds to the effect tempting the boy to give into negative emotions."** Kyūbi-Naruto added.

" **With that understanding, you can see that the basis for the mark's existence relies on the tainted chakra to continue cycling through the body. The snake tempts them to use this chakra which will then draw in ambient natural chakra and taint it as well so the seal constantly remains powered even if the victim continuously draws on that reserve. Plus, it gives a fake sage mode strength and speed boost to the host when they succumb to the foul snake's will."** Kyūbi-Naruto continued.

"That's why we have never been able to remove the curse marks, because most seal arrays are incapable of discerning a particular type of chakra, and the users succumb because of Orochimaru's will and the lure of the false sage mode," Jiraiya said in realization.

"How will we be able to balance out the natural chakra within Naruto-chan's body without the harmful effects of Sage mode occurring?" Fukasaku asked.

" **Simple. My chakra and the kit's chakra are intertwined, and I am a chakra being. I will run the balance of chakra through my own yang base, using the kit's yin base. I will draw the natural chakra into the seal's space and create the balance needed within the mindscape so the kit's physical body is not affected. Once the balance has been achieved, I will draw it through my own body and inject it into the seal continuously. The kit will still be exposed to the natural chakra when I pull it in briefly, and when I use it to flush the seal on his neck. I will regulate this so that the harmful effects are negated but there will still be some impact on his development and may manifest some changes in any kits he has."** Kyūbi-Naruto explained.

"Will Naruto-chan have enough Yin chakra to complete the balance?" Fukasaku asked.

"He probably has more than enough because of the Uzumaki bloodline. That's why Minato chose to seal the Yang portion inside of him instead of the Yin so that it could fuse with his naturally higher Yin chakra and balance out." Jiraiya said in awe.

" **The kit has very high Yin reserves, but it will depend on the balance of Yin vs. Yang present in the tainted chakra's makeup to be certain. Nothing that snake created will overcome my reserves, but I will be able to convert the necessary chakra needed if there is any discrepancy."** Kyūbi-Naruto said.

"I will call Gerotora here to give the key to the seal," Jiraiya said hurriedly.

'Hopefully, if this is some ploy of the Kyūbi, I can use the chakra restraining seal I have and close the seal up tight before he pulls whatever he wants.' Jiraiya thought.

Soon a black and orange toad arrived and gave the key scroll to Jiraiya after a small argument. Gerotora was highly suspicious of the Kyūbi because the Kyūbi had killed some of the summoning toads in the past and Geratora half expected him to start rampaging their homeland. After some reassurance from Fukasaku, Geratora finally conceded.

Kyūbi-Naruto then outlined the full plan once the mark was ready to break.

He would establish the balance, and once the tainted chakra within Naruto's system had been cleansed, the suppression seal would need to be removed.

Fukasaku would then siphon the tainted chakra from the mark itself to use as evidence against Orochimaru.

Next, he would flush out the remaining tainted chakra from the seal causing it to weaken.

Finally, Jiraiya would use the Gogyō Kaiin to remove the rest of the curse mark removing Orochimaru's link to Naruto.

Kurama didn't explain the full process to Fukasaku or Jiraiya because he didn't trust them completely to give them intricate knowledge over the benefits of perfectly balanced chakra. While it was true that pure natural chakra could be detrimental to immature bodies, perfectly balanced chakra was not. If the balance were harmful, then humans would die from using sage mode.

If anyone learned the truth about the benefits of using perfectly balanced chakra in the way that the bijū were capable of, humans would begin introducing it into their young to increase their strength and chakra capacity. The summoning clans would use more natural chakra to create this balance and evolve more of their undeveloped kin to increase their population. Right now, the fear of the dangers and possible mutations, however mythical they maybe, that come from introducing natural chakra to an underdeveloped body serve as an effective deterrent. The bijū always continued to perpetuate that myth to all intelligent creatures whenever possible, to ensure the secret remained safe.

His part in this was more complicated, but he would also gain more from this task by being able to cleanse the kit's system with highly dense perfectly balanced chakra. Not only will this process increase the kit's power down the line, but their bond would also become stronger than the seal would typically allow. This would only help them grow strong enough to complete the plan successfully.

First, Kurama would draw Naruto's Yin chakra reserves into his own Yang chakra reserves and determine the discrepancy between the two, before drawing and converting natural chakra to make up the difference, once that balance had been established he would pull out the quarantined chakra and balance the chakra levels again.

Next, he would draw in an equal balance of natural chakra and adjust the ratio between the three as the natural chakra begins to establish equilibrium with the yin and yang components.

Slowly, Kurama would start converting some of the natural chakra into Yin or Yang, depending on which aspect contained more tainted chakra, to begin diluting the tainted chakra.

At this stage, the natural chakra will automatically seek to re-establish equilibrium by converting the excess chakra back into natural chakra which would result in the diluted chakra becoming purified or destroyed by the natural chakra's own process of maintaining balance.

Once the mark and all the tainted had been removed, he would recreate pure, perfectly balanced chakra. This chakra was a denser form of sage chakra that only the bijū can create. Next, he would cycle this unique chakra through the kit's pathways, muscles, and organs before flaring it through his body just for good measure. This would not have been possible if he had not fooled that stupid toad sage into opening the seal as much as he wanted.

It was a good thing that that toads were also ignorant of the true strength behind perfectly balance chakra combined with bijū chakra. They would likely try to kill the kit if they knew just what kind of power the kit could gain when he flooded his system with this chakra.

The balanced chakra would remain in his container's system strengthening his entire body and allowing that deeper connection to remain even if Jiraiya closed the seal at tight as possible. This would help make the kit strong enough to complete the plan and survive what was to come in the future. As his container matured, the body would take advantage of the latent chakra in his system to enhance his growth, and Kurama would have an influence on the kit's development. When the time came for them to create a full bond, their connection to each other would be stronger than anyone thought possible and an essential part of the plan would be completed.

Jiraiya had successfully prepared the key for the seal and had it activated. "Okay, Kyūbi, are you ready?"

" **Hmph. Just open the seal, slowly. I'll tell you when to stop."** Kyūbi-Naruto said.

Jiraiya applied chakra to the key and placed it over Naruto's shirtless stomach before slowly turning it to the right. Kyūbi signaled him to stop once he had rotated his hand from facing up till it was facing sideways.

 **Naruto's Mindscape**

* * *

Kurama had to contain himself as he felt his bonds loosen almost entirely. That tantalizing hint of possible freedom was always highly tempting, but his kit was relying on him, and he would rely on his kit to see the plan through.

Kurama slowly trickled out his chakra to merge even more with Naruto.

Naruto, who was sitting in the mindscape next to Kurama in the cage, saw the pipelines begin to grow larger, the red and blue pipes began to sink into each other to the point where the pipes looked like a figure eight shape. He looked up and saw Kurama with a look of concentration on his face so he didn't say anything.

Wind that he didn't manifest began to swirl around them, and Naruto looked around in confusion. He turned his gaze outside of the cage to look at Orochimaru, who was standing in the hallway, with a vast distance between him and the cage, with a scowl on his face. It looked like he tried to say something but Naruto couldn't hear and didn't care. He was tired of hearing that bastard for a week straight.

" **Kit, I need you jump up here and sit in the middle of my forehead like you are going to meditate,"** Kurama said.

Naruto nodded and using chakra and a few jumps he managed to climb up Kurama's massive frame and situate himself on the center of Kurama's head between his brows.

" **Now, I want you to relax completely. You will feel a drain on your energy, and you will start to feel tired, but you must not fall asleep. No matter what happens, do not get distracted when you feel the connection start until I tell you to stop. Do you understand?"** Kurama said.

"I understand, Kurama. I'm ready." Naruto said.

Naruto began to feel that warm, comfortable feeling he always felt around Kurama grow stronger. His body relaxed further, and he began to feel himself want to slip away, but he kept himself awake.

As the feeling began to grow stronger, it began to change, and it felt like something was pulling at his consciousness. Naruto resisted it at first because it felt like following that pull would make him fall asleep. The pull became even stronger, and something inside him told him to accept the pull so Naruto tentatively relaxed his guard and allowed it to pull him along.

Naruto began to feel as if he was sinking into a hot spring. It didn't take long until felt completely submerged like he was underwater, and his first instinct was to thrash to the surface for air, but he squashed it down and just embraced the feeling as he floated in that heat, completely relaxed.

That wonderful feeling was so overwhelming he felt all external senses began to drift away, but he mentally shook himself and reached back out reconnecting with them. He felt that he was safe as long as he kept that connection to his senses active.

For a moment, Naruto just absorbed what he was feeling and felt safe and secure, but then he felt like his connection wasn't strong enough. He hadn't let it slip at all but instead it felt like it had expanded in some way. For a moment, Naruto was uncertain about what he should do but prodding his connection to his senses led him to expand them as far as possible, and he would be glad that he did.

Once his connection was strained to the max, he felt the calm and peace around become more prevalent, and that warm, comfortable feeling grew even stronger. Suddenly, instead of floating in hot spring water, Naruto felt he was in the center of a typhoon with currents of warm air and chakra swirling around him. Directly in the center, where he was hovering, everything was completely silent and still.

Naruto became aware of two consistent pulses of energy within him and, at first, they had their own separate rhythms but eventually they became one synchronized pulse before a third beat joined and synchronized with the first two causing an explosion of that calm feeling to wash over him. Naruto dozed off momentarily before he reached out again and reconnected with the external senses once more.

For a moment, it felt like the typhoon of energy and those pulses of power were going to falter when he came to, but they continued on and grew stronger moving more violently. The calm within the center, where he floated, remained completely silent and still, like the world itself had stopped completely in awe of the sophisticated dance of energy and tranquility.

He wanted to open his eyes to see what this vortex of power looked like but the feeling was too strong, and he didn't want that tranquility he was experiencing to be disrupted, so he just left his eyes closed.

It felt as if he hovered for an eternity in that quiet state with raging but oddly quiet chakra and warm air swirling around him violently. Suddenly, he sensed the calm he was floating in begin to expand and the swirling began to slow.

Naruto reached out for his senses thinking he was drifting out again, but he still felt the connection was at its limit, so he relaxed again before he felt himself suddenly floating in the warm spring again. This time, his instinct didn't even respond like it did the first time he just accepted the serene feeling of submersion as if it were second nature.

Then he felt himself rising out of that serene water and he almost wanted to fight against it, but he recalled Kurama's words and kept himself stilled. He felt like he was laying on something solid and the warm feeling began to fade. Naruto was about to panic, but Kurama's voice cut through his mind.

" **Rest now, kit. You have done well."**

Naruto quietly sighed in contentment and let himself slip away.

 **Myōbokuzan**

* * *

Jiraiya and Fukasaku were starting to get worried that the Kyūbi would not be successful, but a few hours later, Kyūbi-Naruto opened his eyes and nodded to Jiraiya, which was the signal to proceed with the next step.

Jiraiya moved forward and removed the sealing method Kakashi had applied before stepping back and allowing Fukasaku to collect his sample.

Fukasaku used a chakra crystal to siphon a sample of the tainted chakra for analysis, and once the small crystal was filled, he gave Jiraiya the thumbs up.

Jiraiya patted Kyūbi-Naruto on the back giving Kurama the signal to proceed with the next step.

With Jiraiya's signal, Kurama had rounded up the perfectly balanced and cleansed chakra and flushed the tainted chakra out of the mark on Naruto's neck using a small concentrated stream directly towards the well of tainted chakra in the mark.

The mark began to weaken and shatter so Jiraiya hit it with Gogyō Kaiin. The seal began to glow purple before the eerie light began to fade from a dark purple to a lighter purple then eventually changed to a brilliant golden color before fading away completely.

Jiraiya ran a few tests and even applied a detection seal on the same spot before he gave Kyūbi-Naruto a pat on the back to signal that the mark had been removed.

A visible sinister grin appeared on Kyūbi-Naruto's face before a flare of golden chakra erupted from Naruto as Kurama flushed Naruto's body with the perfect chakra to cleanse it and to drive that cursed snake out.

The golden chakra continued to light up the area for a few moments before it faded away and Naruto's body collapsed.

Fukasaku and Jiraiya rushed over to check on him real quick and saw that he was breathing normally and seemed to have a content look on his face.

Jiraiya tightened the seal back up before picking Naruto up and carrying him to Fukasaku's house.

That golden chakra was unlike anything Jiraiya, or Fukasaku had seen before. It was like sage mode but stronger in some way and they had no idea where it came from. Both had remained silent as they carried Naruto into the guest room and set him down on the sleeping mat Shima had rolled out for him.

Jiraiya and Fukasaku left the room and settled down in the living room both lost in their thoughts about that golden chakra they had seen.

"What do you make of that chakra there, Pa? Have you ever seen anything like that before?" Jiraiya asked.

Fukasaku shook his head in the negative while he pondered the situation further. While he had some inclination what had happened, he did not know how the chakra had changed so dramatically. His theory was that the Kyūbi had used its own chakra as a fourth potential balancing agent instead of actually using it's Yang component as it claimed.

The bijū had always been a mystery, and their chakra had always had different properties from normal, natural chakra in the world. Fukasaku couldn't help but wonder if they had evolved into a different form completely, and what kind of effects that chakra would have on young Naruto.

Fukasaku would not reveal this theory to Jiraiya, however, no matter how much he cared for his summoner. This knowledge would be too dangerous in the hands of humanity. The summoning clans would never allow too many people to gain access to the true knowledge of natural chakra that they had amassed over the years to protect the natural chakra in the world.

If he had not sensed that golden chakra had safely converted back to pure natural chakra and return to the environment, he would be more concerned about it. Since it was no threat to the natural chakra and required a bijū to create the chakra. With Naruto as their summoner, they would be able to learn the effects on him over time.

"I suspect that it was part of the Kyūbi's chakra mixed in with the cleansed tainted chakra, that is all. It is rare to find tainted chakra in that manner and perhaps this was a simple temporary side effect of cleansing the chakra. I sensed nothing wrong coming from it, and it safely dispersed into the environment as pure natural chakra so I am not concerned about it." Fukasaku finally said.

"That's all well and good, Pa, but what about Naruto?" Jiraiya asked with concern.

"The boy has been exposed to natural chakra more than I would like, but it was not for any significant length of time, and I could see the chakra enter the seal and disappear from his body somehow. Most of the natural chakra that did enter his body came from the Kyūbi dispersing that golden chakra out of his body. He will experience some changes in his development, but I doubt it will be anything dramatic. Maybe a shift in his affinities, a larger growth spurt in musculature and height, possibly awakening a dormant bloodline but that wouldn't be likely given the boy's pedigree." Fukasaku explained.

"Besides Kushina's chakra chains, I don't think the Uzumaki had anything other than substantial chakra reserves and longevity. Kushina had said that the chains had always been expressed in females only while males had much larger and more potent chakra reserves. The Namikaze just had quicker than average reflexes and dual affinity for wind and water. That would match exactly with what Naruto's capabilities have been described." Jiraiya replied with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"I was just mentioning the possibilities, Jiraiya. With natural chakra anything is possible. You have seen the changes that come from sage mode once mastered, it can be anything like that." Fukasaku said calmly.

"Well. I better report back to sensei so he doesn't have to worry as much. Is it okay if Naruto remains here just in case something goes wrong?" Jiraiya asked.

"I had actually planned on telling you to leave Naruto-chan here so I can watch over him with the natural chakra stick if he begins showing signs of imbalance. I may leave it tied to his arm or body just to disperse any traces of natural chakra from his body but for now, Shima and I will just keep checking on the boy." Fukasaku replied.

"Thanks, Pa. I'll be back tomorrow to check in." Jiraiya said before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Shima entered the living room and sat down next to Fukasaku.

"Naruto-chan seems to simply be resting comfortably, and I didn't detect any signs of natural chakra poisoning, but his chakra is strange," Shima said.

"Yes. I detect a foreign element that has resided in his chakra that does not match his chakra or the Kyūbi's chakra. I am unsure what it is, but it is not foul like that tainted chakra was, and it seems too integrated into his system to remove." Fukasaku said.

"If he is Minato-chan's son like Jiraiya-chan said, then hopefully we can trust Naruto-chan as well, even with the Kyūbi involved," Shima said with a glance towards Naruto's room.

"I hope you are right Shima. Naruto-chan will become quite powerful. We will have to wait and see what Gamamaru-sama sees about him now that Naruto-chan is officially a summoner." Fukasaku sighed.


	30. Strengthened and Reforged

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

 **Warning** : This chapter contains brief mildly sexual content.

Edit 4/21/16

 **Chapter 29**

 **Strengthened and Reforged**

 **3 Days Later – Myōbokuzan**

* * *

Naruto began to return to consciousness reluctantly. That warm and peaceful feeling had been at the forefront of his dreams and was much stronger than normal. Now he feared that it would fade away entirely if he woke up.

Naruto lost the battle to remain asleep, and while the feeling did fade slightly, he noticed it was now much stronger than he could ever remember. His body felt so alive and energized for some reason, even though he was still tired.

'I feel so much better than usual for some reason, but I also feel weaker.' Naruto thought.

" **You have been asleep for three days now, kit, and your rest was disturbed by that bastard snake before that."** Kurama's voice rang out startling Naruto.

 _'Kurama! Is that really you?_ ' Naruto said in a hopeful tone before diving into his mindscape.

" **Hmph. How could you compare me to that filthy snake? Can you not feel that your body is free of that vile taint?"** Kurama replied with a huff.

Naruto ran into the cage and dove onto his paw, clinging to his most trusted companion in elation. In a lot of ways, Naruto saw Kurama like a surrogate father.

"I'm so glad Kurama ** _!_** I was so worried when that bastard said I would never hear or see you again, but I stood strong against him Kurama, I didn't give up ** _!_** " Naruto cried out into his fur.

" **Yes. You managed to use that little brain of yours and survive that vile fool's machinations, as expected. Otherwise, I would have to call you a fool again."** Kurama said with a playful growl as he nosed Naruto's back gently with his muzzle.

Naruto just grinned gleefully into Kurama's fur before turning towards his head.

"What happened Kurama? I don't remember anything after Jiraiya hit me with that Gogyō Fūin in the Hokage's office. Naruto asked before pushing himself up and settling down in a seated position.

" **I had to perform a minor task to remove that foolish snake's filth from your body. Once he was removed, I purged the rest of your body of all other corruption. This has strengthened our bond and tied our chakra lines closer together."** Kurama said with a gesture to the pipes running along the roof of the mindscape.

Naruto took note of the fact that instead of two separate pipes, there was now one figure eight shaped pipe that was purple along the center while the top was red and the bottom, blue.

"Does that mean I can use more tails of your chakra now?" Naruto said excitedly.

 **"It is p** **ossible, but do not overexert yourself. You must take this gradually, or you will damage yourself,"** Kurama said sternly.

"How did you get rid of that stupid mark anyways?" Naruto said with curiosity.

Kurama just swished his tails for a moment before responding. **"It required me to use your Yin chakra combined with my Yang chakra and mix it with pure natural chakra into a perfect balance so that the natural chakra would draw the tainted chakra in and purify or destroy it. Once chakra has been destroyed completely, it takes over a hundred years of perfect balance to create more chakra. By recreating the cycle, we were able to forcibly reduce the tainted chakra so it was easily purified instead of being destroyed. That pure chakra mixed in perfect harmony is far more potent and powerful than any normal chakra. We were then able to remove that vile filth from your body so that the white haired fool could eliminate the mark on your body."**

Naruto thought for a moment before jumping up. "Hey, that sounds like that sage mode I read about ** _!_** Does that mean I can learn that too now?"

" **No, kit. Your body must grow more before you can attempt sage mode. To truly learn it, you will need to establish the balance within yourself, without my help. Otherwise, you will become a malformed creature or turn to stone."** Kurama explained.

"Well, I definitely don't want that to happen. Is there anything else important I should know about?" Naruto said as he sat back down.

" **I know where the key is and before you ask, no, we can not obtain it just yet. It will draw too much suspicion. You will have to wait a few more years and gain the trust of the toad summoning clan."**

"Does that mean I will become a toad summoner?" Naruto said in wonder.

 **"** **Hmph. You already are one. I had you sign the contract before we came to the place we are at now."** Kurama said with a snort.

"I... I don't remember doing that at all." Naruto said in a small voice.

Kurama explained in detail from the time Naruto could recall, from the summoning inside the cave to the process of creating the cycle of chakra in his mindscape to create the perfectly balanced chakra. Finally, he explained the process of breaking the mark itself and Kurama's flushing his chakra system and augmenting his body with the perfectly balanced chakra in order to maintain their deeper bond and modify his growth and physical strength.

"I see. So, I can't summon Bunta without working with the others more. I'm gonna have to rework all my chakra control exercises again, aren't I?" Naruto said while blowing out a breath.

 **"** **Do not concern yourself with that. With that filthy mark removed it will be no difficult task for you. It is necessary that you do rework the exercises since the purging of your system with the balanced chakra and the augmentation of your body will require you to become familiar with those changes."** Kurama said.

"What kind of changes?" Naruto said in a worried tone.

 **"N** **othing to be concerned about, but it could impact nothing or everything. Unlike how a human creates a perfect balance to enter sage mode, the chakra that is balanced by a bijū is more potent and denser than normal. While nothing negative can result from the remaining traces like regular sage mode, the chakra can have wildly different effects on your growth and development."** Kurama explained **.** **"The chakra will slowly integrate into your system, with some guidance from me. I can only control the effects to a certain extent, however, because your body will determine what changes it will accept or reject."**

"Does that mean that I will learn a different type of Sage mode than Jiraiya did?" Naruto asked **.**

 **" **As we are right now, No. If we complete our full bond, however, the combining of our chakra might make it possible for you to create the bijū version of Sage mode. This is purely speculation on my part since none before us have been capable of creating the perfect scenario to ensure a full bond. Typically a bijū will allow their jinchūriki to utilize their chakra without detriment, but with the changes we have created, our chakra will combine instead of you switching between your chakra and my chakra."**** Kurama explained.

Naruto just nodded at the explanation. There was no way for him to know how other jinchūriki felt when they were bound to their bijū, but he knew Kurama was being honest, and a small part of him felt pride that he would be able to have a stronger connection to Kurama then any other.

"What kinds of changes can I expect with this chakra in my body?" Naruto asked.

 **" **It depends on which type of chakra your body chooses to accept. The Yin portion could increase your life force and health, The Yang portion could strengthen your body, organs, brains. The natural chakra is its own entity and can modify and amplify both Yin or Yang energies or create a different result of its own design entirely, like evolving a bloodline. From what I can sense of your body, I believe you will most likely grow taller and mature faster, your muscles will become more adaptable. Your sensory capabilities will become stronger and you chakra system will now grow quicker and will be capable of handling much larger strain than before."**** Kurama said.

"So it's a 'wait and see' type of thing, I guess. I will have to pay closer attention to minor things now I suppose." Naruto said with a shrug.

If Kurama was sure that nothing bad could happen to him, then he wouldn't worry about it. He hated doing chakra control all the time when he could be using his clones to work on other things, but it was necessary.

 **"** **It will take at least a month for anything to manifest, but most of those changes I listed would take years to complete as part of your normal maturation process. Don't expect yourself to grow a foot taller in a week."** Kurama snorted in amusement.

"That would be really awkward. I would have to buy new clothes like every day if that did." Naruto said.

" **You should leave this place now and awake yourself. The old toad and the white haired toad fool have been concerned. Your body needs nourishment and a cleansing soon."** Kurama said before resting his head on his paws and going back to his nap.

Naruto nodded and exited the mindscape eager to get his recovery underway and find out how he was going to be training for the semi-finals of the Chūnin exams.

 **Fukasaku's home – Myōbokuzan**

* * *

Naruto slowly opened his eyes to adjust to the light and began to stretch only to realize he was frail and could barely move. He grunted with the effort of sitting up before he had to prop his head up with one hand to still his dizziness.

He let out a groan while he waited for his vertigo to settle before lifting his head and looking around the room.

Naruto was on a sleeping mat on the ground in a strange looking room. The room appeared to be round and smaller than most he had seen before. The room he was in was sparsely decorated with only a few rolled-up sleeping mats and blankets sitting in the corner and a few small framed paintings of meadows.

He looked over his shoulder when he felt something approaching the door and was puzzled by the sensation he was feeling. It wasn't an emotion he felt, that he was certain of. The door slid open to reveal a small looking toad carrying a tray of food. Naruto assumed that the toad was female due to the purple hair and lipstick she was wearing.

"Ah! I thought you might be awake, Naruto-chan. We have been worried that something bad had happened to you." the toad said.

"Hello! I'm afraid I don't remember much of what happened to me recently, can you please tell me where I am?" Naruto asked sheepishly.

"It's quite alright, Naruto-chan. You had a difficult time recently with that curse mark invading your mind. My name is Shima, toad elder sage, and you are in Myōbokuzan, home of the summoning Toad clan." Shima said.

"Thank you, Shima-sama, for telling me. I'm sorry I didn't remember you from before. Thank you, for taking me into your home." Naruto said with a small bow of his head.

"None of that now, Naruto-chan. You are a toad summoner, and that means you are like our grandchild," Shima said with a smile before setting the tray down next to Naruto before looking him over.

Naruto scratched the back of his head for a moment. "Does that mean you want me to call you Bāchan (Granny) now?"

"If it pleases you, Naruto-chan. I have no problem with it. Now, I brought you some soup so you can get something in your tummy. You have been out for three days so take it slow, and if you feel like you can hold down more, I have some onigiri here for you as well, but finish the soup first." Shima said.

"I will, Shima-bāchan. Thank you very much," Naruto said before he began to eat the soup slowly.

"Such a good boy. Jiraiya-chan left this morning to give another update to the Hokage, but he should return sometime tomorrow. Until then, just relax for now. My husband Fukasaku will come and check on you later. If you feel up to it, he will show you around but try not to over exert yourself!" Shima said before she left.

Naruto finished his soup and decided to lay back down to rest some more. He wondered what that feeling was that he sensed when Shima had approached the door but just shrugged it off since he was tired. His eyes drifted shut and soon afterward he was asleep again.

 **Ichiraku Ramen – Konoha Merchant District**

* * *

Kakashi, Sasuke, and Hinata were all eating ramen at Naruto's favorite stand in solidarity for their missing teammate.

They hadn't heard from Naruto in a week, and not even the Hokage knew if Naruto was alright.

Kakashi and Sasuke had started their training for the finals in one of the local training grounds. Both of them hoped that they would be able to say goodbye to Naruto before heading to a special isolated training ground that Kakashi knew about. Today was the last day they would wait for news since they couldn't put off the intense training any further.

Kakashi knew that he would have to go all out and teach Sasuke a few very dangerous jutsu to deal with the Ichibi jinchūriki. He had resorted to some underhanded tactics already by having Sasuke watch Might Guy sparring with Rock Lee to copy some of his speed and taijutsu with the Sharingan, but it was necessary. The only one who should really be fighting Gaara is Naruto, and even then, the collateral damage alone could be devastating.

Sasuke had hoped that Naruto could train with them, but Kakashi had to remind him that Naruto was a potential opponent, and they needed to keep some abilities for themselves, just for the final exams. Afterward, it wouldn't matter if they shared.

Kakashi knew Sasuke was just worried and wanted to keep an eye on Naruto. He wanted to also, so he couldn't blame him for that but Jiraiya was the only one who had a shot of helping Naruto out. Kakashi just hoped that Jiraiya was successful. He had heard some rumors about failed mark removals and the consequences were not pretty at all.

Kakashi saw Jiraiya walk by the ramen stand out of the corner of his eye and called out to him. Jiraiya looked into the stand for a moment before he finally recognized who had called out to him. While he had been eager to conduct some research, it would probably be best to settle the minds of Naruto's team as much as he could.

As Jiraiya approached, he noticed Sasuke and Hinata were looking at him in trepidation and saw that he had made the right decision. He felt a little relieved that Naruto's team was so worried about him. Most of his contacts had reported a negative view of Naruto being the norm within the village.

"Jiraiya-sama, how goes everything?" Kakashi asked trying to act nonchalant.

Jiraiya wasn't fooled for a moment.

"Well, I came back to report to the Hokage about what happened to Naruto and take care of some business in town before heading-" Jiraiya answered.

"Jiraiya-sama, is Naruto-kun going to be okay?" Hinata cut in before Jiraiya could continue.

"Well, well, well, is the pretty little Hyūga hime (Princess) concerned for our little blue eyed blond?" Jiraiya said with a lecherous smirk

Hinata didn't even catch the connotation in Jiraiya's tone of voice since she was too concerned about Naruto's well-being.

"I haven't seen or heard anything about him in four days and... well... he was in a really bad way during the preliminaries," Hinata said with concern.

"I have to say that while the procedure to remove the seal was risky and experimental, it appears to have been a success. Unfortunately, we won't know for certain until Naruto wakes up. He has been unconscious for three days so far." Jiraiya said in a serious tone.

Sasuke merely nodded with a solemn look on his face before looking down into his ramen bowl.

"Thank you for the news, Jiraiya-sama. I guess it's a better situation than it was before. I hope he is okay after all that happened." Hinata said politely before looking down into her bowl like Sasuke.

"Mah, mah, don't worry about Naruto, he will be fine. Jiraiya is quite the seal master, and the toads themselves have a lot of knowledge. They have been around for over a thousand years." Kakashi said in an encouraging tone.

He was glad that Naruto was in Myōbokuzan even if he did succumb to Orochimaru, he was in a place where he could easily be contained until a solution was found, somehow. He didn't like the sound of a risky experimental procedure when complex fūinjutsu was involved, but anything was worth keeping Naruto out of the snake sannin's clutches.

"Don't worry about Naruto. I'm sure he will be just fine there, little hime. I'll make sure he calls on you when we get back, and anytime we aren't training of course." Jiraiya said with a wink.

"So, you are taking him on then?" Kakashi asked solemnly.

"Yes, if he accepts. It's my duty after all," Jiraiya expressed in a cheery tone.

Sasuke and Hinata both shot a glance at Jiraiya with his last statement. It was obvious that there was more behind the Toad Sannin's statement than to simply keep an eye on Naruto because of the mark. It wasn't every day that a Sannin accepted an apprentice and it was unusual for such an apprenticeship to rely on the decision of the apprentice instead of the master.

"That's great news. I'm sure he will accept, given the circumstances." Kakashi replied with an eye smile.

Inwardly, Kakashi was a little sad that he didn't have more time with Naruto. He had hoped to get closer to the boy, and while progress had been made since the Nami no Kuni mission, Kakashi still worried that Naruto was keeping distant from him for some reason.

Kakashi felt Jiraiya's hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll have him ready for the finals for you then I will probably have to leave the village for a little while, check in on a few things before I take him out of the village for anything long term."

Jiraiya could tell what Kakashi was thinking. If he found out about Naruto in the same way as he did, then he couldn't blame the man.

"That reminds me, have you spoken to Tsunade yet?" Jiraiya said with a sadistic grin on his face.

"The Hokage has been keeping her busy lately to prepare the transfer of the Hokage title," Kakashi replied in a knowing tone.

"I bet he has. I'll tell you what, why don't you come with me while I catch up with my old teammate I'm sure there is some recent news you would like to reveal to her." Jiraiya said with a conspiratorial wink.

"Yes. I think you are right about that, Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi said with a smirk.

Hinata and Sasuke just looked on in confusion. They had both frozen when they heard that Jiraiya would take Naruto out of the village for a long time. Everyone knew that Jiraiya had a tendency to remain away from the village in three-year stints.

"What do you mean by long term?" Sasuke asked with suspicion.

"Jiraiya-sama, as a Sannin, has the capability to take an apprentice on to study under him, full time, for extended training missions. Typically 2 – 5 years, at least, depending on skill set and methods. If Naruto accepts, he will be studying under Jiraiya outside the village for quite some time." Kakashi explained.

"I don't think I would keep him away from the village for more than 3 years, but as I said before, I still need to check in on a few things after the Chūnin exams. I might not even start his apprenticeship until next year sometime," Jiraiya said in a placating tone.

"Well, that is a wonderful opportunity for Naruto-kun. I'm sure he will appreciate the chance to learn from you, Jiraiya-sama." Hinata said politely.

Sasuke didn't know what to think. On the one hand, it would be good for Naruto to learn from one of the Sannin. On the other hand, he wondered about how it would affect their plans to go after Danzō. He should feel happy for his friend, but he couldn't help but feel like Naruto might abandon him for such an opportunity.

Sasuke mentally shook his head at that thought. Naruto wouldn't just abandon him. No, that idiot would probably end up throwing away an opportunity like that just to help him with Danzō. Hopefully, Itachi's plan, whatever it was, would have Danzō taken care of after the Chūnin exams. Then they both would have the satisfaction of revenge before they moved forward in their lives.

Sasuke wasn't even sure how he would move forward in his life since he had only thought of revenge for the past four years. As long as he had his brothers with him, he could handle anything, but he needed to do some serious thinking now.

Hinata, on the other hand, was sad that Naruto would leave for so long. She had still clung to some foolish hope of being with him as more than a friend, even with the odds against it. If he did leave for three years, he would be gone right around the time that she would begin to receive marriage offers and courting requests. Then she wouldn't be able to pursue him in any manner besides as a teammate and a friend.

Hinata sighed sadly it seemed that some dreams were just meant to die young. She would have to seek out Kiba during the training period. She had become more friendly with him before the Chūnin exams. Hopefully, he wasn't as lusty towards her as before, she wouldn't be able to bear it. There was no way she was going to leave the village and become some wallflower trophy wife to some uptight lord or a simple strategic move to acquire the backing of the Hyūga clan.

The elders might be that brazen now that she had lost to Neji in the preliminaries, but he had put up a good fight, and she had focused too much on her iryōjustu, by their standards.

Some had the gall to suggest she be passed up as Clan Heiress for Hanabi. Already those bastards were trying to get their hooks into her. Father had assured her not to be concerned about such foolish talk, and that he would back her rejections of marriage and courting proposals if the elders tried to push her too far.

She had 8 years at most until they began a serious clamor for her removal if she was not in a position to give birth to an heir within a few years time. Plenty of time to find a suitable replacement for the one she desired. Maybe by then her current desires would be revealed as a silly crush that she harbored, and she wouldn't feel destroyed if she had to attend his wedding and watch another woman claim him.

Jiraiya waited as the rest of Team 7 finished their ramen before Sasuke and Hinata departed. After that, Jiraiya and Kakashi left began heading towards the Senju compound to find Tsunade.

"Why aren't we heading to the Hospital or the Hokage tower?" Kakashi asked

"If I know Tsunade well, she will be getting her afternoon sake pretty soon. She always has a few cups when she knows she will be dealing with tedious paperwork. I'm betting that sensei is having her focus on that mostly." Jiraiya said with a smirk.

"All the more reason for revenge that means," Kakashi said with glee.

They both pictured an angry and slightly tipsy Tsunade going after the Hokage. It would be sweet, sweet revenge for keeping Naruto a secret from them.

"So, do you want to go with the direct approach or shall we try and set it up in front of him so he can see the explosive tag coming?" Kakashi said.

"I think it is best that you plant the suggestion in her mind first. When I get confirmation that Naruto is ready to return, I will send a toad to you. You find out the schedule that sensei has her training in his office, and we will set up the trap after that." Jiraiya said while rubbing his hands.

"You aren't going to keep Naruto in Myōbokuzan?" Kakashi said with some surprise.

"No, it is bad enough that he was exposed to that much nature chakra already at his age, as soon as he is up I will be relocating him back here right away. We won't know what kind of effect that chakra will have on his physical and mental growth you know. Ideally, you aren't exposed to pure natural chakra until after puberty has settled down a bit, no younger than 16." Jiraiya said as he mulled the possibilities over in his mind.

"What kind of changes do you think can happen?" Kakashi said with some worry.

"Well, it could be anything from increasing his growth rate, intelligence, altering his muscle structure to favor either speed or power depending on his current muscle type. Even his chakra affinities could be altered. You have to remember that the summoning clans were regular animals who were exposed to pure natural chakra early and evolved into what they are now." Jiraiya said.

"I wasn't aware of that. The changes between normal animals and summon animals are extreme in some cases!" Kakashi said in shock.

"It won't be anything extreme by any means. The toads, for example, only grow as big and live as long as they do because it was an evolution that occurred over generations. Any kids Naruto has down the line may begin to exhibit some changes but Naruto himself most likely won't." Jiraiya paused as he activated the seal on the gate to the Senju compound and waited for entrance.

"You can never tell with natural chakra there is just too much we don't understand about it. Even as a sage I have only accessed the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the capabilities of using natural chakra, and the summoning clans guard their secrets zealously." Jiraiya lectured.

The seal on the gate lit up, and Jiraiya pushed the gate open with Kakashi following behind.

"Well you know what to do, Kakashi, just follow my lead and let me butter her up for you," Jiraiya said with a perverted grin.

Kakashi followed Jiraiya as he entered the main house and turned down a hallway. Soon they approached a set of sliding doors that Jiraiya knocked on.

"Tsunade-hime, are you there?" Jiraiya called out in a sing-song tone.

"Yea. It's open. Come on in Jiraiya, it's been awhile," Tsunade replied.

Jiraiya slid the door open to reveal Tsunade lounging on a love seat with a small bottle of sake nearby and a small cup in her hand. She was looking up at him with a small smile on her face.

While Tsunade greeted Kakashi, Jiraiya studied her with a small grin on his face. She was still just as beautiful as ever.

Light golden blond hair in her perfect pigtails with those shoulder-length bangs which suited her angular chin. Those big doe brown eyes and sculpted brows beneath her _Sōzō Saisei_ mark upon her brow.

She was currently wearing her standard outfit with that sleeveless gray Gi top with the black stripe and obi that made her impressive bosom pop. Those dark gray Capri pants that clung to her shapely legs and those strappy sandals that highlighted her delicate feet. Her green haori was currently draped over the back of the love seat.

"It certainly has been hime. How have you been?" Jiraiya said as he slid into the seat next to her.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at him and stared at him warily before replying. "Just getting used to the idea of becoming Hokage, I suppose. Sensei really does need the rest, though." Tsunade said with a sigh before she shot Jiraiya a glance. "Why didn't you take the job Jiraiya?"

"Who, me? You know I'm not made for that kinda crap, Tsunade-hime. That's the kind of stuff you were born for, after all. Besides, I got a promise to fulfill and a new apprentice to beat on soon." Jiraiya said with a wink.

"A new apprentice? I thought you said you were done after... well, you know." Tsunade said sadly.

Jiraiya put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a slight squeeze. "I know hime, but sometimes it seems fate will grant us an opportunity when we thought all was lost."

Tsunade was about to ask what he was getting on about until she felt his hand draw dangerously close to her breast.

"Don't you even think about it pervert!" Tsunade growled.

"About what my hime? I was just trying to comfort you in your time of mourning is all." Jiraiya said with a straight face

"Yea, sure you are." Tsunade snorted.

"So, who is the unfortunate brat that you picked for your apprentice. I'll need to know who to watch out for when I soak in the hot springs." Tsunade asked curiously.

"Ah, that would be my student. Always so focused, hard working, and well behaved too. I probably have Shizune to thank for that. I do have to keep a close eye on him, though, since he likes to train himself almost to complete exhaustion." Kakashi said with a knowing glance at Jiraiya.

"So, you managed to get taken down by a group of genin finally eh?" Tsunade said with a smirk

"What can I say. Sometimes you find things that are important to you hidden away in the strangest places, like my cute little genin," Kakashi said cryptically

"Yea. The one I have taken on is quite the charmer too, already has the Hyūga hime after him but who can blame her for that. Women always go crazy for men with big blue eyes and spiky blonde hair." Jiraiya said in a knowing tone.

"You may be right about that. Though Hinata seems to have, Naruto cornered all to herself at the moment. I doubt the poor boy even realizes it yet." Kakashi said finally.

"Naruto huh. Isn't that..." Tsunade paused in shock when she felt something teasing her breast.

Jiraiya was pretending to rub her arm as if to comfort her but he had tightened his arm around her shoulders so his knuckles were grazing dangerously close to her nipple.

"PERVERT!" Tsunade yelled before rearing her fist back and uppercutting Jiraiya, sending Jiraiya flying over the back of the love seat and into the wall.

Tsunade crossed her arms and huffed in indignation to cover the signs of his affect on her. She would have entertained the thought of a relationship with Jiraiya if he hadn't proven himself to be such a lecher. She would never let a womanizing bastard take advantage of her. He was always after the next skirt for his "research" and was unrepentant about it.

Jiraiya groaned in pain but was smiling on the inside. It was worth the pain to feel her perfect breasts. Jiraiya had never seen any that were as large and as perfect as Tsunade's were.

He also had successfully planted the seeds of information about Naruto then misdirected her with anger. Probably sometime tomorrow she would recall what was discussed and begin to wonder. She might even talk to Shizune about it, and that's when his sensei would get his just desserts.

"Ah, well. It was nice to catch up with you, hime, but I should head back out to Myōbokuzan and get ready for this invasion," Jiraiya said after peeling himself off of the wall.

"So, Iwa, Suna, and Oto are the confirmed invaders, right? Any update on Kumo?" Tsunade asked.

"Nothing on their front, so far, but I think we might not have to worry about them after all. I got some information recently that there have been a few skirmishes between Kumo and Iwa recently. If anyone is involved for certain, it's Orochimaru. Root is going to be the wild card here. I have signs that he is involved, but he has also made moves to counter the invasion forces as well, it makes no damn sense." Jiraiya grumbled.

"Well, let's just hope that Danzō remembers who the real enemies are," Tsunade said before taking a swig of sake." Sensei already notified the Daimyō that I am going to be the Hokage when the finals start in a month, right?" Tsunade asked Jiraiya.

"Yep! And all indications point to Danzō being none the wiser since the Daimyō won't mention anything about it to his council until the inauguration day is decided. He has already sent back the signed approval which I have hidden safely away." Jiraiya replied with a smug tone.

Kakashi listened in interest. He was unaware of some of the things they had mentioned and wasn't sure exactly what they were planning, but if it got rid of Danzō, then he was on board.

"Good. Now both of you get lost. I need to get ready to head to the Hokage tower and "learn" more about paperwork." Tsunade said before downing her last cup of sake.

"As you desire, my hime," Jiraiya said with a wink. Tsunade just scoffed at him and waved him off.

Kakashi followed Jiraiya out of the compound before asking.

"So, do you think it worked?" Kakashi asked.

"Like a charm, start keeping an eye on her today if you can but unless I miss my guess, she won't start putting the pieces together until tomorrow sometime. Maybe less if Shizune decides to start talking." Jiraiya said.

"I will put off leaving for the remote training grounds for two more days in the hopes to see Naruto but after that, I can't wait any longer. Sasuke will have completed everything that we can do in the village without drawing attention to him. We have already had to chase off a few spies." Kakashi said with a sigh.

Jiraiya paused with that mention. "What kind of spies?"

"Besides the usual villagers, a few finalists, but mostly the Kumo team has been looking at him and the rest of my team, if you catch my drift," Kakashi said with suspicion.

"Hmm, I wouldn't be too concerned about them looking for Naruto, to be honest. I'm guessing B has something to do with them trying to seek Naruto out. I've heard that jinchūriki sometimes get an overwhelming curiosity about each other so it might be innocent." Jiraiya mused.

"Still, I wouldn't put it past the Raikage to try and take advantage of the situation," Kakashi replied.

"Well, I better get back and check on him again. I'll send a toad as soon as we are going to head back." Jiraiya said with a wave before he summoned Gama and they disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Kakashi pulled out his book and began to walk towards the Hokage tower. Jiraiya might not be too concerned about Kumo, but Kakashi was certain the Hokage would be.

 **Myōbokuzan**

* * *

Jiraiya arrived with a poof of smoke outside of Fukasaku and Shima's house and waved to Gama as he hopped off.

Jiraiya ducked through the doorway and called out his greeting as he entered the living room. Fukasaku was sitting on a chair reading while Shima was in the kitchen cooking.

"Ah, Jiraiya-chan! I'm glad you came back early. Naruto-chan has woken up finally, he is getting dressed right now to test his legs and take a tour." Fukasaku said.

"That's great news. Everyone was starting to get worried about him. How has he been acting?" Jiraiya asked.

He knew that all three of them were unfamiliar with Naruto, but there might be some clues that were obvious that he wasn't himself.

"Why he is such a polite young man, much more than you ever were," Shima said sharply before continuing her assessment. "He ate all my soup without complaint and even a few of the crispy cricket onigiri I made. He even calls us Sennin Jichan and Bāchan." Shima chirped.

"Yes, he is quite respectful and calm too. I would have expected someone his age to be a lot more energetic, but perhaps he is still tired from his ordeal," Fukasaku added.

The conversation halted when Naruto entered the room.

"I'm ready Sennin Jichan! I think I will be able to walk around for awhile now. I don't feel so tired anymore." Naruto said before he noticed Jiraiya and bowed to him.

"Ah, Jiraiya-sama, I didn't see you there. Thank you for helping me remove the mark." Naruto said respectfully.

"Relax, kid. There is no need to be so formal with me, okay?" Jiraiya said with a smile.

Naruto just kinda frowned at him for a moment "Umm... okay, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya just coughed at the awkward silence before he spoke up again. "So, Pa here was going to show you around? How about I join you guys?" Jiraiya said in a cheery tone.

"Of course, Jiraiya-chan," Fukasaku said as he got up.

The three of them left the house and began a tour of Myōbokuzan. Naruto listened intently as Fukasaku explained the history of the summoning Toad clan and the different areas of Myōbokuzan that the toads enjoyed.

Naruto was quite enamored with the place as it was. The environment was quite unique, and it was a peaceful place free of any conflict. He did notice that his body began to feel a bit heavy after the walk, but he just attributed it to being related to his recovery.

"Naruto, we need to discuss some important things, and I'm sure you have some questions you want to ask me about," Jiraiya said.

Naruto hummed in thought for a moment before responding, "I don't really have too many questions about what happened if that is what you are thinking. The Kyūbi explained how you guys removed the mark from me."

"Well, that's convenient. I'm surprised your not trying to coerce us into teaching you sage mode." Jiraiya said with a chuckle.

"The Kyūbi told me why it was dangerous for me to try and learn sage mode right now and it made sense. He is usually right about things involving chakra manipulation in my experience." Naruto said nonchalantly.

Fukasaku and Jiraiya exchanged a glance.

"You mentioned that the Kyūbi has helped you with fūinjutsu and chakra manipulation in the past. What kinds of things have you learned?" Jiraiya prodded.

"Well, for fūinjutsu he helped me learn to make and modify seals by bouncing theories off me and also showing me seals he has run into in the past. He also helped me learn how to apply them using chakra and taijutsu mostly. That is part of the chakra manipulation he helped me with, but he also helps with my Wind and Fire affinities by helping me "feel" how to use the chakra more efficiently and effectively, which reduces the number of hand seals I need to use a jutsu for those elements" Naruto said.

"He can show you any seal he has seen in the past!?" Jiraiya said incredulously.

" **Do not reveal our memory sharing capabilities to this one, kit. It will become a problem later on,"** Kurama said.

Without missing a beat Naruto came up with a valid lie to placate the Sannin, "Yea, he will just draw it on the ground in the mindscape based on what he can recall, and I copy it and test it with clones," Naruto said quickly. It was kind of surprising to him how easy the thought just popped into his mind considering his problems with lying in the past.

"That sounds quite useful actually, the Kyūbi has probably seen all kinds of different seals," Jiraiya said as he scratched his chin thinking of all the possibilities.

Naruto just adopted his stoic pose while he waited. He could see now why Kurama didn't want to reveal the memory sharing. He didn't sense greed from Jiraiya at the moment, but he also didn't want to tempt him.

"Anyways, let's get back on track here. What I would like to ask is, if you are interested in becoming my apprentice. I know it is kind of sudden but you already signed the toad contract, and I would like to teach you." Jiraiya asked.

Naruto opened his eyes and looked up at Jiraiya with piercing blue eyes. "Why do you want to train me?"

"I was supposed to be your godfather, Naruto," Jiraiya said with a wistful tone full of sorrow and regret. "I had all these plans and things I wanted to give you as you grew up before taking you on as an apprentice, just like your father. Then the Kyūbi happened, and I thought I lost everything." Jiraiya couldn't keep his grief off of his face, and Naruto could tell it was genuine. "I want to help you Naruto. You are my last connection to my lost family, and I would like to be apart of your life." Jiraiya said in a serious tone.

Naruto just stared at him for a moment before a soft smile broke over his face. "I would be honored to be taught by you shishō (Master) and I would like to be apart of your life as well."

While Kurama had encouraged Naruto to accept the offer because he could travel with Jiraiya out of the village for extended periods of time for the plan, Naruto truly wanted to have a relationship with Jiraiya.

Naruto had a feeling about him. This feeling told him that Jiraiya was important for his future and that he needed to have a bond with him. He also didn't like to use people for his own gains if he could avoid it. If Jiraiya was truly his godfather, then he owed it to his parents to at least give the man a shot at being his family.

"Thank you, Naruto. I'm glad to have this opportunity, and I promise you won't regret learning from me." Jiraiya then burst into a Kabuki pose hopping on one leg with a fan out and a goofy smile on his face.

Naruto sweat dropped at the display but said nothing. It wouldn't be wise to denigrate his new shishō after all. Fukasaku just shook his head at the display and sighed.

If only Naruto knew what he would learn about his new shishō in the near future.

"We will return to Konoha tomorrow to begin your training for the Chūnin Exam finals. You got quite the looker for an opponent too so we will have to brush up on your taijutsu skills since she is a very skilled Kenjutsu specialist." Jiraiya said with a perverted grin.

Naruto nodded in agreement, facing a kenjutsu specialist in a one on one situation wouldn't be ideal. If she managed to close the distance on him instead of a clone, he would be in real trouble. Hopefully, Jiraiya could help him complete the missing element's of his father's taijutsu style, it had the potential to be very handy against someone with a sword.

"After that happens, you will have some time to square things away in the village, maybe two months before we leave on our first training trip, which will last for 3 or 4 years give or take," Jiraiya concluded.

"Don't worry, shishō. I'm ready for anything ** _!_** " Naruto said.

"Good! Let's head back and get ready for dinner," Jiraiya exclaimed before leaning in closer to Naruto.

"Did you really like those crispy cricket rice balls?" Jiraiya said under his breath so Fukasaku wouldn't overhear.

"I was famished, and they tasted like okaka made with chicken. I did freak out a little when she told me what they were made of, but it would have been rude for me to just refuse them after I complimented them." Naruto whispered back.

"Well, kid. I hope you got yourself an iron stomach because you are probably going to have a very strange dinner then. I, unfortunately, ate before I arrived here, understand?" Jiraiya said with a sly look at Naruto.

Naruto nodded. "I understand, shishō. I won't mention anything about it."

Naruto, Fukasaku, and Jiraiya returned to Fukasaku's house and sat down to an interesting dinner of rice, vegetables, and roasted mopane worms in larva sauce.

Naruto ended up filling up on a lot of rice and vegetables that evening.


	31. Preparations for the Future

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

Edited 4/21/16

 **Chapter 30**

 **Preparations for the Future**

 **Next Morning – Hokage Tower – Konoha**

* * *

Tsunade sat with Shizune in one of the break rooms of the Hokage tower, enjoying some dango and coffee. She would be starting work on more paperwork training soon and wasn't looking forward to it. Her mind was currently more focused on what that pervert had mentioned before his attempted fondling.

"Shizune, Kakashi mentioned that he had a well-behaved student and eluded to the fact that you had some hand in teaching him manners. Do you know of this, Naruto?" Tsunade asked.

"Oh, Yes. He was such a wonderful boy, and he has grown quite well, despite what happened to him," Shizune replied.

"What do you mean?" Tsunade asked.

Shizune looked a little nervous. "I wasn't supposed to mention too much about him because the Hokage forbid it, Tsunade-sama. I apologize. I can tell you that he had a very traumatic event happen to him at the age of 6 and was an orphan, so I helped him adjust to living on his own in an apartment nearby. He was such a smart little boy and so adorable with his large sapphire blue eyes, his spiky golden hair, and cute little whisker-like marks on his cheeks. I just wanted to eat him up." Shizune said with stars in her eyes.

"Did he have a last name that you know of?" Tsunade asked starting to get more suspicious.

If he were a 6-year-old orphan, it would mean he was orphaned before or during the Kyūbi attack then probably relocated when that attack on the orphanage occurred. It would be strange that only one boy had been relocated unless the boy was the target of the attack in the first place.

Whisker marks were odd, a possible bloodline? Maybe that's why sensei would go through the trouble of providing him a home and a caretaker. It would also explain why some stupid villagers would have attacked the orphanage if some drunken idiot spread a rumor about the boy.

It was the spiky golden blond hair and sapphire blue eyes that brought the bad memories back to her. Could it be possible?

"Well, last I heard, the Hokage allowed him to choose from the registrar, and he chose Uzumaki," Shizune said in a nonchalant tone.

Tsunade dropped her coffee cup causing it to shatter and splash coffee everywhere.

"Oh, my! Tsunade-sama, are you alright?" Shizune said as she rushed over and began picking off the shattered porcelain pieces that flew onto Tsunade to ensure she didn't receive any cuts or splinters.

"Did you say Uzumaki, Shizune? And sensei allowed the boy to use that name?" Tsunade asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Naruto-kun told me that he had chosen that name from the registrar before enrolling in the academy because he wanted to learn fūinjutsu so badly and he heard they were masters of fūinjutsu," Shizune replied. "Is something wrong, Tsunade-sama?"

"I'm not sure yet, Shizune, but I need to find out something from sensei about this. There are just too many coincidences, and I know that old pervert was teasing me about it yesterday." Tsunade said as she cracked her knuckles.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hiruzen felt an inexplicable shiver down his spine, for a moment, before he went back to arranging the paperwork for Tsunade to deal with.

He hoped that shiver didn't mean something bad had happened to Naruto. He had been so concerned for his unofficially adopted grandson. He would never forgive Orochimaru for what he had done now. There could be no sparing Orochimaru this time, he had to die.

Hiruzen was surprised when Kakashi suddenly appeared in his office with a Shunshin.

"Is there something wrong, Kakashi? I still don't have word on Naruto-kun, if that is why you are here." Hiruzen said.

"Actually, I am here because I have received word from Jiraiya. He told me he is due to arrive here shortly with Naruto." Kakashi said.

Hiruzen sighed in relief. Jiraiya wouldn't bring Naruto back unless the situation was resolved. Hopefully, Naruto's mark would be inactive like Anko's is now and he wouldn't have to worry about it for much longer.

"Why did he send you word?" Hiruzen asked suspiciously.

Hiruzen was still waiting for Jiraiya's retaliation for not telling him about Naruto. He hoped that he would get some relief for giving Naruto the frog wallet and the fūinjutsu kit since Jiraiya had intended to give them to his godson. Hiruzen had collected them for Naruto instead of letting them be donated or sold after the Kyūbi attack.

Kakashi was just reading his Icha Icha without any show of emotion. "Well, he wanted me to inform my cute little genin to meet their teammate when he arrived, but it seems Bull and Pakkun are running a bit slow this morning."

Suddenly, Hiruzen detected two large chakra presences converging on his office and held back a sigh. He had a feeling he was about to find out their punishment for keeping Naruto a secret.

Jiraiya and Naruto appeared on Gama's back in the office, taking up a good quarter of the office space and knocking a few chairs and tables over. Naruto and Jiraiya greeted the Hokage in Jiraiya's typical fashion. Well, Jiraiya did, Naruto ruined the effect by holding the pose he was instructed to, with no enthusiasm what so ever, and his usual stoic look on his face.

After a moment of awkward silence, Naruto just sighed in exasperation. "Can I stop doing this now, shishō? They don't even seem to really care." Naruto said with a gesture to the flat look on Hiruzen's face and Kakashi, who simply turned a page and seemed to be ignoring the display completely.

"Nonsense, Naruto! No one can resist the Gallant Toad sage's charm! You just weren't providing enough energy in your pose and ruined the whole effect." Jiraiya said indignantly.

"Right, shishō. I'll get right on that." Naruto said with a flat look on his face.

Right after Naruto spoke, the door to the office suddenly flew inwards towards them at high speed causing Naruto to dive roll behind the Hokage's desk and spring up into a defensive stance.

Jiraiya was forced to jump onto the window sill while Gama just dispelled back to Myōbokuzan to avoid being struck by the door.

Kakashi appeared completely focused on his reading before he leaned back just enough to let the door fly past him before turning a page to continue reading. In actuality, he was paying close attention to the angry blonde who had just sent the door to the office flying off its hinge.

"Sensei! You have some explaining to do, I have heard some-" Tsunade halted as she spotted the young blonde eyeing her with a serious expression and in a very familiar defensive stance.

Tsunade's eyes widened at the sight. "So it's true then. You are Minato's son aren't you?" she said in a sad tone.

Naruto didn't know who this lady was, barging in on his jiji like this and wasn't inclined to answer her but Hiruzen merely ruffled his hair and said.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun. This is Tsunade Senju, one of the Legendary Sannin. She was also close to your parents and was not aware of your survival." Hiruzen said.

Naruto relaxed and nodded while studying her for a moment before he took notice of the almost smug and eager looks on Kakashi and Jiraiya's faces.

"Since Kakashi-sensei is here early, I'm guessing that you are in for a lot of trouble right now, jiji!" He said with a sly glance towards Hiruzen.

Hiruzen merely sighed before gently pushing Naruto towards Tsunade. "Very much so, Naruto-kun, but for now, go meet the woman who was to be your godmother."

Naruto walked forward to Tsunade and looked up at her. "I am Naruto Uzumaki, It's a pleasure to meet you Tsunade-sama."

Naruto bowed to her respectfully only for him to be suddenly wrenched forwards by an overwhelming force, and crushed in an embrace of steel by Tsunade. Naruto blushed furiously as he felt Tsunade's well-endowed assets pressing against his face and chest.

"I can't believe you are alive. All this time... I could have taken care of you. I'm so glad your alive Naruto. You look so much like your father, but you have your mother's nose and mouth." Tsunade said as she cuddled Naruto to her tightly.

Tsunade planted a kiss on each of his whiskered cheeks before cupping his face with her hands and looking him in the eyes. "You don't call me Tsunade-sama you hear me? You call me your oba-chan (aunt) since the Uzumaki are related to the Senju after all. Okay, Naruto-kun?"

"Yes, Tsunade-bachan," Naruto murmured with a smile.

Naruto had read quite a bit about the last Senju and couldn't help but wonder what his life would have been like had she taken him in as a child. He would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy how she was doting on him already, even if he was royally embarrassed by the kisses and having his face planted into the breasts of a woman who was his relative while in the company of others.

After letting his mind wander down an imaginary life while quietly enjoying the attention, he decided that it didn't really help to think about the what ifs in the end. All that mattered is what his life was like now, and how he was going to move forward and prepare for the future while enjoying what he could along the way.

Kakashi and Jiraiya couldn't help but feel a little envious, or in Jiraiya's case jealous, as they watched Naruto get pulled back into Tsunade's bosom when she decided to cuddle him some more after studying his face closely. Those feelings didn't last long for the duo because the content look on Tsunade's face changed to a venomous glare as she laid her eyes on the two infamous perverts and began to leak some killing intent in their direction.

"If you bastards try to turn my nephew here into a pervert, I will grind you into jelly under my heel," Tsunade warned.

Jiraiya and Kakashi began to sweat at her glare for different reasons.

Kakashi loved to replace Naruto's manga with his Icha Icha because it got such a reaction out of him, even after the reaming he got from the Hokage after the first time, he continued the prank.

In fact, Kakashi had been encouraged to continue with his prank because Naruto had actually retaliated against him by using a clone to slip Tora into his apartment while they were out on a mission. Kakashi and his pack of ninken were caught off guard when they came home to see Tora lounging on a scratched up couch napping after eating all the dog jerky. This did not sit well with the ninken who began to chase Tora around the apartment before Kakashi could stop any of them. By the time he managed to get that damn cat out of his apartment, he had lost two lamps, an end table, several picture frames, half of his dishes, and had to repair a door and three walls. His ninken were still complaining about the smell of cat in the apartment.

Kakashi still felt it was worth it. No one had ever thought that Naruto would pull a prank on anyone. It gave Kakashi hope that Naruto would start opening up to more people and develop more ties with the village.

Jiraiya had less innocent intentions, hoping to pass all of his knowledge and talents to Naruto including his lucrative publishing contract. That contract required a special touch and plenty of research, which helped Jiraiya deal with the monotonous expanses of time waiting for an informant to make contact, or while conducting surveillance on a target.

Besides, a little bit of perversion was a useful thing. If Minato had taken to his teachings in the matters of the opposite sex, he could have been deeply involved with Kushina only a few years after the Kumo incident. Instead, Minato's prudishness left him fumbling around a frustrated Kushina for almost 4 years before he worked up the nerve to take their relationship to the next level.

Naruto decided to bail them out a little, well, at least, Kakashi at any rate. He hadn't been around Jiraiya enough to know for certain, but he had heard rumors and knew that he was the author of those books that Kakashi liked to read so much.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei hasn't taught me anything about girls. I only learned about those things from Shizune-nee. I don't know about shishō, yet, I just met him." Naruto said as he tried to remove his face from Tsunade's chest.

"You just remember, Naruto-kun, if you want to really learn about women it takes a woman to understand them. Don't read any books by your shishō either, like the ones you see Kakashi reading all the time." Tsunade said seriously as she cupped his cheek gently.

Naruto nodded "I won't oba-chan."

"Now I know why Shizune said you were a good boy. I can see why she said so." Tsunade said before she walked over to Hiruzen's desk and snatched a pen and paper off of it.

She scrawled some things onto the paper before handing it to Naruto. "That is how to get to the Senju compound. I am usually there for lunch or in the evenings. I want you to come and see me soon, Naruto-kun. There is much I want to learn about you, and I can tell you so many things about your mother as well. You will come and see me soon, right?" Tsunade said.

"I will be training for the Chūnin Exam finals, but I will try to come and see you as often as I can," Naruto replied.

"Good, I look forward to it, Naruto-kun. Now, why don't you go meet up with some friends? I have some business to attend to with your shishō and my sensei." Tsunade said while cracking her knuckles.

Naruto merely nodded before tossing a glance at Kakashi. Kakashi put his book away and waved at Jiraiya with his standard eye smile before both him and Naruto Shunshined out of the office.

Jiraiya was cowering in the corner, and Hiruzen had a flat look on his face while Tsunade advanced on them with a look of rage on her face.

Hiruzen knew that once she got done pounding on Jiraiya, she would just start yelling at him and probably put him on a guilt trip, which was deserved. She wouldn't dare lay a hand on him, though. He may be old, but he was still the Kami of Shinobi, and he didn't gain that title without reason.

 **Outside of the Hokage Tower**

* * *

Naruto and Kakashi both appeared in a swirl of leaves near the entrance to the tower.

"Naruto, thanks for the save back there. I'm glad you didn't tell her about how I liked to swap your manga with my books randomly." Kakashi said.

"Don't worry about it, sensei. I already got you back for that, but all bets are off in the future." Naruto replied with a sly grin.

"Here I was going to buy your ramen for that save, but I guess we will just call it even," Kakashi said lazily. "I already sent Bull and Pakkun to find Hinata and Sasuke and tell them to meet us here. How are you feeling Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"I feel so much better now that the snake bastard is out of my head. Kyūbi managed to remove the seal completely so I don't have to worry about it at all. I have to watch out for side effects from the natural chakra, though, since he flushed my chakra system to make sure that there wasn't any tainted chakra remaining." Naruto explained.

Naruto did not mention anything about using perfectly balanced chakra because Kurama had warned him it was dangerous to provide that information. After Kurama had explained his reasoning, Naruto agreed and decided to just tell everyone that it was natural chakra alone.

"Then that is the first thing I will be grateful to the Kyūbi for," Kakashi said seriously "No one has managed to ever remove the seals and the victims had to always worry about the containment failing and falling prey to him."

"Yea I don't think anyone else could manage that kind of thing. Kyūbi said it was dangerous but that I had the right composition of chakra combined with his to remove it. However, I did manage to learn a few things about it from him and with some time, I think I could manage a counter seal to break it with less danger." Naruto said

"That would be quite impressive, Naruto, but why do you think it would be possible?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"Well, the problem with the Curse marks is that they use natural chakra that Orochimaru tainted since he was incapable of establishing sage mode on his own. Somehow, he managed to find an accessible source of natural chakra and stored it away. I don't know how he managed to taint the chakra itself. Probably while he performed experiments to make a fake sage mode. In a way, it worked, he did create a false sage mode, but the people using that sage mode become deformed because the chakra is tainted." Naruto explained

"Hmm, that makes sense. I have never seen either Orochimaru or Tsunade use sage mode, but I had been lead to believe that those races didn't have a sage mode." Kakashi said.

"Shishō told me that the snakes, for certain, are capable, but that Orochimaru couldn't survive Hakuja's venom and was rejected for further training," Naruto replied before he continued with his explanation.

"Somehow, Orochimaru learned to combine the tainted chakra with another medium to create his curse seals as we see them now. The basic premise is the same for both of his marks from what Jiraiya has explained. The victim is either tormented or encouraged to draw on the tainted chakra created by the seal corrupting their system, once the victim draws on the chakra the tainted chakra spreads faster and overwhelms their senses while providing them with a significant boost in power and speed. Once the mark has been used, however, Orochimaru will have direct access to tampering with your spirit or soul depending on which mark you received."

Kakashi nodded as he knew that much about the marks.

"With the Kyūbi's help, though, I found a way to convert natural chakra to yin or yang chakra. I just have to find a way to reverse it. Then we can make a seal that will inject pure natural chakra into the curse seal and purify the tainted chakra before using another seal to drain the natural chakra from the body. This should ensure that there are no harmful effects. At least, I think it would work that way." Naruto concluded.

"So you aren't inclined to believe that killing him would solve the whole issue?" Kakashi said.

"Perhaps, but he was talking about taking Sasuke's body from what Hinata and Sasuke mentioned. The mark he gave me had his spiritual energy in it to try and control me with his will. If he made one that gave a portion of his soul, then he may be able to perform a jutsu to fake reincarnation in a way so he could be reborn." Naruto said.

"That would be something that snake would try to do," Kakashi replied in a venomous tone.

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Hinata, who flew at Naruto almost knocking him off balance. Naruto merely embraced her back since he could tell she was worried.

Naruto sensed a strong foreign feeling from Hinata as his arms closed around her, but he just disregarded it since it didn't feel malicious to him.

" **That feeling you sense from your comrade is lust. It is one of the most dangerous and controlling emotions that humans succumb to. Do not disregard it so easily kit."** Kurama's voice rang out in warning.

 _'You mean Hinata wants to do THAT!?'_ Naruto replied in a semi-panicked tone.

" **Not necessarily, kit. Remember, during human maturation phases, these types of emotions are commonly present without intent. The white eyed vixen is most likely already maturing since females start earlier than males."** Kurama replied.

Naruto released a sigh of relief which he didn't realize caused Hinata to blush as his breath blew across her ear and neck.

"Naruto-kun, I'm so glad you are okay! You are okay right?" Hinata asked.

"I am, Hinata-chan, you don't have to worry anymore. The curse mark has been removed completely so he can't try to control me anymore." Naruto said tenderly as he patted her on the back.

Hinata tightened her grip before exhaling into Naruto's neck and down his shirt. Turnabout is fair play after all.

"Oh, thank Kami! I feared the worst when we hadn't heard from you for so long. Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Hinata said.

Naruto eyes widened slightly, and he stiffened up when he felt Hinata's breath ghosting along his neck and spine. Feeling uncomfortable with the strange emotion growing within him, he simply patted Hinata's back once more placing his hands on her shoulders and gently stepping out of the embrace.

"I'm sorry about that, Hinata-chan, but I wasn't awake. I was unconscious for three days and only woke up yesterday afternoon." Naruto said before he released Hinata.

"Oh, I didn't realize," Hinata said sadly.

Hinata was mainly sad because Naruto had moved away from her embrace after she had tried to stir feelings within him. Was it still too soon for him? She was certain he had shown signs, but it could simply be his caring nature.

Kakashi internally groaned, but he wouldn't interfere with the situation. It would likely take something pretty obvious to make Naruto realize Hinata's feelings but at the same time, he wondered if it would be a good thing to try and stir those feelings. While they were not too young to begin exploring such feelings, being shinobi meant that they would naturally move at a much faster pace than normal which could be problematic given their circumstances.

Hinata was a clan heiress and her choices for marriage would be limited if she was allowed a choice at all. The clan elders were infamous for having their children 'wedded and bedded' by the time they were 18 so that the couples would give birth sooner, and the clan would grow as fast as possible. They also liked to curry favor with daughters so Hinata was already at a disadvantage. If she weren't the heiress, Kakashi wouldn't have been surprised to see her shipped off to some favored relative of the Daimyō.

Naruto would have to find a woman who sees Naruto for who he is, not what is inside him. Once his heritage was revealed he would be chased by all sorts of gold diggers, fame hunters, and political marriage proposals. Not including the fact that Naruto is naive about such things, he also had trust issues which could drive most women away thinking he had no interest in them.

Kakashi also had to wonder what it would be like to have a voyeur like the Kyūbi for every intimate encounter you would have in the future.

'That could really be awkward.' Kakashi thought with a sweat drop.

Sasuke arrived a short time later and after gripping forearms with Naruto, they headed towards Ichiraku's for an early lunch before they all departed for various things.

After they had placed their orders, Naruto told Sasuke and Hinata about how the mark was removed, all the things he saw in Myōbokuzan, and spoke about Jiraiya and the toads he met in detail. He also mentioned how he was apprenticed to Jiraiya and would start training with him.

"Hn, you better train hard so that you can give the village a good showing before I beat you, Naruto. Just be ready for second place," Sasuke smirked.

Naruto grinned at Sasuke "You better beg Kakashi-sensei for all of his moves because when shishō shows me all his moves, I'm gonna mop the floor with you Sasuke." before lightly nudging him with an elbow.

Sasuke merely elbowed him back before returning to his meal for a moment. After he finished his next bite of noodles, he looked back at Naruto.

"So after the finals you're going to be gone for quite awhile then right?" Sasuke asked.

"Yea, shishō said three or four years probably," Naruto said with a sigh.

"When are you going to leave for the trip?" Hinata asked softly.

"Well, he said that he needs to deal with some business after the finals, so I will probably have two or three months here before we leave on the trip," Naruto said.

Hinata sighed. "It's a wonderful opportunity Naruto-kun. I can only imagine all the things you will see and learn with Jiraiya-sama. I have heard that he usually spends time in every land on the continent during his trips."

"It's true, for the most part, but it doesn't mean it's always fun and games. You can imagine going someplace like Iwa would be dangerous for him. Plus, many lands have active civil wars like Kiri or are on the verge of war with some of the smaller villages. Unlike the big five villages, the smaller villages are often growing or disappearing as they fight each other for territory or grudges." Kakashi said.

"Still to be able to travel the world, he will have to become strong. Well, you know what that means, don't you?" Sasuke said.

"What's that?" Naruto replied.

"You will just have to worry about taking care of Orochimaru because I will kill Danzō before you get back, don't worry about that," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Fine, I guess you have more of a reason to kill him than I do. Don't worry Sasuke-chan, I'll save you from Orochimaru." Naruto teased.

"Tch whatever, baka. Don't become his little boy toy while you're out there. At least, I didn't get a hickey from the bastard." Sasuke retaliated with a shove.

Naruto and Sasuke began playfully taunting each other with insults and shoving each others ramen bowls out of range when the other tried to get more noodles to eat. Only a stern glare from Ayame while she waved her broth ladle threateningly stopped their rough housing, but there were no hard feelings between the three.

Hinata merely shook her head at their antics. No wonder her aunt was always muttering under her breath about boys.

"So, are you going to leave for training now Sasuke?" Hinata asked.

"Yea, Kakashi-sensei was just waiting for Naruto to come back before we leave. Where are you going to train Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Actually, shishō said we would be staying near the village. He probably already knew that oba-chan would kick his ass if he took me far away after she just met me." Naruto replied.

"Oh, you met your oba-chan? That's fantastic news Naruto-kun! Who is she?" Hinata asked.

"Tsunade Senju" Naruto replied without thinking, too invested in his ramen ritual to realize what he had just let slip.

Sasuke and Hinata sweat dropped at Naruto's response.

"Tsunade-sama is your aunt!? Does that mean you are a Senju?" Hinata asked excitedly.

Hinata could not keep the canary eating grin off her face with this news. This could change everything in her favor and sabotage any plans the elders had for her.

Naruto realized that he had just stepped into a pitfall with what he said. He didn't think it would be a problem revealing his heritage to his teammates, but the Hokage had been clear about revealing it to anyone before he reached Chūnin.

"Well, she said if Jiraiya was my shishō then she would be my oba-chan," Naruto said quickly while he focused on his noodles. Inwardly he was cursing himself for that blunder. It was was too difficult for him to concentrate on anything else when the temptress that was Miso was before him.

Kakashi just shook his head in exasperation. That wasn't a very smooth lie at all and wouldn't fool Hinata for a moment.

Both Sasuke and Hinata had their eyes narrowed at Naruto. Naruto was not very good at lying outright and every time he tried it was almost painfully obvious to them, now that they had gotten to know him. Naruto actually preferred to tell half truths or omit the truth entirely which he was good at. If you could force him to talk about a secret, then it became obvious, but you needed the clues to put him in the position of having to discuss what he was keeping secret. That was not an easy task in itself as he had managed to learn that lesson from the Sandaime pretty well.

"Hn, if you say so Naruto." Sasuke merely said.

He could understand keeping it a secret. If Naruto turned out to be from a famous clan, after all, the bastards in the village would treat him falsely. Sasuke hated those people too. It made a lot of sense if he was related to the slug sannin also. Sasuke didn't believe for a moment that the Kyūbi would be sealed in a nameless orphan. Something of that nature would only be trusted to a tried and true bloodline in his opinion.

Sasuke snorted as he realized that if Naruto were inclined to, he could probably get away with anything since the Hokage favored him so. Now he had ties to both of the Sannin as well. Luckily, Naruto wasn't that type of person.

Hinata, on the other hand, decided she had some research to do. If Naruto had Senju blood in him, even if he was illegitimate, that line was too important to the village to die out. With Tsunade being as old as she was and not showing any interest in marriage it would be up to Naruto to continue the line.

She would have to ask her father about the Senju branches and see where they all led. Maybe there was hope for her after all. She could be with Naruto and satisfy all the elder's requirements. There was no way they could refuse marriage to a Senju.

With any luck, she could have a proposition written up and stored away while he was on his trip. Then when he returned she would pull out all the stops to win his heart. She was more than capable of winning him away from any other woman in the village, she was certain. She just had to hope some other slut didn't dig their claws into him during his trip.

"Well, I'm glad that you will be around the village Naruto-kun. Maybe I can train with you sometimes if Jiraiya-sama allows it? I do still have some classes with Tsunade-sama during the week and some training with my father on the weekend." Hinata queried.

"I'll ask shishō about it, but he might tease you a lot if you do train with us. Oba-chan says he's a major pervert." Naruto warned.

"I'm sure I can handle it Naruto-kun. Otherwise, I'm confident father could if he crosses the line," Hinata said sweetly.

Team 7 finished up their food and after a quick trip to the Uchiha compound to collect Sasuke's gear, they headed off to the southern gate to say their farewells.

Hinata and Naruto watched Kakashi and Sasuke vanish into the woods before turning to make their way back towards the center of the village. Both of them were strolling along casually enjoying the warm spring weather typical for Hi no Kuni in peaceful silence. As they neared the village center, Hinata decided to break the comfortable silence.

"What are you going to do for the rest of the day Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Well, I have to go find shishō and see what he plans to do for training, after that I should check on my plants and water them. Hopefully, Tora didn't cause too much damage to my mint plants, and there aren't any pests eating my herbs. I don't know what I will do after that." Naruto shrugged.

"If you want to come train your taijutsu with me some more, I'll be at our training ground practicing my chakra control exercises in a few hours," Hinata offered.

"I'd like that Hinata-chan, but I don't know if shishō has any plans to start training today so don't wait up for me, okay?" Naruto said with a soft smile.

"Okay, Naruto-kun. I hope I will see you later," Hinata said.

As they neared the central market square, Naruto wished Hinata luck in her training before making his way across the crowded square towards the Hokage Tower.

Hinata sighed as Naruto left. She would have to hurry to the clan library and look at their lineage records to see if there was any association with the Senju and any other family names. If not there then the Village library would have more answers.

The Village Library was created as a requirement for the Nara clan to join Konoha during the days of Hashirama. All clans were required to submit copies of all historical books or scrolls that were not a part of clan techniques or secrets before joining the Village and access to the library was tightly controlled. The more a clan contributed to the library, the greater the land grant they received as well as more members being allowed access. This served as an effective means to pool all knowledge from different areas of the continent as well as the clan histories and family trees as well.

The more Hinata learned about Naruto, the bigger the secrets she would find about him. Secrets are known only by the highest echelons of the Village government which pointed to Naruto being a lot more than he seemed. Hinata was determined to learn all his secrets, and she wouldn't let any opportunity slip through her fingers if she could help it.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hiruzen sighed as Tsunade finally calmed down and accepted his apology for leaving her in the dark about Naruto.

Tsunade had been adamant that she would have just delegated all her hospital plans to raise Naruto properly until he had graduated from the Academy. The only reason she was traveling out of the village to shore up the medical training in all Hi no Kuni hospitals and clinics was because she wanted Shizune to gain experience running the hospital in Konoha. If she were close at hand Shizune would try to lean on her too much, and with no other family left she chose to fulfill one of her childhood goals of establishing standardized healthcare to reduce unnecessary deaths.

Hiruzen had admitted he had screwed up, but it had seemed like the best idea to keep Naruto safe at the time, and there was nothing that could be done about it now.

Jiraiya appeased Tsunade by promising to start his training earlier in the morning so that Naruto could visit with Tsunade at least twice a week in the evenings and would arrange a deal with Gamakichi to bring back letters to her on a regular basis during the trip.

Sure the training trip would put a damper on Tsunade's attempts to bond with the boy, but it would be Jiraiya's chance to mold him into a great and honorable shinobi as he did Minato. Then Naruto would return a young man, and Tsunade could shape him to be a gentleman she could be proud of.

Now that Tsunade had settled down and began working on her "paperwork training," Hiruzen thought about his own plans for the future. If he managed to survive this invasion, he would get to relax and rekindle his relationship with Asuma and Konohamaru. He was certain Naruto would also visit him on occasion as he was wont to do even now, but Hiruzen hoped he would spend more time with Tsunade and Jiraiya so his bonds with the village would grow and counter the Kyūbi's influence on him.

He was interrupted by his musing the seal on his desk flashed three times. Hiruzen responded by channeling his chakra to allow Naruto entry into the office. Seeing Naruto reminded him that he needed to get Kakashi back for his role in setting Tsunade on him. Jiraiya already got his just desserts which he was currently nursing in the corner of the office.

Tsunade looked up to see who entered the office, giving Naruto a smile before turning her attention back to reviewing the latest village patrol and border patrol reports.

"Well, Naruto-kun. Did you get to meet with your teammates?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yea. I saw Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke off at the gates with Hinata-chan before I came to see what shishō has planned for me," Naruto said as he walked over to the crumpled form of Jiraiya.

"Shishō? Are you alright?" Naruto said before poking him on the shoulder.

Jiraiya jumped up with a smile and a thumbs up. "Just fine, Naruto. So, what do you think you need the most work on," Jiraiya asked.

Naruto hummed in thought for a moment. "Well, I know I do still need more work on my taijutsu since my style tends to focus on ninjutsu and clones overall. While I am proficient in the Academy style, Kakashi-sensei said I needed to be proficient in a different style. While I have been working on two other styles, the problem I have is that both styles have very specific requirements, if you catch my meaning."

"Hmm. That will be a problem for the finals against a skilled kenjutsu user, especially from Kumo, they have been putting a lot of emphasis on kenjutsu lately so I have no doubt that this genin team is probably close to jōnin level in skill. Did you have any plans for learning any kenjutsu at all?" Jiraiya asked.

"I didn't think it would be conducive to my style of fighting since I use clones almost exclusively to apply my fūinjutsu seals before launching combination jutsu. If people see a sword, they will prefer to stay out of range, or they will be much more skilled at close combat than I am and close the distance to reduce the cutting range and effective thrusting capability of a sword." Naruto said.

"It might not be a bad idea to look into someone to teach you it anyways. A tantō or a ninjato are short enough that your clones can still be effective distractions for fūinjutsu. Mostly you would use it to keep them away from you directly or fool them into thinking you're a close range specialist while you set them up for a jutsu combination. I can show you the basics, but I'm not the best at it. You let me know after the finals if you decide to learn, and I can arrange for a teacher during our trip. Other than that, I will help you develop your strategy against a close range fighter." Jiraiya said seriously.

"Oh! What kind of schedule were you thinking of, shishō? Hinata-chan wanted to know if she could join us for some training as well," Naruto said.

Jiraiya and Tsunade raised an eyebrow at that.

"So, you want to spend more time with the little hime do you? I think we might be able-" Jiraiya was interrupted by a paperweight chucked by Tsunade.

"Don't you dare sabotage his training for your research, you pervert!." Tsunade said.

"Now, Naruto-kun, do you mean Hinata as in Hinata Hyūga?" Tsunade said sweetly. It was time for some good old-fashioned threatening, she wouldn't let just any girl get close to her nephew unless they had only good intentions.

"Yea, oba-chan, she's my teammate. She is really nice, and we like to hang out sometimes, she even likes to do extra training with Sasuke and me, none of the other girls I know are as serious about training as she is. With Kakashi-sensei gone and her father being busy, I'm worried she will think we are leaving her behind because she didn't make the finals." Naruto said earnestly.

"Of course. A man's gotta take care of his girlfriend, after all. So, have you spent any time outside of training with her?" Jiraiya said with a perverted look on his face.

Tsunade growled at the thought.

"WHAT? No, it's not like that at all ** _!_** I don't have a girlfriend! I'm too young for that sort of thing, shishō." Naruto said with a red face.

"That's right, Naruto. You are too young for that sort of thing. You keep that in mind." Tsunade said with a glare at Jiraiya.

"Oh, come on, Tsunade-hime! It's quite normal for boys his age to begin enjoying the opposite sex," Jiraiya said as he ducked another paperweight.

"He can worry about that when he comes back from his training trip you pervert. Don't forget what I said either, both of you." Tsunade said with a pointed look at Jiraiya.

"Don't worry about your teammate, Naruto-kun. I will make certain she won't be forgotten. She is in my class after all. I will take real good care of her." Tsunade said with a smirk.

"Really? Thanks, oba-chan. I bet she will be really excited to hear that ** _!_** " Naruto said with a smile.

"Of course, anything for you Naruto-kun. Now you just worry about your training, and I will take care of everything." Tsunade said reassuringly.

Hiruzen sighed. Just one more month and he wouldn't have to deal with the fallout from these kinds of things. Hopefully, Tsunade isn't too hard on the heiress so he didn't have to deal with Hiashi as well.

He knew what Tsunade was concerned about, of course. Hinata being the Hyūga heiress was probably already signed up for an arraigned marriage to one of the other clan heirs or a nobleman's son. Even the Daimyō's grandson was probably on that list as well.

She would also be quite aware of this fact and looking for someone to have "fun" with before she was tied down in 5 or 6 years. It was something the Hyūga were infamous for since they never accepted a purity clause in their marriage contracts.

Hiruzen didn't think Hinata was doing this out of any malicious intent. In fact, he believed that Hinata was genuinely interested in Naruto, but he could understand Tsunade wanting to warn the girl away from playing with his heart.

Naruto was very caring once you made it past his defenses and all signs pointed to him behaving just like his father. Minato had fallen hard for Kushina when he first laid eyes on her, and no other girl ever caught his eye. Sadly, Minato was too much of a jutsu nerd to know how to approach her until much later in life. The young lovers would only be together for a few years before their lives were cut short. At least, he had fifty-seven years with his beloved Biwako before they were parted.

"When is your next class, Tsunade?" Hiruzen asked.

"Tomorrow, sensei. I will see the girls tomorrow along with Shizune," Tsunade replied.

Hiruzen sighed again. It would be an interesting month, at least, one final battle for him in the twilight of his years.

Hiruzen got up and left a clone behind to assist Tsunade as he returned home to continue his physical training. He needed to be ready for the fight of his life.


	32. A New Legend Begins

****Disclaimer**** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 ** **Bijū/Summon Speaking****

 ** _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_**

 _ _Naruto mental reply__

 ** _ **!**_** \- dattebayo

Edited 4/21/16

 ** **Chapter 31****

 ** **A New Legend Begins****

 ** **3 days later - Secret Training grounds – Hi no Kuni****

* * *

Sasuke stood in front of a few standing logs that would become tonight's firewood. He concentrated on channeling Raiton chakra into a small ball between his fingers, waiting to feel the build up before creating a cone of regular chakra to guide the extra pressure in the direction he wanted.

He was working on the seal-less jutsu called Raigeki (Lightning Strike) that Kakashi showed him. It took a lot of concentration, currently, but if he was able to master it, he could essentially strike multiple people just by raising his hand and sending a concentrated bolt of lightning that was guided by a normal chakra shell. He still had a lot of work to do until he had mastered the jutsu since he still needed two hands to create the right build up of Raiton chakra.

Sasuke was surprised that Kakashi was also training alongside him. He wondered if it had something to do with the plan that Itachi had mentioned. Sasuke didn't fully trust Kakashi like Naruto did, but he admitted it seemed likely Kakashi wasn't Root. The man was too secretive and deceptive for his tastes, which only caused him to be suspicious of the man. He had to admit that he was highly talented, though, maybe as talented as Itachi.

Kakashi was getting a good workout trying to keep up with Sasuke. He had put his trust into Naruto and asked for his improved gravity seals before the Chūnin exams. While he had not really needed to increase his speed, his strength and stamina had been flagging. Now he had adapted to level 2 on the gravity seals, and he still had a significant stack of chakra seals that Naruto had created for him before the exams.

Kakashi had yet to use his allotted two for the day since he had focused on his physical training mostly, but he decided to run through his Raikiri (Lightning Cutter) practice before using up his seals. Since he began using Naruto's seals in training, he noticed that his reserves had probably increased by ¼ over the past six months which was fairly significant when compared to standard training.

Kakashi became alert as he sensed an intruder briefly when the wind shifted. He prepared himself for trouble until he saw Itachi Uchiha emerge from the tree line.

Sasuke had not noticed his presence yet as he was shooting off a Raigeki right at the same moment. The attack hit the first target dead on, but Sasuke lost control of the chakra shell and only grazed the second log before the bolt of lighting veered off course completely and struck a boulder.

"It's been a long time, Kakashi-taichou," Itachi said.

"It has, Itachi. I'm glad everything that was said about you was wrong." Kakashi replied genuinely. "I couldn't believe it was true when I heard."

"Itachi-nii!" Sasuke called out when he heard his voice.

"I'm glad, Kakashi-taichou, but I don't have a lot of time to catch up now. I have come on behalf of Jiraiya-sama to reveal the plan for the finals." Itachi said.

Kakashi nodded when he heard that. He had been warned by Jiraiya to expect an agent of his to fill him in with the latest info.

"So, what is the plan?" Kakashi said.

"I will explain everything to you both, but we must use our Sharingan to make sure the transfer of information is safe," Itachi replied.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan while Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate. Itachi activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and used Tsukiyomi to relay the information about the invasion and everything that occurred leading up to this point.

To an outside observer, it would only seem like a minute had passed before Itachi, and Sasuke deactivated their eyes. As Kakashi recovered his eye, he shook his head and said, "I can't believe that after all that time, no one realized the truth. It should have only taken days to sort out that mess, but four years?"

"As you can see, taichō, the plan is necessary, but we must be cautious. The details of the invasion must remain secret Sasuke. That means you can't even tell Naruto-kun about it." Itachi said.

"I don't understand, though. Naruto deserves to have a hand in the invasion also, after all, the shit Danzō put him through..." Sasuke said.

"Itachi is right, Sasuke. Naruto will have more to worry about than Root. If we are lucky, it is only Suna and their jinchūriki that will attack us. Besides Jiraiya and the Hokage, no one can hope to stop him if he goes into his full bijū mode, besides Naruto." Kakashi said.

"If I take him out quick enough, that won't matter," Sasuke said stubbornly.

"That does not matter, Sasuke. Naruto-kun must remain away from the Root base, and Danzō will not likely leave the base even for a sure thing. We must lure him out as planned, but this lure may cause Naruto-kun to lose control of the Kyūbi if he hears about it from someone else, that is why Naruto-kun must keep his focus on the Ichibi." Itachi said.

"If Naruto loses control, then Danzō and the council will have the means to force Naruto into Root or be executed," Sasuke said in realization.

"He may even use Shisui's eye on Naruto if that is the case. We have to ensure Danzō leaves the base so that our strike team can assault him without a lot of Root reinforcements. All intelligence we have lists his primary base as having at least 250 shinobi from recruit rank to veterans and his other bases in Hi no Kuni house at least 50 agents. We have no intelligence on how many of those smaller bases he has, but rumor has it that there are at least three." Kakashi replied.

"I don't see how keeping this from him is a better idea. I think he is less likely to rush off to the Root base if we tell him what is going on." Sasuke said.

"Would you, Sasuke? If we told you that instead of possibly facing Danzō, you would guard the Academy instead?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke just looked down at the ground. He knew the answer would be no and Naruto would not let Sasuke go alone if he could help it. If Sasuke knew where Danzō was the first thing he would do after putting down Gaara in the finals would be going after that bastard. Naruto would follow him no matter what.

"We will need you and Hinata to watch him during the invasion and assist him with the Ichibi jinchūriki. You will also have to watch out for the Hachibi jinchūriki from Kumo and see if he is going to be a problem. Some of our sources have said that Kumo has begun to show an interest in Naruto-kun." Itachi said seriously.

"I understand, Nii-san. I'm just not sure about all of it," Sasuke said.

"Put it this way, Sasuke. You know better than most what Naruto would do during an attack. Think back to our mission in Nami no Kuni. What was the first thing he did?" Kakashi said

"He stuck with the mission plan for the team first," Sasuke said.

"Right, and what was the second thing he did?" Kakashi said in a knowing tone.

"He was mainly worried about guarding us with his clones and providing cover," Sasuke said.

"Only after those two objectives were complete did he finally lose control of the Kyūbi when he was overwhelmed by that blood lust. That is the key, Sasuke, as long as we provide important objectives for him to accomplish we can be confident that he won't deviate from the plan until those objectives are met." Kakashi said.

"Normally, I wouldn't have told you about something like this Sasuke, because it is too dangerous, but you are the type who would have convinced Naruto to abandon the plan when you saw an opportunity to take down Danzō. You know this is true so don't argue." Itachi added as Sasuke was about to retort.

Sasuke had an open look of shock on his face before he closed his mouth and glowered. "You make it sound as if I would easily betray everyone just to do whatever I want."

"It is something you need to keep in mind, Sasuke. Not because you are just a fickle person who is capable of betrayal in that manner, but because it is something all Uchiha must be wary of. It is the cost of such power we receive from our eyes. Look at the power of the Mangekyō and look at the price required to gain it. To lose something _important_ to you in a tragic manner before your very eyes." Itachi lectured.

"I've never felt like that before, though. I'll admit I was ready to leave the village if it meant that Danzō died, but I never wanted to just backstab everyone." Sasuke said adamantly.

"Tell me, Sasuke. What if I told you that the only way to kill Danzō was for you to get your Mangekyō and that the only way for you to get your Mangekyō would be to kill Naruto or me. What would you do?" Itachi asked with his Sharingan flaring to life.

Sasuke just clenched his teeth and fists as he thought that question over. Was it worth Itachi or Naruto's life to ensure that the kin killer died? Danzō needed to pay for what he had done. That bastard had killed so many innocent people, but would he be willing to kill Naruto or Itachi to ensure that the bastard suffered? He could never kill Itachi that was for certain and Naruto...

The image of Naruto's smiling face came unbidden, with the naginata impaled in his chest and his hands gripping the blade to save him.

'No, I can't think like that. Naruto doesn't need to sacrifice himself for me, even if he would be happy to do it to save my life.' Sasuke said as he began to shake.

He was jolted out of his thoughts when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Itachi with a sympathetic look on his face.

"The Sharingan showed you the answer to that question, didn't it Sasuke? An image was displayed before your eyes when you thought of the question. Tell me, Sasuke. What did your eyes show you?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke lowered his head and mumbled lowly. "It was when I awoke my Sharingan for the first time. Naruto's clone jumped in front of me to take a strike from a naginata and gripped the blade with his bare hands so that it wouldn't impale me. I didn't know it was a clone at the time. I thought he actually died. It was when he smiled at me before he dispelled."

"That is the price you Sharingan demands, Sasuke, for the Mangekyō to manifest. It might have already begun to manifest at that moment, but before it could unlock completely, you calmed yourself down and didn't give into the anger and grief." Itachi said sadly.

"I had to watch as my best friend was murdered to earn my Mangekyō, Sasuke, and Shisui told me he unlocked his when he saw the building his girlfriend was searching explode because of a trap set by missing-nin." Itachi reiterated.

Kakashi remembered all too well the cost he had to pay. He saw it often in his nightmares or when he saw her name on the memorial stone.

The vision of Rin with shock and blood on her face as his Chidori impaled her chest.

Kakashi had believed it was Obito's way of showing his anger at him from the afterlife, by showing that image to him over and over again to feel his anger and pain, but with this revelation from Itachi, it could simply be the Sharingan taking it's due.

He wondered if it was because Rin was his teammate that he received his Mangekyō, or if it was Obito's love for Rin that caused it to unlock, even if Obito's eye was in his eye socket at the time.

Sasuke was silent for a moment. "Then I don't want it. I will get strong enough without it. I won't kill Naruto for power, and I don't want to watch him die so that I can benefit from it."

Itachi smiled at him. "Then I hope you never do unlock it then otōto."

"Will you stay around for long Itachi? Once all of this is done, you will probably be able to remain in the village." Kakashi asked.

"I will have to check in with Jiraiya first. I would like to, but there is another group that has been mobilizing, and while they aren't a direct threat to Konoha, at this time, they might be soon. I had been gathering information on them before I was reassigned by Jiraiya to look into Danzō and Orochimaru when he uncovered talk of invasion." Itachi said.

Kakashi nodded while Sasuke looked saddened. Itachi poked Sasuke on his forehead.

"Do not look so down, Sasuke, even if I will be traveling outside of the village, if all goes according to plan, I will have you with me as an apprentice like Jiraiya and Naruto. Who knows? We may even travel together for a time." Itachi said with a soft smile on his face.

Sasuke looked up at him already feeling better. "Really? That would be awesome Nii-san!"

"Just remember, you need to do your part in the invasion to make sure we can have that opportunity," Itachi said.

Sasuke gained a determined look on his face. "I won't fail!"

Sasuke returned to his training with vigor. He might not get to kill the bastard himself, but there was still an invasion to worry about. He would do whatever he could to take Gaara out during the finals. If he succeeded then, they would be ready to face the Hachibi as a team if needed.

Kakashi nodded in thanks to Itachi for getting Sasuke to see reason. He knew Sasuke wouldn't listen to him when it came to certain matters. Sasuke would not disobey direct orders on a mission, but Sasuke also would not take any advice from him unless Naruto or Itachi convinced him to.

Kakashi watched as Sasuke continued with Raigeki before he turned to a series of boulders and readied his Raikiri.

There were going to be a lot of enemies to kill in just three weeks time, and most likely war would follow.

 ** **Chakra Cave Training Ground – Outskirts of Konoha****

* * *

"Okay, Naruto, you've shown me your jutsu arsenal, which is very impressive by the way, and we have reviewed two of your three taijutsu forms to my satisfaction. You have done a good job modifying your father's Hurricane fist for use with the Kawarimi and Shunshin," Jiraiya said proudly, "But there are some aspects of that style that you have misinterpreted. That will take some time so we will focus on that later. For now, let's focus on your mysterious third one, alright?"

Naruto nodded before he examined the dossier Jiraiya handed to him out of curiosity. Naruto was surprised to find his standings in taijutsu ranked as high as they were. Excluding his father's style, which he hadn't been able to focus on, his Academy style was listed at Chūnin level, and his Kyūbi taijutsu was at Jōnin.

"Well, the redacted taijutsu form requires me to be using Kyūbi's chakra cloak. I can successfully hold two tails of the Kyūbi's power for a half hour before I have to disengage to prevent losing out to the bloodlust or severe damage to my body to start occurring." Naruto replied before he put his hand up to his chin in thought.

"I'm not sure how much of an effect the seal removal might have had on that, though. I can feel that my chakra pathways have... merged... a little more with the Kyūbi I guess would be the correct term." Naruto said with a shrug.

Naruto was hesitant to refer to it as a deeper bond to the others just yet. He didn't think they would like the implications, and while he knew they trusted him, he also knew that they still didn't and probably wouldn't ever trust Kurama.

"I have to admit. I am curious to see how this form works in taijutsu so let's give that a shot first, then I'll help you on your father's style without the use of the Hiraishin. How is your work on the Hiraishin going by the way?" Jiraiya asked as prepared himself for the spar to come.

Naruto began to stretch his muscles as well to prepare. "I have gone through my mother's instructions on the basics of fūinjutsu, base layouts, and introductory symbols first since I did not have that foundation to learn from. I was able to move through those quickly, so I am now focusing on her intermediate and advanced layouts and symbols with my clones. I don't think I can even begin on the space-time concepts to that degree for quite a while."

"You are closer than you think, kid, you have already made the advanced storage seals right?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes, but that was a lot easier since it was just modifying my original array. I am still trying to master the spatial concepts when it comes to area effects without the use of multiple tags or seals. Thie security seal was my first success, but I still can't make a barrier in that manner." Naruto responded.

"That's because you're still stuck on using paper and ink. You should only really learn a few more variants of seals before you start refocusing your efforts on creating all your current seals without ink. You should only require paper for seals that need more than five rings or prongs for their arrays. That is something we will just have to work on during your trip." Jiraiya said.

"Okay, I'm ready when you are, Naruto, hit me with it," Jiraiya said as he got into a defensive stance.

Naruto nodded before focusing on his bond with Kurama and drawing on his chakra before he felt traces of rage begin to tickle his senses.

Jiraiya watched as the Kyūbi's chakra enveloped Naruto and couldn't help but stiffen a little. He had heard about the overwhelming bloodlust and rage from shinobi who had battled with the Kyūbi that fateful night, but this didn't feel close to that. It felt powerful; that was for certain, but it didn't have the malice in it.

Jiraiya saw that Naruto had manifested two tails of chakra and became a little worried when he saw a third emerge.

Naruto's eyes snapped open revealing his now blood red demonic eyes.

" ** **I am at my limit, for now, shishō. Here I come!"**** Naruto replied before a feral grin crossed his face.

Naruto bent over and set himself in a stance mimicking the Kyūbi, with his three chakra tails waving lazily about. Suddenly Naruto vanished from view in a burst of speed. Jiraiya's only warning was the cloud of dust kicked up by Naruto's dash.

Jiraiya ducked the double claw swipes towards his head. He then had to roll sideways to avoid the first tail that reached out to strike him. Jiraiya was forced to jump back while coming out of his roll to avoid the other two tails that lashed out from behind Naruto as he flew past him. Naruto had to dig his chakra claws into the ground and skid to a halt from the momentum of his first dash. Naruto dug into the ground and launched himself at Jiraiya again in a slower burst so he wouldn't overextend himself too much.

'He's pretty fast, and this style covers a lot of angles, but he is still using it too much like a berserker style. I suppose it works with the corrosive nature of the Kyūbi's chakra, but I think even a Jōnin could evade this easily for some time if they saw it coming.' Jiraiya thought.

Jiraiya dodged another claw swipe and lashed out with a thrust kick before one of the chakra tails could slash at him. Naruto flew back from the kick to his chest and landed on all fours before he rushed towards Jiraiya again deciding to aim low with his hands instead of aiming towards his head again.

Naruto dashed forwards and did a cross slash with this arms towards Jiraiya's legs causing him to hop over the attack. Naruto then planted his claws into the ground and launched a side kick towards Jiraiya while his one of his chakra tails blocked the incoming snap kick Jiraiya threw towards him while jumping.

Jiraiya managed to push off the chakra tail that blocked his counter to avoid the kick from Naruto. As soon as Jiraiya landed, he shuffled stepped closer into Naruto's guard and planted a kick to Naruto's ribs.

Naruto landed sprawled out on the ground and slid a few feet before springing back up on all fours and growling. He took a deep breath as he felt the rage increasing before he squelched it back down. Consistently missing was starting to annoy him, and the annoyance was amplified into anger while his Kyūbi cloak was active.

He dug deeper into his bond with Kurama to try and synchronize with Kurama's will instead of feeding off of the trace emotions. It took Naruto most of the five months before the Chūnin exams to find a loophole around the Hakke no Fūin Shiki and be able to link his mind with Kurama while pulling on his chakra. The seal still blocked most of that access in an attempt to prevent Kurama from affecting his mind in a negative manner.

Synchronizing helped reduce the damage done to his body and increase the amount of time he could activate the cloak while giving him greater control over the surrounding chakra. The drawbacks were that the chakra became less corrosive to their enemies, and negative emotions would start to build up in the chakra quicker. Kurama was able to offset this build up of emotions by drawing the instinctual reactions out of Naruto and keeping his logical mind clear, but it required drawing on Naruto's regular chakra leaving him more exhausted and potentially highly emotional when he dropped the cloak. Due to the last two side effects, Naruto only started to use the sync with Kurama if he felt in danger of losing control over himself.

Jiraiya watched in interest as the red chakra surrounding Naruto started to turn more of a reddish orange color. Before his change, he had begun to feel the malice leaking from the chakra around Naruto and was getting concerned.

'It must be some form of controlling his emotions so that he doesn't lose control but is he fighting off Kyūbi's influence or his own?

With Kurama's bracing presence active in his mind, Naruto renewed his assault by sprinting towards Jiraiya with a greater speed while growling loudly but instead of heading directly towards him; he feigned a wild attack at Jiraiya's left side to pretend he was getting more reckless and out of control. Jiraiya fell for the ruse and only slightly pivoted the attack before he had to quickly duck the first tail that stabbed out at his head.

Jiraiya was also able to avoid the second tail that attempted to slash at this shin, by lifting his leg up out of range, but realized it was all a trap for the third tail that stabbed him in the stomach.

Seeing that his surprise attack was going to be successful, Naruto flattened the tail's sharp tip at the last moment so instead of impaling Jiraiya, the tail acted like a hammering cross to Jiraiya's abdomen sending him flying back and slightly winding him.

Jiraiya was impressed that the kid landed that shot on him, however, Jiraiya had discovered that he didn't necessarily need to avoid blocking or parrying the attacks now. He had been more concerned about the corrosive nature of Kyūbi's chakra infecting him. Now he realized that the chakra needed to remain in contact with him for longer periods of time or break skin in order to begin causing damage.

A smirk came onto Jiraiya's face with that realization and after that Naruto was hard pressed to land another shot on Jiraiya. He only managed to land one other lucky tail bash from behind when Jiraiya had sent him flying overhead with a shoulder throw for recklessly charging at him head on.

Naruto began to feel the effects of the chakra cloak much sooner than a half hour and was confused for a moment. Missing Jiraiya constantly had started to build up his anger, and now his body was feeling more drained than usual.

 **"** ** **You have drawn three tails in this battle successfully, but it is still much higher than your body can take for now. You should disengage the cloak for now if you wish to continue training,"**** Kurama said.

Naruto paused and stood upright causing Jiraiya to send him a questioning look.

 **"S** ** **hishō, If we want to train other things I will need to stop now. Unless you would like to continue this for longer?"**** Naruto said

"It has only been like thirty minutes. Is it because you drew out the third tail this time?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto nodded.

"Hmm, I think we should push this for as long as you can to see your new limits. What I have planned after won't require too much exertion on your part." Jiraiya said as he settled back into his stance.

" ** **Okay, shishō,"**** Naruto said before a feral grin crossed his face. ****"I'm going to get you this time,"**** he growled out as he assumed his four-legged stance.

Jiraiya merely smirked, "Your ten years too young to get me just yet, brat. Even with the Kyūbi holding your hand."

Master and student collided with a flurry of punches, kicks, tail swipes and bashes for another fifteen minutes before Naruto's cloak faded and he collapsed to the ground disheveled and breathing heavily.

"Damn it! I can't believe I only hit you three times." Naruto panted out as he laid spread eagle out on the cave floor with his muscles aching. He was a little impressed that he had lasted 45 minutes, and while he was unreasonably angry right now, the anger was under control. His body was still protesting physically, however, and his chakra reserves were probably down by a quarter.

"You did good, kid. You should be proud that you managed to hit me at all. I am a Sannin for a reason, you know." Jiraiya said as he plopped down on a rock to rest.

Naruto had given him a damn good run for his money and Jiraiya could tell he might have a few sore muscles in the morning. Those tails were simply diabolical in taijutsu as they could seemingly expand and come out of nowhere. The final strike Naruto had successfully landed was because the blasted tail disappeared into the cloak and then reappeared out of Naruto's arm when Jiraiya had moved to hip toss him. He had not agreed with Kakashi's assessment of granting Naruto a Jōnin level in that taijutsu form until now.

"I would say with a bit more practice; you could easily take on a Jōnin in that form. I don't think too many Jōnin could last for an hour against that. They would have to hope to set you up for a big jutsu finisher or a trap of some kind." Jiraiya said

"I can just roar most of those away, in that case, but it does reduce the time I can keep the cloak active. Roaring tends to stir up more of the latent emotions in the Kyūbi's chakra for some reason, but it can reflect most B level or lower jutsu thrown at me. Jiji and Kakashi-sensei wouldn't let me test it out on any A or S ranks, so I don't know if would work on those. " Naruto replied.

"What do you mean by latent emotions exactly? Isn't it the Kyūbi's influence you are resisting?" Jiraiya said in a curious tone.

Naruto hummed in thought for a moment. "It's hard to explain, but I'll try my best."

 **"** ** **Simply tell him about me being a construct of chakra and that my will is manifest through my chakra body so the seal blocks my will but not my emotions,"**** Kurama said

It was partially true, or would be true if Naruto had not bonded with Kurama in the way that they had. Plus there was the little loophole that would remain a secret as well.

Kurama could exert his will over Naruto now, instead of simply waiting for Naruto to be emotionally taxed or lost in emotions. Kurama just preferred not to do so since he felt it would be hypocritical of him when he complained of jinchūriki using bijū chakra against the bijū's will. Naruto had never done something so vile to him so he wouldn't do that to his kit unless the situation was dire, like with Orochimaru's curse mark.

 _ _'I guess that would be sufficient.'__ Naruto replied.

"The best way I can describe it is that when I use the Kyūbi's chakra, I can feel the emotions tied to it. I think because the seal allows the flow of chakra unhindered, the Kyūbi can only flood its chakra with its feelings to try and overwhelm my control." Naruto said casually.

"How did the Kyūbi manage to take control of you when I removed the Gogyō Fūin if that was the case?" Jiraiya thought out loud.

"I don't really have an answer for that, shishō. My memories after you removed the Gogyō Fūin are hazy and scattered at best. The more I try to sort them out the more they just don't make sense to me." Naruto replied.

He didn't remember much except for Kurama's instructions and feeling the immersion into Kurama himself. Those feelings he had experienced were beyond anything he could describe. In the end, it left him with a sense of closeness he had never experienced before, and it felt wonderful to him.

Jiraiya, realizing he had said his thought out loud, decided to expand on his thoughts out loud so Naruto wouldn't come under the impression that Jiraiya was suspicious of him.

"It must have been a result of the Kyūbi building up and expelling his chakra behind the seal in an attempt to thwart Orochimaru's mark. The Gogyō Fūin probably allowed a pocket of his chakra to build up. Your weakened state from the emotional torment probably gave him the opportunity to burst through the seal and take control." Jiraiya mused.

"I am grateful for that then. I hate to admit it, but that bastard was really starting to get to me after only a week." Naruto said in disappointment. "I feel like it should have been easier to resist for longer than that. If you and the Kyūbi had not been there, I might be that snake bastard's little minion right now." Naruto finished with a scowl.

"Now, don't beat yourself up about that, Naruto. Psychological torture is much harder to resist than physical for some people. Especially for someone like you in your _unique_ situation. Everyone succumbs, Naruto, it isn't like the story books where the hero resists all things and remains strong. The body and mind can only take so much before it shuts down completely." Jiraiya said as he gave Naruto a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"I understand, shishō," Naruto said before he heaved himself up.

"I recovered a lot faster than normal this time. I should be down for the count for the remainder of the day but my muscles didn't feel as torn and my chakra pathways already stopped burning. I think I can do some more." Naruto said as he stood up and tested his limbs for stiffness.

"Let's not push your luck just yet," Jiraiya said quickly. "We will slowly push your limit on it over the next three weeks. As soon as you stop collapsing in exhaustion, we will increase the limit. For now, I want you to start learning the second of your father's signature jutsu. The Rasengan." Jiraiya said as he pulled out a bag of water balloons.

That got a small smile to appear on Naruto's face as he moved closer to listen intently.

"Now, the Rasengan itself is purely about shape manipulation and chakra control. Your father had initially planned on adding Nature manipulation into the Rasengan, but was unsuccessful in achieving this before the Kyūbi event." Jiraiya explained before tossing a filled water balloon towards Naruto and filling one for himself.

"Even though your father's taijutsu style was centered on the usage of the Hiraishin. In truth, he created it to provide a means of delivering the Rasengan to his enemies without them seeing it. The Rasengan is very flashy, and people who notice it coming don't stick around to find out what it does if they can help it." Jiraiya pointed out. "You can probably manage to still use your father's style with the Rasengan by using Kawarimi with a clone who has one charged out of view, or using Shunshin after you have one prepared yourself," Jiraiya determined.

 _'Just like you thought, Kurama. I guess I will have more of a reason to use it now.'_ Naruto thought.

Kurama just made a hum of acknowledgment but didn't say anything as he wanted to see what this Rasengan was about.

"The problem that I saw while you showed me that style during our spar is that you were not making use of Kawarimi and Shunshin enough to utilize the full mobility of the style." Jiraiya had a ghost of a smile on his face as he explained further. "Your father called it the Hurricane fist because you are always flashing around your opponent's blind sides making them spin around like a hurricane to try and deflect your attacks. When used properly not only does your target become disoriented, it is also much easier to set them up with false patterns of attack."

Naruto pictured how the style would look based on Jiraiya's description and could see just how dangerous it could be.

"For now, we will focus on the Rasengan, and once you have that mastered, I will show you a better way of using the Hurricane fist to suit your style until you learn the Hiraishin." Jiraiya pulled out a scroll and began unsealing some items as he spoke.

Once he had unsealed a few bags, Jiraiya held up his right hand and created a Rasengan in it for Naruto to study. "This is what the Rasengan looks like in its finished state," Jiraiya said before he slammed it into a nearby stalagmite revealing a perfectly sheared hole in the rock before it crumbled from the lack of support.

"As you saw, the hole that it created is an important part of the jutsu. You need to keep the forces of the Rasengan contained properly, or it will destabilize becoming ineffective or exploding in your face." Jiraiya lectured before he held up the filled water balloon in front of Naruto.

"This is the first stage to learning the Rasengan. You must manipulate the water inside the balloon to cause it to burst." Jiraiya said before he caused the balloon to burst, splashing water on Naruto's face.

Naruto gave him a flat look before wiping his face off with his arm to get some of his hair out of his face.

"Very funny, shishō, I'll have to repay you for that later," Naruto said before catching the water balloon Jiraiya threw at him. He studied his own water balloon with a smirk, the possibilities already being run through his mind in collaboration with Kurama.

"Well, good luck with that one, kid, you'll need it. You'll also be needing these for later so hang onto them." Jiraiya said before tossing Naruto the bag of empty water balloons.

Jiraiya settled down near the cave wall and placed a light seal tag on a nearby rock to give him some light to write by. He had to submit the next few chapters to his editor and artist so that the next issue remained ahead of schedule, and Naruto should be busy for the rest of the day trying to figure out the Rasengan.

Naruto eyed the water balloon as Kurama replayed the memory of the Rasengan Jiraiya showed him earlier.

 ** **"It is mainly a form of compacting chakra into a denser form by constantly spinning the chakra in many different directions, then closing those 'rings' of chakra into each other,"**** Kurama said.

 _ _'Like spinning some to the left, while the other spins to the right?'__ Naruto replied as he tried to rotate the chakra and only succeeded in making the balloon widen horizontally.

 ** **"You must spin it many more directions. Imagine that the water inside is four rings you must spin one ring vertically while the second spins horizontally, the third and fourth rings should spin diagonally between the two."**** Kurama said. **"Then add more rings of chakra ensuring that they do not overlap until you condense them."**

 _ _'Hmm this is pretty complicated, but I know how to speed things up.'__ Naruto said with a smirk.

Naruto summoned 50 supercharged clones, and they all set to work trying to spin the water to burst the balloon. Naruto continued his efforts as well as he sat on a boulder.

 **"** ** **Hmph. It seems that your father was trying to copy the bijū when he created this attack."**** Kurama said with a huff. ** **"It is much like our Bijūdama but from an ignorant point of view. Still, it should prove to be an effective attack for eliminating our foes, and I can already see the potential of variations that can come from this attack. It will not be so difficult for us to add one of your affinities to this attack as well, wind and fire will be the most effective but water will have its uses as well."**** Kurama said in a bored tone.

 _ _'Yea. Shishō must be really powerful as well since my father learned from him.'__ Naruto said with a soft smile on his face.

 **"** ** **Tch. The toad fool is capable enough, but he relies too much on those summoning creatures, and I can sense so much of that foul lust in him at times. It's repulsive."**** Kurama said with a snort.

 _ _'Oba-chan did say he was a pervert, even if I'm not entirely certain what that means.'__ Naruto stole a glance at Jiraiya to see him writing with a goofy look on his face. _ _'I have sensed this feeling in almost everyone. Is it really that bad?'__

 **"** ** **Lust is a very dangerous emotion, kit. It can overwhelm your logic and only leads you into dangerous situations. Most of the time filthy mortals will walk into those situations with that same goofy look on their face."**** Kurama lectured seriously. ** **"It is a primal desire like the bloodthirst you experienced, but lust is worse because it speaks to your most important instinct."****

 _ _'What instinct is that?'__ Naruto said curiously

 **"** **The survival of your species,"** Kurama answered readily. **"It is an inherent trait for everything in nature. To survive and ensure that they create progeny to continue that survival. It is why mothers protect their kits with ferocity and why males battle for supremacy, all to make sure that their progeny has the strength to survive. The problem with lust is that it erases that logic for finding strong partners and leads you into rutting with anything just to cure that desire. Lust is the only reason that the pathetic weaklings that infest the mortal races survive as they do."** Kurama explained.

 _ _'I understand, Kurama. It's like how those bandits force themselves on women. They couldn't attract any real women because they are filth so they force themselves on women, if those women get pregnant then their genes continue to spread when those children eventually grow.'__ Naruto said with a slight frown.

" ** **You understand to some degree, kit, but until your body begins to fully mature and you have experienced the call of lust on your own, you won't _truly_ understand. It is just a life lesson you will have to learn from experience." **** Kurama said in a knowing tone.

Naruto returned his full concentration back to the water balloon in his hand. He was close, he could tell by the way the balloon was awkwardly stretching and skewing about.

A sudden popping noise startled both him and Jiraiya, who looked up in shock at seeing all the Naruto clones. Jiraiya mentally smacked himself for forgetting that Naruto had that ability. With Naruto behaving so much like Minato, he would have thought that Naruto would also try to learn the jutsu on his own. It seemed Naruto only saved fūinjutsu for himself and let his clones work on everything else.

The clone that succeeded dispelled allowing Naruto to repeat what the clone did and pop his balloon successfully with a grin on his face.

"Hah. Well, I shouldn't be too surprised that you managed it so quickly with this many clones. Let's move on to stage two then, before you dispel the rest of these guys." Jiraiya said as he pulled out a scroll and unsealed a large bag of rubber balls.

"The next stage focuses on concentrating the needed power to burst the rubber ball. Since there is no water inside the ball, you will have to focus more chakra and greater control over the chakra to ensure you don't damage the ball before it pops completely." Jiraiya said before he channeled his chakra into the rubber ball and it burst.

He tossed one out towards the real Naruto and proceeded to throw one to each of the remaining clones. He was glad he bought the rubber balls in bulk. The clones all took up various positions throughout the cave while Naruto sat next to Jiraiya as he tried bursting his rubber ball.

"You know, shishō, I haven't properly thanked you for all you had given me when I didn't even realize it," Naruto said as he focused on channeling his chakra.

"What's that?" Jiraiya said in a distracted manner. He had been focused on his writing and didn't realize that Naruto had sat beside him.

"Gama-chan, my wallet, and the fūinjutsu kit I received from jiji. He told me that you were going to give those to me but had left them behind. You know those were the only material gifts meant to be given to me alone. The only other thing I suspect was meant for me alone was a rattle drum I received in the orphanage." Naruto said.

"Are you talking about a red rattle drum with shuriken painted on the face?" Jiraiya gasped.

"Yes, shishō, that is what it looks like. I still keep it with me to this day, as it was the first toy I ever received and it always made me happy, even after it broke I still just couldn't throw it out." Naruto mumbled his focus on the ball in his hand.

"I don't believe it." Jiraiya murmured to himself.

"Anyways, I was so grateful to jiji when he gave me those things. It was one of the happier moments of my life, sadly. It should have been you who received my gratitude, and if I hadn't forgiven jiji already, I would probably be angry at him right now." Naruto said before he chuckled and shook his head. "I probably should have suspected something when he always gave me gifts in pairs. It was never just one gift but two or more."

"Don't worry about it, kid," Jiraiya said in a carefree manner. "Those things are in the past, and I'm glad I managed to bring you some happiness, even if it was indirect." Jiraiya looked up from his writing for a moment. "Don't be too angry at sensei for accepting that gratitude, though. All of those things would have thrown out or donated if not for him. He must have taken those things to make sure my gifts went to you as they were intended." Jiraiya said before he returned his focus to his notebook. "And if I know my sensei, he probably never truly claimed those particular gifts came from him. Which is why he always gave you more than one."

"I suppose you are right," Naruto said with a sigh before falling silent for several minutes. "Now that I think about it, you are right. He would always say things like 'I brought this here for you', or 'I have something for you' instead of outright saying he got it or bought it for me." Naruto said with a huff. "I am still grateful to him because he has done so much for me also. I just wanted to let you know that I knew who those items actually came from now and that I am really grateful for them." Naruto said with a small smile on his face.

"Well, you should also know that I suspect that the rattle drum you mentioned was probably the first toy your father bought for you. He had that thing especially made with your name painted on the handle right around the time your mother had just started to show," A look of nostalgia appeared on Jiraiya's face as he continued his tale. "He would constantly play with that thing while speaking to you. Kushina thought he was being silly for buying things so early in her pregnancy, but she always had a huge smile on her face whenever he brought that thing out to play with." Jiraiya said before the look of nostalgia faded to one of sorrow. "They were both so excited to meet you. We all were."

Naruto's eyes widened when he heard that tale. He never mentioned that his name was written on the handle. A few tears welled up in his eyes at the thought of his parents before he mastered his emotions. As a child, he had held onto the same hope that he would meet his parents someday and have a large, happy family. After the attack on the orphanage, however, that small hope had died. The negative emotions of the people around him had squashed those feelings down so thoroughly that Naruto was left with nothing more than apathy.

Even now it was hard for him to pin down exactly how he should feel about his parents. His mind told him he should feel something, but all he truly felt was an absence that seemed to symbolize the reality of his parent's influence on his life.

"I'm glad I kept it with me then. I didn't want to let it go, even when they scolded me for not throwing it out since it was broken." Naruto said in a shaky voice.

Jiraiya noticed Naruto's tone of voice and began rubbing him between his shoulders to comfort him.

"That's a good thing, kid. I know it's tough wondering about your parents like that when you're younger." Jiraiya said in an understanding tone. "It was the same thing for me, being an orphan myself. It's why I still don't use a last name to this day because I didn't want to dishonor whoever my real parents were by taking a false one." Jiraiya said in a comforting tone.

"That makes sense. I knew a few of the kids who felt the same way, but they always hoped their real parents would come to claim them and tell them their real name. As I grew older, I had thought that it was just the foolish vanity of a child to cling to such a thing." Naruto scoffed at the logic of his youth. "Now it makes sense. It was just like me clinging to that rattle drum or Gama-chan. It was the desire to feel that you belonged in the world and weren't a mistake or an afterthought." Naruto said silently

Jiraiya just gave Naruto a pat on his back before returning to his writing.

He knew that nothing more needed to be said.


	33. The Stage is Set

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original(Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

1\. Swift Release and Dust Release have the same romanization so from now on all mentions of Swift Release will be italicized ( _Jinton_ ) while Dust Release will be underlined (Jinton)

Edited 4/21/16

 **Chapter 32**

 **The Stage is Set**

 **21 days later - Secret Training grounds – Hi no Kuni**

* * *

Sasuke collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. He had just completed mastering the Chidori, finally! He was a bit disappointed that he was limited to three before he was completely tapped out.

Even with one of Naruto's chakra seals, he couldn't manage another one. It was just too intensive for his reserves right now. While he had seen an improvement in his reserves overall, it wasn't enough. He only hoped he was strong enough to kill Gaara right off the bat tomorrow so he would be prepared in case Naruto had to face the Hachibi.

When he had heard that Kumo had taken an interest in Naruto, he couldn't help but worry for his surrogate brother. To have so many people after you had to be frightening. Sasuke had been scared and angry about Root and Danzō in his youth; now there was Orochimaru as well. For Naruto, that was just the tip of the iceberg apparently.

Sasuke turned his head to see Kakashi also laid out in exhaustion from his own training. Tomorrow they would have to be ready to face an invasion of their village, and both had been training hard to get themselves up to par to defend their home.

Sasuke closed his eyes as he wondered how Naruto had fared in his training.

 **Chakra Cave Training Ground – Outskirts of Konoha**

* * *

Naruto ducked another punch from Jiraiya before dive rolling into his planted leg to avoid the kick that Jiraiya threw at him. Naruto managed to knock Jiraiya off balance by attacking his foundation but was punished for failing to knock him down completely with a hammer fist to his back.

"Naruto" however dispelled and Jiraiya ducked to avoid Naruto and the Rasengan in his hand that he tried to plant into his upper back.

"Damn it! You're as slippery as that snake bastard, shishō," Naruto said in frustration as he threw a back kick to try and keep Jiraiya at a distance.

"Hey! Don't compare me to him, brat!" Jiraiya said as he grabbed Naruto's leg and threw him into the cave wall only to see a rock shatter instead.

"You're the snakier one, with your damn clones and Kawarimi you little runt." Jiraiya taunted as he kept his senses open for the next attack.

Jiraiya charged up his own Rasengan and pivoted to slam it into the one Naruto had tried to drive into his ribs after a quick Shunshin.

Jiraiya skidded back from the blast while Naruto was sent flying towards the cave wall. Naruto managed to quickly right himself to push off the wall back towards Jiraiya and throw the last of his shuriken in a last-ditch effort to keep him off balance for his last clone to try and hit him with a Rasengan.

Naruto engaged Jiraiya in a quick taijutsu battle until his clone sent the mental ready and he broke Jiraiya's guard with a kick before he used Kawarimi with the clone, who immediately tried to tag Jiraiya in the chest.

Jiraiya had known it was coming since he managed to keep count of Naruto's clones this time and effectively used a strong rising block to drive the clones arm over his shoulder before dispelling it with a uppercut with his other hand.

"Much better there, brat, you might have got a few of my hairs that time," Jiraiya called out with a laugh.

Naruto only responded with a groan before he walked into view breathing heavily with a glum look on his face.

"Hey, none of that," Jiraiya said with a glare. "You should be proud that you managed to master the Rasengan to that level in under a month, even with Kage Bunshin, and to reduce the overall time between the usage of Kawarimi and Shunshin is highly impressive." His glare softened as the Sannin continued with his praise. "In fact, I don't think I have seen anyone be able to use a second Kawarimi so quickly after the first one. With a little more practice, you will be just as fast as Shisui Uchiha at using the Shunshin." Jiraiya said proudly.

Naruto just muttered under his breath before sitting down to rest. His goal had been to tag Jiraiya with a Rasengan, but he had failed miserably in his eyes. It was the only reason he had truly spent so much focus on Kawarimi and Shunshin because his shishō had been taunting him relentlessly about it. He also was unhappy about how long it took him to get the Rasengan up to full charge, but at least, he could form it with one hand without thought now.

Jiraiya just laughed and slapped him on the back roughly. "Rest up and we will finish the day with you using more jutsu with your chakra cloak. You still need more work on it if you want to face a transformed Ichibi." Jiraiya said.

"I know, shishō. He has me at a disadvantage with that. He didn't have to wait for his body to mature to be capable of handling the transformation like I do with the Kyūbi. Kyūbi says even with the changes that happened in Myōbokuzan, I would still need to wait a year before I can try that training you learned from the Hachibi." Naruto said

"Don't worry about that right now, Naruto, you just focus on your fight tomorrow. Make sure you don't push yourself for this last training session. I already have worked something out with B, and we should be able to sneak an opportunity to train with him on their secluded training grounds in two years time." Jiraiya said as he took a drink from his canteen.

Naruto smiled to himself at the thought. In two more years he would be able to fully bond with Kurama, and they would be that much closer to completing the plan.

Naruto's thoughts drifted to Sasuke and surprisingly Hinata as well.

He had started thinking about Hinata more often lately and even had a weird dream about her that had them holding each other in the woods kissing.

Naruto blushed when he thought of where else that dream would have led if he wasn't startled awake by the sound of Tora knocking over one of his plants. The thought had made him uncomfortable, and it was only made worse by the fact that he would start thinking about Hinata randomly throughout the day while he was training. Jiraiya seemed to always know what he was thinking about and would begin teasing him about it making the situation even worse.

He wondered how Hinata had fared in her training with Tsunade for the past month.

 **Training Ground 7 – Konoha**

* * *

Hinata finished another Hakkeshō Kaiten before having to dodge more projectiles hurled towards her at ungodly speeds by Tsunade.

This past month had been hell when Tsunade decided to take on her training because of Naruto's concern that she would be left behind. Hinata would have thought it was sweet of him if Tsunade didn't immediately eye her as a predator after her innocent little nephew and began to torment her for it relentlessly.

While she was grateful for getting so much stronger, she wished that Naruto had not been so adamant about getting training for her, or at least not with Tsunade. She had been hoping to spend more time with him instead. Jiraiya was known to leave his students alone to figure things out on their own after a demonstration and some instruction.

One would argue it was a poor training method, but you only needed to look at Minato and Kakashi to see that the method was effective with the right students. She had to believe Minato took the same approach as Jiraiya when it came to teaching his genin, as Kakashi had adopted a similar approach when it came to jutsu training.

Hinata had to evade some more objects thrown by Tsunade to "improve her agility" as she had put it before trying to close the distance again.

She was supposed to evade and charge Tsunade until she crossed the line Tsunade had drawn directly in front of her, but as soon as she got close Tsunade would lash out with one of the building busting attacks she was famous for. Hinata did not want to experience Tsunade's true strength so she was always forced to jump back to avoid the attack, only to be pushed back by a sudden increase in the barrage of projectiles coming towards her.

Hinata began thinking of a strategy to get closer without the Kaiten then use it to push Tsunade back so she could cross the line.

As she dodged another volley of miscellaneous balls flying in her direction at ungodly speed, she glowered at the smirking Tsunade.

Hinata knew what this was really about, and didn't appreciate the interference. She was determined to get closer to Naruto. Hinata had learned about the ties the Uzumaki clan had with the Senju clan and believed that the Sandaime had known that Naruto was related to them in some way.

It was the only logical explanation for letting an orphan take such a renowned and controversial last name. Add in the fact that Mito Uzumaki had also been a jinchūriki and Hinata believed that Naruto could be related to or possibly the child of Kushina Uzumaki, who suddenly appeared in the village when Mito Uzumaki was near death.

Nowhere did it say that Kushina was also a jinchūriki, but it all added up. The Kyūbi appeared and attacked the village on the night she died, probably in childbirth, and then the Yondaime sealed the Kyūbi into Naruto.

She had thought about asking her father more about it, but she remembered how he responded when she asked about jinchūriki and figured she would get the same response. So she was only left with guesses and nothing to solidify her shot at making Naruto her future husband.

The more she looked, the more she believed that Naruto was the son of the Yondaime and Kushina Uzumaki. It would only make sense after all that had occurred and Naruto had that same golden hair and gorgeous blue eyes that she saw in the pictures she had found. The Yondaime was incredibly cute as a genin just like Naruto was.

Hinata blushed slightly as the image of Naruto smiling like Minato appeared in her mind before her thoughts were interrupted by being tagged with a high-speed rubber ball to her stomach and falling over out of breath.

Tsunade smirked as the Hyūga girl was laid out by her throw. She could tell that the Hyūga was thinking of her innocent little Naruto-kun in an improper manner by the blush that appeared on her face.

Tsunade felt for the girl slightly, she knew that Naruto would be quite the heartthrob when he returned from his training trip if Minato's past was any indication. Kushina had been quite busy chasing off all the fan girls and lusting women.

If Naruto's heritage was known the Hyūga hime might end up being somewhat sincere in her affections towards her nephew since he would be more than appropriate for an heiress to wed.

Until that was known for certain, she wouldn't allow a scheming Hyūga to take advantage. Hiashi was quite the infamous player back in his day before his arranged marriage to Hiromi. While he never mistreated Hiromi or cheated on her after their marriage, it was still a source of pain for Hiromi because she had remained pure for her husband.

Tsunade had spoken to Hinata before the "training" had asked about her intentions with Naruto. Hinata had claimed she only wanted to be closer to Naruto and become one of his trusted friends with the possibility of more down the line.

Tsunade might have bought it if she wasn't blushing up a storm when she mentioned it. So, Tsunade had warned her about using Naruto as her hormonal back scratcher, and that she would be keeping an eye on her. Tsunade had heard that Hinata had also been spending time with the Inuzuka heir which made her suspect Hinata of merely lusting after Naruto as a fling.

She had to admit the girl was pretty well developed for a 13-year-old and would probably blossom into quite the woman by the time Naruto returned from training. The girl was far too reserved, though, and Tsunade could see the signs of Hiashi's grooming in her poise. The girl was probably already deep into political machinations and maneuvering.

"Get back up Hyūga I ain't got all day here!" Tsunade jeered.

Hinata merely scowled and got back to her feet slowly. Tsunade had to smirk at seeing that prim little face set into a scowl. Maybe she wasn't such a scheming fake after all.

"You have managed to impress me enough that if you complete this exercise, I will let you off for the rest of the day to watch Naruto-kun annihilate the competition tomorrow," Tsunade called out.

In truth, she would let the girl go early regardless since she knew what was really going to happen in the finals. She couldn't help but worry for her nephew at that thought.

Naruto was such a well behaved and respectful boy in all his visits to her. He had been quite thorough in visiting her, at least, two times a week for the past month to get acquainted better and he seemed to like her doting on him as much as she liked to dote on him. She knew she would have to lay off on the smothering once he came back from his trip a young man, but he was still only thirteen now so she could still dote until he left and she only smothered him so much to make up for lost time.

She could tell he lacked affectionate attention from women as he grew up and it was probably the main reason he was so clueless when it came to more sexual matters. One of the first things she did was perform a full physical and medical exam on him, and he was definitely well into the early stages of puberty, but he hadn't experienced any of the typical side effects such as erections or wet dreams yet.

The poor boy got so flustered when she did her check up and had asked routine questions for teens in puberty. She had run more in-depth tests in concern that the natural chakra had caused problems with his development but his levels were all normal so that only left his psychological growth being stunted, or the Kyūbi had some impact also.

Besides the question of his sexual development, everything else had come out a normal besides his muscle bulk and weight which was a little higher than usual but not in a bad way.

He just seemed to be bulking up a bit more than expected for his body type. Tsunade figured his muscle mass was mostly pink and white muscles since his muscles were quite defined for his age and had more density to them, but he wasn't a short bodybuilder type. This was likely the result of his use of gravity seals starting his first year at the Academy. She wouldn't have approved of using such weight training, to that extent, at the age of 8, but it wasn't detrimental for children to start weight training that young. She just preferred ensuring that balance and mobility had been completely honed before strength training was allowed.

She sighed as she thought about her traitorous teammate and what he could be possibly be planning for Naruto tomorrow. She would have to kill the bastard before he succeeded.

 **Oto Staging Area - Otafuku Gai – Hi no Kuni**

* * *

Orochimaru hissed his displeasure at the Root operatives as they left his audience chamber. The gall of that fool Danzō to try and command him. Hah! That idiot thinks he can warn him off his claim so easily by threatening the deal?

Orochimaru knew that Danzō wanted Naruto for his own purposes, but the boy had proven himself to be too valuable for the likes of Danzō. Besides with Iwa, Kusa, and Kumo on Oto's side, Konoha wouldn't last the day tomorrow, and Danzō would be dead anyways.

Instead of blockading the Sandaime with the barrier, as planned, he would be sending the Sound Five to collect his wayward pet and his new body. With the Edo Tensei plus the three Kage fighting, his old Sensei didn't stand a chance. Even with Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Itachi by his side.

Orochimaru licked his lips in anticipation. Naruto had been so close to breaking even with that foolish Kyūbi trying to resist him. Naruto had been within his grasp, and the depth of his power that Orochimaru had tasted had been so intoxicating.

Naruto would be his most powerful creation yet and eventually he would be able to integrate most of that power into his own body using Naruto's incredible healing factor to complete several of his more fatal experiments.

Orochimaru had seen Naruto's memories from the attack on the orphanage and knew that if the Kyūbi could make him survive a direct kunai wound to the heart, he would be able to implant so many bloodlines into Naruto and work out the complications before applying them to himself.

Everything was going as planned with his invasion and soon, not only would Konoha be his for the taking, he would have Naruto and Sasuke in his grasp.

 **Root Secret Headquarters – Konoha**

* * *

Danzō paced before the three Root operatives before him. They had been specially programmed for tomorrow's mission and this time, they would not deviate from the plan or fail.

"Tomorrow you will have the chance to redeem yourselves for your failure six years ago. There will be no second chance this time. Ren, Taro, Makoto you will engage Naruto at the designated area when he goes to pursue the Ichibi jinchūriki. You will ensure that he can not disrupt the Ichibi from reaching his full transformation." Danzō instructed.

"Yes, Danzō-sama." Ren, Taro, and Makoto replied in an emotionless tone.

Danzō had drilled all emotions out of them completely for their previous failure but the girl, he had put through special kunoichi training. Haruko was the best when it came to playing to a man's weakness, and his spies report that Naruto fancied himself to be chivalrous.

Danzō snorted 'A chivalrous jinchūriki, what a fool you are Hiruzen to let our strongest weapon become so soft.'

The boy had shown remarkable strength but had not used the Kyūbi's power to his full potential if at all. Danzō was certain Hiruzen probably forbid the kid from using it too often for his own health, but Danzō would have had him already using full transformation by this point he was certain. If that dumb ape of a Raikage was capable of teaching his jinchūriki how to utilize full transformations, then the Yami of Shinobi would be more than capable of doing so as well. He would bend both the boy and the Kyūbi to is impenetrable will, and they would serve him loyally.

"Once you have successfully delayed Naruto at Sector B you will attempt to subdue him by any means necessary. You will then bring him to this base, and Makoto will proceed with the final stage of the plan." Danzō said before turning to face Makoto directly.

"Remember Makoto if you do everything just as I told you then you will finally have what you desire most. Do not deviate by any means unless it is to lure him into the staging room. Then and only then will Naruto be ours." Danzō said to Makoto.

"Yes, Danzō-sama I will not fail. Tomorrow I will do as you instructed and Naruto-kun will be ready for his induction into Root." Makoto said.

Danzō simply waved them out in dismissal and waited as they left the room.

Haruko stepped forward from the shadows and bowed before Danzō

"Is everything arranged for the jinchūriki?" Danzō asked.

"Yes Danzō-sama, If the first group fails to contain the jinchūriki, I have followed Torune and Fū's suggestions on where to set the trap. It will direct the Kyūbi jinchūriki to where he is needed. Makoto has been thoroughly trained in conducting herself in a manner that will be capable of bypassing the reported lie detection the jinchūriki has claimed." Haruko said.

"The suppression room for the jinchūriki, has that been prepared?" Danzō asked.

"Yes Danzō-sama, I have made the gas especially potent for tomorrow even with the Kyūbi's interference the jinchūriki should succumb to the gas quite quickly and with Makoto's talents, she will be able to subdue the jinchūriki and place the memory seal as expected," Haruko replied.

"Good Tomorrow we shall purge the blight from the tree of Konoha with flame, and from the roots a healthier stronger tree will be able to grow. With the jinchūriki in our grasp, all the other Nations will tremble before us once I have groomed him properly. Makoto's work will be essential to securing the jinchūriki." Danzō said in a warning tone.

"The jinchūriki will be ready for re-education by your will Danzō-sama," Haruko said.

Danzō waved her off in dismissal and waited for his Lieutenants to appear.

Torune and Fū bowed before Danzō

"Report!" Danzō barked out.

"The invasion is on schedule, and so far there appears to be no deviation from the plan. However, there is a risk that Orochimaru has not taken his sights off the jinchūriki. From what our spies have been able to gather, the jinchūriki was able to repel the mark with the aid of Jiraiya and the Toads of Myōbokuzan, but this has only stirred Orochimaru's interest. Plus the Uchiha's bond with the Jinchūriki makes him valuable as leverage." Torune reported.

"That will not matter. We will dispose of Orochimaru before he can mark the Uchiha anyways, but we can use this information to contain the jinchūriki should Makoto fail tomorrow. If I can lure the Uchiha into Root then no doubt the jinchūriki will follow willingly then Makoto will keep him bound." Danzō said before he sat down at his desk.

"What of reports from the capital? Has there been any mention of succession for the Hokage yet? I know that Hiruzen sent some classified parcels within the last month." Danzō said as he looked at the report.

"Our spies on the Daimyō's council have not heard or seen any changes in the Daimyō's behavior to indicate as such, but we were unable to intercept the parcels because they were handed off to one of the Twelve Guardians," Fū replied

"Nothing we can do about that now then. It won't matter after tomorrow since the Daimyō hasn't declared anything. We will just have to try and ensure that Tsunade and Jiraiya also die tomorrow, just to be safe. What about our forces state of readiness?" Danzō questioned.

"Our forces are all mustered and ready for the scramble, if necessary. Our ambush teams are in place to strike at Iwa and Kusa forces to maintain our cover. Once the signal is received, that the Sandaime has fallen, we will begin to purge the village of all foreign ninja." Torune replied.

"Good. We will have our hands full with both Kumo and Suna's jinchūriki. Are the bijū suppression teams ready?" Danzō looked up at Fū

"We have already selected two potential candidates to seal the Hachibi and Ichibi in once we subdue and extract them both. All captains have extra suppression seals ready, and one of our moles has ties with Kinoe so we can direct his Mokuton abilities where they are necessary." Fū said.

Danzō grunted at the mention of Kinoe. He had been a fine operative in Root and would have been crucial in forcing Hiruzen to hand over the jinchūriki. If Kakashi had not convinced the man on deserting, he would probably already have the jinchūriki by his side. Danzō would order his death if it weren't important to breed him for more chances at having the Mokuton.

A spy rushed in and knelt before Danzō, who eyed the scout for a moment.

"What is it?" Danzō said in a deeper tone than normal, annoyed at the interruption.

"Danzō-sama, we received a report from the Daimyō's guard. There has been a change in his standard evacuation procedure." the spy rushed out.

"What is this change that has been made?" Danzō said suspiciously.

"Our mole in the Daimyō's detail barely contacted our agent in the capital, and they sent this by emergency messenger bird. Apparently, the Daimyō decided to forgo the palanquin and adopt for a carriage instead. He won't be leaving until tomorrow morning instead of this afternoon. Because of this, his guards will not be able to quickly carry him off. He will instead be directed towards the Hokage Monument then redirected through training ground 15 to Sector C." the spy handed the message scroll over for Danzō to peruse.

"This changes our plans considerably. Instead of confronting the three Kage after the Sandaime's death, I will have to await the Daimyō between sector B and C to secure him from Suna's forces. This will work out as I can put the Daimyō and his guard under my control quickly." Danzō said.

Inwardly he was smirking at the thought as he could use Kotoamatsukami on him right then and probably receive praise for saving the Daimyō. He would need to make sure that the trap for the jinchūriki wasn't ruined by this change, however.

"Inform our mole that a squad of Root Anbu will meet them and hold the Daimyō at Training Ground 15 until the signal for the Sandaime's death has been received. Then they will redirect the Daimyō to the Sector B entrance so I can meet up with them and escort him to safety." Danzō said

The spy nodded and departed the room.

"Torune, see to it that a squad is assigned there, in standard Anbu uniforms, to ensure the Daimyō is redirected with the new plan," Danzō commanded.

Torune bowed and left the room.

"Fū redirect some of our forces from this location to the secret bases beneath the monument and the secret base near Training ground 7 so that there are more forces to secure the Daimyō's path. We should still have enough to flank the Suna forces as they pass by here if we pincer with the Training ground 7 forces." Danzō said

Fū bowed and left the room.

Danzō steepled his fingers and allowed himself to grin slightly now that he was alone.

Tomorrow, come hell or high water, he would become the Hokage in all but name. Makoto would secure the jinchūriki or, at least, subdue him enough for Danzō to take over and break him to be remolded into his weapon.

He would finish off Orochimaru and significantly weaken Iwa, Suna, and Kumo all at the same time, setting the stage for his dominance over the elemental nations. Once the respective Daimyō were captured for those countries by his troops, Iwa, Suna, and Kumo would all have to surrender by their order and pay reparations. He would finally surpass Hiruzen after all this time.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hiruzen eyed A with his expressionless mask firmly in place. He didn't know why the Raikage had decided to show up earlier than scheduled. Add to the fact that he called in his adopted brother B the jinchūriki of the Hachibi and Hiruzen was extra wary of his intentions.

'Could this be some attempt to throw us off for the incoming invasion?' Hiruzen thought.

"Hokage-dono I am glad you could see me on such short notice. I apologize if there was any inconvenience for arriving ahead of schedule, but we have some things we need to talk about that needed to be discussed today." A said in a serious tone.

"It was no trouble at all Raikage-dono, but what pray tell would be so important that you would need to violate standard protocol agreed upon since the First Shinobi War had ended?" Hiruzen said sternly.

"I came here to inform you that Orochimaru had attempted to recruit me into this invasion of his tomorrow. I have led him to believe that I was going to be involved for a shot at obtaining your jinchūriki and some of the Hyūga main branch." A held up his hand to stop the incoming protest from Tsunade, who had cracked the arm of her chair in her anger and was preparing to deliver a tongue lashing to the Raikage.

Hiruzen shot her a glare, and she sat fuming in her chair at the thought that A was going after her Naruto.

"The truth is that I don't want to be involved in this nonsense. I know Iwa is going to turn on us the second you are out of the picture, and I would rather not have to deal with them or Suna. Hi no Kuni makes such a lovely buffer between Kumo and Iwa after all." A replied in a nonchalant tone.

"So what do you expect from us for this information? This isn't merely from the kindness of your heart after all." Hiruzen asked.

"I know our treaty deal was unstable due to that Hyūga Affair, and frankly, I'm not asking for much because like you, I also need to purge some of the leeches from my council. When you learn what else I know about this invasion, you will know why you need to purge your council as well." A said mysteriously.

"My terms are as follows. We receive 20% more chakra paper and wood over our current deal, a potential jinchūriki exchange for training purposes only, and a sterner boycott of raw materials from Tsuchi no Kuni that can be provided by Kaminari no Kuni instead." A concluded before crossing his arms across his chest and leaning back in his chair.

Hiruzen just stared at him with narrowed eyes. "I can't agree to the jinchūriki exchange, that would cause too many problems with the other nations as it is and I can't believe the Daimyō's would ever approve of that deal."

In truth, Hiruzen would love the opportunity for Naruto to learn how to control the Kyūbi so he could be safe. He couldn't take the risk of sending Naruto to Kumo though. He wasn't foolish enough to believe that the Raikage would simply let Naruto go once he had a hold of him, or at the least try to court him away from Konoha.

If he didn't survive this invasion, Naruto might even take the Raikage up on the offer as he hadn't had sufficient time to bond with Tsunade or Jiraiya.

A looked back at him nonplussed. "Yugito could train the boy to properly handle his powers and I get a taste of what type of power he really has. I would leave B here who is stronger than your boy since he has unlocked his full capabilities. I think the Daimyō would be okay with it."

"I still do not believe that is enough reassurance. The only way I would agree is if one of our bijū suppression teams and an additional team of my choosing accompanied our jinchūriki. Anything less than that I will absolutely refuse." Hiruzen said with a stern look.

A stared down Hiruzen for a moment and saw he was serious. Apparently, unlike the rest of his village, the Hokage and the Legendary Sannin cared deeply for the boy if her reaction earlier and the way she was glaring at him currently were any indication.

B kept silent about his arrangement with Jiraiya. A would Aian Kurō (Iron Claw) him for days if he knew that he had been in contact with the Sannin, but he couldn't help it. Jiraiya always knew where the best Karaoke contests were and had access to the rap artists lyric sheets from the other villages.

In two years time, he would have his annual trip to Genbu with only Yugito as company. He would sneak little nine in for his training in exchange for several lyric books from the other villages where rapping was more prevalent. Yugito was cool and would be willing to keep silent if he let her take off during the training and do her own thing. It was the only way that himself or Yugito were allowed to explore the world without the Raikage's oversight, and while B cared for his brother A, he didn't like being caged in the village.

B didn't mind helping little nine out at all and Gyūki was keen on bonding with the boy. Gyūki was suspicious of what the Kyūbi has done to him from what B could tell. He hadn't been able to spot the kid at all during the one month training period and felt sorry for the boy. He imagined it was like other villages where they locked the poor guy up when they didn't have a use for him. Gyūki had been even more silent and distant than usual but had mentioned that the Ichibi was unstable for some reason and that he would be busy with the Kyūbi trying to fix the problem, so he was not concerned with his partner's silence.

"I get it Hokage-dono. "How about if all goes well during this invasion here you give us 25% of the chakra paper and wood we requested, the same boycott, add in a mutual aggression clause, and you let B here spend two weeks with your boy to show him the basics without leaving the village. In exchange, I will provide you with the rest of the information I have and my forces will assist you in defending against the invasion from Iwa, Kusa, Oto, and Suna." A replied.

If Konoha were successful in repelling the invasion with his help, he would have B and his team try to work their charms on the boy after the attack. He would obtain the evidence he needed to purge the council of those idiot traitors and receive an excellent deal on chakra paper and lumber while he was at it.

If Konoha fell, his team would save the boy, give him a new home in Kumo and train him to take revenge against Iwa. He could guarantee the kid a much better life in Kumo, that much was certain. When Iwa stepped out of line and tried to press on Kumo, the boy would have his shot at reclaiming Konoha's territory for Kumo. A would have no qualms about letting the boy resettle the ruins of Konoha, in Kumo's name of course.

Hiruzen steepled his fingers before responding. "I will give you the two weeks with him but only with supervision by his shishō, Jiraiya. I will give you the boycott without any question, given the fact that Iwa is going to invade us." The Sandaime paused for a moment as if in thought before he continued with his counter offers. "As for the mutual aggression clause, I will only agree to it for defensive purposes. Konoha will not stand for invading a country that has not performed any hostile acts. However, I can only give you 15% on the chakra paper, and wood at the most or the Daimyō will flat out refuse." Hiruzen bargained.

A thought it over for a moment before he looked over at B, who struck his pose and nodded his agreement. Kumo wasn't going to invade anyone without reason, he just wanted to make sure that if Konoha came out of this intact, they would support Kumo when Iwa retaliated against them. He also had his eye on Kiri since his spies had reported both Oto and Iwa being involved with that civil war there.

"Alright Hokage-dono you drive quite the bargain, but I agree." A said

Hiruzen pulled out a bottle of sake from his bottom desk drawer and a set of saucers to complete the tradition of sharing sake to seal a deal. Hiruzen poured out a saucer for Tsunade, A, and B. Once Tsunade filled his saucer, after a quick Kampai, they all toasted to the new alliance.

"Very well here is the news I have for your first of, your boy Danzō has his hands deep in this invasion." A said.

"I had my suspicions on that matter, yes, but nothing substantial," Hiruzen said nonchalantly.

"Well did you know that he has a mole in the Daimyō's guard and is going to redirect his standard evacuation detail tomorrow?" A said in a smug tone.

"How did you find that out?" Hiruzen said with narrowed eyes.

"We managed to intercept one of Root's agents in the capital and replace them with one of our own to keep track on that bastards attempts at infiltrating Kumo. It's the main reason he has been unsuccessful, and frankly, I'm surprised he hasn't figured it out yet. We managed to learn that the Daimyō will be redirected to a section near the secret root base during the invasion so Danzō, himself, can protect him. We managed to intercept this reply from the bird itself a few minutes ago." A said before pulling out a small message scroll and handing it over to Hiruzen.

Hiruzen read the note and while it wasn't definitive that Danzō had given this order, the information on it was too accurate for a Kumo spy to have made up on their own. The Raikage wouldn't have known that training ground 15 was the best secure access to sector B besides training ground 7 since sector labels were changed every season to throw off foreign spies.

"Don't worry about forwarding that message, we made sure a copy was sent along so you can plan accordingly." A said

"Very well, what is the rest of the information you have?" Hiruzen asked.

"Suna invasion forces will be amassing in the South West forest while Iwa will move along with Kusa forces into their staging area tonight to the North West. During the battle between Sasuke Uchiha and Sabaku no Gaara, an area genjutsu will be cast, and the Ichibi will enable his full transformation and destroy the South West wall to clear a path through your defenses for Iwa and Suna before he begins rampaging your village. Oto will move in from the North East and South East as they have forces staged near Otafuku Gai along with Orochimaru. He has provided us with summoning scrolls with specific snakes to use against your walls." A said before removing a handful of scrolls from his Raikage robes and dropping them on Hiruzen's desk.

"We already knew about the area genjutsu, but we didn't know the staging areas for Kusa or Iwa unfortunately. We have a plan in place for the assault on the Arena already but what of your forces?" Hiruzen asked.

"Besides the ones who will be with me as guards and the team in the exams, the rest will remain outside of your walls to prevent any friendly fire. I have been assigned to stage North of your village, but I have given orders for my forces to flank Oto before the main assault begins. I just need you to allow one of my _Jinton (1)_ (Swift Release) users access to the walls so that when the match before the Uchiha starts, they can go order the attack on Oto forces." A said.

Hiruzen pulled out a pass and began to fill it out.

"I will need the name and description of the person you plan to use so that my guards can validate the authenticity of this," Hiruzen said.

A gave a quick description of the person who was planned to relay the message and Hiruzen filled out the pass and created a copy. With a quick hand signal, an Anbu member appeared.

"Make sure three copies of this pass are created and give one to the Jōnin Commander and the Guard Commanders for the North East and South East quadrants on duty tomorrow before the day is out," Hiruzen ordered.

The Anbu took one of the copies and disappeared while Hiruzen handed a stamped and signed one to the Raikage.

"I'm certain my guys will take care of Oto quite quickly so I'll order my forces to loop around to the North West once they have cleaned out Oto and flank Kusa and Iwa, but they will probably only affect support teams and reserve forces I imagine. B here will help your jinchūriki with the Ichibi and keep an eye on him in case he loses control. Myself, I have a bone to pick with Ōnoki if you don't mind. I'm sure you will have your hands full with Orochimaru, Danzō and Rasa anyways." A said

Hiruzen sighed at that thought. "With the info you have given me I know my old team mate won't show his face in this fight. Not until everything is in order. You will have to watch for Root ambush teams and staging forces for certain as he will be certain to try and maintain his facade as much as possible so we may not avoid all friendly fire. I will notify my forces to wait for the counter offensive before engaging any foreign ninja on the outskirts which should keep your external forces safe as long as they don't enter the village. Once the counteroffensive begins, I will have Inoichi notify our troops not to engage Kumo ninja but to defend only."

"If you want I can just have the main body continue west into Suna staging areas once you signal for the counteroffensive. If you can just shoot off some flares or something, I'll have my _Jinton_ user relay the signal when the invasion starts." A said.

"The signal will be three green followed by three red flares over the Hokage monument, once all the civilians have been accounted for. " Hiruzen said.

A made a motion to B, who scrawled the information down in his notebook for later reference. The monument was the most prevalent landscape item so there would be no potential for confusion with his forces. A made a mental note to have low-level Chūnin squads on tree look out duty to keep an eye out for the signal. All his genin should be safely tagging along with squadrons of experienced Jōnin to gain some experience for the upcoming wars.

A couldn't help but wonder how Konoha's genin will fare being on the front lines. If he had to guess Hiruzen already had the plan to evacuate some of the genins out of the line of fire or to guard soft targets like the Academy or Civilian bunkers. It was always hard to tell since Konoha also had the support and logistics teams that were separate from the combat forces. On paper, it seemed like Konoha had a significantly larger amount of forces than any other village if you counted their support and logistic teams, but those teams could range from worse than Academy students, to experienced Chūnin level shinobi.

"If you can just give me a moment I'll have our new treaty drawn up and signed as well as a copy created for the Daimyō's perusal sometime after tomorrow's events," Hiruzen said as he readied his pen.

"Sure take your time. Damn paperwork. A pain in the ass isn't it? I'm thinking of foisting more of it off onto my council after this mess." A said with a grumble.

"Don't I know it. That might not be too bad of an idea there Tsunade if this turns out how I think it does, you will get to choose the two new council members yourself." Hiruzen said as he wrote.

"Really sensei? You do know I would make you one right?" Tsunade replied with a smirk.

Hiruzen just shook his head. He knew she was still mad about him keeping Naruto a secret, but he also knew he could just botch the paperwork royally and make her redo it herself if she tried to foist it all onto him again. It was the main reason he no longer used Kage Bunshin to do the paperwork because they also got bored and procrastinated or foisted it off onto another clone until they all dispelled from a lack of chakra.

The two Kage and their companions shared one more drink after the copies were made and signed before departing to prepare for battle in the morning.


	34. The Play Begins

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be depictions of violence in this chapter.

Edited 4/22/16

 **Chapter 33**

 **The Play Begins**

 **Chūnin Exam Finals - Senju Arena - Konoha**

* * *

The ten genin competing in the exams stood on the floor of the Senju Arena waiting for the final exams to begin. All the genin stood at attention watching as the last of the stadium stands were filled. Soon the Kage and Daimyō of each of the competing nations were announced as they made their entrance.

Currently, the genin competitors were standing in the large grassy flat land that made up the center of the arena. With the help of jutsu, the arena had been prepared with small subsets of different ecosystems to test the genin's capability of utilizing the terrain to their advantage and forming complex strategies to lure their opponents into a terrain that worked against them.

The North West corner contained a decent sized pool of water that was waist deep at most and sandy beach-like terrain.

The North East corner contained large rocks and boulders and small mesa type platforms of earth varying in size from knee high to 7 feet in height.

The South West corner included a small grove of trees from Saru's Mokuton, as well as some bushes and tall grass.

The South East corner was similar to the same flat grassy terrain as the center of the arena itself.

Naruto was quite jittery when he saw his opponent for the first time. He had been too distracted by Orochimaru during the preliminaries to pay any attention and he only had to go off the information Jiraiya had provided for him.

The first thing that he noticed was that she was, at least, a few years older than him and she was very, very pretty. He felt a little strange when he saw her golden hair, icy blue eyes, and big bosom. She was like a young version of Tsunade but with narrower eyes. He just took a deep breath and put that strange feeling aside for analysis later.

He had to filter a lot of his emotion sensing today, for some reason, and it was making him nervous. There was so much more hostility around the village, and he didn't understand why that was. It was worse than what he had felt in Nami no Kuni, and he was quite concerned about it. He had sensed a lot of hostility in people over the course of the month whenever he went into the merchant district but had equated it to the tension between rival villages being in close proximity to each other.

The Hokage said that the exams were to foster a sense of goodwill and show off the village's prowess without wars, but his senses were telling him that there were a lot of people here who seemed like they were just waiting to attack.

Kurama had reassured Naruto that he would be able to handle his emotions regardless of the increase in hostility around him and agreed with Naruto about the feeling of tension in the air. Kurama warned him to be wary of everyone today because he remembered these same feelings always resulted in battles breaking out between humans.

Kurama also told him that he had established a link with Gyūki, and they were both trying to pull Shukaku into a shared mindscape to see if they could get a straight answer out of him. In order to force Shukaku into this mindscape, however, Kurama had to disengage their linked senses for some time. He would essentially be absent from his mindscape during this process so he could not aid Naruto in battle.

Naruto had become more nervous with that news but was determined to prove his strength without Kurama's aid. He had worked hard on his skills before he could even train with the chakra cloak so he should be capable of fighting his battles without it. He did promise Kurama he would try to be more cautious during his battles.

Kurama had given him a small nudge with his nose in the mindscape to reassure him before he disconnected the link to focus on Shukaku. Naruto had been concerned that the sense of calming peace he had from being bonded with Kurama would disappear, but as he steeled himself to feel it sever, he was pleasantly surprised to find that he could still feel Kurama.

He was just out of contact for awhile, which helped quell most of his nervousness.

The announcer called out the proctor Hayate Gekkō who reviewed the rules for the crowd before announcing the first fight.

"Will Neji Hyūga of Konoha and Akatsuchi of Iwa remain on the field, please. All other fighters, please proceed to the contestant box." Hayate said with sporadic coughs.

Naruto and the others filed into the contestant box, and he began to run through a mental checklist of all his supplies as he waited for the fight to start.

He had at least ten copies of all his seal tags, with his new paralysis seal included. He also had at least 20 small chakra seals which reminded him to pass some off to Sasuke before his fight. He had four large chakra scrolls which might have been overkill but better safe than sorry. He also had loads of shuriken and kunai sealed on his arm wraps as well.

"Pst! Sasuke." Naruto whispered as he pulled out a handful of chakra seals.

Sasuke looked over at him and then nodded when Naruto held up the chakra seals. Shino noticed as well and put his hand up in a silent request.

Naruto nodded and handed them both a three each, which garnered questioning looks from the rest of the contestants. Naruto held some out for Shikamaru, but he shook his head. Tenten looked at the tags in question but shook her head also when Naruto offered some to her.

Hayate called the fight to start, and Naruto turned his attention to the field.

Neji immediately launched towards Akatsuchi and began to engage him in taijutsu, trying to seal off his tenketsu points, but revealed a mud clone with the first few strikes.

Neji had to jump back and then strafe as earthen spikes came out of the ground towards him.

Neji then threw an explosive tag towards one section of the arena revealing a now shattered rock dome with Akatsuchi ensconced inside.

Akatsuchi shook off the destroyed dome and called out Gōremu no Jutsu (Earth Golem) which caused a rocky looking creature to appear and attack Neji. As the creature charged, Akatsuchi called out Doton: Doryūsō (Earth Flow Spears) and more spears began to appear out of the ground trying to stab Neji while he evaded the rock creature.

Neji strafed around the arena circling back towards Akatsuchi before he stopped and waited for the creature and the spears to approach. Once the attacks drew closer, Neji quickly performed the Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation) destroying the spears and the rock creature at the same time.

Akatsuchi created more Doton: Doryūsō but Neji charged in and evaded them before blasting Akatsuchi with Hakke Kūshō (Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm) causing Akatsuchi to fly back and skid on the ground a few feet with some gashes in his chest.

Neji didn't give him any time to recover and charged forward quickly, unleashing Hakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō (Eight Trigrams 128 palms) on Akatsuchi the second he began to stand.

Akatsuchi cried out in pain and began to spit out blood as Neji pummeled him with the rapid strikes before stepping back and letting Akatsuchi fall to the ground.

A medic team arrived and carried Akatsuchi to the infirmary as Hayate announced Neji as the winner.

In the stands, Hinata and Hiashi were clapping proudly while the elders were clapping politely with scowls on their faces. They weren't pleased that a branch member was allowed to learn two Main family techniques, but they couldn't argue with his form and technique or with Hiashi's reason for teaching Neji in the first place.

Neji received a round of congratulations from the Konoha genin when he entered the box and politely thanked everyone.

"Will Shikamaru Nara of Konoha and Karui of Kumo please proceed to the arena floor," Hayate called out.

 **Kage Viewing Box**

* * *

"Quite the impressive Hyūga you have there Hokage-dono but if I am not mistaken he appears to be a branch member." Ōnoki said

"That is correct. Neji is considered a prodigy amongst the clan," Hiruzen said proudly.

"I thought that only Main branch members could learn the Kaiten." the Kazekage Rasa commented.

"That is usually correct, Kazekage-dono, but the clan head recognized Neji's talent and decided to reward his dedication by allowing the young man to learn some of the Main Family techniques," Hiruzen replied.

"I wonder, Raikage-dono if this genin here is related to your guard Darui at all? Their names are quite similar after all." Ōnoki said with a sneer.

Darui just eyed the Tsuchikage in a bored manner but other then that he didn't react.

"Nope. Karui has no relation to Darui here by any means." A replied in a bored tone.

He didn't miss the implied insult from Ōnoki but decided to play it off as inconsequential.

"I look forward to seeing what the young Nara can do in this fight," Rasa commented offhand.

Hiruzen mentally sighed knowing that Shikamaru probably wouldn't put half the effort he should into the fight.

 **Arena Floor**

* * *

'This woman is going to be quite troublesome to fight. I will have to lure her to the shadows of the arena and hope to catch her before she hits me with that sword of hers.' Shikamaru thought.

Karui, on the other hand, remembered exactly how Shikamaru worked and took note of all the shadow's in the arena. Currently, in her position, all of the shadows he could use were towards her left. She would have to watch for any projectiles and not get too turned around in the battle. If she could keep him in the South Eastern portion or directly in the center of the arena, she should be safe from any shadows including her own.

Hayate called the match to start, and immediately Karui charged at Shikamaru and began swiping at him with her long katana.

Shikamaru was already stuck on the defensive and trying to evade the attacks but wasn't very successful as he received a few minor slashes to his arm and one to his chest.

He managed to Kawarimi with a rock in the distance and threw a volley of shuriken followed by an explosive tag.

Karui deflected the shuriken but rolled out of the way of the explosive tag before dashing at Shikamaru again and jumping to avoid his first Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession) piggybacking off the shadows of the shuriken volley. As she charged, she unleashed her Kumo-Ryū Omotegiri (Cloud Style Front Beheading), but Shikamaru had managed to block the strike with Doton: Renga no Jutsu (Earth Style Barrier) before he rolled out of the way to avoid her follow-up slash.

Using the broken pieces of the earthen barrier and the shadows cast by the shuriken sticking into the ground, Shikamaru took the opportunity to sneak his shadow towards his opponent. His shadow snaked between the scattered objects and advanced towards Karui. Knowing it would be futile to try and seize her with his usual attack, Shikamaru manipulated the shadows to form Kage Nui no Jutsu (Shadow Sewing) instead. Multiple shadow spikes sprung up around the Kumo kunoichi forcing her to jump back and start running away from Shikamaru. As Karui strafed and rolled to avoid the shadowy spikes, she circled around Shikamaru before sprinting towards the shadow user. She could tell that she had enough speed to keep ahead of the shadows. As long as she didn't let any shadows appear in front of her, he was screwed.

Shikamaru was forced to Kawarimi one more time with another rock before he threw more shuriken and tried his Kagemane no Jutsu one last time. If this last attack sequence failed, there wasn't much he would be able to do to win. She was too quick, and there were not enough usable shadows nearby for him to gain the advantage. Not only that, but the kunoichi was also clever enough to alternate her dodging patterns sufficiently to keep him in this open terrain instead of allowing him to lure her to terrain that was casting more shadows.

Karui blocked the incoming shuriken, momentarily forgetting about the shadows, but cursed out loud when she saw them stretching out towards her.

At the last minute, she called out Raiton: Bakurai (Depth Charge) channeling lightning chakra throughout her body creating a flash of light to stop the progression of the shadow before she Shunshin (Body Flicker) behind Shikamaru and placed her sword against his neck.

Shikamaru muttered "Troublesome" before he forfeited the match.

Hayate declared Karui the winner and both fighters left the field to polite applause from the audience. The fight wasn't very flashy, so most of the civilians were bored by the display, but the shinobi and kunoichi all saw it as a good display of tactics.

Naruto clapped Shikamaru on the back as he passed by the contestants box to head into the stands where his team was waiting.

"That was pretty good Shikamaru ** _!_** She was just really damn quick with that sword." Naruto said in an impressed tone.

Karui smirked as she walked by Naruto and Shikamaru before winking at Naruto, who looked sheepish.

He would have problems if that Samui kunoichi was half as fast as Karui was. Judging from her sword, she was probably faster, if what Jiraiya had told him was true.

"Yea, but now my mother is going to be all over me about my taijutsu again. It's going to be a real problem." Shikamaru said.

"I don't know, Shika. Would it be more troublesome than being dead?" Naruto said with a smirk.

Shikamaru just snorted at Naruto before waving goodbye and continuing up into the stands.

Hayate announced the next fighters "Will Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha and Samui of Kumo please proceed to the arena floor."

Naruto approached the field and blocked out all the murmurs from the crowd that began when his name announced. He blocked out the negative emotions and focused entirely on his opponent. He pushed everything out of his mind besides one particular thought.

'I won't let Kurama down; I won't let shishō down. I won't let anyone down ** _!_** ' Naruto thought to himself to psyche himself up.

He already had his plan of attack, and he would show the entire village his worth today.

 **Kage Viewing Box**

* * *

Ōnoki had leaned forward in his seat when he heard the name Uzumaki and when he saw Naruto take the field he openly glowered.

'Is it possible the Yellow Flash had a child after all? I have to kill that little bastard if it is true." Ōnoki thought.

Hiruzen looked on in pride at Naruto. He knew Naruto would do well in this fight with his abilities.

Hiruzen swung a glance at Ōnoki and had to hide a smirk as he puffed on his pipe. If Naruto used the attacks that he thought he would, then he would enjoy the look on Ōnoki's face as it puffed up in anger. It might be worth the potential assassination attempts but with war breaking out, Hiruzen figured it wouldn't really matter.

If he was lucky Ōnoki would die today at A's hands. It was possible; A was fast enough, but Jinton (Dust Release) was pretty powerful, and even the Raiton no Yoroi (Lightning Release Armor) might not be enough to overcome it if A managed to get hit.

If he could take out Rasa quickly, he could back A up and help him take down Ōnoki while Jiraiya and Tsunade kept Orochimaru at bay. He could practically sense Orochimaru's excitement at watching Naruto fight.

'Like I wouldn't notice that you would disguise yourself as one of Rasa's guards Orochimaru. You have gotten rusty or overzealous.' Hiruzen thought.

A was interested to see how Naruto would fare against Samui. Samui was very skilled, but she was no match for a jinchūriki. He didn't think that Naruto would use his chakra cloak since the village hated him so much so he would have to display his regular shinobi skills. With that limitation, Samui still had a fighting chance to pull out a win. He was looking forward to seeing the boy's raw skills against one of his most promising kunoichi.

Jiraiya could only smile at the ass whopping Naruto was going to drop on that sexy little blond down there. He then remembered Naruto's reaction when he first saw Samui and got a perverted grin on his face. Even his stoic little apprentice was affected by her magnificent bosom. Perhaps there was hope for the little man yet.

Tsunade glowered at Jiraiya for his perverted face and took a mental note to pound him for it later. She looked back down at Naruto and wished him luck silently.

 **Arena Floor**

* * *

Samui was checking out the cute little blond in front of her. He was adorable with that serious look on his face. Samui knew he was the jinchūriki that was their target and didn't mind trying to befriend the boy at all.

Sure he was a few years younger than herself, but it didn't appear to be by much. He couldn't be any younger than 12, and he well built for his age.

She would give him the respect he deserved by not going easy on him at all.

Hayate called the match to start, and Samui began to charge only to become shocked when ten different Narutos appeared before her and scattered.

At first, she thought it was a regular Bunshin, so she disregarded the ones scattering off to the side and continued her charge towards, where she believed, the original still stood.

When he blocked her tanto with a kunai, her belief was reaffirmed, so she continued to slash at him with quick, precise attacks only to be surprised when she managed to break his guard and cut his chest causing the clone to dispel.

'Solid Bunshin? Shit that means...' Samui looked around to see two clones finishing a combination attack of Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder) and Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet) towards her. She attempted to strafe out of the way when she felt hands grab her ankles and looked down to see a clone had hidden underground with Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu) to hold her in place.

Thinking quickly, Samui used Kawarimi with a rock to avoid the water geyser laced with lightning that shot towards her.

She launched herself at the clones and managed to dispel one of them with Kumo-Ryū Mikazukigiri (Cloud Style Crescent Moon Slice) before dodging the second clone's attempt to grab her, kicking it away, causing it to dispel.

Two more clones engaged her in taijutsu, but she managed to evade or counter their attacks with her tanto before finishing them off with a Kumo-Ryū Omotegiri, and the third clone that tried to attack her from behind was quickly dispatched with Kumo-Ryū Uragiri (Cloud Style Back Slice)

Samui had to evade a veritable rain of shuriken and kunai from two more clones who called out Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone) and Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough).

She cursed to herself as she tried to close the distance with those clones, only to be forced to Shunshin away from their combination of Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu) and Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm).

Samui breathed a sigh of relief when she saw those two clones dispel only to have to immediately dodge a kunai swipe from another clone. This one continued it's taijutsu assault with dual kunai and was doing quite well until Samui locked both of his kunai with a strong overhead slash. She tried to overpower his overhead guard with a strength battle, putting all her effort on the weak point where both kunai met in the middle. Using her center of gravity, she dropped her stance lower suddenly, to try and break his guard or slice through the kunai which were beginning to crack.

She felt him starting to weaken only to be surprised when he pivoted and redirected her blade to the side and disappeared from her vision, only for him to reappear with a glowing chakra ball in his hand which he immediately slammed into her stomach as he cried out "Rasengan."

Samui felt a grinding pain and weightlessness before she hit the ground and lost consciousness.

Naruto slowed his breathing down as he watched Samui fly back from his Rasengan. He hoped that he canceled it in time to not cause severe damage to her. She was really good and had almost caught the real him a few times with her slashes.

Hayate announced Naruto as the winner, and the crowd was silent in shock for a moment before they began cheering loudly.

Naruto was shocked that they were actually cheering him. It wasn't fake cheering or polite clapping they were actually cheering him!

Naruto tentatively reached out with his senses to the crowd and felt that there was a lot less animosity towards him directly now. There was still a lot of overall hostilities, and individual members of the audience were directly hostile towards him, but they were all from rival villages.

Naruto let a soft smile appear on his face as he went back to the competitors box. Maybe there was hope for the villagers yet. If those bastards had approved then, he knew Kurama would have approved as well. He saw Jiraiya give him a thumbs up and Tsunade clapping vigorously. The Hokage had a big smile on his face and was looking at him with pride.

"Hn. Not too shabby there, Naruto, but I'm still gonna kick your ass," Sasuke said with a smirk and a slap on the back.

"Tch. Good luck with that, Sasuke," Naruto said with a bigger smile.

Neji was looking at Naruto in a whole new light. Those clones of his were devastating, and he couldn't tell the difference between the real or the fake ones with his Byakugan. Those clones enacted complex combinations and tactics on their own while the real one most likely plotted in safety.

If he faced him, he would have to rush him immediately and disable him if he could. It would be inherently difficult because he was just as quick at spawning the clones and disappearing into them.

Karui was pretty damn impressed with the guy. Samui was much faster than she was and he appeared to have simply toyed with her. She was going to have her work cut out for her if she faced him in the finals.

Gaara was distracted as his mind was in turmoil. Extra voices were whispering in his head, and he couldn't hear mother clearly. Gaara was just standing there looking dazed while Gyūki and Kurama were starting to make progress in calming Shukaku down and pulling him into the mindscape that Gyūki had created with Kurama.

Shino wasn't surprised at all. He knew he would have a lot of problems with Naruto, but he had a solid strategy to use. Hopefully, he would have a good chance to execute his plan before Naruto set his own into motion. Shino was confident that whoever completed their set up first would win the match between them.

Tenten didn't know much about Naruto but what she saw him do blew her away. Those clones were all over the place and had combination after combination set up almost one after another. She didn't have a clue as to which one was the real one as soon as he spawned that group of 10 in the beginning.

If she beat Shino, she would have a real problem with him, being a weapons user. She was confident in her skills but with that Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu he could negate her Sōshōryū (Twin Rising Dragons) easily and not to mention staying at range against a jutsu caster like him would be foolish at best.

She would have to get in close like that Kumo kunoichi, and that wouldn't be fun with his other jutsu that she witnessed. Her only chance was to hopefully whittle down his Bunshin while keeping the pressure on him.

In the stands, Hinata was smiling at how well Naruto did and blushed at the thought of congratulating him after the finals were over. Hopefully, it led to more sake, more snuggling, and this time maybe a kiss.

Kakashi was quite happy with how Naruto did. The Rasengan was a pleasant surprise, and he was glad that the villagers cheered for him like they did.

He resolved to give Naruto a few more jutsu to learn during his trip. He had a couple of Fūton techniques he thought Naruto was ready for now that he had the control to use the Rasengan.

 **Kage Viewing Box**

* * *

Ōnoki was grinding his teeth in rage. 'That little bastard has to be the Flash's son. I'll kill that little brat.'

Rasa looked over at Hiruzen with a raised eyebrow. Was it possible that the Yondaime's son actually survived? Why was he called an Uzumaki if he was the son of Minato Namikaze? Maybe he could claim the child for Suna once Konoha fell. The boy was quite talented.

A was very impressed. With the chakra reserves that he had and those Kage Bunshin he could probably wipe out an army on his own without even thinking about the Kyūbi.

That boy was going to be devastating when he grew up. He would have to put pressure on B to really hit it off with Naruto during the two-week training period and plant the seed of joining Kumo. Otherwise, he would have to simply settle for the alliance he had made and make sure not to piss off Konoha.

Hiruzen was very impressed with Naruto's performance. There was no way he wouldn't get his Chūnin rank after that demonstration. He would have loved to grant it to him personally, but that honor might fall to Tsunade if he wasn't careful.

Tsunade was quite proud of her little nephew. He had that girl on the ropes the entire time and while she had come close to tagging him a few times he was in control the whole fight. He still needed work on his taijutsu, though.

Tsunade shot a glance over to Jiraiya, who had a cat ate the canary grin on his face. She would mention the taijutsu to him before they left. She could tell he didn't get to land any of the seals he wanted to in that fight.

Jiraiya was as happy as a pea in a pod at that moment. Naruto had set up the plan they had come up with and, for the most part, executed it flawlessly with all the misdirection with those combination attacks.

He did fail to land his seals, but he wasn't too concerned about it. Trying to get that close to a sword user was a foolish notion when you were a ninjutsu powerhouse anyways. He wouldn't have even attempted it if she was using anything more than a tanto. It was more of a test of his ability to apply them in that situation than anything else.

He would have to watch out for Iwa during their training trip but after today, they would probably be too busy building up their forces for the inevitable war after the invasion failed. He would take Naruto to the smaller areas near Iwa from the very start before moving away for the rest of the trip.

Orochimaru couldn't keep the grin off of his face. Yes, Naruto would be quite useful indeed. Now he would get to see how his new body would perform against the Ichibi brat.

 **Competitor's Box**

* * *

Naruto was looking over at the dazed Gaara and saw the glassy-eyed look he had. He hoped Kurama was making real progress in helping Shukaku for both their sakes. He couldn't help but feel bad for Gaara. His life must have been so much worse than Naruto's. If it wasn't for Kurama, he might have turned out exactly like Gaara or be dead already.

He also couldn't wait to meet with Gyūki also since Kurama had said mostly positive things about Gyūki. Except for his caring of humans part, Kurama really didn't like how Gyūki always sided with humans.

"Will Shino Aburame of Konoha and Tenten of Konoha please make their way down to the arena floor," Gekkō called out.

Naruto gave Shino a nod before wishing them both luck in their fight.

Naruto shot a glance over at Sasuke and Karui thinking about how his fight with them would go.

Sasuke would be difficult for certain. Who knows what Kakashi had taught him during their training? Kakashi knew so many jutsu and was such a tricky little bastard. Naruto had developed a lot of his strategies from watching the things that Kakashi had done to himself and the others during sparring.

Kakashi had helped him learn how to focus his jutsu enough that he didn't need to call them out as often. Half of the time he only had his clones call them out to misdirect the enemy from the real strategy that was unfolding and that idea was all thanks to what Kakashi had taught him.

Even when Kakashi didn't really like him, he still didn't neglect his training but for the five months between Nami and the Chūnin Exams, Kakashi had helped Naruto with advancing his use of clones offensively and defensively.

Sasuke would have picked all this up and possibly more, with his Sharingan he would be forced to use more of his father's taijutsu style instead of jutsu combinations to try and get close and tag Sasuke with a low powered Rasengan. Jiraiya had mentioned that the Rasengan was good against the Sharingan because it temporarily blinded them, and the Byakugan, with enough chakra poured into it.

Naruto was confident he could deal with Karui just like Samui. He wouldn't even attempt to apply seals on her if he failed on Samui so miserably. If people knew any better, he might look bad to them, but most people didn't pay attention enough to him to know any better. Naruto recalled that Karui hadn't appeared to be as fast as Samui was but her blade was longer, and she seemed to be much more aggressive. He would have to probably swarm her with cheaper clones before forming more charged clones for his attacks instead of starting with the charged ones off the bat like he did with Samui.

Naruto drew his attention back to the arena floor when Hayate announced the start of the fight.

Right away he saw Tenten begin unleashing a few volleys of shuriken towards Shino, who matched hers with a few of his own before he was forced to evade.

Shino sent a cloud of his kikaichū towards Tenten, who removed a scroll from her pouch and unfurled it. As she channeled chakra into the scroll what looked like a Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) emerged from the scroll towards the insects.

Some of the insect clouds managed to evade and continue after Tenten, but a significant portion fell to the fire.

Tenten then dashed away from the cloud throwing more shuriken and kunai at Shino to force him to dodge.

Tenten then unsealed a medium sized tessen and charged her chakra into it before the seals on the tessen released a small wave of cutting chakra to the bugs that were still chasing her, eliminating the rest of the cloud.

Naruto was pretty impressed with the fūinjutsu skills Tenten was displaying and planned to approach her at some point to compare notes. He was a little excited to find someone else around his age that could talk fūinjutsu with him. Shikamaru was able to keep up with him sometimes, just because he was very intelligent, but it wasn't the same. Naruto could easily talk for hours with Jiraiya about seals, but his shishō was not as enthusiastic about it as he was.

Tenten, believing that she had eliminated most of the insects in Shino's arsenal, unsealed a naginata and charged into range of Shino to slash at him with the spear tip.

Tenten continued to cut at Shino while he slowly backpedaled and evaded until he stopped for some odd reason and Tenten managed to slash him across the chest with the bladed tip.

Shino dispersed into an insect clone, and the kikaichū all flew towards Tenten right away trying to latch onto her and drain her chakra.

Tenten began rapidly spinning her naginata to prevent the kikaichū from landing, but she had already fallen into Shino's trap.

Kikaichū sprung up from small holes in the ground in a circle around Tenten forming a sphere until they surrounded her in a massive swarm completely.

"You have been caught in my Hijutsu: Mushidama (Insect Sphere) and the insects will continue to drain your chakra until you collapse or surrender," Shino called out to Tenten.

Tenten merely raised her hand before the insects moved off of her face allowing her to abandon the fight.

Gekkō announced Shino as the winner, and the bugs returned to Shino before he bowed to Tenten, and they both left the field.

"That was a quite difficult battle you provided for me, Tenten. It was only due to my strategy that I prevailed in the end," Shino commented.

"Thanks, Shino, I still have to come up with some better ways to fight against those kikaichū though, it's almost impossible to get away from them," Tenten replied.

Tenten moved slowly up the stairs to meet her sensei and teammate, but she was exhausted from the chakra draining the kikaichū did. Naruto drew her attention when he called her name before handing her a small chakra seal.

"That was a good match Tenten. Here try this. This seal will give you enough chakra back, so you can be at full strength for your next match." Naruto said.

Tenten was a little wary of using someone's seals but decided to give it a shot since Shino and Sasuke both seemed almost eager for them. She had to admit she was curious but didn't want to impose on Naruto when he offered before.

"Oh, thank you, Naruto. How does it work?" Tenten said studying the seal. It was way more advanced than she could manage, that was for certain.

"Just place it face down onto your skin and channel a small amount of chakra into it. It will feel really hot for a moment, but it will calm down if you just give it a few minutes then flare your chakra." Naruto said.

Tenten followed Naruto's directions and gasped when she felt the chakra rush into her system. His chakra was so powerful and dense in comparison to her own. Her chakra had always felt really light and airy when she manipulated it, but Naruto's felt like thick syrup that strangely felt highly energetic instead of sluggish.

"Whoa, thanks. That is really awesome! Where did you learn to make that?" Tenten asked.

"I found a book and some scrolls in the consignment shop and with the help of my jiji I was able to advance further and create some modifications towards them. I thought your seals were really impressive also. Who taught you how to make them?" Naruto asked.

"Mainly my father but it only deals in the realm of storing items and jutsu. I never even thought of storing chakra before. Do you mind if I have some more to study? I'll pay you for them." Tenten practically begged Naruto.

"Here. You can have a few of them. Don't worry about paying for it. Just let me have a few copies of some of your storage seals and we will call it even. Deal?" Naruto held out a few more seals towards Tenten.

"Deal! Come by the Weapons Depot in the North West district by Training Grounds 5 and 6 anytime and I'll give you a few different samples. Maybe we can trade notes on some other seals too." Tenten said with excitement.

She hadn't known of anyone else who was working on fūinjutsu and was excited by the chance to learn more about it.

"That would be great, Tenten. I'll come by sometime after the finals are over," Naruto said with a small smile.

Tenten waved before rushing up the stands to her seat. She couldn't wait to break down the seal Naruto gave her and she felt invigorated by the chakra rushing through her veins.

 **Kage Viewing Box**

* * *

"I can see why Suzumebachi lost to that boy down there, he is quite the strategist." Ōnoki said grudgingly.

He couldn't wait for this next match to start because he would finally get to put this damn village in its place and prove that Iwa was the dominant village. He especially looked forwards to destroying all remnants of the Yondaime, starting with his stupid head carved into the mountain. Next, would be that Uzumaki brat and any property that he owned.

After that, he would push to claim the jinchūriki, whoever it was, since he was providing most of the forces for this assault. He couldn't admit that both of his jinchūriki had vanished from Iwa completely in the past few months but what did it matter. The Kyūbi should make up for the Yonbi and the Gobi quite nicely.

"True." Hiruzen agreed, "Young Shino is quite intelligent. Tenten also was very impressive, for a weapons specialist,"

Hiruzen was beginning to stretch himself subtly and warm his muscles up with chakra to prepare for his battle with Rasa. He didn't know why Suna decided to betray their alliance, but he was going to make Rasa pay for it dearly.

Rasa merely nodded at Hiruzen's comment, too caught up in his thoughts on his upcoming battle with the Kami of Shinobi. Jiraiya and Tsunade's presence made him a bit nervous, but with Ōnoki and A providing support against Hiruzen and Orochimaru using his jutsu against Jiraiya and Tsunade, it should be more than enough to put Konoha down for good.

Then his people could expand into Hi no Kuni and Kawa no Kuni so there would be no more drought and starvation for his village. Crops and drinking water would be plentiful, and the jobs would flow. He didn't feel proud about turning against his allies like this, but Konoha betrayed them by supporting Kawa no Kuni over Suna. His people needed access to that river to survive, the natural spring oasis in Kaze no Kuni just weren't enough to support their village which was already significantly smaller than the other big five. It was a source of pride for Suna to be considered one of the five considering they had the harshest environment to live in and the smallest population.

A was inwardly gearing himself up for his fight. The first thing he was going to do was punch Ōnoki right in his stupid red nose. That little shit had pissed him off for the last time. He couldn't wait to shatter that little gnome bastard into pieces. His forces were already in position to ambush Orochimaru's little minions before moving on and hopefully tearing a huge chunk of Ōnoki's reserves apart. Yes. Today was going to be a good day; he could feel it.

Jiraiya and Tsunade were also slowly preparing themselves for what was to come. Both of the sannin were hoping that the reports they received about Orochimaru's plans were mere rumor, but they were prepared. It would be saddening to know just how far their teammate had fallen.

Jiraiya just hoped the bastard wouldn't run like a bitch again, but who was he kidding. Orochimaru had always favored his survival over everything else.

Tsunade was hoping Orochimaru wasn't truly as depraved as rumors had suggested he was. She always hated battle and wasn't looking forwards to the events today, but she would do what she needed to do. Orochimaru had targeted the last of her family, and he had to die for that.

Orochimaru licked his lips in anticipation of seeing Sasuke fight. He couldn't wait to see the sheer terror and despair on his sensei's face when the Ichibi manifested right in the middle of the village and began rampaging. It would be sweet revenge for being thrown out of the village and labeled a traitor for his research. All he ever wanted to do was advance the village and his own capabilities so he could find the secret to immortal life.

Those fools would learn the folly of turning their back against him today.

 **Arena Floor**

* * *

Hayate called out for fighters for the final battle of the semi-finals.

"Will Sasuke Uchiha of Konoha and Sabaku no Gaara of Suna please proceed to the arena floor," Hayate called out before the crowd erupted into raucous cheering.

Sasuke headed down to the arena with a glower on his face. All the false praise from a false village but it didn't matter now. Soon the real battle would begin, and Sasuke only considered this as the warm up.

Gaara, on the other hand, managed to Shunshin onto the field, but he was waging an internal battle with multiple voices.

He knew he was supposed to sleep and let mother have her fill of blood but at the same time, other voices were convincing mother to change her mind. Now mother wouldn't speak to him anymore, and Gaara was confused. He didn't know if he should fight against what these voices were saying or if he should listen and just flee instead.

Hayate called the fight to start, and Gaara just stood there clutching his head without even acknowledging Sasuke or the fight at all.

Sasuke decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and decided to finish him off with a Chidori right away so he could move onto the real invasion.

Gaara sensed danger approaching and tried to defend by grabbing his opponent with Sabaku Kyū (Sand Coffin), but Sasuke was too quick and dashed past the grabbing sand while ducking and evading the grasping tentacles.

Gaara raised a wall of sand in front of him to stop the charge, but Sasuke's Chidori broke through the wall and his sand armor.

Sasuke's Chidori cut into Gaara's right shoulder, causing his skin to burn and melt from electricity. A shower of blood erupted from where Sasuke's lighting covered arm emerged before the blistering heat cauterized the veins and stopped the bleeding.

Gaara cried out in pain, confusion, and fear. With the voices getting louder in his head Gaara couldn't take it anymore and instead of unleashing his mother on everyone like he was supposed to, he listened to the most booming voice in his head and began to flee the arena.

Before Sasuke could give chase, he heard an explosion from near the top of the stadium and saw the feathers for the genjutsu to put the crowd to sleep.

The invasion of Konoha had begun.


	35. Act 1: Clash of Sound, Fire, Lightning

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be graphic depictions of violence in this chapter.

Edited 4/22/16

 **Chapter 34**

 **Act 1: The Clash of Sound, Fire, and Lighting**

 **Contestants Box – Senju Arena**

* * *

Naruto was watching the fight with a stoic look on his face and felt torn.

He knew Gaara had suffered just like him and, in essence, saw him as a brother. At the same time, Sasuke was also his brother and he knew that Gaara had been out of control based on what Kurama had told him before he went silent at the start of the finals.

When he saw Sasuke stab Gaara with that Chidori attack, Naruto felt a sinking feeling within him and wondered if it was because he felt Gaara's pain or if he was feeling Shukaku and Kurama's pain instead.

A feather floated by but Naruto didn't pay attention as he was looking at Gaara's face and saw the pain and confusion on his face. He instantly had flashbacks of his own attack six years ago and imagined his face must have looked the same.

A few more feathers floated by and suddenly Naruto couldn't help but watch their graceful fall as they floated gently towards the ground. As he saw more feathers, the pain he had felt when looking at Gaara began to fade and Naruto began to drift off to sleep.

Vaguely he realized that there was something wrong with him, but he succumbed to the genjutsu before he could react as he had no experience in dispelling it on his own. He slumped over onto the railing before falling to the ground.

Sasuke shook off the genjutsu with ease and immediately sought out Naruto. He jumped up into the competitor's box and found Karui standing over Naruto's crumpled form.

"Get away from him Kumo!" Sasuke yelled out as he drew his chokuto.

"Relax, Uchiha! I ain't here to fight with Konoha. In fact, our orders are to help you against those Iwa bitches," Karui said before she sent a small chakra pulse into Naruto to wake him up.

Sasuke kept a wary eye on Karui as Naruto began to wake up. Sasuke didn't trust her for a minute. Naruto had never fallen for genjutsu before, and he had the belief that Karui had attacked him.

Naruto groaned as he began to get up. "Huh? What happened? What's going on?"

"Naruto, are you alright? What happened to you?" Sasuke said with his chokuto still pointed at Karui, who rolled her eyes.

"I think it was a genjutsu, but I couldn't get rid of it in time," Naruto said as he shook his drowsiness off. "What is going on, Sasuke? Naruto asked.

"We are being invaded. All the foreign ninjas are attacking us. They already attacked the Hokage," Sasuke said as he checked Naruto over before he was satisfied.

"What? I gotta help jiji!" Naruto cried out as he looked up towards the Kage box and saw Jiraiya, Tsunade, the Hokage, and the Raikage fighting against the Tsuchikage, Kazekage, and Orochimaru.

"Orochimaru!" Naruto growled out and was about to jump over there before Sasuke grabbed his arm.

"Don't be a fool, Naruto; you can't get involved in that fight. It is way beyond us!" Sasuke shook Naruto's arm in emphasis.

"Sasuke is right, Naruto. We must all play our roles, and yours is to stop the Ichibi from attacking the village. You are the only one who can stop him." Kakashi said as he appeared behind Sasuke with Hinata.

"But..." Naruto had begun before Kakashi cut him off.

"That is an order from the Hokage," Kakashi said sternly.

Naruto got a grim look on his face but nodded before he took a deep breath and put his stoic face on.

"Which way did he go, Sasuke?" Naruto asked quietly.

Suddenly, B appeared with Omoi and Samui with him.

Hinata and Sasuke entered defensive stances while Naruto looked at B curiously.

"Calm down everyone. Kumo is not with the invading forces" Kakashi called out.

"Yo, it's time to go and get on with the show. Don't be so slow!" B rapped.

"You have the Hachibi, don't you?" Naruto asked.

"That's right little nine. We better go before our friends lose their link and their work is gone in a blink, you dig?" B said.

"I understand. I guess I'm with you then." Naruto said with a nod

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked

"He's here to help me, guys. We have to find Ichibi and calm him down, so he doesn't rampage through the village, but we have to remain close so that "he" can keep in contact if you know what I mean," Naruto said as he patted his stomach.

"You guys pursue him now then, and I will grab Anbu reinforcements. Kumo is on our side, so play nice." Kakashi ordered

Sasuke and Hinata weren't happy with the Kumo team's involvement, but they would follow orders.

As Team B and Team 7 made their way out of the arena, after Gaara, they had to cut their way through Suna and Iwa forces.

Naruto and Sasuke cleared a path with a combination of Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu (Great Dragon Fire) and Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough).

The large, white hot, fire dragon burned through the enemy forces turning a group of them into ash while causing second and third-degree burns on the ones who were too close to the blast radius.

Anyone who managed to avoid the searing flames were quickly cut down by Team B, who were severing any enemy limbs and heads in their path, as they ran after Naruto and Sasuke.

As they neared the wall, Team 8 suddenly appeared and ran alongside them while they made their way over the wall and into the western approach.

"Kurenai-sensei said we were ordered to back you guys up against Suna and that Gaara dude," Kiba yelled out.

"Were going after the Ichibi jinchūriki, so you guys let B and Naruto handle him. We will have to clear any intercept teams that try and stop us, but our primary objective is to get Naruto and B to Gaara," Sasuke yelled out receiving nods from Team 8.

"B-sensei do we have any updated orders or are we still ordered to stick with Naruto at all costs?" Samui called out.

Hinata threw a glare at Samui while Sasuke and Team 8 looked on with suspicion.

"We were to support little nine if he was alone, but he has his team with him now and back up. You will continue to support me and nine by acting as intercept also." B said seriously.

Naruto paused for a moment before he caught up. "We have multiple incomings from our flank; I can smell that five of them belong to that snake bastard Orochimaru. They are either after Sasuke or me." Naruto called out.

Sasuke scowled at the thought.

"We are getting too far from the Ichibi, Naruto even the Kyūbi is starting to lose his link we have to move forwards," B called out.

"Team 8 will intercept them and remove them from the equation," Shino said in a commanding tone.

"There are 5 of them, though! You guys will need help." Hinata replied.

"Team B you will assist team 8 in killing our tail," B called out.

"Yes. B-sensei!" Samui, Karui, and Omoi called out before falling back with Team 8.

Naruto, B, Sasuke, and Hinata continued forwards until they had to evade a hail of senbon and a gust of sharp wind.

As they took cover behind the trees, they saw Temari and Kankuro standing their ground with a group of extra sand ninja covering their back.

"The Hachibi says we are close, but the Ichibi is going to start moving again soon. We need to get closer to be more effective. Right now, Kyūbi is carrying most of the link, so you need to get closer or let him transfer the link to Hachibi instead." B whispered to Naruto.

"I can't get in contact with the Kyūbi right now. You will have to tell him. I can't even use my cloak while he is doing this. It might be better for me to keep the link instead so you can use Hachibi's form if needed." Naruto replied back.

"I'll take the link then since I can still use Hachibi's form while having a link active, but he says you will still be out of touch with the Kyūbi while he is assisting. Kyūbi is the one who is subduing the Ichibi. You will be able to, at least, use his chakra now but be careful." B said before he held his fist out to Naruto.

Naruto wasn't certain what that was supposed to mean, so he just copied the action and felt a strange pull on his mind.

" **Naruto, this is Gyūki. I have redirected the link as B explained. You can now speak to myself and B through the link, but Kurama is too far into Shukaku's psyche to communicate with you. We must continue onward soon so we can calm our raging brother."** Gyūki said.

 _'I understand, Gyūki. Thank you for your help.'_ Naruto replied.

 _'You better tell your friends to deal with these small fries and quickly.'_ B responded.

Naruto waved down Sasuke and began signing out.

-Diversion. Target in full retreat- Naruto signed out.

Sasuke nodded and tapped Hinata, who looked over to him.

-Copy. Covering Flank. Proceed- Sasuke signed out.

 _'Okay. They will handle these guys, but I'm gonna help my team take out some of these guys before we leave. We will move on once Sasuke attacks.'_ Naruto said as he created four clones to support his teammates.

 _'On your six, little nine.'_ B said.

Naruto saw Sasuke forming a Raiton: Sandāboruto (Thunderbolt) and decided he could afford to cast a bigger jutsu now so he flew through the seals for Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon).

The lightning infused water dragon raced from the nearby river and into the clearing catching the Suna-nin off guard. Five of them were electrocuted to death while two evaded along with Kankuro and Temari.

While the water dragon had been flying in towards the Suna ninja's, B and Naruto sped around the clearing and continued towards where they sensed Gaara while Naruto's clones helped Sasuke and Hinata confront the Suna ninjas.

 **With Team B and Team 8**

* * *

Team 8 and Team B waited for the arrival of the Oto ninja and were surprised when they saw six appear instead of five.

They all wore gray tabard like tops that had pieces hanging down to their knees in the front and back, with black shorts underneath and white wraps covering their shins. They had large purple rope obi and black combat sandals.

"Damn. It looks like Konoha left us some trash to clean up before we get our new teammate." The six armed guy said.

"No shit, Kidōmaru. These little bitches don't even look worthy of us wasting our fucking chakra on." The red headed female replied.

"Tayuya, you shouldn't use such language as a lady. It's not fitting." The tall, bulky member said with orange hair and eyes.

"Fuck off, Jirōbō, I can say whatever the hell I want," Tayuya replied.

"What are we waiting for? Let's finish these guys off and get that Naruto kid already." One of the short gray haired guys said

"Tch, why not show these guys what real ninja are." The second gray-haired guy said.

"Sakon, Ukon we don't have time for any games right now. That goes for the rest of you as well. Orochimaru-sama wants Naruto in his hands, and we will deliver him as ordered." A white-haired man with green eyes and two red dots on his forehead stated calmly.

"Yes. Kimimaro." the rest of the Oto ninjas replied

Karui, Omoi, and Samui looked at each other before they charged into the attack.

Shino began releasing his bugs towards the group focusing on the man with six arms suspecting he was a close range fighter because of it.

Omoi had also sought to charge Kidōmaru but was intercepted by Kimimaro and his bone sword.

Sakura began layering genjutsu on Jirōbō, who had rushed in to engage Karui.

Tayuya started to play her flute to cast a genjutsu on the group but was interrupted when Samui charged forward and almost slashed her hands off with Kumo-Ryū Mikazukigiri (Cloud Style Crescent Moon Slice).

Ukon merged with Sakon right off the bat and were engaged by Kiba and Akamaru.

Kidōmaru decided not to play around and activated his cursed seal level two and began spitting webs at Shino, Sakura, Omoi and Samui before he created a bow and began shooting at them.

Samui avoided the web by using Shunshin to get behind Tayuya and tried to slash through her, but Tayuya used Kawarimi with a tree branch and activated her curse seal level two also.

Tayuya then summoned her three Doki to start attacking Samui and try to drain some of her physical energy with their worm summons. Samui was ducking in between their attacks and cutting them with slashes and stabs at the Doki and the worms, but the worms were immune, and the Doki were quite large. Samui had to resort to falling back and evading their attacks as well as Kidōmaru's webs and arrows.

Tayuya was too pissed off at Samui to provide support to the rest of the team like she was supposed to, so instead of applying genjutsu, she only commanded her Doki to continue chasing after Samui, eager to kill the bitch that tried to cut her hands off.

Omoi used Kawarimi with a fallen log to avoid the webs that Kidōmaru spat at him before he dashed towards Kimimaro's back and tried to stab through his torso. Kimimaro merely hardened his bones and stopped the sword completely shocking Omoi.

Kimimaro countered by growing another bone out of his rib cage and trying to impale Omoi, who leaped away from the attack before retreating to give him more room to fight. Kimimaro had to step around Jirōbō, who was charging at the stuck Sakura, and chased after Omoi.

Sakura had been applying another layer of Magen: Henkō no Kōkei (Altering Sight) on Jirōbō so he would keep missing Karui, and was caught in the web while distracted. She tried to cut through the web, but her kunai weren't sharp enough, and she became trapped. She soon noticed Shino's bugs crawling all over the web and saw that they were siphoning the web of chakra.

Jirōbō had begun moving in towards Sakura when he saw her trapped by the web. Karui, who had blocked a few arrows from Kidōmaru and finally dashed out of Kidōmaru's line of sight, performed a vertical slash towards Jirōbō's stomach, forcing him to jump away from Sakura. He picked up a large chunk of earth and threw it at Karui before charging in to punch her, unaware that his vision was distorted because of the genjutsu.

While it appeared that he barely missed her after Karui evaded, in reality, he had missed Karui by a large margin and was rewarded with another large gash across his chest causing Jirōbō to cry out in pain and confusion. Jirōbō activated level 1 of his curse mark and charged after Karui again, eager to crush her with his bare hands.

Sakura was about to panic, but she recalled one of her lessons from Tsunade over the past month when training with Hinata. She hadn't mastered it yet, but she wasn't going to be performing surgery on anyone, so she concentrated and focused on the technique. Sakura sighed in relief when she managed to create Chakura no Mesu (Chakra Scalpels) and began to slice through the webbing.

She had to hurry before that six armed freak began shooting at her again. The Kumo kunoichi was too busy to save her ass again. Sakura managed to cut through and looked around.

She spotted Kiba and Akamaru being launched backward by a powerful attack by Sakon and decided to set up her Sakura Fubuki no Jutsu (Cherry Blossom Blizzard) while Kiba was out of range. After moving to put a tree between her and Kidōmaru, she began her attack pattern.

Sakura did the hand seals for Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu (Hell Viewing Technique) which stunned Sakon and Ukon before she threw out a massive barrage of kunai with explosive tags disguised as cherry blossom petals.

Sakon broke the genjutsu but thought he was unsuccessful when he saw cherry blossoms falling around him slowly. He tried to dispel the genjutsu again, but Sakura triggered the chain of explosions at that moment with a single explosive tag.

Sakon had substantial second-degree burns and busted ribs from the combined explosive tags and had to activate his curse mark level 2 to try and mitigate some of the damage he had taken. Sakon then split from Ukon and attempted to merge inside of Ukon to heal, but Sakon was tagged by Kiba and Akamaru's Gatsūga (Fang over Fang) and knocked back into the woods far away from Ukon.

Ukon gave chase after Kiba, to help Sakon in his battle, but did not notice he had picked up some extra passengers in the form of kikaichū from Shino.

Kidōmaru managed to hit Shino with the volley of webs he had just shot and took aim with his arrow thinking he had Shino trapped. When the arrow struck, however, it revealed Shino was an insect clone instead. Shino's kikaichū began feeding on the web quickly while Shino split his kikaichū between Ukon and Kidōmaru.

Kidōmaru tried to trap Shino again, who avoided it with a Kawarimi but had to weave quickly between trees to evade Kidōmaru's arrows.

Kidōmaru began to tire suddenly, but he kept trying to fire and spit webs at Shino, Karui, Samui, and Shino trying to immobilize them so he could finish them off with his arrows. Lost in the rage of his curse mark he didn't realize that the more webs he shot out and maintained with his chakra, the easier it was for Shino to drain his chakra.

Without remaining focused and in control, it wasn't long before he fell into Shino's trap as Shino revealed another insect clone behind Kidōmaru that he shot immediately, releasing another swarm directly on top of him.

Soon, Shino had surrounded Kidōmaru with enough bugs to perform his Hijutsu: Mushidama (Insect Sphere) and Kidōmaru was now at his mercy. The kikaichū held him immobile and continued to siphon Kidōmaru's chakra until he finally died from chakra depletion.

Shino used one of Naruto's seals from the finals and breathed a sigh of relief. Even with the siphoning of chakra from his enemies, releasing and controlling this much of his swarm was taxing. He had used almost all of his spare hives to finish off Kidōmaru and support Kiba, but he was fortunate to have only lost a few handfuls of his bugs to the sticky nature of the webs.

Shino looked over at Omoi, who was deep in combat with Kimimaro and quickly deduced that they were relatively even in skill. He then observed Karui and Sakura battling Jirōbō and Samui fighting with Tayuya. Shino decided to send the rest of his swarm to sneak attack Tayuya before he went to support the hive that followed after Kiba. The rest of his comrades and allies seemed to have everything in order here.

One of the two opponents Kiba was facing should be drained completely within a few minutes, and Kiba should be able to render his second opponent unconscious quite quickly since Sakura had wounded him quite severely with her attack. Shino never expected Sakura's first original attack to actually work since it was slow moving, but he would have to reconsider his opinion now that she had effectively used it against an enemy.

Samui was starting to run low on energy evading the worms and Doki, but she began to make her way closer to Tayuya in the hopes that she could do a quick Kawarimi and Shunshin combo to finish her off with Kumo-Ryū Omotegiri (Cloud Style Front Beheading).

After rolling to evade more swipes towards her from the Doki, Samui set her plan into motion. Her first move was to disguise her set up by throwing a handful of shuriken and two kunai as she got to her feet and began sprinting closer to Tayuya. Samui was forced to jump over one of the energy worms as they lunged at her before rolling to avoid another slash coming in from the side.

Tayuya, confident that her curse mark level 2 would repel any damage from some useless little projectiles, lazily dodged the shuriken and kunai without skipping a beat in her melody of control. Samui was counting on this fact, however, because some of the kunai had a micro explosive tag wrapped around the handle. Once Samui saw the kunai pass by Tayuya's body, Samui triggered the tags to explode launching Tayuya off her branch.

Tayuya was slammed into a lower branch, halting her Doki temporarily as she clung to the branch and pulled herself back up. She immediately brought her flute up to her lips which would ultimately save her life for the moment. Tayuya had landed exactly where Samui had wanted her, and she used a Shunshin up into a closer tree branch before using Kawarimi with a kunai she had embedded in the branch near where Tayuya was now standing.

Samui's Kumo-Ryū Omotegiri cleaved through Tayuya's raised left forearm and her flute, sparing her neck from receiving the full damage but rendering Tayuya useless. Tayuya managed to lash out with a wild kick as she fell backward screaming in rage and pain, which Samui blocked. The kick was successful as it drove Samui back enough to stop her from finishing her follow up slash that would have removed Tayuya's head. Tayuya landed roughly on a lower branch before she quickly jumped back up to her feet and ran towards Kimimaro hoping to save herself.

Tayuya had been too caught up in the fight to notice that her curse mark level 2 had actually faded to level 1 because of Shino's bugs, so the fact that Samui had managed to cut off her arm was a complete surprise. Instead of feeding off of rage and hatred to power up her seal even further, she fell into a blind panic which allowed the level 1 mark to remain active but not to draw on more natural chakra to taint and re-power the seal back to level 2.

Omoi and Kimimaro were engaged in a fierce battle, exchanging slashes and parries but Kimimaro appeared almost bored with the fight as he tried to cut into Omoi.

"Just give it up trash. You can not stop me," Kimimaro said calmly.

Omoi didn't even reply to his taunts, only focusing on winning the fight. He was trying to figure out how the hell to do any damage to this guy as his sword was practically useless against him.

Omoi jumped back to avoid another strike then began to channel Raiton chakra into his sword. He then launched a series of distracting slashes that Kimimaro avoided easily before he was caught off guard by Omoi's Kumo-Ryū Mikazukigiri (Cloud Style Crescent Moon Slice).

The lightning chakra managed to shock Kimimaro disrupting his concentration on hardening his bone sword and allowed Omoi's Kumo-Ryū Mikazukigiri the chance to finally cut through it causing a deep gash to appear across Kimimaro's chest.

Kimimaro scowled as he grew his bones out for Yanagi no Mai (Dance of the Willow). Kimimaro then dashed towards Omoi and began to lash out at him with the bone protrusions out of his shoulders and elbows while he sent out low and high slashes simultaneously using the spikes on his forearms and knees.

Kimimaro would then suddenly reverse the directions of the attacks by spinning the opposite direction at random while extending his bones out at different angles.

Omoi took a few deep cuts on his arms, left leg, and chest even as he parried and evaded the other bones. Omoi knew he was outmatched like this and needed to create some space and make an opening.

Omoi was forced to Kawarimi with a loose kunai before he followed up with a Shunshin to create more distance between him and Kimimaro.

Omoi began to flip through the hand seals for Raiton: Sandāboruto (Thunderbolt) as Kimimaro sprinted towards him closing the gap rapidly to stop his jutsu.

It seemed like Omoi might not get the jutsu off in time, but an explosive tag thrown by Sakura into Kimimaro's path forced him to sidestep, giving Omoi time to jump into the air and finish the jutsu.

Karui, who had just unleashed a devastating series of slashes across Jirōbō's legs and stomach leaving him almost gutted, spotted Omoi beginning his jutsu out of the corner of her eye.

Karui started charging her body with lightning chakra to perform Raiton: Bakurai (Depth Charge) and add to Omoi's attack thinking that Jirōbō was down for the count. Once her body was wreathed in lightning chakra, she dashed in towards Kimimaro to release the jutsu at close range.

Once Karui threw a slash at Kimimaro, who blocked it with one of his bony protrusions, she completed her Raiton: Bakurai and unleashed a powerful bolt of lighting through their connected swords and into Kimimaro, which combined with Omoi's Raiton: Sandāboruto electrocuting Kimimaro with thousands of volts of electricity.

Kimimaro was able to activate his Curse Seal level 2 to survive the blast of lightning, but he was weakening from the fight much faster than he normally would because of his illness. The electricity was slowly weakening him by spreading damage throughout his body through the various cuts in his skin, bypassing his bone defense, and traveling through tendons and blood vessels.

Karui had to parry Kimimaro's numerous bones from the Yanagi no Mai as he blitzed towards her at a much higher rate of speed due to his curse mark level 2. Kimimaru's intricate spins and coordinated slashes were beginning to break through Karui's guard.

When Kimimaro was about to land a fatal slash on Karui, Omoi appeared behind him and hit him with a lightning infused Kumo-Ryū Mikazukigiri. Karui used the opening Omoi gave her to counter with Kumo-Ryū Omotegiri.

Karui's attack only managed to create a flesh wound as Kimimaro reinforced the strength of the bones protecting his neck. The bony protrusions from his shoulders reduced some of the force behind Karui's strike, but Omoi's Kumo-Ryū Mikazukigiri was aimed directly at the existing gash on Kimimaro's chest before he held the blade there and began channeling as much Raiton chakra through the blade into the gash. The lightning took the path of least resistance through Kimimaro's body and into his organs causing damage to his already weakened lungs and exacerbating his disease.

Kimimaro grew enraged and kicked Karui away into Jirōbō, who had managed to recover from his wounds and been attacking Sakura. Kimimaro sent a back thrust kick into Omoi's solar plexus driving him back several feet and giving him room for his next move.

Karui's body had crashed directly into Jirōbō causing him to stumble and knocking the chunk of earth he was throwing at Sakura off its trajectory. Jirōbō immediately turned to kick Karui, but she rolled behind him while slashing out at his legs trying to cleave through them. Normally the slash would have been capable of cutting even through the thigh bone when using her momentum in that manner but with his curse seal level 2 now active he only received a deep flesh wound instead.

Jirōbō tried to latch onto Karui, but she rolled out of the way again, keeping him distracted and at a distance while Sakura closed the gap, using the distraction to lash out with her Chakura no Mesu to carve through the tendons on his legs and arms to try and render him immobile. It was a noble effort but the curse mark level 2 was simply healing the cuts as fast as she could make them which is why she was caught off guard by Jirōbō's next move.

Jirōbō suddenly turned on Sakura and grabbed her by the throat, choking her while draining her chakra. Karui used the distraction to charge her katana with Raiton chakra before she thrust her sword into his back, driving the blade up through the ribs and lungs and up towards his heart as hard as she could. Jirōbō's spine and ribs managed to redirect her sword just enough so that the sword emerged below his heart instead of directly through it. Karui began to twist the blade and open the wound further, hoping to make him bleed out faster.

Jirōbō roared out in pain and spat up some blood dropping Sakura, who began to stumble away from Jirōbō while trying to regain her breath. Karui pulled the sword out and stabbed into Jirōbō again twisting the blade into the left side of his torso before pulling her sword out and jumping back to avoid a wild backhand swing. Jirōbō stumbled for a moment and coughed up more blood before he began to charge at Sakura, who was still trying to recover from his choke hold.

When Kimimaro kicked Karui away, he took advantage of the distance between them to create his Tessenka no Mai: Tsuru (Dance of the Clemantis: Vine) by pulling his spinal cord out and growing a new one.

Omoi used the time to slice at Kimimaro with a three slash combo finishing with Kumo-Ryū Uragiri (Cloud Style Back Slice) before he Shunshined away to set up another attack combo. Kimimaro just took the hits in stride as he completed removing his spine and began to lash at Omoi with his whip like spinal cord, preventing Omoi's secondary charge. Omoi managed to block some of the sharpened vertebrae but was driven away from Kimimaro.

Kimimaro continued to slash at Omoi while closing the distance hoping to catch the Kumo-nin off guard and use his Tessenka no Mai: Hana (Dance of the Clemantis: Flower) and finish this annoying pest off. He would not fail Orochimaru, and this bastard was standing in the way of what his master desired.

Omoi knocked part of the whip away with a counter slash before he tried to dash back in. Omoi didn't see the remaining vertebrae chain behind him circling back towards him. Kimimaro drew the chain back towards him and tightened the links together causing the bones to wrap around Omoi. The sharpened bones cut ribbons into his back and arms as they wrapped around him causing him to cry out in pain.

Kimimaro quickly created his large drill shape bone Tessenka no Mai: Hana, focusing as much of his bone density into bone drill as he prepared to impale Omoi with it.

Omoi began to charge his body with lightning chakra out of desperation, hoping his own Raiton: Bakurai would be strong enough to stun his opponent and allow him to break free. Omoi poured almost all of his remaining chakra reserves into the attack causing him to light up the forest for a few seconds.

The lightning traveled through the cartilage holding the spinal whip together and into Kimimaro electrocuting him once again. His already damaged organs couldn't hold up to another round of electrocution and began to fail suddenly.

Kimimaro fell to his knees and coughed up blood once the lightning stopped arching through his body. He knew he was about to die, so he resorted to his final attack the Sawarabi no Mai (Dance of the Seedling Fern)

"You fought well Kumo trash, but now it is time for all of you to die." Kimimaro wheezed out as he coughed up some more blood. "...but IF I DIE I'M TAKING YOU TRASH WITH ME! FOR OROCHIMARU-SAMA!" Kimimaro shouted out before he curled up on the ground and began to channel all his remaining chakra into sprouting as many bone spikes as fast as possible.

Tayuya had closed the distance with Kimimaro hoping to use him as a way to peel Samui off of her, but once she caught sight of Kimimaro's final moments she turned on her heels and began leaping away from him. Tayuya had heard Kimimaro talk about this last attack of the Kaguya clan. Tayuya knew that Kimimaro wasn't the type to make up bullshit stories or brag about his abilities just to fool people into believing he was stronger. It simply wasn't necessary for him to do so. The bastard was almost impossible to kill already as it is, he didn't need to exaggerate at all.

She also knew that Kimimaro wouldn't hesitate to kill everyone in the area if he thought Orochimaru might be even marginally pleased by the fact. While she didn't particularly care for her teammates as friends or anything, she still shouted out a warning because she would be damned if she faced Orochimaru alone for fucking this mission up. He had made it clear that he would kill them for screwing this up and failing to capture the blonde kid at the very least.

"SHIT! RUN MOTHERFUCKERS! KIMIMARO IS GONNA KILL US ALL!" Tayuya shouted as she began to flee.

Samui frowned before chasing after Tayuya. She couldn't move fast enough or get close enough to stop Tayuya from running with the speed granted to her by the level 2 curse mark. When a massive bone spike erupted from the side nearly impaling her, she began to focus more on running instead of chasing, using a Shunshin to create more distance before she started leaping from tree to tree quickly to avoid the "bone forest" that Tayuya had so _eloquently_ warned everyone about.

Sakon's severe injuries by Sakura's rain of explosive tags and Ukon's lack of chakra from Shino's bugs and injuries from Kiba and Akamaru's attacks prevented them from avoiding the bony protrusions sprouting from the ground around them.

Multiple spikes impaled Sakon through his torso, leaving his body to hang limp as the bone spikes grew and his blood stained the bones pink. Ukon, who had been on his knees from being drained, was impaled through the head causing his skull to shatter by the force of the growing bone spike.

Kiba and Akamaru took to the trees and barely managed to survive the growing bone forest as they tried to speed away.

Sakon had merged with Kiba during their fight out of desperation and had managed to cause some internal damage before Kiba forced him out by stabbing himself in the leg. This wound slowed down Kiba's escape, but he still managed to clear the forest and shield Akamaru from being stabbed by picking him up and leaping off of tall branch towards a farther tree. As he flew through the air from his leap of desperation, several bone spikes sliced into Kiba's right shoulder and leg, creating large tears in his muscles and blood to start flowing. Kiba thought he was going to die, but the bones stopped growing allowing Kiba and Akamaru to fall to the ground away from the bony spikes. As soon as Kiba fell to the ground, he lost consciousness.

Jirōbō had been approaching Sakura to finish her off, ignoring Karui's stab wounds completely, when he heard Tayuya's scream and turned in the direction he heard her shouting from. Before he could react, Sakura used Jirōbō as a human stepladder, springing off his shoulders and kicking off his face to avoid bone spikes that grew out of the ground beneath her rather suddenly.

Sakura barely managed to cling to the forked tip of a second bone spike that had already risen to its full height nearby. She stuck to the bone using chakra and her hands hoping to avoid being impaled by any more spikes. Sakura received numerous cuts all over her body as more bones grew around her, but they stopped before any managed to stab into her body.

Sakura sighed in relief and began healing her cuts with her remaining chakra.

The ever observant Shino had also taken to the trees as soon as he saw Kimimaro starting to sprout the first spikes. Since he was uninjured and had seen the attack coming sooner than Kiba, he was able to evade all the bone spikes entirely and escape unscathed.

Karui and Omoi both used a quick Shunshin to get some distance before they took a page from the Konoha group and had begun fleeing to the tops of the trees. Being in closer proximity to Kimimaro, they had their hands full dodging the fast rising bone spikes around them. In the end, they managed to escape with nothing more than some deep gashes on their arms and legs, but they were non-threatening flesh wounds.

Due to the extensive lightning damage, Kimimaro had taken from Omoi and Karui and his weakened state from his terminal illness; he had only been able to cover about 80 yards of the forest instead of the estimated 150 yards he would have normally been capable of covering before his final breath.

Jirōbō was still alive but was dying slowly due to blood loss. His curse mark finally failed, leaving him without the strength or healing to escape and since none of his vital organs had been impaled, it would take the large man a very long time to bleed out. Sakura decided to show him mercy and finished him off by tossing a kunai into his spine to sever the brain stem and end his life faster. Once that gruesome task was complete, she looked around trying to figure out how she was going to get out of this bone forest without dying.

Tayuya decided that she had gone far enough and turned to see Samui charging after her with a Kumo-Ryū Omotegiri.

Tayuya dodged and rolled out of Samui's follow up slashes before throwing some shuriken at her. She knew she was fucked when her curse mark began to fade completely, and none of her teammates were in sight. She drew a kunai and began feebly trying to hold off Samui.

Without the curse mark's speed and strength amplifying Tayuya's defense, it didn't take Samui long to cut Tayuya down, finishing her off with a clean slice through her intestines and kidneys before following up with a quick slash towards Tayuya's neck, neatly severing her carotid artery.

Samui took a moment to rest and gathered her breath as she watched Tayuya collapse and bleed out. She was wary about that foul chakra the red head had emitted and wanted to make certain her target died completely. Tayuya only let out a few more gurgling breaths before she finally stopped twitching and fell completely still.

Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi, and four additional Anbu members landed in front of Samui as she was flicking Tayuya's blood off of her tantō, causing her to tense up slightly until one of them spoke.

"You went off with Naruto, didn't you? What happened?" Kakashi asked.

Samui relaxed when she recognized Kakashi from inside the arena. While she wasn't technically supposed to answer to him, she decided it was better to just give him a report to avoid any trouble.

"We were pursued by 6 Oto ninjas who were moving to capture Naruto. B-sensei ordered us to remain with Konoha Team 8 who volunteered to hold them off while Naruto pursued Gaara with his team." Samui said before she put her tantō away.

"I got a scent trail this way," Pakkun said as he pointed a paw back the way Samui came from.

Kakashi, Itachi, Samui, and the Anbu headed back towards Kimimaro's bone forest. When the reinforcement team arrived, they were all shocked at the towering bone spikes in an 80-yard radius.

Shino dropped down near the group from his tree perch where he had been observing Sakura and trying to find a method to rescue her. "Our teammate Sakura is trapped on a spike near the center. I do not think she will be able to hold on much longer. I have not located any of the others yet as my kikaichū are still scattered to track them down, but their numbers are insufficient to find then quickly. These opponents had some residual poisonous effects in their chakra that I was unaware of." Shino reported.

Shino had been confident after he killed the six armed ninja but suddenly the kikaichū began to sicken and falter after draining both Kidōmaru and Tayuya. He was fortunate that the sickness did not infect his primary hive, but one of his spare hives might be a total loss. If he had not activated all his remaining chakra seals at once to flood out the tainted chakra that had been absorbed by his spare hives, it could have been much worse.

Shino wasn't certain why his kikaichū did not detect the poisonous chakra. At least his hives would survive to retain that knowledge and pass it down to future generations.

Itachi and Kakashi both jumped up into the nearest tree to look for Sakura and spotted her fairly far into the middle of the bizarre forest.

"Well, this is an interesting puzzle. Anyone got a flying summons of some sort?" Kakashi asked around.

The other Anbu all shook their heads. Itachi could summon a larger crow, but all of the ones big enough to carry someone like Sakura were most likely not willing to carry anyone but himself so they were out of the picture. Most of the larger crows wouldn't even want to carry him if he was in that situation as they viewed such acts as beneath them.

Itachi came up with an idea and began picking his way through the forest as close to Sakura as he could before summoning a Kage Bunshin. Once Itachi was within range, he made his clone Kawarimi with Sakura, causing her to cry out in surprise until she saw Kakashi and the others.

"Thank Kami! I thought I was going to die in there." Sakura said shakily.

When Sakura had been unable to find a way out of the bone forest her thoughts had turned to the battle she had just taken part in. Inner Sakura had grudgingly admitted that she had been able to hold her own a little better in the fight before quickly pointing out why she was still out of her league. Sakura couldn't disagree entirely with Inner's analysis. Only some of her attacks had been useful while others had been shrugged off by that ugly giant with ease. She didn't know if it was that strange mark that boosted his chakra reserves suddenly or the fact that she hadn't mastered the chakra scalpels yet.

Sakura was grateful to Kurenai for all she had done for her. The genjutsu had definitely made an impact during that fight, but now, Sakura believed her best bet would be to train under Tsunade full time if she could. She needed to have the strength and dexterity to hold off a close range opponent on her own when her teammates were bogged down with other enemies. If it weren't for that red headed Kumo kunoichi, she would have died for sure.

Sakura took a soldier pill to replenish herself before following the rest of the group as Pakkun had picked up Kiba and Akamaru's scent and began leading everyone towards them.

Sakura and the replacement team managed to meet up with Karui, Omoi, Kiba, and Akamaru, who had regrouped and were administering first aid to Kiba, who had the most severe injuries.

"Hang on, Kiba. I'll have you patched up real soon," Sakura said with a smile as she activated her Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm) to heal his shoulder wound up before moving to his leg.

"This is good enough to help you get back to the hospital, Kiba, but it won't hold up to anything more strenuous than a light jog. You have to go back to Konoha right away, or these wounds will reopen, and you will bleed to death." Sakura said as she worked on sealing his leg up.

"I won't argue with that! Can't say that I can do much more than walk right now. Those guys were really damn tough, but when that bone shit started happening, I was sure I was a goner." Kiba said with a grimace of pain. Akamaru was in Kiba's jacket whimpering softly.

"Do you guys need healing also or are you ready to go?" Kakashi asked Omoi and Karui.

"It's just some flesh wounds, it's no big deal," Karui said with a snort. Omoi had started wrapping up some of his own wounds with bandages now that Kiba was taken care of by Sakura.

"Karui, what if it gets infected? Then we will get really sick and get stuck in the hospital. Then the other germs in the hospital will make our infection mutate until it becomes impossible to heal, and it will start to spread-" Omoi started before Karui bopped him on the head.

"Enough of that negative shit, Omoi!" Karui said.

Samui butted in "That's not cool guys. I want to continue on and support B-sensei also, but you two have a lot of bad wounds, and I am low on energy from that woman's strange summons. We should return to the hospital."

Karui and Omoi both nodded with downtrodden looks on their faces. It may have sounded like a suggestion, but they knew better that to question Samui's orders.

"We will return with Team 8 to the hospital. Naruto and B-sensei continued West from here directly." Samui said to Kakashi and Itachi.

"Right. Thank you for your assistance and be careful returning to the village. We managed to remove most of the hostile presences out on our way here, but there may still be some within the village proper. The counter attack is still in progress." Kakashi said.

Samui nodded before Team B, and Team 8 began making their way back to Konoha at a slower pace.

"We better hurry, who knows how many ninja they have supporting the Ichibi in his attack. Naruto is now near the Root base we were after. We should secure him first before we proceed with the plan." Kakashi turned to Itachi for his opinion.

"We don't have too much time available to us for this plan to succeed before Danzō gets suspicious. We should proceed directly to the Root base before he begins to recall most of the forces he diverted. We must have faith that B and Naruto can keep the Ichibi at bay." Itachi argued.

Kakashi thought it over for the moment before he relented. He was worried about Naruto, but they couldn't pass up on the opportunity to take out the Root base while most of their forces were occupied in other areas of the village.

"Okay. We will proceed to the Root Base then," Kakashi said with a sigh before he leaped into the trees with Itachi and the Anbu team following him.


	36. Act 2: Battle of Sand and Root

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be graphic depictions of violence in this chapter.

Edited 4/22/16

 **Chapter 35**

 **Act 2: Battle of Sand and Root**

 **With B and Naruto – Outskirts of Konoha**

* * *

Naruto and B continued on after circling around the Suna-nins and sped through the trees advancing towards Gaara.

Before they could catch up to Gaara, a group of three Root Anbu jumped into their path, forcing them to halt their advance. Naruto frowned when he recognized the trio in front of him.

"These guys with you, little nine?" B asked in an oddly serious tone. He could tell that something was off about this group, even if they were wearing Konoha uniforms.

"No, they are probably here for me, not with me, if you know what I mean," Naruto grumbled.

"Shall we lay the smack down and show them this isn't a game to be playing without paying?" B rapped as he prepared to pull some of his swords out.

"Can you maintain the link for Kurama without me if I remain here? I... I have to face these guys on my own." Naruto said with a slight waver in his voice.

"Shukaku isn't far from here so as long as you remain within 80 yards of here, it should be fine," B said seriously "Handle your biz and deal with these villains, after all this, we be chilling."

Naruto nodded towards B before dropping down from the trees in front of Ren, Taro, and Makoto.

"So any lies or bullshit you want to feed me this time, guys? Or can we just cut to the chase and fight because I won't be going with you." Naruto said in a stern tone.

"Danzō-sama has requested that we retrieve you and return you to the base. You will come with us, or we will be forced to inflict harm until you are subdued." Ren said in a robotic tone.

"Heh. Just like old times, eh? You telling me what to do and following up with a threat." Naruto said with a bitter laugh before he scowled at Ren. "Well, I'm not that weak little kid trying to cling to any semblance of companionship so that I won't feel so alone anymore. I'd rather deal with being lonely instead of your form of friendship." Naruto snapped.

"Naruto-kun, please listen! We were fools before! We didn't mean to cause you such pain, but I need you. Ren and Taro are just mindless tools, and I'm afraid Naruto-kun. I should have known better that I can't escape. If we don't do what they tell us to we will all die." Makoto said with teary eyes.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at her. He didn't sense any deceit from her, but he did sense hostility from Ren and Taro towards him, even if they were just mindless tools now.

"Tch. Like I'm going to believe you. I can sense the hostility coming from you guys." Naruto said with a sneer.

"No, Naruto-kun, I don't want to attack you. I don't want to hurt you! I never did. It's just... Danzō he promised so much to us, and when you didn't come back, he punished us so harshly. I thought we were going to die for sure. I already felt so bad for how much I hurt you, Naruto-kun, but I didn't have a choice! Please believe me." Makoto said as she began sobbing.

Naruto looked away from Makoto and eyed Ren and Taro. Looking at Makoto while she was crying, hearing her sobbing, and smelling her tears affected Naruto more than he would like and it was almost painful for him to see her so sad.

'Why do I feel like this even after she hurt me so badly?' Naruto thought before he cast another glance towards Makoto, who was now hugging herself as she cried.

'I did say I would forgive them if they asked for it and I didn't sense anything bad coming from her. She seems to be genuine, but can I really trust her? Naruto turned his focus back to Taro and Ren, who had both began to draw their tantō.

"We have a mission, Makoto. Will you disobey Danzō with this foolish display of emotions?" Taro said in an emotionless tone.

"Why shouldn't I disobey him!? If I obey, I'll just end up brainless as you two are now! You aren't even my friends anymore your just tools for Danzō!" Makoto shouted

"If you won't complete the mission as directed then we must eliminate you," Ren said before he launched himself towards Makoto.

Makoto pulled out her ninjato and began parrying attacks from Ren's tantō.

Naruto just stood there uncertain at the turn of events. Something didn't seem right about all of this, but his senses told him she was genuine.

Naruto was forced to react when Taro joined Ren and began to overwhelm Makoto's guard. He just couldn't watch her get cut down in front of him, what if she was telling the truth?

Naruto threw a handful of shuriken towards Taro to draw him off Makoto before he created six clones.

Naruto then pulled a kunai and charged towards Taro with one of his clones, while two of his clones assisted Makoto against Ren.

Naruto clashed with Taro using his kunai to block the low slash from Taro's tantō before spinning and trying to drive the kunai into Taro's back.

Taro countered by blocking with his sword flat across his back before spinning out with his leg causing Naruto to jump back. Taro was then forced to parry a kunai strike from Naruto's support clone and tried to counter by slashing the clone across his stomach.

The clone evaded the attack by leaping backward before throwing a handful of shuriken at Taro forcing him to block the projectiles with his sword. This move gave Naruto an opening to slap a gravity seal and a chakra draining seal on Taro before he had to Kawarimi with a nearby branch to avoid Taro's retaliatory slash towards his chest.

Taro began to run through hand seals that Naruto was familiar with so he prepared a counter jutsu while his clone started his own hand seals.

Taro finished his hand seals and called out Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Fire Jutsu) before he started spitting a series of fireballs towards Naruto.

Naruto finished his counter jutsu Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet) and countered each of the fireballs with the geyser of water from his mouth causing steam to appear in the clearing.

Taro tried to charge at Naruto but found himself barely able to move and the chakra drain from that single jutsu he cast was highly unusual. Before he could figure out why he couldn't move, however, he felt a drilling sensation on his back before his intestines began to shred apart from the Rasengan the clone had driven into his torso.

Naruto watched with cold eyes as Taro was practically ripped apart by his clone's Rasengan before letting out a breath he was holding. He looked up from the corpse of one of his first friends and headed off towards the sounds of battle between Ren and Makoto.

'Those bastards hurt me so badly, and I thought a small part of me would be glad to return the favor, but, in the end, I still have the void they left me with and only more sadness to fill it with.' Naruto thought.

Naruto landed near where his three clones were watching the fight closely and observed the struggle for a moment as well.

Ren had eliminated one of the support clones with a fast sword strike that severed through his kunai. The other clone was engaging Ren currently alongside Makoto.

Makoto had a few injuries and from what the other clones signaled to him with hand signs, she would have been killed by Ren if the other clones had not intervened.

Naruto was still uncertain, but a small part of him hoped Makoto had been genuine. In truth, Makoto's deception had been the biggest source of pain for him. He had been more fond of Makoto then Ren or Taro and had been more willing to do anything she wanted.

Makoto also defended or sided with Naruto every time there was a dispute when they were younger and the memories of those times brought back some of the pain he had felt.

Naruto sighed with resignation. If there was a possibility that Makoto could be redeemed somehow, he would have to try. It was the right thing to do after all.

Naruto smelled another squad of Anbu approaching and waited a moment to see who they were. In a few moments, another unit of Root entered the clearing.

"Operative Ren, what is the situation?" One of the Root members said.

Ren disengaged from a fearful Makoto, who huddled near the Naruto clone who was in a defensive stance in front of her.

"Operative Makoto betrayed Root and has been fighting alongside our designated target. Danzō ordered that Naruto is to be detained and brought to Root for re-education." Ren said.

"Operative Makoto, you were already under sanctions for emotional outbursts unfitting of a Root operative. You will be terminated, and the target will be detained." The new Root squad drew their swords at that command.

Naruto gave a mental command to the remaining clones to engage Ren and the four new Root members.

Naruto then created one regular and two charged clones and sent a mental command to hit the entire group with a large combination attack to finish them off while he maneuvered around to grab Makoto and move her out of the blast radius when the time came.

The newly created regular clone joined the other three clones that had leaped out of the trees and bushes and engaged the four new Root operatives while the clone that was guarding Makoto engaged Ren.

Using volleys of shuriken and kunai combined with a few Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone), the clones drove most of the Root operatives into a tighter cluster to set them up for the combination attack to finish them all off.

One charged clone prepared Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu (Great Dragon Fire) while the second prepared Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough).

As the shuriken volleys ended, the clones charged in to keep the group together while Naruto leaped out and grabbed Makoto from behind. Clapping a hand over her mouth to silence her scream of surprise, he wrapped his arm around her waist before using Shunshin to move away from the clearing.

"Shh. It's me, Makoto, don't be afraid. I won't hurt you." Naruto whispered into her ear.

Makoto stopped struggling and nodded as she watched the light blue fire dragon crashed into the clearing incinerating the Root team and Ren. Their cries of pain ended abruptly as their bodies were mostly cremated, leaving behind only partial skeletal remains and melted metal from their swords and kunai.

Naruto and Makoto approached the clearing cautiously, and Naruto reached out with his senses to make sure they were in the clear. As soon as Naruto relaxed his guard, Makoto burst into tears again and latched onto Naruto's chest.

Naruto returned the hug to comfort Makoto and found that despite her betrayal of him before, it still felt really nice to hold her like this. Her sobbing became quieter when he held her and after a few moments she stopped.

"Naruto-kun, I'm so glad I found you. Ever since that day that you walked away from us things have been terrible. I have never forgiven myself for what we did to you, and you were right about Root. They make you feel accepted and that you will become something of worth when they take you from the orphanage. It's all a cruel joke, though." Makoto sniffled.

"What do you mean, Makoto?" Naruto said.

"They come to the orphanage and adopt us like they will be our real parents, but it's just a lie. Torune picked us from the orphanage because we knew you and wanted us to get you to join, but all the others are lead to believe that they will finally have real parents and a home. Then you find yourself trapped underground fighting for survival." Makoto said before she began to sob again.

"They throw you away like trash, literally. I've seen them drop failed trainees down this pit, and they say it is practically bottomless so that all the bones of the failures don't stink up the place." Makoto said as she squeezed Naruto harder.

Naruto didn't sense any deception from her, and it made him sick to think that Danzō had been doing this for Kami knows how long. How many like him had been alone and hoping for real parents, only to find that their greatest dream was only the start of a cruel nightmare?

Naruto squeezed Makoto tighter with the thought. She could have been thrown in that pit because he hadn't joined Danzō willingly. She had to suffer through all that because she had been his friend.

He had just thought they were all willing in the whole plot and hadn't even considered that their lives could have been threatened if they didn't succeed in luring him into Root. Naruto felt guilty when he realized that thought. He couldn't have known for certain since he was so unfamiliar with how negative emotions worked back then. Ren and Taro might have just been resorting to what they knew had always worked in the past in order to save their lives.

They were still not real friends. He wouldn't be so foolish to think that how they treated him in the orphanage was under duress, but they could have been that dreadful day in the park. Makoto had never treated him that way at all, though and he could see she had simply been desperate for him to join her.

"I'm sorry you had to suffer because of me, Makoto-chan. If Danzō hadn't been after me, none of this would have happened to you." Naruto said as he rested his head on hers.

"N-no, Naruto-kun. It's not your fault. Danzō would have claimed us from the orphanage anyways. All the kids who show the most potential in the Shinobi side get adopted by Root members." Makoto said in between sniffles as she leaned back slightly to look Naruto in the eyes.

"If it wasn't for you, Naruto-kun. I would have been killed a long time ago because I resisted that emotional training for so long. Your smiling face is what saved me, Naruto-kun." Makoto said with a small blush on her face.

"You've grown so much since then Naruto-kun, and you are so much stronger now. I think you could save us all from him." Makoto said in a whisper.

"You are pretty strong yourself, Makoto-chan. I saw your battle against Ren. You are really good with your sword." Naruto complimented.

Makoto had really grown up, and Naruto had to admit she was gorgeous. Naruto had always liked her emerald green eyes. They reminded him of the trees around Konoha. Her jet black hair always had a tinge of blue in it and now it was long and luxuriously shiny in a high ponytail. She was wearing a standard Anbu outfit that clung to her shapely body.

"I will help you, Makoto-chan. I promise, but I have to take care of some other things first. The village has been invaded, and I need to stop the Suna Jinchūriki. I have a friend who wants revenge against Danzō also. I can convince him to help us as well, but I can't face Danzō just yet." Naruto said as he rubbed Makoto's back.

"No! Please don't leave me, Naruto-kun! He's going to put those seals on me and make me just like Ren and Taro soon; I just know it!" Makoto started to cry again.

"Come with me, Makoto-chan. I'll keep you safe from him." Naruto squeezed her for a moment to emphasize it.

"I-I c-can't. There is a seal on me that he can activate to kill me at any time. If he finds out I even spoke to you without capturing you he will kill me for sure." Makoto sobbed.

Naruto felt his heart sink at the thought. She would die for sure if he didn't return with her or somehow kill Danzō, but Shukaku needed his help, and there was no way he could face Danzō and an entire Root base on his own.

"It's okay, Makoto-chan, we will think of something." Naruto said seriously before giving Makoto a small smile to try and comfort her, "Don't worry. I'll find a way to save you from all this pain. I promise ** _!_**."

Naruto just held onto Makoto while he racked his brain for something, but all of the plans he could think of were stupid or too risky for Makoto.

"I have to go back soon and check in, or Danzō will get suspicious," Makoto said with a sniffle before she took out a canteen and poured some water into her hand to wash her face off.

"Are you sure it will be safe?" Naruto said in a worried tone.

"I was supposed to report back in anyways if we didn't establish contact with you yet. I will just go back and say that Ren, Taro, and the ambush squad haven't encountered you yet." Makoto said as she pulled her disheveled appearance together.

"Here, this is a map that is provided to all Root trainees it will help you navigate the base. I will report in and try to get the others who haven't been conditioned yet to rally together. It should be safe since Danzō is supposed to be leaving the base to escort the Daimyō to safety." Makoto said.

"Are you sure he is going to leave? If he is, maybe I can help you lead the others out?" Naruto said as he accepted the map.

"Well. The secret entrance is not far from here at all, but it is too risky to go right now, Naruto-kun. I don't want you to be in danger," Makoto said with a concerned tone.

"How about I wait here for you and if Danzō leaves, you come back, and I will sneak in with you using a Henge," Naruto said.

He couldn't leave all those other orphans to suffer, and if he was close enough to Shukaku, he wouldn't interrupt the link Kurama needed.

"I don't know about this, Naruto-kun. If something goes wrong and he gets his hands on you, I might lose you forever," Makoto whispered into his ear as she clung to him tightly once more.

Naruto felt that strange feeling in him when her breath teased his neck and ear, and he couldn't stop the shiver that went through him.

 _'Gyūki, will our connection be threatened if I have to go underground?'_ Naruto asked.

" **It should be fine. We are almost done subduing Shukaku anyways. It shouldn't take Kurama more than an hour to finish calming him down enough for the jinchūriki to be subdued. It will require a seal master to fix the problem as someone decided to put a seal to trigger pain when he uses his chakra or a hand sign."** Gyūki replied in a disgusted tone.

 _'That is just... I can't even begin to imagine someone being so cruel. Shukaku and Gaara must have been tormented for years.'_ Naruto said angrily

 _'Most places don't see us as human, Naruto. Only Kumo treats its jinchūriki like real people instead of dangerous beings.'_ B said

" **It is likely that the jinchūriki has not slept more than an hour or two at night for most of his life since the body will access chakra in your sleep to heal and restore cells in your chakra pathways and tenketsu,"** Gyūki said sadly.

 _'Thank you for your help, Gyūki. I want to help but if I don't take care of this problem I might end up worse then Gaara.'_ Naruto said sadly

 _'We got you covered little nine. Do your thing; we can handle this and if everything goes south for you today, just know you have a home in Kumo.'_ B replied.

 _'Thank you, B, that means a lot to me.'_ Naruto replied sincerely.

"Makoto-chan, go and report like you need to, then come back here when Danzō leaves. I'll help you get everyone out." Naruto said with conviction.

"Oh, Naruto-kun. You are such a wonderful person; I never deserved your friendship. I can't help but worry, though. Promise me that if things go bad, you will escape no matter what." Makoto replied.

"I promise, Makoto-chan. Be careful and, hopefully, I will see you soon." Naruto replied with a soft smile.

Naruto watched as Makoto began to leave. She turned back to look at him one more time before she continued jumping through the trees.

Naruto sighed to himself and jumped up into a tree and henged into a cat. Kurama was going to be pissed once he completed subduing Shukaku.

He had a bad feeling about all this, but he just couldn't leave those children alone to suffer if he could help it. If things got dangerous, he would draw on Kurama's chakra and tear everything apart if necessary. 45 minutes should be enough to tear a bloody path through the base, he hoped, and he wouldn't feel bad about killing those Root bastards for what they have done.

 **With Sasuke and Hinata**

* * *

Sasuke and Hinata looked on as their combination attack finished off a large portion of the Suna distraction team while Naruto and B took off around the clearing.

Sasuke used hand signs to direct two of the four clones Naruto had left to incorporate them into his strategy. He knew the blonde kunoichi was a wind user, so his primary element was out, but he was an Uchiha, so using fire was no big deal to him. He had just the plan to take care of this bitch so he could catch back up with Naruto and make sure he was safe.

The clones nodded and henged into birds and flew around to create a flanking opportunity and execute Sasuke's plan.

Sasuke then looked at Hinata and pointed towards Kankuro.

Hinata nodded and activated her Byakugan before used some hand signs to direct her pair of clones.

Her clones henged into cats and crawled off into the bushes to set up her plan. She had to smile at that since Naruto's clones would always use cats around her since she loved them so much.

Sasuke leaped out of cover and threw a hail of shuriken before using Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu) to lace them with fire chakra and prevent the wind user from trying to blow them back in defense.

One of the Suna ninjas was unable to block them all and cried out in pain as the fiery shuriken embedded themselves into his torso and legs. Sasuke charged in and stabbed him in the chest with his lighting charged chokuto.

He had to Kawarimi with a branch quickly as slicing winds attempted to cut into him from Temari's tessen.

"You bastard! You're going to pay for that," Temari yelled out.

Sasuke merely smirked at Temari before he gave a slight hand signal to the two clones behind Temari.

One silently went underground using Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu) while the other remained perched on a branch above, waiting to perform the combination jutsu Sasuke had instructed.

"Tch. Suna is the one that will be paying for foolishly siding with Orochimaru in this invasion. We knew all along you were going to betray us and trust me when I say your home will burn for it, sand whore." Sasuke taunted.

Temari gritted her teeth in anger. No wonder everything was falling apart! Konoha knew all along, and somehow they did something to Gaara to make him run. Gaara never ran from anything, but yet he ran away, in fear!

Temari prepared her tessen "Let's see if you can back up that talk, boy. Eat this!" she called out before she launched Fūton: Ōkamaitachi no Jutsu (Great Sickle Weasel) towards Sasuke with a swing of her massive fan.

Sasuke used Shunshin onto a tree branch above Temari, near the bird clone, and went through the hand signs for Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Fire Jutsu). The clone unhenged and waited for Sasuke to launch the fireballs before using Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) to increase the speed of each fireball until the clone expended all its chakra and had to dispel.

Temari cursed and strafed away from the fast moving fireballs. She was barely able to avoid the fireballs because of the speed added by the wind jutsu. Only a small spark of sunlight glinting off of Sasuke's blade as it approached from above warned Temari of an even greater danger. It took all of Temari's strength and experience to twist her body to build up enough momentum to swing her heavy tessen up to stop the strike in the knick of time. Unfortunately for Temari, this proved to be a mistake as Sasuke had channeled Raiton chakra into his blade expecting the kunoichi to block his strike, or die after his sword removed her head from her shoulders.

The lightning chakra in Sasuke's blade traveled through her tessen and up her arms causing some muscle and skin damage. Temari managed to ignore the pain and pivot to dislodge the lightning blade before the electricity could travel to her torso and fry her organs. She quickly lashed out with a thrust kick to Sasuke's stomach, launching him backward and giving her some space to counter with her fan once more. Temari's kick was not very strong because her balance was off and Sasuke was quickly able to land and dash forwards to try and shut her jutsu down and render her tessen useless.

Just like Sasuke expected, Temari tried to heft her fan for another Fūton: Ōkamaitachi no Jutsu but Sasuke was too fast for her. He lashed out with a series of strikes, forcing Temari to stop her swing and block or dodge the attacks. Temari growled in frustration before trying to push Sasuke away from her.

As Sasuke and Temari struggled to overpower their opponent's guard, Sasuke charged himself with Raiton: Bakurai (Depth Charge) causing Temari to cry out as voltage traveled through her body and began to burn her muscles, tendons, and veins.

She managed to Kawarimi with a log before she had any severe damage and countered with Fūton: Ōkamaitachi no Jutsu carving up the trees and kicking up dust with sharp cutting wind blades.

Sasuke cursed to himself as he had to Kawarimi with an object farther from her. He needed to lure the sand whore to Naruto's hidden clone in order to trigger the trap, but she was being difficult. He couldn't communicate with the underground clone to readjust the plan since it was underground. All the other clones had run off to support Hinata, so he was only left with one. He wanted to finish her off in close range, but since she wanted to play the ranged game, he would oblige her.

Sasuke slipped a few of Naruto's chakra seals under his forearm warmers and prepared to show that Suna bitch why the Uchiha were feared.

Sasuke readied another grip full of shuriken and threw them at here while he finished Katon: Hōsenka Tsumabeni (Phoenix Flower Jutsu) sending the fire laced shuriken after Temari, who had to evade the attack so her tessen wouldn't become inoperable.

Sasuke finished his hand seals and launched another series of fireballs from Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu driving Temari towards the underground clone then used a chakra seal before he ran through the hand seals for Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu just to make the bitch sweat a little.

Temari was sweating while she ran from the smaller fireballs and saw the giant fire dragon flying towards her. 'Fuck I thought he was primarily a Raiton user.' she thought as she used Shunshin to escape the concussive blast of the fire dragon.

Before she could try and signal Kankuro and his support-nin for a target switch, however, she found herself trapped.

Something grabbed onto her feet and pulled her partially into the ground. Before she could dig herself out, she heard the sound of birds chirping and saw Sasuke charging towards her with that same lighting attack he used on Gaara.

Temari cursed and only had enough time to put her tessen up and hoped she wasn't about to die.

Sasuke's Chidori drove through the first thick steel leaf of the tessen and quickly burned through the cloth fan before it began to melt through the second steel leaf. Suddenly, he broke through, but the fan had slowed his momentum down enough to reduce a fatal attack to a severe one instead.

Temari screamed as the lighting laced hand drilled partially into her shoulder. Her skin began to blister as the localized lightning started to burn into her.

Sasuke scowled when he saw that his Chidori failed again. It seemed like that attack was too easy to deflect or was too dependent on completely immobilizing the opponent for it to land successfully. He was about to finish Temari off by cutting her head off when Itachi landed next to her.

"Hold, Sasuke. She is the daughter of the Kazekage and will make a valuable prisoner," Itachi said.

Sasuke just grunted and flicked his sword clean before sheathing it. A rustle of bushes drew his attention to the right where Hinata emerged with Kakashi following after her. Kankuro was unconscious and slung over the shoulder of a Naruto clone.

"How did your fight go?" Sasuke asked Hinata

"It was quite short actually, with two of Naruto's clones as support it was no trouble," Hinata said in a casual tone before she began to relay the details to Sasuke and the others.

 **Flashback**

* * *

Hinata charged into the clearing and dodged the hail of senbon from the puppet user as she advanced on Kankuro and his puppet. She hated to admit it, but Tsunade's training made dodging this guy's senbon a joke.

With her Byakugan, she could easily see the chakra strings used to control the puppet and decided to sever those first. She continued to charge in towards the puppet who moved to meet her head on. Apparently, the Suna guy didn't realize how stupid it was to face a Hyūga in melee when your whole basis of attack relies on heavily on chakra to control an inanimate object.

With a few quick Jūken strikes, she rendered the arms and legs of the puppet useless before she turned and charged toward Kankuro.

Kankuro used a quick Kawarimi to replace himself with Black Ant and reattached his strings to Crow and sent Crow back into attack Hinata.

Hinata stuck the puppet a few times causing some damage to the internal mechanisms before she used Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation) to avoid the hail of senbon and a wind jutsu sent by the support Suna-nin with Kankuro.

Kankuro cursed as Crow was thrown backward into a tree and took heavy damage from the Kaiten and the impact against the tree. Crow was still good enough to use, however, so he rearranged his parts that were dislodged with strings and made him charge Hinata, who had begun to attack his support partner.

Hinata had dashed towards the Suna-nin, who began to engage her in taijutsu foolishly. Hinata was able to finish Hakke Sanjūni Shō (Eight Trigrams 32 Palms) on her target before having to back off to evade a slash from Crow's arm blades. She didn't need to worry about the Suna-nin anymore; she had shut off enough chakra points to disable him completely and hit a few vital organs for good measure. Without medical attention, he would die in less than fifteen minutes.

Kankuro was much better at taijutsu with Crow and had learned from his first mistake. He kept Hinata at a distance with Crow's poisoned blades and senbon launched from his chest whenever she attempted to close the gap and render his chakra strings useless.

Kankuro was thrown off guard when another Konoha-nin appeared and began to attack him directly. He recognized the blonde kid from the Chūnin Exam preliminaries as the one from Konoha, who got the bye.

Kankuro cursed as he redirected Crow to shoot senbon at the blonde before slashing at Hinata, who tried to dash towards him while he was distracted.

The blonde evaded the attacks and charged again swinging his kunai at his head before trying to kick Kankuro in the stomach when Kankuro managed to dodge the kunai strike.

Kankuro doubled over from the kick and was forced to send Crow dashing towards the blonde to take the pressure off himself while he threw a handful of shuriken at Hinata to keep her at bay.

The blond managed to close the distance and force Kankuro to strafe away before Crow moved in to engage the blond. While this was happening Kankuro kept tossing more shuriken at Hinata, who was slowly closing the distance.

Kankuro cursed when he saw a second blond kid Shunshin in next to Crow before he drilled Crow in the chest with a ball of chakra that shattered Crow into pieces.

He didn't have any time to react after that because he was too busy being hammered by Jūken strikes from Hinata's Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams 64 palms).

Hinata swiftly cut off all his tenketsu in his arms, legs, and torso for but decided to spare his organs from her chakra enhanced shots for now. He might prove useful as a prisoner. Both clones stood by and waited for Hinata's orders obediently.

"Clone-kun, can you please tie him up and carry him with us?" Hinata asked.

The clones looked at each other for a moment before the one on the right nodded and began to tie Kankuro up with ninja wire.

Kakashi appeared with two Anbu following behind him.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked questioningly

"Nope. Boss went off with B after Shukaku a little while ago." The clone responded before slinging Kankuro over his shoulder.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here? Is something wrong?" Hinata asked.

"We got permission to hit the Root base, but we need to head out soon. We saw you guys and decided to see if you needed any assistance before you join us in the assault." Kakashi said.

"You don't want Naruto-kun to join us also?" Hinata asked

"He has to worry about the Ichibi more than Root at the moment. We don't have much time before Danzō sees through the ruse we set up with the Daimyō and either sends his forces to attack us or flees. We have to head out right away." Kakashi said.

"You two clones stick with us for now and don't dispel," Kakashi ordered the clones.

The clones merely looked at each other again before nodding and following after Kakashi and Hinata. The boss was not going to be happy about this, but they had their orders.

 **Flashback End**

* * *

"Hn. So, what do we do about our prisoners if we are hitting the Root base now?" Sasuke said.

He was starting to get excited at the prospect of finishing Danzō off for good. Naruto would probably be pissed that he missed out, but he had an important job to do.

"We will have the clones here guard them until reinforcements arrive to pick them up," Kakashi said to the clones who nodded.

The clone holding Kankuro simply dropped him down next to Temari and decided to use Henge to disguise himself as a rock near the unconscious prisoners.

The second clone took up a position in the trees as a bird to ambush any Suna-nin, who might pass through on their retreat and free the prisoners.

The rest of Team 7 and Itachi leaped up into the trees to continue to the Root base entrance followed by the Anbu support team.

As they neared the entrance, they halted when they saw a cat leap towards them from a tree in front of them and deactivate its henge revealing Naruto.

"Naruto? What are you doing here? Is the Ichibi secured already?" Kakashi asked.

"Naruto" scratched his head sheepishly. "Actually, the Boss went into the Root base with his old friend from the orphanage. He just left me here to let anyone know who was in the area and give them this." The clone replied before handing a map to Kakashi.

"Why the hell did Naruto go into the Root base with his friend?" Kakashi asked as he looked at the map the clone gave him.

The clone began to explain how Naruto ran into Root, but his friend turned on her teammates and asked for his help to free the other orphans taken by Root. Then she came back, and Naruto left this clone with a copy of the map to help anyone else who wanted to infiltrate the base.

"Well, at least, he had the presence of mind to leave a clone behind to inform us that he was walking into a trap," Itachi said

"Do you really think it was a trap?" Hinata asked timidly. She was really hoping that Naruto hadn't fallen for such a ruse, but it sounded like something the blond would do.

"Yes." Kakashi, Itachi, and Sasuke all answered at the same time.

"This map may be false, but it seems genuine. Neko, take your squad and cover this entrance here to the North. If Danzō hasn't left yet, this is where he will flee if we launch an attack from this entrance here." Kakashi said as he showed Neko the map and pointed. "If there isn't an access point at that location, Pakkun will lead you to where we have entered the base, and you can run a sweep from there," Kakashi said with a glance at Pakkun.

Neko saluted, and her team took off towards the back entrance with Pakkun running after them.

"What about me, sensei?" the clone asked.

"You dispel so that Naruto knows that help is coming and that he is in a lot of trouble for pulling this stunt," Kakashi said seriously. "Tsunade is going to be very pissed at him for doing something this stupid."

The clone gulped before dispelling. He had seen Tsunade vent her temper on Jiraiya more than once and did _not_ want to be on the receiving end.

Kakashi, Hinata, Sasuke, and Itachi moved towards the nearest base entrance marked on the map. Hopefully, they would find their wayward teammate and bring Danzō down for good.


	37. Act 3: Entangled in the Deepest Roots

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**__

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ _ **!**__ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be depictions of violence and  sexual assault in this chapter. I have sectioned off the portion of this chapter that describes the assault in some detail for those who may be uncomfortable with reading such content. While not into the realm of detail as lemons go, since the act is not entirely consensual, I feel it requires more of a warning.

Edited 4/22/16

 **Chapter 36**

 **Act 3: Entangled in the Deepest Roots**

 **With Naruto - Sub-level 3 - Root Headquarters**

* * *

Naruto followed along behind Makoto in silence, henged as Taro with a shadow clone henged as Ren, and a third clone that was loosely tied up and playing possum as himself. They were currently navigating through the trainee dorms in the third sub-level of the base and, according to Makoto, they still had to travel through two more.

Makoto had come back less than an hour later saying Danzō was preparing to meet the Daimyō and would be gone by the time they got back. After a brief discussion, it was determined that pretending to have Naruto captured would give them the most leeway through the base. It made sense to him since they would have brought him to the same sub-level as the younger recruits once they had him subdued.

Once she looked over Naruto's Henge of Taro, they went back to the base through the mission entrance instead of the side entrance.

Naruto thought he was caught when the guard began to scrutinize him closely, but Makoto was able to redirect his attention by mentioning that Danzō had authorized her team to have quick access to the sub-levels to restrain their target immediately.

The guard looked over a small registration book before nodding in confirmation, then waved them past the checkpoint. Makoto gave Naruto a signal to follow directly behind her while the clones filed behind him in a single file line.

While the group made their way through the upper levels of the base, Naruto took note of some of the weapon supply rooms and a jutsu library that they passed before they approached the checkpoint to gain entry to the sub-levels.

After a short conversation with that guard, they were waived forwards, and Naruto followed Makoto through the labyrinth of tunnels until she came to a brief halt in front of a small door. Makoto looked around quickly before pulling him into a storage room.

"Naruto-kun, wait here for me while I check the next area for our sensei. One of them is a Hyūga and will see through the disguises if we get any closer. It might take me awhile but just relax here. No one will enter this storage room right now since they are all deployed for the invasion." Makoto whispered into Naruto's ear.

Naruto nodded and hid in the shadows with his clone decoys as Makoto left the storage room. He felt sorry for the people in this place being buried deeply underground like this. Naruto reached out with his senses and found most of the place was disturbingly quiet.

While the base was emptier than usual, according to Makoto, the fact that he couldn't sense anything at all meant that everyone loved being in Root, or they had been broken of their emotions so effectively.

Everyone had some negative emotions flare in them on occasion. Seeing something they hate would cause a small spark, seeing someone with a better sword than you would be another spark. He was curious as to why he didn't sense any anger or hatred from the recruits themselves but it maybe because they were out of range or incapacitated.

As he closed his eyes and pushed the limits of his senses, he finally felt some small flickers of fear and anger, but they were very subdued. The recruits must be kept under a tight watch if they were even afraid to act angry. He also noted that when he strained his senses like this, he could feel some strange things moving around throughout the base itself but without Kurama to speak to about it, he was at a loss to what this feeling was.

Makoto entered the room and revealed the all clear hand sign they had agreed upon before entering the base. She beckoned to him to follow with a subtle hand gesture. Naruto nodded to Makoto and followed with his decoys as she led him down a hallway and through another large room before turning down the second hallway.

They went down a few flights of stairs and emerged on the fourth sub-level without running into any Root members.

 **Sub-level 4 - Root Headquarters**

* * *

Naruto found it odd that there wasn't one set stairway to lead people to each level like most buildings. It seemed like a massive inconvenience to have to constantly double back and forth across one wing of the base just to make it down a floor. Even though he saw no other Root members, he elected to remain silent instead of asking Makoto why they would structure the base in such a way. The only possible reason he could think of was to throw off invasion forces, but the base was laced with demolition seals every 10 feet, making the layout redundant.

They had crossed another large training room before they began passing through a series of smaller rooms. They even looked just like the dorms from the orphanage but there wasn't much more in them but a pair of futons, a desk, a chair, and a small shared bathroom linked with the next room.

The rooms also looked exactly the same as each other and had strange, unfamiliar smells that he couldn't recognize. He would have to catalog it for Kurama to decipher when he wasn't busy with Shukaku.

"This is the older student training rooms I told you about. The five to eight-year-old trainees are always in the deepest sub-level to get used to not seeing the sun. The eight to ten-year-olds are further down the hall going through the physical training. Then, if you survived long enough to reach the age of 11, you come up to this area for the more strenuous mental and physical training." Makoto informed him.

"These rooms here are for the last two years age 11 and 12 where Danzō uses different herbs and potions to complete our physical and mental training for graduation," Makoto added.

"What are the herbs and potions needed for?" Naruto asked.

"To speed up our mental and physical development so that we move past the hormonal, emotional phases of puberty quicker. Danzō says it allows us to become more effective weapons at younger ages. I think part of the regimen is designed to make us lose our emotions before the final seals are applied. You are paired with other trainees around the same stage of development and exposed to a powerful drug that makes you lose all inhibitions." Makoto replied with a shiver.

"I'm sorry, Makoto-chan. I shouldn't have asked, I didn't want to bring up any bad memories," Naruto whispered.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun. Now that you are here everything will be better. I just know it." Makoto gave him a soft smile.

As they passed another large room, Naruto caught the strong scent of ink and blood. He stole a brief glance into the chamber and saw rows of tables with restraints on them and ink stains.

"This is the place where the final seals are applied, a combination of control, silencing, and suicide seals that make it so you can't speak out against Root or betray them. Most of the recruits are emotionless tools by then anyways, only wanting to serve Danzō." Makoto said.

Makoto turned to Naruto and paused for a moment "I'm lucky this invasion happened when it did. I was already in the middle of the final training before getting the rest of my seals applied. Taro and Ren had already finished, and you saw how they were. I always knew you would be the one to save me, Naruto-kun."

Naruto began to feel a little uneasy but attributed his feelings to being in the middle of an enemy base. The Academy did not teach much in the way of infiltration skills, leaving that up to the instructors responsible for infiltration teams. He stretched out with his senses once more to test the area around him and still only caught flickers of negative emotions directly below him, so he pushed his unease aside.

Makoto led Naruto towards another three-way intersection but continued going straight. As they passed the other hallway, Naruto took note of a door with unfamiliar seals that Naruto had never seen before. He took note of a strange smelling odor that was coming from that door before turning his attention back to Makoto. He noticed Makoto shiver when she passed the door and decided not to dredge up any more bad memories by asking questions.

They reached another staircase and began to make their way down to the lowest level of the base.

 **Sub-level 5 – Root HQ**

* * *

Once they exited the stairway, Makoto made a left at the first intersection and began making her way down the hallway before suddenly stopping.

Naruto peeked around and saw the bodies of children scattered throughout the hall. The children were all very young, between the ages of 6 – 8 and had been mutilated with looks of sheer terror on their faces, evidence that their final moments were filled with agony.

Makoto had her hands to her face and was shaking her head in disbelief.

Naruto felt sick at what he saw, all those poor children brutally murdered. Now he knew why he didn't sense anything from the prisoners; they had all been dying or dead when he reached out to find them. Those tiny flickers he had sensed were the final emotions these poor kids had felt as their lives faded.

Naruto felt anger, unlike anything he experienced before. He took deep calming breaths because he could feel himself starting to draw on Kurama's chakra and even though he _wanted_ to tear this place apart so badly right now, he had to play it smart.

"What the fuck is this, Makoto-chan? Why would they do this kind of thing? What is the fucking point?" Naruto hissed in a low tone.

"I don't know, Naruto-kun. I've never seen anything like this before. Usually, they pair us up with someone our age, so we become friends. You do everything together until it is time for you to reach the next level. Then you have to kill your friend before they kill you. I've never seen anything like this! I swear!" Makoto said in a whisper.

Naruto gritted his teeth and had to calm himself even more. Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, that asshole would out do himself by a huge margin. Making people kill their own friends to survive? What good could that possibly do for someone? Naruto realized that most Root members probably chose to be emotionless because the only other option after surviving this hell hole would be insanity of some sort.

Makoto and Naruto both snapped to attention when they saw a pair of Root Anbu leave one of the side rooms covered in blood and look in their direction.

"So, you have managed to acquire your target successfully? Proceed to the suppression room so we can begin re-education of the jinchūriki immediately." The Root agent on the left said.

"What is going on here Kaori?" Makoto asked.

"Danzō-sama has ordered a purge. Since these recruits are incapable of providing support or defense, they must be eliminated. Once you secure the jinchūriki and apply the seals, we will evacuate this base completely and prepare for Danzō-sama's ascension to Hokage." the newly identified Kaori said.

Naruto couldn't believe it. All these poor children brutally cut down because that asshole thought they were useless? The bastard couldn't even be bothered to wait and see if they would become useful down the line. He honestly didn't see anyone as a person, only tools to use in his twisted little games. Naruto clenched his fist, but he managed to remain calm and not say a word.

"Very well, we will proceed as instructed," Makoto said in a low tone before she began picking her way through the bodies with Naruto and his decoys following behind her.

Makoto peeked behind her and when she saw the other Root travel further down the hall she quickly ducked into a side room and pulled Naruto in with her. The decoys quickly moved inside as well.

The side room had been the dorm of two little girls who had been stabbed through their hearts while clinging to each other in the corner. Naruto felt as if he was the one who had been stabbed when he looked at them. One of the clones draped a blanket over the poor little girls' bodies.

Suddenly, Naruto's eyes widened when he received information from his clone. Kakashi was pissed, but at least, this would help him get Makoto out of Root and to safety. If only he had left with Makoto the first time, he might have been able to, at least, save some of them.

"Naruto-kun, something has gone terribly wrong. You are going to be in danger if you stay," Makoto said with a whisper.

"What about you Makoto-chan? I can't just leave you here!" Naruto whispered back.

"I won't be able to leave unless we find the seal removal scroll, and I have no idea where that is," Makoto replied.

"Where do you think they would keep that kind of stuff? What about that sealing room we passed?" Naruto replied.

"He wouldn't leave something like that out. Only a few Captains have the control hand seals and the patterns. If I had to guess, I would say they store them in Danzō-sama's office." Makoto replied.

"Then we have to find a way there and get that seal off of you," Naruto said with determination.

"Well, Danzō-sama should be gone to rendezvous with the Daimyō for quite some time. It might be possible for us head over there disguised as the recovery team going to leave a ..."

Before Makoto could finish, alarms began blaring throughout the base causing both Naruto and Makoto to jump.

"That must be my sensei and my team with some Anbu sent by the Hokage; they are going to kill Danzō! Makoto-chan this will be perfect for us." Naruto said with excitement.

"No this can't be happening! This will ruin everything!" Makoto wailed.

"What do you mean, Makoto-chan? The alarms and attack will provide the perfect distraction." Naruto had a confused look on his face.

Naruto thought the fact that they were moving to kill Danzō would be good news to her but instead, all he was sensing from Makoto was overwhelming fear.

Makoto seemed lost in thought for a moment before she replied. "You don't understand! When the alarm seals are going off, sensors are stationed at every stairway and intersection throughout the base. We won't be able to sneak anywhere using Henge and with the base on full alert, everyone still stationed in the base will be swarming the hallways."

"What about doing it the old fashioned way? Do you know where I can get some uniforms? I can just dispel my clones for now and put on a uniform and mask, then when I make new clones they will adopt my new appearance." Naruto said.

"I can't get any masks, all the masks are assigned to graduates only and have tracking seals on them," Makoto said sadly.

Naruto adopted his stoic pose and began trying to think of another way besides the obvious which meant fighting their way out. If they ran into a Root Captain, however, Makoto could be killed with a simple hand seal, if his suspicions about those seals she mentioned were right.

"Our best chance is to wait for most of the reinforcements to head up to counter the invasion force before we move to Danzō-sama's office. The base might be empty enough that sub-levels 3 and 2 will be completely empty like how sub level 4 was." Makoto said.

"Should we move back up to sub-level 4 then, so it takes us less time to move?" Naruto asked.

"I think that is a good idea, Naruto-kun," Makoto said with a soft smile.

Naruto dispelled his clones to regain his chakra. Makoto peeked out of the room they were in while Naruto stretched out his senses and didn't detect anyone within range, so they proceeded back the way they came and quickly made their way up the stairs.

Once up the stairs, Makoto quickly led Naruto back to the three-way intersection and headed down the hallway towards the door marked with seals. As they got closer, Naruto noticed the strange smells were getting stronger and were starting to affect him, so he tried to filter the scent out as he followed Makoto. He still didn't sense negativity towards him from her, so he pushed his concern about the smell aside.

"Makoto-chan, where are we going?" Naruto asked.

"This room is where we make our potions from herbs for most of our recruits. No one should bother coming in here with the base under attack." Makoto said.

Makoto led him up to a door and undid the seals before sliding it open. There was a second door directly ahead of them, and as Makoto undid the seals on that door and slid it open, the first door slid shut automatically and sealed.

Naruto spun around quickly to study the seals, but before he could figure out how to deactivate them, he felt a sudden sharp pain in his neck and felt the rush of a cold liquid enter his veins.

'Shit! This was all just a trap! She betrayed me again!' Naruto thought.

Naruto's anger flared for a moment, but whatever substance he was injected with began to take effect and his anger turned into a strange numbness. Naruto couldn't think straight, and his body was starting to tingle all over.

Naruto fell to his knees as he became light headed, he looked up at Makoto and shot her a glare.

Her pupils had dilated to such a degree that her normally bright green eyes were just small green rings. She had an eerie smile on her face which made Naruto begin to worry.

"Makoto, how could you do this to me... I trusted you. I was going to help you." Naruto said with a growl.

"It's not what you think, Naruto-kun. I'm not doing this to give you to Danzō or anyone else. I'm doing this to save you from the others." Makoto said with a smile.

"What...have you done to me?" Naruto stammered out.

His body felt on fire, and his heart was pounding in his chest, the tingling sensation had gotten stronger, and Naruto couldn't move.

"Shh.. don't be afraid, Naruto-kun. You will get used to it real soon. It was the same for me when I went through this the first time. I won't do anything bad to you, in fact, this will only help you realize the truth." Makoto said as she helped Naruto to his feet slowly.

Makoto pushed him up against the wall and pressed herself against him. Naruto couldn't help but gasp as his body responded in a strange way and the tingling sensation grew stronger everywhere her body came in contact with his. Goosebumps formed on his skin as the tingling sensation shot through his spine.

"Naruto-kun, I'm so glad you are here with me. It has been so horrible here, and you saw just how bad these people are. When they put me through all the torment and the ruthless training, the only thing that kept me strong was thinking of you." Makoto cooed in his ear. Naruto involuntarily shivered as her breath caressed his ear.

"I felt so bad for how we tried to trick you. Through all the difficulties and the pain, it was your face that I remembered so I wouldn't lose myself." Makoto had begun to run her hands along his ribs while she trailed the tip of her nose from behind his ear down his neck.

Naruto's head was swimming now, and he didn't resist as Makoto took his hand and brought him further into the room before closing the door behind them. She led him towards the end of the chamber and helped him sit on a built in bench against the wall.

Naruto was only vaguely aware of what Makoto was doing to him at the moment. His breathing was starting to get heavier, the strange feeling inside of him grew stronger, and his mind was unfocused. This feeling was familiar, but he couldn't place it. His thoughts almost seem to scatter with any noise or touch.

 **Warning Depiction of Sexual Assault Below**

* * *

Naruto sucked in his breath sharply when he felt Makoto's hands slide up his thighs and up under his shirt before moving slowly up his chest. Makoto was blushing but had a hungry look on her face as she hummed her approval. Her fingers and hands were trailing tenderly from his stomach to his pecs.

His heart began to race even faster like it was about to burst and where her hands touched his skin, his body reacted strongly, sending waves of pleasure throughout his body. Her hands were now moving upwards towards his neck before she moved them down again slowly towards his waist. Makoto crawled up into his lap and began to nibble on his ear and neck.

"Makoto-chan?" Naruto could only sputter out before another wave of that sensation rushed through his body as her hand dipped lower into the waistband of his pants. Her lips on his neck and ear combined with that tingling sensation felt better than anything he could think of. He gasped as she continued with her open mouth kisses down his neck.

"When they brought me in here to finish my training, all I could think about was you. I missed you so much, Naruto-kun. I would do anything to make sure we don't have to be apart ever again." Makoto whispered into his ear.

His muddled brain had finally made the connection to the feeling he was experiencing. Kurama had told him it was a feeling of lust. Now he knew why Kurama said it was such a powerful and commanding feeling since mortals often succumbed to it easily. Now that he was feeling it for his first time he understood. It had seized control of him and his mind only feebly tried to resist.

Naruto started to pant as he struggled harder to regain control of himself, but the combination of the gas and his increased circulation only increased the aphrodisiac's spread. Naruto tried to muster his will and regain control, to push the feeling down but his willpower faltered with Makoto nibbling on his neck, and it was shattered completely when Makoto reached down beneath his pants and boxers and began to stroke him gently.

"I brought you in here so you could see that we belong together, Naruto-kun. It was fate the led me to find you in the orphanage. I was meant to find you and be by your side forever. This place will help you realize it. Don't you feel it Naruto-kun? Doesn't your body feel alive when I touch you?" Makoto explained as she continued to kiss her way up his neck before moving down to the junction of his neck and shoulder and began to give him a hickey.

Naruto cried out in shock when he felt Makoto's hand fondling him and a strong wave a pleasure washed over him causing his mind to go blank. Makoto caught his lips with hers and began running her tongue against his.

Naruto could only close his eyes in ecstasy at the sensations he was feeling. Nothing had ever felt this good to him before, and he couldn't help but start to react as his body demanded. Naruto began to kiss her back shyly by copying the movements of her tongue causing Makoto to speed up her ministrations.

Makoto broke off the kiss and giggled as she slid down off his lap and freed his length from his boxers. Makoto began applying all of her kunoichi training into pleasing Naruto, using her lips and tongue on him just as she had learned from her sensei Haruko.

Naruto could only moan and throw his head back as the strongest sensation of pleasure he had felt washed over him again. The feelings he had experienced before when she touched his body or kissed him were nowhere near the level that he was feeling now, and he was completely at her mercy.

A small part of him was scandalized at the things she was doing to him with her mouth, but that part was squelched by the euphoric feeling his body was experiencing. He was completely at the mercy of the aphrodisiac, laced in the chakra mist filling the room and circling in his veins.

Naruto had fully embraced his euphoric state tossing out his inhibitions. He reveled in the new feelings he was experiencing as she pleasured him, and soon something deep within him begin to build, it continued to grow stronger and stronger before it felt like he was going to explode.

Makoto felt that Naruto was nearing his end, so she hummed as she bobbed her head faster, sucked harder while she fondled his testicles tenderly. Naruto felt that building feeling explode, causing him to cry out her name as his first release hit him.

Naruto felt boneless after his release and was breathing heavily with his eyes closed. It felt like some great burden had been relieved from his body, and he almost felt peaceful. His heart was beginning to calm down, but he noticed that there was a desire inside him for something more.

By the time Naruto opened his eyes to look at Makoto, she had already stood up and was taking a drink from her canteen before wiping her mouth.

She sashayed forward in a seductive manner and ran her hands up his chest again causing him to grunt. Then she caught his lips with hers and began kissing him deeply. Naruto moaned into her mouth before copying her actions and began kissing her back. His arms reached for her and pulled her into his lap forcefully causing her to moan also.

They continued kissing each other deeply only breaking for brief gulps of air before she would claim his lips again. Naruto had begun to run his hands along her sides and back in an exploratory manner as he got used to the feel of a female's body.

Naruto had never felt an intimate physical connection with anyone. The feeling was intense and awoke a desire within him. His body was so sensitive to her touch and responded in ways he had never imagined. All his previous anger and thoughts of betrayal were gone from his mind entirely. All he could think about now was this hunger for something more and how he needed her to fill it.

As they broke for air once again, she trailed a finger up his chest again before whispering in his ear. "It feels wonderful doesn't it Naruto-kun?" Makoto said

His clouded lust filled eyes opened to look at Makoto "Makoto-chan... I've never felt like this before." He leaned his head into her chest.

"You need to have more now don't you, Naruto-kun. You have to have more?" Makoto said in a breathless tone, "It was the same for me also. I had to have more, but I was never satisfied because it wasn't you who was filling me. Now we will cure our hunger together. Come with me." Makoto said as she stood up and took Naruto's hand.

Naruto stumbled a bit from being light headed, but Makoto threw his arm over her shoulder to support him as she re-opened the sealed door and led Naruto down the hallway. Naruto walked along with Makoto without resistance.

Makoto led him into her room and pushed him gently onto her futon before closing her door. She turned around and saw him looking up at her with a dazed look in his beautiful blue eyes. She smiled at him and approached him slowly before she pulled her shirt and bra over her head revealing her budding B cup breasts to him.

"Finally, Naruto-kun we will be together," Makoto said as she crawled over him.

Naruto blushed at the sight of her with no shirt on but could only watch, mesmerized as she crawled up his body sensually. She cupped both of his cheeks with her hands and began kissing him again. As they kissed each other, she started to pull his shirt up. Once they broke their kiss to breathe, she quickly yanked his shirt off before kissing him deeply once again and began running her hands over his body.

Naruto reached up and began to explore her body as well. Makoto took his hands and guided them towards her breasts. She started moving his hands over her breasts in a particular manner for a few moments as Naruto watched before he caught what she wanted him to do and copied the motion. Makoto hummed her approval before she moved in to kiss him again. Naruto began to caress her breasts more firmly, causing Makoto to moan into his mouth while she trailed her hand down his chest before reaching into his boxers to stroke him again.

 **End of Warning**

* * *

Unknown to Naruto, Kurama had just finished using the link to Gyūki and Shukaku finally returning sanity to his sibling. Gyūki had subdued Gaara and B was bringing him back towards Konoha.

He linked himself back up to Naruto's senses only to find quite the surprise.

" **Kit! What the hell are you doing? This isn't the time for this!"** Kurama scoffed at the foolishness of humans.

 _ _ **'I guess even the kit is susceptible to lust like most other humans. I will have to remind him not to be a fool again, succumbing to such base needs.'**__ Kurama snorted.

He felt the emotions running high in his kit which was strange but not unusual for humans 'in the mood' as he heard it called. He growled loudly.

" **Kit! Stop that this instant. This is not the time!"** Kurama roared out before bashing the cage with his paw for extra measure.

When Naruto didn't respond at all to that, Kurama knew something was wrong. Naruto never ignored the paw bash.

Kurama replayed the memories he had missed while their link was inactive to try and understand how the hell the boy decided to forgo the invasion for carnal pleasure.

Once the truth replayed, he snarled in anger and began to purify Naruto's system by empowering his healing factor and chakra pathways with a safe, steady dose of his chakra.

 _ _ **'That filthy traitorous snake! How dare she taint my kit like this.'**__ Kurama thought with a growl. __**'Once I get enough of this foul drug out of his system he will have enough mental clarity to respond to me again.'**__

Makoto was starting to get a little frustrated. She was certain that she had followed her training properly. He should be rolling her over and taking her like all the others did. She wanted that full connection to him, and she was so close to having her desire and dreams fulfilled. Naruto would be hers forever once they made love to each other and no one would take him from her. Not Danzō, not the Hokage and certainly not that Hyūga hussy with the freakish eyes.

She had been assigned to study her Naruto closely as he grew. She read all the reports about his health from the time they had failed to recruit him up until his training for the exams with Team 7. She had cherished every precious photo that had been taken of him. She knew everything there was about him. She had been enraged when that hussy began getting close to him. Going out on lunches with him, training with him. She could tell the damn Hyūga was laying all her charms on her Naruto.

She needed him! He was the only thing she clung to during her emotional programming, and he became her light in a world of darkness. He was always so magnificent and glowing in every photo she had of him, with the sun shining off of him so brightly. His beautiful blue eyes were always shining with his love for her.

Danzō told her that as long as she threw herself into her training and followed his directions exactly, there would be no failure like last time. When they had deviated from the plan, and she had lost him because she lacked the courage to _take_ him. Makoto's world had fallen apart when Naruto had walked away that day. The tears in his eyes had shown that she had failed to prove her love to him.

Makoto was no fool, though. She knew that Danzō was planning on taking her Naruto away from her as well, so she followed through with her training and conditioning with enthusiasm in order to prepare herself for the day she could make Naruto hers. She had spent the last two years fully developing her plan and studying ever report about Naruto's skills and abilities. That was how she learned about his lie detection ability and that she needed to be honest and genuine about her actions and careful about every move she made, or she might lose her Naruto, and she couldn't have that.

She truly believed in helping the younger children out of Root because she saw them as potential competition for her Naruto. Naruto would feel sympathy with them and one of those little sluts might try to steal him. So, she would convince Naruto to free them so they could go back to the orphanage away from her Naruto. She never wanted them to die and, honestly, she was shaken by the way they were so ruthlessly slaughtered.

She wasn't lying to him when she told him of all the harsh conditions and pain she had experienced because that was all true. Only her obsession for making Naruto hers had kept her from failing or dying. She killed her partner viciously when Danzō said that bitch had eyes for her Naruto.

Of course, she truly wanted Naruto to free her from the seals and bondage of Root, but at the same time, she knew that if they were truly free that Hyūga bitch would try to steal him away from her. She wouldn't be able to kill the Hyūga slut without consequences if she left Root. She wanted to get away from Root, that was certain, but she couldn't keep her Naruto safe if she remained in Konoha. Instead, she would use Root's resources to make sure that Naruto saw her and only her, then he would be hers forever, and no one could ever take him away from her.

So she had modified the plan for capture so that she could be free from repercussion but keep Naruto close at hand by using the combination of aphrodisiacs to free him from the Hyūga's clutches and awaken his true love for her. Then they would be together forever, and no one would be able to separate them. She was so close to completing her objective, but Naruto needed to take her for all this to work.

Naruto stopped what he was doing as his mind began to become clearer, but his focus was interrupted when Makoto pushed him down and started kissing him again. Naruto responded to the kiss at first but his mind grew less befuddled while he was kissing Makoto. He wasn't as lost in the feeling again and stopped responding to it as his mental clarity returned.

Makoto broke off the kiss and began to pour her heart out to him. "Naruto-kun, don't you see that we were meant to be together always?" You don't have to go back to them anymore! You have me Naruto-kun! You always had me! You _belong_ to me!"

Naruto was in absolute shock and confusion. Why was he in bed with Makoto? What the hell had happened to him?

Makoto caressed his face gently as she stared into his eyes. "You won't have to worry about being away from me anymore. Everything will go according to plan, and we will be together forever just like he promised. Danzō will remove the Hokage and without him in the way you can finally be free of everything. We can leave the village and start our family without anyone interfering in our lives. Don't you want that Naruto-kun? Don't you want to stay with me and experience that wonderful feeling we just shared?"

Naruto began to piece together events that lead up to this moment, and once his memories caught up to when he entered that room with her, he was torn between anger towards her and himself. He couldn't believe he was so stupid to fall for her scheming again. He couldn't believe he just let her do those things to him so easily and that she would do such things to him.

"Makoto, was everything you told me just a lie to lure me here? Did you really care what happened to those children? Don't you care about what will happen to everyone if Danzō becomes the Hokage? Naruto asked in a pained tone.

He was in denial that he had been lured into this trap so easily. He held onto a sliver of hope that story she had told him wasn't all just a lie to lead him into this trap. He hadn't sensed any lies in her. Did she somehow manage to hide it and made up that whole story just to betray him again? He had believed her and given her a chance. Was it all fake?

"I don't care about Danzō, the Hokage, or that fucking village who spits on you, my love. While it wasn't in my plans for the children to die as they did, I wanted them out of the way because they were potential threats to our love. Danzō was going to take you away from me, so I have to break free from him, but the Hokage and the rest of the village will only come between us. Everyone is trying to come between our love and keep us apart. We belong to each other, Naruto-kun, and I will remove anyone in our way." Makoto said in a serious tone.

Makoto became nervous when Naruto didn't reply to her declaration. She couldn't lose him to anyone. She wouldn't lose him to anyone.

"You do want to stay with me right, Naruto-kun? You love me don't you? You felt it when we kissed each other and touched each other! We belong together, don't you see that?" Makoto said hysterically.

Now, it was evident to Naruto how she had managed to fool him. She had been driven crazy to the point where she actually believed that what she was doing was the right thing. She wasn't lying or manipulating him because her mind had twisted her fantasy into reality for her. Add in the fact that she spoke honestly about everything that she had experienced meant his negative emotion sensing would be useless. Nothing she had done today was a ploy to harm him in her eyes.

Makoto had been tormented by that bastard Danzō until she lost her mind. Danzō undoubtedly made her fixate on him in some way. Just another tool to get what he wanted and because of this, she truly believed that he was the only one to save her, that he was the only thing that mattered.

He felt pity instead of anger for her, even after what she had done to him. She would never be able to live in peace after what Danzō had done to her. Her entire life revolved around him now, and she had made it clear that she was capable of doing anything to eliminate people she viewed as a threat, and she saw _everyone_ as a threat.

Naruto looked down as he realized that his friend was truly gone. Anything that remained of the old Makoto had been beaten and broken by Danzō and the thought made him sad and angry at the same time. He never imagined that Makoto would ever become someone like this. Some small part of him had hoped he would, at least, get her back as a friend. He had let her tears and sadness get to him, and now he had to pay for it.

Naruto vowed that he would never let sympathy cloud his logic again. He could never rely solely on his senses since she had proven that they could be fooled. She had managed to be genuine in what she said as she lured him into her honey trap.

He let his foolish chivalry and her tears of sadness block out the subtle warnings he should have listened to. She was afraid for him to go with her, but gave him a map to the base. They could have hidden in any room, but she chose the sealed room with the gas in it to hide in. It should have been so damn obvious.

With little to no evidence, he jumped right in because he hadn't sensed any deception and just completely disregarded using logic to analyze the situation as well. Instead, he stupidly thought he could save all the orphanage prisoners and free her so easily in a base full of Anbu level operatives because of her emotional state.

What a fucking fool he had been. She had played with him like a cat did with a mouse.

Naruto's anger flared, and he became determined never to fall for such a foolish act again. He knew what he had to do now to make sure that this lesson wouldn't go unheeded again in the future. He would have to do something drastic to burn this lesson into his mind so it would act as a slap to his face if he got into this situation again.

"Shh. Don't cry, Makoto-chan. It's alright. You won't have to worry anymore," Naruto said in a soothing tone as he brought Makoto in for a hug.

Makoto sniffled as she embraced him tightly. "You're right, Naruto-kun, everything will be okay. You will be mine forever, and no one will ever come between us ever again."

Internally, Naruto was warring with himself about his decision but when Makoto spoke it solidified his decision in the end. There could be no salvation for Makoto.

Makoto pulled him into a kiss and began to pull out the seal tag in her bracer that she was given by Danzō. It would make sure Naruto-kun would stay with her forever and would love only her.

Makoto gasped as she felt something sharp enter her body between her ribs puncturing her lung and piercing her heart. She pulled back from his lips and looked at Naruto with shock, seeing his face was stern, but there was sadness in his eyes. Her vision began to fade as she choked up more blood.

The last thing she registered was his warm arms tightening around her and his breath against her ear, whispering words that she couldn't understand as her hearing was fading already. Less than a minute later she slumped over onto him, dead.

Naruto held her close and whispered comforting words in her ear until he felt her heart stop and her weight fell onto him. He pulled his kunai out of her back and gently set her down on the futon. He noticed a strange seal tag partially sticking out of one of her bracers and removed it. He studied it briefly and found that it was unfamiliar to him, so he simply put it in his pocket to study later.

Heaving out a stuttering breath he shakily walked to the small attached restroom in her room and cleaned himself up as best he could. He really wanted to shower, then soak, then probably shower again, but he had wasted enough time falling into that trap and... other things.

He found his shirt and redressed before fixing his pants and boxers. He gave one last look to Makoto's body as it cooled on her futon.

"I'm sorry, Makoto-chan. Now, you can be free of me," Naruto muttered.

Naruto couldn't help but feel guilty that her life had been ruined and ended because of him. Memories of happier times played in his mind. When they first met and began to play with each other, all the times they hung out with Ren and Taro, all the times she helped him hide to avoid getting in trouble or when she would save him some candy or cake from the group birthday parties.

He pulled the blanket from the side of the futon and covered Makoto's body with it. Tears began to form in his eyes, and Naruto tried desperately to hold them back.

" **It's not your fault, kit. I know you think it is, but it really isn't."** Kurama decided to chime in.

 _'I know. I blame that fucking bastard Danzō even after what she did to me in the past, and what she did to me now, there was still some part of me that couldn't hate her. Maybe I am just being weak but I just couldn't Kurama. I just can't hate her.'_ Naruto replied with his eyes closed as he took a moment to compose himself.

" **Tch. You humans are full of weakness but perhaps that you do not succumb to hate so easily is why you are so different. You have gained my respect because of that. The primal urges, on the other hand, we will need to work on. We don't need you turning into an animal because of a few mixed herbs in your veins."** Kurama said in an amused tone.

Naruto blushed and fidgeted as Kurama replayed the memory in his head. _'Come on, Kurama. I didn't need to be reminded of that. Especially now!'_

" **Hmph. I find human mating rituals bizarre and uncouth, but you needed to be reminded that you are not an animal. You still have to master yourself and not lose your mind to those primal urges."** Kurama said sternly.

 _'I know, but I couldn't help it. It was like something just took control of my body. I couldn't think straight and then... it just.. it felt so right to touch her and be touched by her and the other thing...'_ Naruto said in embarrassment.

" **Do not feel too badly about succumbing, kit. Like I said, it was the herbs that weakened your resolve, but you could have avoided it when you first scented those smells, and they began to affect you. Now, you are familiar with them and can avoid it in the future, but it was your trust in the green eyed vixen that blinded you."** Kurama said in a comforting tone.

Makoto's beautiful green eyes filled with the pain of betrayal flashed before his eyes, the moment she realized that the boy she loved had just murdered her, and Naruto felt so much pain and guilt. Was it possible that she might have been saved? Sakura had been crazy, and they managed to help her. Did he just murder her in cold blood?

" **Do not doubt yourself now. You were angry that she had assaulted you, but you were also justified. She could not be redeemed and even planned to erase your memories and control you like a slave to her will. You were right with your first thought. The vixen you knew as a child was murdered by Danzō, not you. This was merely the remnant of that tool to control your life."** Kurama said.

Naruto just closed his eyes to try and stop the tears from coming, but he couldn't. _'I guess you are right. Maybe it was better to kill her instead of leaving her to suffer, and she was a danger to me and everyone else._ _I have to force myself to accept the fact that I can't simply show mercy or sympathy so easily to those who have stood against me, even if my senses don't detect anything. That's why I held her until I felt her life leave her. That moment will remain with me forever as a reminder of what my carelessness can cost.'_ Naruto said seriously.

" **That maybe so, but do not try to hide the rest of the truth from yourself. You have misplaced guilt that Danzō made her obsessed with you. Danzō is responsible, not you. You freed her from her burden, and you also gave her comfort in her final moments."** Kurama said.

Naruto looked back at Makoto's corpse again. _'In her own way, she truly loved me and was tormented without me. She truly believed that only I could bring her that peace, but she honestly didn't know me and in the end, she might not have ever found happiness. There might be a way to grant her final wish...'_

Naruto stared at her body before he made a decision and walked back over to her. He uncovered her body and gently rolled her onto her side before removing the ninjato, and it's unique sheath off her lower back. He set her back down and crossed her arms over her stomach.

He studied the sword for a moment and noticed it was a unique blade customized for her. The coloring on the ninjato had caught Naruto's attention because it was completely unlike all the other Root swords which were modified tantō.

The tsuba (Hand guard) had an inlay of a plum tree branches with blossoms sprouting on it. The saya (sheath) had small scattered plum blossoms in a pearly white, emerald green, and sapphire blue that were more heavily concentrated towards the base. It was an odd combination of colors for plum blossoms, but he had to admit the effect was nice.

As he looked closer, he noticed that someone had manually inlaid each blossom into the wood of the saya, and they were made of gem flakes instead of paint like he had assumed. The gemstones being protected by a dense layer of lacquer coating the saya.

Both the tsuka-maki (wrappings on the hilt), and the sageo (wrapping on the sheath) were the same beautiful green as her eyes.

Naruto felt a twinge of sadness with that last thought. This blade truly represented her.

"Forgive me, Makoto-chan, for what I had to do but I couldn't leave you to suffer like that. Maybe I being was selfish, but we couldn't have been together like you wanted in life. One day we might see each other again, and it will be just like when we were together in the past. Makoto-chan, I will take your sword and name it after you, so please rest now knowing that I will keep you near me always. I hope this will bring you the peace you deserve." Naruto said with conviction, as he held her sword over her unseeing eyes.

He bowed his head and secured the ninjato in the same manner that Makoto had hers, horizontally across his lower back. The length was a little bit short for his height, but he didn't care about that. This would be the only sword he would use now.

He closed her eyes with his fingers and after reciting a silent prayer under his breath pulled the blanket over her head once more.

Naruto remained there looking at her body as he gathered himself. After several minutes, he finally turned and pulled out the map Makoto had given him to plan his route of escape.

 **"Judging from the chakra flares I am sensing there is a large battle most likely in the area displayed in the upper right-hand portion of the map,"** Kurama said while showing an image of the particular section of the map he felt the flares coming from.

 _'Probably the secondary entrance to the North I'm guessing.'_ Naruto replied as he finally recalled the information the clone had sent him from Kakashi.

" **Hmph. It shall be interesting to see you explain the situation to the silver sloth pervert."** Kurama chuckled.

 _'I think I will just keep that between you and me for now, thank you.'_ Naruto said with a grimace. _'Kakashi-sensei might be a little too interested in details once he's done kicking my ass for being so reckless of course.'_

With a path laid out and memorized, as hastily as he could, Naruto began running through the base making his way towards his objective. His first stop would be Danzō's office to collect any and all remaining files, evidence, jutsu, and hell while he was at it, he would take all his ryō too.

Next, he would stop at the library and clean out anything that looked rare or valuable. Danzō had probably stolen all kinds of rare books and jutsu that could come in handy.

While he was doing that, he would kill every last one of those Root bastards he laid eyes on. Then he would rendezvous with Kakashi-sensei and hopefully get to pay Danzō back for all the pain and suffering he has caused.


	38. Act 4: Plowing through Roots

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon Thoughts_**

 _Naruto mental reply_

 ** _!_** \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be graphic depictions of violence in this chapter.

Edited 4/22/16

 **Chapter 37**

 **Act 4: Plowing through Roots**

 **1 hour earlier - With Team 7 and Itachi – Main Level 1 - Root HQ**

* * *

Team 7 and Itachi had just dispatched a few of the Root guards at the main entrance and began to cautiously move forwards. It had not taken them long to reach the secret entrance and, so far, it seemed Naruto's map was actually valid.

This fact gave Kakashi some relief that perhaps this "Makoto-chan" person, Naruto's clone had described, might be somewhat genuine. Still, Kakashi wouldn't rule out Danzō using her as a sleeper agent to lure Naruto into the actual trap.

It was well known that Root kunoichi would use every little advantage they could to complete their objectives and several high-level lords deaths by spouse were suspected to be Root kunoichi playing the long game. Seducing and marrying their targets to become moles before killing them when the order came several years later. Sometimes, they would even purge their own children unless they showed enough talent to be recruited into Root.

As the group moved through the hallways picking off a few surprised defenders, it seemed that the intel the Hokage had received yesterday was correct and that Danzō had moved most of his forces to different bunkers to help with the counter attack. It was logical if he had planned to secure the Daimyō for his plot. This information was excellent news for their assault team.

Sasuke and Hinata were really concerned for Naruto's safety now that they had breached the base. With the alarm seals blaring loudly any guards would, most likely, be jumpy and may take drastic measures if they hadn't already subdued Naruto and done something terrible to him. Hopefully, they would find the idiot in time and then proceed to pummel him for being so stupid. How could he trust anyone in Root?

Hinata wasn't even denying that she was jealous. That Naruto would so willingly follow this "Makoto-chan" with her obvious sob story. She mentally shook her head; Naruto could be so naive about certain things.

Sasuke was tense with exhilaration and anxiety. That bastard Danzō would pay for killing his family, finally! His anxiety was focused entirely on Naruto's situation. What if they were too late and he was already mindless?

They could have easily sealed away his memories by now if they haven't been torturing him instead. He had heard rumors of suicide seals in the brains and tongues of Root operatives. What if Danzō already planted those on Naruto and was going to use him as a trap?

'Naruto, you better be okay you baka.' Sasuke thought.

Kakashi's thoughts ran along a similar vein as Sasuke. What kind of seals had they already placed on Naruto by now and how would he be affected? Root had some seals that were simply impossible to remove because they tied them to fragile organs that would just collapse under any significant chakra manipulation from an external source. Those seals required operations to apply, but it was highly likely that Danzō had some highly skilled medical-nin in his organization.

The Hokage had told him that the Kyūbi made threats about placing seals on Naruto and that he would cause Naruto harm if they did so. Naruto believed that the Kyūbi was helping him but what about if they put control seals on him? Would the Kyūbi still help him or would he rather cut his losses and reform ten years from now?

If they got out of this alive, he would have to chew Naruto out good for this. After the Sandaime and Tsunade had their turn, of course. He could play the wise counselor after Naruto got reamed by both Hiruzen and Tsunade but he shook that thought off. Better to drive the point home by getting in line for the ass kicking the boy would receive for this if nothing seriously bad happened to him.

His thoughts were interrupted as they approached another large room. Kakashi and Itachi sent forward a pair of Kage Bunshin to test the waters while they stayed far back from the opening.

A nasty water and lighting combination dispelled the scouting clones and prevented them from entering the room. The fact that the combination consisted of unfamiliar jutsu managed to impress Kakashi. There weren't many combinations that he hadn't seen in all his years during Anbu. Kakashi glanced at Sasuke, who had his Sharingan active along with Itachi. He might have to try and learn that one off Itachi later.

Itachi countered with a Bunshin Daibakuha (Shadow Clone Explosion) before the group charged in and engaged the Root members. Kakashi quickly took note that all the defenders were primarily focusing on blockading the North Wing.

'Naruto's map turned out to be more helpful than I could have imagined.' Kakashi thought as he caught one defender rushing in from the east by surprise and slit his throat with a kunai after using Shunshin.

Danzō must have already moved towards the exit as soon as they killed the entrance guards. Kakashi hoped they could get there in time to support Neko and her team before Danzō decided to jump ship. Neko could be in a lot of trouble if Danzō had a significant escort with him.

With Hinata watching their flank for ambush attempts, Sasuke released a wave of Raigeki (Lightning Strike) to stun a few Root members forming seals in the Northern hallway and cancel their jutsu before charging in with his chokuto, passing by Itachi, who had distracted the front line of defenders.

Charging the stunned Root trio, Sasuke slashed two through their necks with a horizontal slash before he sidestepped while pivoting to bring down his chokuto to cut the third Root member diagonally down his torso effectively gutting him.

Itachi had caught half of the Root defenders in a seamless genjutsu the minute they saw him enter the room and made eye contact. Now, Kakashi was helping him mow down the hapless Root members by slitting their throats with their kunai or ninjato in Itachi's case.

They both had to Kawarimi when some kunai and several blasts of cutting wind headed towards them from someone using Fūton: Shinkūgyoku (Vacuum Sphere)

Both Kakashi and Itachi countered with Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) sending the pair of fireballs down the hallway where the wind attack had just torn through. There were a series of explosions and a few screams confirming that, at least, two defenders were hit by the attack.

Hinata hid around the corner and watched with her Byakugan as one Root member tried to sneak in from the southern hallway behind them. Hinata waited for him to draw closer and start forming hand seals before stepping out and unleashing her Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams 64 palms) on the Root member, severing most of his organs with cutting blasts of chakra instead of sealing tenketsu.

She stepped back around the corner when the body collapsed in a heap and continued to monitor all the hallways around them with her Byakugan.

"There is a higher concentration of them towards the north, probably about 15 more total," Hinata called out as they finished off the rest of the Root members in the room.

"Any sight of Naruto or any other prisoners?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't see Naruto's chakra anywhere," Hinata said in a concerned tone. "He must be further down because I can see everything on this level and the two levels directly below us. There must be a few more levels below those two since I can see more reinforcements appearing from out of my range of vision." Hinata said.

"Danzō is our priority. We will just have to hope Naruto is okay and search for him once Danzō is contained," Kakashi said with a sigh.

Hinata and Sasuke nodded as they took up the rear position and proceeded further towards the North wing.

 **Current time - With Naruto – Sub-Level 3**

* * *

Naruto finished off another group of Root operatives with Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Blade Jutsu). He was starting to run out of chakra and might have to use a full scroll soon to refill.

That was the second group of scrambling operatives he had managed to catch off guard and kill without too much effort. The first two groups had been quick to react to his presence, and his tattered clothing reflected it. Even with defensive clones, he had been unable to evade backlash from jutsu or even projectiles without taking some damage. Naruto had to wonder just how long he had been distracted by the events with Makoto that these agents were just now scrambling to defend the base. Wouldn't they have mobilized immediately? Naruto couldn't help but wonder if this had all been part of Danzō's plans in some way.

 **"** **These hallways are too narrow to evade in. You must make your way to a larger room and rest. Instead of clearing the halls yourself, use a clone to flush and lure any more prey on this floor to that place and finish them off before we continue forwards."** Kurama instructed.

 _'Soon, Kurama. I want to make it to his office first and get any evidence and scrolls in case he manages to escape. This bastard has to go down today no matter what.'_ Naruto said as he rushed down the hall and made a left.

He had heard some faint explosions above him and felt some tremors but wasn't concerned just yet. He would be more concerned when those demolition seals Kurama had pointed out, began to glow.

Naruto slowed and began to creep down the hallway leading towards Danzō's office with the newly dubbed Makoto in his hand. He had no real experience with a blade at all, but it was easy to slash or stab Root members in the chest as they emerged from their small rooms unprepared.

Naruto created two clones once he neared the end of the hallway and after carefully examining the door for seals, he backed off and sent one clone in to open the door.

The clones scanned the room and managed to detect a few trap seals that he recognized and countered with chakra absorption seals to drain them, making them deconstruct in a safe manner. It was thanks to Shino that Naruto had discovered this way of disabling seals. Being familiar with the structure of seal arrays, he knew that causing individual lines to fail could cause the seal to collapse entirely if it no longer had the proper containment or focus kanji. Naruto had developed a few chakra absorption seals that targeted these lines specifically but it was still a work in progress, and he wouldn't attempt it on any unfamiliar seals.

Assigning the two clones to guard the hallway into the office while he worked, Naruto began grabbing all the scrolls and papers and sealing them away into a storage scroll. He had five scrolls filled just from the desk drawers and filing cabinets before he even began to look for hidden storage places.

Luckily he found a supply of blank scrolls that used to quickly create a few more storage scrolls before he searched any further. Danzo's office had taken up more than he had anticipated. It seemed that he kept meticulous records of all his actions, judging from the various archive scrolls labeled by month and year.

Once the scrolls were done, he began looking for hidden switches, doors, or seals along the walls and on or under all the different furniture in the office. He found a safe hidden behind one of the filing cabinets and studied the seals.

 **"** **Hmm. That one is dangerous. Chakra absorption will not work on it as it is tied to blood."** Kurama commented.

 _'Damn, this probably has all the good stuff too.'_ Naruto said.

 **"** **It may break if we apply my chakra in abundance within proximity to it but not directly on it,"** Kurama commented.

 _'That would probably draw everyone and their mother if I activate your cloak here.'_ Naruto said as he looked out the doorway.

 **"** **Tch. As if, childbearing females would not be a threat to me. All mortals are insignificant before me."** Kurama said with a snort

 _'It's a figure of speech, Kurama. It just means it will bring more than the expected amount.'_ _Naruto said with a hint of amusement._

 **"** **Why didn't you just say that instead of making references to females who have given birth? Unless, you are still affected by those herbs from earlier."** Kurama grumbled.

Naruto just sighed. _'No. I'm fine. Honest. You took good care of that.'_

 **"** **I doubt you need to be concerned about using my chakra, given the circumstances. The snake has bigger things to worry about. I sense your companions are closing in on his guards."** Kurama said.

" _Got it. Time to hurry up then as I still need to hit that jutsu library as well. You know the bastard has to have all kinds of jutsu stored away. Maybe we will find the jutsu we need for the plan in here.'_ Naruto said as he began to link with Kurama.

" **That is true, kit. Good thinking,"** Kurama said.

Naruto activated his initial chakra cloak and placed his hand directly below the safe letting Kurama's drift up the wall and over the seals.

The seals on the safe began to waiver before they self-destructed and the door to the safe simply fell off.

Naruto deactivated his cloak and peeked inside the safe. There was a neat pyramid of six, ancient looking scrolls in the vault and several, very large, stacks of ryō. Not as much as he was hoping for, but it was better than nothing.

Naruto merely shrugged and pulled the scrolls out and set them aside on the desk before he sealed all the ryō into one of his arm wrap seals that were empty. Might as well make good use of it.

He then began looking at the scrolls and had to grin when he saw what they contained.

 **"** **Not what we needed for the plan but useful fūinjutsu and ninjutsu all the same. That last one is most impressive, and you should keep that close with your** ** **Hiraishin**** **scroll."** Kurama said.

 _'Yea. Who would have thought the old bastard would have the Nidaime's secret to creating water jutsu without water nearby? The thought that it was just a chakra exercise is pretty amazing when you think about it.'_ Naruto said in awe as he read the exercise and a few assorted jutsu.

" **Hmph. That was one powerful mortal, he created the original** ** **Hiraishin**** **that your father became famous for as well as the Kage Bunshin technique that you use,"** Kurama said grudgingly.

 _'Yea. Tobirama was a real badass. It must be why jiji is so powerful as well.'_ Naruto said as he sealed away the Nidaime's scroll along with the  Hiraishin scroll in his hidden micro storage seal on his torso.

Kurama helped him create the tiny seal inside his belly button which would always be protected from damage by the Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Seal), as long as he was alive.

After one more quick sweep of the office, Naruto sealed away the remaining storage scrolls. He kept the vault scrolls and ryō separate while storing all the important looking documents into his shuriken pouch.

Naruto then picked up the scent of several strangers heading his way, and an abnormal grin came onto his face.

 _'Guess we managed to fish out the remaining Root on this floor. Let's prepare a nice surprise for them.'_ Naruto said as the dark grin on his face grew when he pictured a wind charged fire dragon blitzing down the hallway incinerating groups of Root.

" **It truly pleases me when you cleanse all the filth with fire, but** ** **Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu**** **should suffice for your chakra reserves right now. Then you should recharge with the full scroll and head up."** Kurama said.

 _'Got it.'_ Naruto replied before he felt his guard clones get dispelled by shuriken. He began to run through the hand seals for Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu and waited with anticipation for the door to be kicked down.

Naruto still had the unusually feral grin on his face as he thought of cutting through the Root members with his wind jutsu. Naruto's normally blue eyes were darker than usual, his circular pupils were beginning to take a more oval shape while his whisker marks darkened.

 **30 minutes earlier - With Team 7 and Itachi – Main Level 1 North Wing**

* * *

"I think we have managed to flush out the remaining forces below or they are holding back significantly for a pincer maneuver. I haven't seen any more people on the floors beneath us or coming up the stairs." Hinata said as she continued to scan with her Byakugan.

"You said there were only three more signatures ahead of us now and that they are waiting?" Kakashi said with suspicion.

What was Danzō waiting around for? Was he waiting for them or reinforcements?

"Yep. The other Anbu team that came with us have been engaging and neutralizing stragglers exiting or entering the base from their position, but that's all," Hinata repeated as she looked towards Neko's team.

"Do you think he has taken Naruto somewhere else?" Sasuke asked.

"It wouldn't make any sense for him to do so. Naruto gave us a map of this base and the Root operative he ran off with headed here specifically. Pakkun confirmed his scent in the base before he dispelled. It could be possible, however." Kakashi said.

"He must be waiting because he has Naruto-kun in his grasp," Itachi said.

"Why do you think that?" Hinata said uneasily.

"Danzō knows we have him trapped by now and that the invasion has likely failed to remove the Hokage like he expected since we are here invading his base. It wouldn't be hard for him to deduce that we were sent here to remove him because the Hokage had determined his involvement in everything. He will use Naruto-kun as his bargaining chip to try and escape if he can't kill us himself." Itachi said.

"So you think he has Naruto under guard somewhere in the lower levels then?" Kakashi asked.

"If he hasn't moved him elsewhere already. It is possible that they subdued him here and carried him off through the entrance he is waiting by before we even arrived. If the team he used was skilled enough, they could have accomplished all that in the 30 minutes that elapsed between him leaving with the operative and the clone relaying the message to us." Itachi reasoned.

"Guess there is only one way to find out, and that is to catch that bastard and beat it out of him," Sasuke said with gritted teeth.

"Stay calm, Sasuke. Torune and Fū are very dangerous opponents. Remember not to touch Torune's skin or let him grab a hold of you or his poisonous insects will kill you in seconds. Fū is just as deadly with his Yamanaka mind techniques. Be wary of him turning one of us against each other during a fight." Itachi said seriously.

"Be ready for anything team. Remember, don't lose your temper no matter what Danzō says about Naruto," Kakashi warned.

Sasuke and Hinata nodded.

The team moved down the hallway and into the final open room before the Northern most exit.

Danzō stood there with and impassive gaze on his face and his unbandaged arm resting by his side clutching his cane. Torune and Fū stood in front of him in defensive positions.

"So, Hiruzen finally grew some balls did he? It's unfortunate that he won't survive this invasion. Will you leave Konoha defenseless without it's new Hokage?" Danzō said confidently.

"Unless Tsunade-sama dies in the battle, I think Konoha will be just fine. She was already approved by the Daimyō to take over the Hokage position yesterday actually." Kakashi said nonchalantly.

"The Daimyō will see things my way soon. Don't concern yourselves with that," Danzō replied.

"You're assuming that you will be leaving this base freely then?" Itachi said.

"Quite freely. None of you are strong enough to stop my guards or me." Danzō said dismissively.

"Is that so? Then why haven't you simply left already, if you are so certain?" Kakashi said.

"Please, Hatake, do not take me for a fool. You know full well I won't leave without my newest weapon. Especially after all the work, I put into obtaining him." Danzō said with a smirk.

"Oh? and how much work did you put into obtaining this new weapon of yours?" Kakashi asked.

Inwardly Danzō was fuming that he was unable to unsettle these fools with that news, he knew that Kakashi and Itachi were of the Will of Fire school who believed that emotions were important for shinobi and other foolish nonsense. Perhaps a more specific push was needed.

"The attack I orchestrated on the orphanage was just the start, of course. He had to close himself off from others and abandoning that foolish cheerful nature of his was only his first step in the right direction." Danzō sneered, "For a while, he was becoming a true shinobi. He had improved himself immensely by forsaking bonds with others, but he was not properly guided and was convinced to embrace his foolish emotions instead of discarding them entirely."

"Now, such nonsense will no longer be an issue and Naruto will be quite an effective tool now that I did away with such useless idealism. It won't take long to train him properly with the memory seals I designed for him." Danzō said confidently.

"It matters not what you think. You will not be leaving this place unless you are in shackles or a body bag." Itachi said.

"Maybe, if you're lucky, Naruto will save you," Kakashi added as he lifted his hitai-ate to reveal his Sharingan.

"So be it. If you fools do not fall in line, then I shall have to replace you with better." Danzō said before giving the sign to attack.

Itachi and Kakashi opened up their attacks with Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu and Fūton: Daitoppa while Sasuke used Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu) with three volleys of shuriken thrown by himself and Hinata.

Fū used Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall) to wall off their section of the room, effectively defending against the incoming jutsu, and forcing Team 7 and Itachi to fall back to avoid being hit by the recoil since the wall sprung up in close proximity to them.

'Shit. We will have to be careful with our big jutsu in here, or the whole damn place could collapse on top of us.' Kakashi thought.

Fū canceled his chakra to the wall letting it drop before he attempted to use his Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch) on Hinata.

Torune sent out a poisonous cloud of insects towards the group which was augmented by Danzō using Fūton: Shinkūgyoku (Vacuum Sphere) to speed up the spread of poisonous insects.

Kakashi used Fūton: Daitoppa again to keep the poisonous insects at bay, crushing most of them when the two wind attacks collided while Sasuke used Raigeki (Lightning Strike) to try and stun Danzō and Torune while the wind jutsu was still active.

He knew that it would be weaker than usual by traveling through wind chakra, but he had put more chakra into the attack hoping to make up for the elemental disadvantage.

Fū was unaware that he had been trapped in a genjutsu by Itachi right off the bat and fell to the ground temporarily disabled until his mind recovered from the failed Shintenshin no Jutsu. His attack completely missing Hinata as she was not in the position that Fū believed she was in.

Danzō countered Sasuke's Raigeki with Fūton: Shinkūha (Vacuum Wave) spitting blades of wind from his mouth to weaken and disperse the Raigeki completely.

Hinata ran through seals for Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu with Sasuke and they both sent their fireballs towards Danzō and his group.

Itachi, seeing his brother and his teammate forming hand seals, created his Bunshin Daibakuha and henged it as a rock while they prepared their attack. Once both Hinata and Sasuke had finished their seals, Itachi sent the clone charging in to take down the Doton: Doryūheki they created to repel the fireballs sent in their direction.

Danzō and Fū were sent flying back by the force of the explosion, but Torune had been off to the side and was unaffected by the concussive blast. He rapidly created another Doton: Doryūheki to block the incoming fireball and save Danzō and Fū from being burned to death.

Torune had been sneaking a wave of poisonous insects close to the group using the ceiling and walls during the previous exchanges of attacks. The bugs were able to advance unnoticed while the smoke from the colliding jutsu still hampered visibility. Once the bugs were close enough to attack, he commanded the insects to flow down and latch onto Team 7 and Itachi.

Hinata, however, had been suspicious of Torune's distance and spotted the insects early. She called out a warning before using Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation) to shield the group from the bugs while Kakashi used Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder) to fry them.

After that series of events took place both sides eyed each other waiting for the next exchange of jutsu and trying to formulate a plan to bypass the other team's defenses. Danzō knew it would be foolish to get involved in a close range battle with the Hyūga girl, even if she was just a genin. He didn't want to waste his Mangekyō until Itachi decided to bring out the big guns with his Mangekyō.

Torune and Fū would only last so long in this type of battle, given the talents of the team in front of him, and genjutsu was out because of the three Sharingan users arrayed against him.

He might be forced to reveal his trump cards in this battle. Being stuck in this room was a huge disadvantage as he would likely harm himself just as much with the restricted space. If he weren't waiting for Makoto's arrival with Naruto, he would have taken this battle outside.

Team 7 and Itachi were also thinking over their situation as the pause in the fight ensued. They were also wary of entering a close range battle with Torune still on the field, and they knew Danzō was capable of dangerous paralysis seals. Fū might have been hesitant to use his clan jutsu in the beginning, but they couldn't rule him out completely just yet.

Kakashi and Sasuke took advantage of the lull in combat to use Naruto's chakra seals for their next round of attacks. Sasuke handed one to Itachi to use after he felt his take effect.

Itachi's used the seal immediately, and his eyes widened when he felt Naruto's chakra surge through his body. It was quite the rush. He had been filled in by Sasuke, during the training period, about its benefits but had never had the opportunity to use one. Needless to say, he was very interested in seeing how he could improve his own chakra reserves and pathways by using them.

Itachi suddenly had an idea and signed his plan to the others behind his back as they waited for Danzō and his guards to make their next move.

 **With Naruto – Main Level 1 – West Wing – Root HQ**

* * *

Naruto drilled another guard with a Rasengan before proceeding down the hallway towards the Library. He had lost count of how many Root he had torn through between sub-level 3 and the main level, but he wasn't bothered in the least.

In fact, he was actually enjoying himself, surprisingly. Before, he would have been afraid of getting caught up in the battle and losing control of himself, but right now, he felt empowered. The thrill of battle was flowing through him, yet there was no overwhelming bloodlust rearing its head. He didn't feel like he needed to hold himself back in the least. Instead, he felt as if he had been cutting loose against every foe he ran into, and he felt fantastic tearing through the filth called Root.

Naruto strolled into the Library nonchalantly while his clones took up a flanking position at the doors. Naruto looked around briefly and realized that there was no way he could take everything. The library was quite extensive, so he moved towards the book registrar and began browsing through it to pick out any unfamiliar or interesting jutsu for him to take.

When he emerged on the first level and was fighting his way through the Central wing, Kurama had told him that the chakra flares from the North had calmed for the moment and that the battle might be over. Naruto had been concerned that he had missed the fight and was torn between meeting up with his friends or pillaging the Library for rare jutsu. After a minute of indecision, Naruto decided that it would be better to take what he could from the Library while he had the opportunity. It would suck that he wasn't directly involved in Danzō's death but finding all the rare jutsu and fūinjutsu would more than make up for it.

Naruto left a clone henged as an insect near the stairway he had emerged from on the 2nd sub level of the base, in case his team made their way down to look for him in the lower levels. He probably should have gone directly to them, but something told him he needed to make his way here first while he could.

Now that he had a moment to calm down and was perusing the list of scrolls and books kept in the library, he realized that fighting his way through another dozen or two Root operatives from the Office to the Library had left him tired, and his chakra was getting low again. Naruto didn't know what to think about the groups he had run into. They had been easier to take out than he had expected. Only the team of Root that had swarmed Danzō's office had provided a difficult challenge and caused him some injuries, but Kurama had taken care of those quite easily.

" **It must be the weaklings or rejects of the group as they have been quite easily dispatched."** Kurama agreed.

 _'So far, it doesn't look like there is too much of interest in here. Maybe I should just take all the high-level Fūton and Raiton scrolls since they are rare for Hi no Kuni.'_ Naruto thought.

Naruto sensed something faint in the distance and was distracted for a moment. It was similar to what he felt in Myōbokuzan and when he had stretched his senses out early as he followed Makoto, but it wasn't consistent, and he had no idea what it could be.

" **The battle has begun once again between the filth and your companions. You seem to have started developing some minor chakra sensing ability. It must have been exposure to the Natural chakra in the summoning toads home."** Kurama noted.

 _'I suppose that will be really useful then. I think with your abilities combined with mine I will have no excuse for anything to sneak up on me, eh?'_ Naruto replied with a smirk. Naruto had completed scanning the registrar and began moving to the shelves to pick out the jutsu he wanted to take.

 **"** **Hmph. If you aren't distracted, you should already have all you need. The chakra sensing will aid in determining the affinity of potential threats and their levels of power if you do develop the ability further. We will try some training when you travel with the Toad sage to see if it is possible to increase it."** Kurama said.

 _'I know shishō said that Sage mode can detect anything chakra related while it is active. You think that maybe, somehow, I got a part of that ability?'_ Naruto asked as he scanned over the sections looking for the jutsu he had found in the registrar.

 **"** **It is possible you just have some remaining balanced chakra in your body causing you to have minor sensing capability until it is dispersed. The only way we can know for certain is to try and develop the skill further. With how inconsistent you are sensing the chakra flares, I suspect that it is just remnant chakra."** Kurama replied.

 _'Eh, it's no big deal then. If I do, great. If not, I will just wait until I can learn Sage mode.'_ Naruto said with a shrug.

Naruto picked out several scrolls from the Raiton, and Fūton sections, and two from the Katon and Doton sections. He sealed those away and went over to the historical section.

 **"** **What have you found of interest over here?"** Kurama said curiously.

 _'It seemed like there was an account of some of the things you described that we needed for the plan. It's a few old scrolls and a book that described historical artifacts of power from legends or second-hand accounts. Maybe it will point us in the right direction.'_ Naruto answered.

He pulled several scrolls out and one book from the historical section before flipping through the book quickly.

" **Hmm, this looks promising indeed. Keep those separate from the rest we do not need the others discovering your interest in these, or they may begin to piece the plan together. We can not allow the filthy mortals to learn of this."** Kurama said.

 _'Don't worry, Kurama. I'll be real careful with these. As soon as we are done here, I'll have clones transcribe them into blank books using a fūinjutsu cipher. Only shishō will be able to figure it out if he has the right key.'_ Naruto said.

" **Be wary of revealing these things to B as well since Gyūki is still not on board with the plan just yet. He will most likely try to dissuade you from it as well until we can convince him."** Kurama said.

 _'Okay. I won't even mention anything about it around them then. What's going to happen to Shukaku anyways?'_ Naruto said as he finished sealing up the things he found.

" **They will contain him in Konoha until the war with Suna is concluded. We will be able to gain access to him remotely now that I have created a link, but there was no time to discuss it since I had to rescue you from your lust."** Kurama said in an amused tone.''

 _'Whatever, I thought it was normal for me to go through this kind of thing during my maturation phase.'_ Naruto grumbled as he stored away the sealing scrolls he filled and created a few more clones to scout ahead as insects.

 **"** **You might need to find some woman to rut with before you can master those urges at some point,"** Kurama said in a nonchalant tone.

Naruto was red faced at the thought. _'NO! I'm not going to do... that with some random person. I mean I almost did with Makoto-chan, but she was pretty, and I did still care for her in some small way.'_

 **"** **What about the white eye vixen? She lusts after you,"** Kurama noted.

 _'I don't think that's a good idea. That could cause problems. Immense problems since they frown on that kind of thing amongst teammates.'_ Naruto said as his blush deepened at the thought of him and Hinata together.

Hinata was much prettier than Makoto was, in his opinion, and while he had to admit that he found Hinata's eyes intriguing, the emerald of Makoto's eyes had always mesmerized him. Naruto had always been more interested in a girl's face then any other part of her body and the eyes and hair were the first things he would take notice of.

" **You might be surprised when you meet the vixen again. Your thoughts have been altered by the gas as the hormone has begun dispersing through your body at a much faster rate than before."** Kurama replied.

Naruto hung his head at that thought. _'Oh man, all that awkward stuff that Shizune-nee told me about is going to start now. Great. At least, I will be gone from the village during most of it. I just hope shishō doesn't tease me too much about it.'_

Naruto let out a breath to calm himself down before he peeked out of the library door and down the hall. He still had probably another 100 yards or more to go before he reached where Kurama said he sensed the battle.

Naruto debated going to the armory and storage area to find any potential special weapons and items, but he scrapped that thought when his insect clone sensed a large group of reinforcements heading towards the North wing from the South wing.

He had to slow those reinforcements down if his friends were still battling Danzō. He briefly looked at the map and saw that if he made a left and made his way to the East for a few yards, he could use an access tunnel to cut them off at the central crossroads and hold them there before they reached his friends.

Naruto frowned when he realized Sasuke had been correct; he would end up holding off all of Danzō's lackeys while Sasuke got to finish off Danzō.

Naruto sighed, he really wanted to kill Danzō himself, but he supposed this was his punishment for falling into that stupid trap. He would keep them safe from the ambush and hope that they finished the bastard off themselves. He would just have to focus on Orochimaru like Sasuke had told him.

Naruto used his last full chakra scroll before he made his way to the access tunnel and ran full speed to the crossroads. Emerging from the tunnel, he saw that he was still ahead of the reinforcement group and began to study the area around him to formulate a plan.

The crossroads of the main level was a 15 x 15-foot square room that linked the main hallways to each wing. With only two hidden access tunnels to concern himself with, he rigged those two with a few kunai traps before he created 40 super-powered clones to essentially block the crossroads with clone bodies and tons of combination jutsu. His only shot at holding off these many people would be to flood the hallways between the central room where he was located and the larger rooms that were located about 30 yards from the central crossroads.

Naruto had his clones mostly lined up against the wall inside the central room with a group of 5 setting trap seals along the walls of the larger room to catch Root members off guard when they avoided the combo jutsu flying through the hallway.

Both Naruto and Kurama had the same feral grin on their face at that moment, as they thought of super heated flames, cutting winds, and waves of shuriken and kunai flooding through the hallway and tearing into a tightly clustered group of Root members, causing massive damage and pain. Their bodies clogging the hall as they were burned and shredded by his attacks.

Naruto briefly thought it was strange that he was enjoying killing so much but remembered that they were filth that needed to be cleansed. He pushed the thought aside to think about later.

Had Naruto looked into a mirror at that moment he would have seen that his eyes, while still blue, were now feral slits just like Kurama's. His whiskers were darker and more jagged while his canines had grown, but he had no claws on his hands.

 **With Team 7 and Itachi – Main level 1 West Wing – Root HQ**

* * *

The battle had resumed and currently Hinata was repelling Danzō and his team's attacks with her Kaiten while the others worked to put Itachi's plan into action.

Kakashi had slammed his hands on the ground after using Raiton: Amigumo (Spider Web) creating a grid on the ground that limited movement inside the narrow rectangular room even more.

Itachi and Sasuke both ran through the hand seals for Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu (Great Dragon Fire) while Hinata completed her Raiton: Jibashi ahead of their dual attack. Her lightning dancing forwards towards Danzō, Torune, and Fū to take down any earthen walls formed by Doton: Doryūheki.

Danzō used Kawarimi to replace himself with a stray shuriken near the back of the room to get out of range of the lightning from Hinata. Then he quickly ran through hand seals before using Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Formation Wall) to everyone's surprise.

Torune and Fū were not so lucky, however, as they were unable to Kawarimi with anything in time. Instead, Torune created Doton: Rokkudōmu (Rock Dome)to surround him and his partner while Fū created another Doton: Doryūheki in front of the dome to block Hinata's Raiton: Jibashi.

The lightning dispersed after crumbling the mud wall, but the fire dragons slammed into the earthen dome causing the room to shake violently and the dome to shatter.

Everyone took a quick glance at the ceiling and were relieved to see that the roof was not falling in on them, but the walls surrounding them had large gashes and cracks from the force of jutsu impacting against each other.

Torune and Fū sustained moderate burns and damage from flying rock pieces of the dome, but they were still able to fight, for the most part.

Fū was surprised to see Hinata charge through the smoke and begin pummeling him with Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams 64 palms) before she could finish, however, Torune moved in to try and grab her and infest her with his poisonous bugs.

Both Root members were caught completely off guard when Hinata used Kawarimi to switch places with Itachi Uchiha. They had no time to react when Itachi formed a ram seal and blew up in both of their faces, revealing he was an exploding clone.

Torune was severely burned and lost his right arm and left leg from the Bunshin Daibakuha as he had been stepping in to grab at Hinata when the clone took her place. His left arm was in bad shape, and his hives of kikaichū and rinkaichū had mostly perished from the concussive force of the exploding clone. Torune would not survive for much longer.

Fū took mostly concussive damage from the blast and was slammed into the wall next to the entrance causing him to spit up a significant amount of blood before his slid down the wall unconscious. Fū received a severe concussion and some internal bleeding which took him out of the fight entirely.

Danzō scowled and decided to lead the fight outside so he could unleash his full power. His reinforcements should be arriving soon, but he couldn't remain in this narrow room now that his guards were down. Danzō turned on his heel and began to sprint up the hallway towards the entrance; he was intercepted by Neko and her Anbu team who come rushing in when they felt the explosions.

Danzō threw up a quick Doton: Doryūheki to block the hallway off temporarily while he scrambled to come up with a plan to get out of this mess. He just had to find a way to stall for just a few more minutes so the reinforcements hidden in the sub-levels of the south wing would arrive. They should be here at any moment if they were following the emergency plan correctly.

At this point, Danzō figured that Makoto had failed to acquire Naruto. He would have to cut his losses after this while his reinforcements distracted these worms and he escaped using Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Hiding Mole). Then he would trigger the demolition seals to finish them off and destroy all the evidence.

While the loss of rare jutsu and scrolls he had in this base would be lamentable, he, at least, had all his rare items and copies of most of the library in his main estate. It would only be the historical scrolls and books that would be lost, which was not a major blow to his efforts. Some of those artifacts were rumored to have strange and destructive powers, but he could always track down another copy or more leads on the item's locations themselves.

Danzō turned towards the group and prepared Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon) to try and flush the group away from him and out towards his approaching reinforcements.

Itachi and Kakashi countered with Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu and the twin fire dragons reduced the water dragon into steam.

Kakashi took another chakra seal to prepare his next attack. He had created a clone while Danzō had tried to flee from the base, knowing that Neko would prevent him from escaping. His clone should be in position now. Giving the signal to Hinata and Sasuke, he waited for his opening.

Sasuke used Raiton: Gian Yari (False Darkness Spear) at Danzō, who countered with Fūton: Shinkūgyoku launching several spheres of cutting wind chakra at the group.

Itachi ran through the hand seals and used Katon: Karyūdan (Fire Dragon Bullet) which overpowered the wind spheres and grew hotter as it approached Danzō

Danzō was forced to use Izanagi for the first time as he couldn't perform a water technique strong enough to block a wind laced fire attack of that magnitude and his wall blocking the hallway to the entrance had dissipated, which meant he now also had a squad of Anbu at his back.

As Danzō phased back into existence in under a minute, to spare his other 9 remaining Sharingan, he was shocked to find himself grappled and dragged partially into the ground before Kakashi charged at him with Raikiri ready.

Kakashi's clone had been waiting underground using Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu to wait for Danzō's reappearance from Izanagi so that it could use Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu) and keep him in place for Raikiri to strike. It was pure luck that Danzō emerged within his range, but Kakashi wouldn't complain.

Team 7 and the others had been warned about Danzō's grotesque arm of Sharingan and the ability Izanagi by Itachi before they confronted Danzō. It had been a startling realization for Sasuke when Itachi revealed the truth to him. If he had confronted Danzō, he would have died in vain thinking that he had managed to kill the bastard only to be cut down by a surprise attack.

Danzō scowled as Kakashi's arm was driven into his chest and Izanagi teleported him into the hallway. Danzō took the opportunity to flee into the larger training area before the crossroads and hopefully meet up with his reinforcements.

Itachi and Team 7 chased after Danzō with a clone leading the way to trigger any traps laid by Danzō. They were not surprised that he was fleeing from them. The Hokage had said that Danzō, while powerful, always tried to avoid a stand-up fight when possible unless he was completely confident of an easy victory. Otherwise, he would prefer to let his forces distract you while he used his wind affinity at range.

Danzō was surprised to run into a group of Naruto clones who wasted no time attacking Danzō with a flurry of shuriken followed by Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone) and Fūton: Daitoppa while two more completed Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Blade Jutsu)

Danzō had no choice but to use Izanagi for two minutes to escape the massive barrage of wind enhanced shuriken, and cutting blades of wind from Naruto's surprise attack, but Danzō was fortunate that most of the clones had dispersed from using up their remaining chakra.

Two clones charged in and began engaging Danzō in a sloppy taijutsu fight. Danzō scoffed at the terrible form displayed by the jinchūriki and was easily able to block and counter their attacks using his left arm and sword cane wielded in his right arm.

Usually, Danzō would not engage in taijutsu if he could afford it since he feared sustaining damage to his Sharingan arm, but with the poor display of taijutsu shown by the clones, he decided to dispel them instead of using Kawarimi to gain distance and dispelling them with a jutsu. He also wanted to save his replacement jutsu for when Team 7 eventually arrived. Seeing Naruto's clones made Danzō snarl in anger as he knew that the damn demon brat was holding back his reinforcements. His operatives would not be utilizing their full power since all of them knew he wanted Naruto subdued not killed.

Danzō failed to realize that Naruto had developed the strategy of making his clones use sloppy taijutsu by watching Shikamaru during the preliminary rounds. Opponents were more likely to remain in range and simply block and counter his clumsy attempts. If they displayed too much skill, then the opponents would maintain distance or use more complex attacks to destroy them quickly, and he gain an opportunity to plant the seals.

Danzō didn't realize that he now had a level 3 gravity seal and a chakra draining seal planted on his left arm.

With no more Naruto clones in sight, Danzō began trying to make his way towards the battle he could hear between his reinforcements and the jinchūriki who had escaped.

He scowled when he felt the gravity seal kick in, he was barely capable of standing! The brat had tricked him with that foolish taijutsu display; he could hardly move with the damn seal on him and his chakra was draining quickly. Danzō began to remove the seals on his arm when Izanagi triggered again because Sasuke had finally caught up with him and had driven a Chidori through his chest.

"Just die already! You son of a bitch!" Sasuke yelled as Danzō vanished only to appear back in the hallway towards the exit.

Danzō had to send a Fūton: Daitoppa down the hallway to blow Neko and her support team back into the security room before the entrance he had hoped to use in his escape. Now that it was evident he would remain cut off, he turned and quickly used Fūton: Shinkūha (Vacuum Wave) to send more cutting blades of wind at Team 7 and Itachi.

Danzō then used Shunshin to move back towards the crossroads entrance in a desperate attempt to reach his reinforcements, but he was slowed and getting low on chakra fast. Now he couldn't even use Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Hiding Mole) to escape as he planned. His only choice was to reach his reinforcements before he could crush these insects. Then he would make that damn brat pay for putting his filthy hands on him.

He couldn't believe these worms were ruining everything he had worked so damn hard to accomplish. All because of that fucking demon brat, he was losing everything.

Now, Danzō just wanted revenge on that little shit who had brought everything to ruin around him. He had just the jutsu to do it too if he could reach the little bastard. He had five more Izanagi to get it done.

Danzō realized how arrogantly foolish he had been confronting this team as he did. He must have been slipping in his old age just like he accused Hiruzen of. Konoha would be in ruins because of this, and it would be partially his fault. If they just gave him the Kyūbi brat, then everything would have worked out just fine.

Danzō managed to remove the gravity seal before he had to use Izanagi again to avoid another fatal jutsu that Kakashi sent at him. He kept Izanagi on as he quickly ran towards the crossroads with Team 7 hot on his heels.

Canceling Izanagi when he entered the hallway without any resistance, Danzō used the last of his chakra for Fūton: Shinkūha Renpa (Vacuum Wave Barrage) and spun in a circle as soon as he emerged from the central room. This move sent several sharp cutting winds down all of the pathways in the crossroads and behind him for good measure to drive Team 7 and Itachi back down the hallway leading towards the training area. He then threw several explosive tags behind him and detonated them to block Team 7 off from reaching the crossroads.

Naruto had seen his clones tag Danzō with the seal and disperse after he destroyed them but a sudden charge by a group of Root members coming in from the east and south hallways redirected his attention. He had just completed a Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu and was forced to Kawarimi with a clone when the group countered his wind attack with three Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu.

Naruto was caught off guard by the cutting winds sent by Danzō and the blades of wind slammed him into a wall with a large gash across his chest. The force of the attack knocked the breath out of him, and he coughed up some blood as he slid to the ground, dazed by the forceful impact against the wall.

Danzō saw that he hit the real Naruto and charged forward, stabbing Naruto in the leg with his sword cane and pinning him to the ground so he wouldn't be able to avoid his final attack. Naruto cried out again as Danzō dug the sword through his thigh and twisted a little to ensure the blade was fully lodged into the floor.

Danzō knew he wouldn't survive, but he had his Ura Shishō Fūin (Reverse Tetragram Sealing) to ensure that the fucking demon brat would go to hell with him. His suicide seal would ensure that the Ura Shishō Fūin would trigger and seal the brat away in his corpse. Hopefully, the demon brat would be burned alive when the cremated his body.

Danzō had finally lost his mind completely. He had been steadily losing his mind for years but with Root being as secretive as it was and Danzō being so capable of hiding his emotions, no one realized that he had essentially gone senile until his missions had begun to go sideways more often.

With each failed mission he would lose quality operatives and the losses expounded on one another until he no longer had any more talented agents who could make up for his insane plans.

As he continued to lose his best agents, he continued to blame everything else for going wrong and had fixated on Naruto as the cure-all to his problems. Now, his inflated ego and insanity had finally caught up with him. His crazy dreams of world domination caused him to take short cuts and enact less sophisticated plans with obvious flaws.

Flaws that his mindless tools wouldn't dare point out because they obeyed Danzō's every order to the letter and were incapable of providing criticism. Especially when Danzō had no qualms about cutting them down to achieve his own goals. He had just proven that by eliminating his only chance at escaping alive by flooding all the hallways with cutting wind chakra to take Naruto out. Danzō had taken out his reinforcements without even realizing it.

Naruto was low on chakra from blockading the crossroads of the base. Even with all his clones fighting with him and flooding the hallways with powerful combinations. He had whittled the large group of 40 down to a few dozen but had been losing ground to the remaining members before Danzō finished them off for him.

"You ruined everything you filthy demon. If you had just fallen in line like everyone else, none of this would have happened! The invasion wouldn't have happened, and the Hokage wouldn't be dead because of you." Danzō snarled

Naruto gasped in shock at the news and tears began to come to his eyes.

"That's right! While you were busy screwing pretty little Makoto, your precious Jichan died, and Konoha is burning to the ground all because of you! I'm gonna make sure I send you back to hell for what you have done." Danzō spat.

Danzo performed several hand seals to trigger the demolition seals for the entire base; then he ran through the hand seals to activate his final attack and trigger the seal that would give him a heart attack. It only took a few seconds before Danzō clutched his chest and started to cough before he fell to the ground, dead. Several seals lit upon his corpse as he collapsed before the seals began to spread across his body.

Team 7 and Itachi had been trying to get through the rubble blocking the hallway, but when the entire base became lit up with an eerie red light, they knew the situation had gone from bad to worse.

"We have to run, NOW! The whole base is going to explode!" Kakashi said as he saw the demolition seals flare to life.

"NO! We can't just leave Naruto like this!" Sasuke yelled out as the ground beneath them began to rumble, and cracks were beginning to form along the walls and floors.

The demolition seals on sub-levels 5 and 4 had already triggered, and the structural integrity of the main levels began to weaken. The demolition seals on sub-levels 3 and 2 were already in the final stages and about to explode, which would cause substantial structural damage to the main level before the main level seals finished demolishing the base leaving nothing larger than a small boulder remaining.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, but we have no choice. We only have a few minutes to flee." Itachi said.

Sasuke just remained stunned as his eyes began burning and tears were pouring down his face. He couldn't believe that Naruto would die like this. His only friend would die because Danzō was a cowardly bitch.

Sasuke didn't even notice that Itachi had thrown him over his shoulder and began to run because he was so stunned with disbelief.

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata started to cry as Kakashi partially dragged her towards the entrance. She was running along with him, but Kakashi was much faster, and he wouldn't release her arm.

Kakashi and Itachi made it out of the base with a minute to spare before they saw a large black orb appear out of the ground and swallow everything inside of it. The orb eventually disappeared and left a huge crater in its wake which collapsed after a few more subterranean explosions made the ground tremble from the force.

Hinata clung to Kakashi and cried while Sasuke collapsed on the ground and yelled in anger and grief.


	39. Act 5: Evasion and the Kage's Skirmish

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be depictions of violence in this chapter.

Edited 4/22/16

 **Chapter 38**

 **Act 5: Evasion and the Kage's Skirmish**

 **With Naruto – Main Level 1 - Root Headquarters**

* * *

Naruto was stunned when he heard that the Hokage was dead. He was near hysteria when Danzō triggered all of the demolitions seals, before killing himself, just to trigger the Ura Shishō Fūin to kill him.

'The bastard has lost his fucking mind!' Naruto thought in shock

" **No time for this kit, we must escape. You must summon the toads to return us to Myōbokuzan or flee using my chakra but become severely disabled for some time. Either way, you must distance yourself from this mad fools corpse RIGHT NOW!"** Kurama added a paw bash to the cage to get Naruto out of his stunned state.

 _'Right, summons it is.'_ Naruto said as he pulled Danzō's blade out of his leg with a strangled yelp of pain. Strange ink began leaking out of Danzō's body before it began to expand. Naruto pulled off a quick Shunshin down the hallway, as far as he could.

He began to form the hand seals but was interrupted by an enormous explosion that sent him tumbling to the ground. Naruto gritted his teeth in pain as his injured leg hit the ground hard.

Naruto managed to push himself back up and steady himself against the wall before he flew through the hand seals and poured a small amount of chakra into the technique. He would need someone small enough to fit but capable enough to act quickly.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning) Gamakichi" Naruto called out as more explosions rocked the place.

 **"** **Yo... What the hell!"** Gamakichi yelled out as Naruto picked him up and began stumbling away from the falling debris.

"Kichi! I owe you big time for this I swear I'm good for it _ **!**_ You gotta reverse summon me out of here now, or we are done for!" Naruto yelled over the explosions.

" **Shit! You really owe me for this, Naruto."** Gamakichi said before he jumped out of Naruto's hands and onto his shoulder, then returned them both to Myōbokuzan.

 **Myōbokuzan**

* * *

"Oh Kami Kichi! Thank you, I thought I was going to die _ **!**_ " Naruto said as he held Gamakichi up so he wouldn't get slammed into the ground when he collapsed in exhaustion.

Naruto set Gamakichi down on his chest before groaning and laying his head on the ground.

" **What the hell was that all about!? I told you to call me only if we were going to hang out."** Gamakichi said crossly.

"I'm sorry Kichi I didn't mean to call you into a mess like that without warning, but I had no choice. That Danzō guy lost his mind and set the whole base to blow up along with himself. I promise to make it up to you just tell me whatever you want, and I'll do whatever I can." Naruto said tiredly

" **Hmm... Well, I guess you gotta summon me more often just to hang out and not just at Konoha. I want to see other places too!"** Gamakichi said demandingly.

"You got it Kichi. I'm sure that there will be plenty of hang out time during our training trip with shishō. Do you have any place, in particular, you want to see?" Naruto asked.

" **Just make sure it's not the desert and doesn't have a lot of salt water and I'll be fine,"** Gamakichi replied.

"I'll summon you to every place I visit during the trip how does that sound," Naruto said tiredly

" **That works for me. Hey, your chest and leg are bleeding badly! I'm gonna get Shima here. Just hang on."** Gamakichi said before he hopped off.

Naruto just laid there and waited since he couldn't do anything else.

He closed his eyes and couldn't help but think of the Hokage. Was he really dead from the attack? Naruto hoped that it was all a lie but with all the other villages attacking them, it was a possibility. If his jiji was dead, then Naruto wouldn't know what would happen to him.

" **That filthy snake was mad; the old monkey goat might yet live as the battle had not ended when we left."** Kurama said.

 _'I hope you're right Kurama. I really hope jiji is okay. I don't know what the council would do to me if he is actually dead. Oba-chan might be able to protect me but who knows what they might do? I can't believe that Danzō lost it like that. The bastard didn't deserve a quick death for what he had done._ ' Naruto replied.

"Naruto-chan! You aren't supposed to be here what happened?" Shima came running up.

"I'm sorry Sennin Bāchan, but I couldn't think of anything else to escape in time. After all the battles I had, I was low on chakra." Naruto said

"Well I'll patch you up, and you should be able to get back to Konoha in no time. Now you tell your Bāchan exactly what happened." Shima said as she studied Naruto's wounds for a moment.

Naruto relayed most of the events from the Exam finals to the final moments in the Root base as Shima tended to gash on his chest and the stab wound in his leg. As Naruto gave the elder toad the details of the situation, Shima had Gama come over and carry him into their home so that he could rest.

Naruto agreed without any protest simply allowing himself to finally wind down for a moment and analyze everything that had happened to him today.

 **With the Four Kage – Senju Arena – Konoha**

* * *

Hiruzen faced off against Rasa the Kazekage and Ōnoki the Tsuchikage with A the Raikage by his side. Next to Ōnoki stood Orochimaru himself while across from him stood Jiraiya and Tsunade.

Suna and Iwa's guards were busy fighting off Konoha Anbu while A had sent Darui off to protect any of the Kumo citizens caught up in the battle inside the arena. All the other people fighting in the area were smart enough to keep their distance, leaving the Kage a wide berth for their battle on the large arena rooftop.

All around the Kage and Sannin the battle raged but at this moment, all was still between the two as time itself seemed to hold it's breath in anticipation of an epic battle.

"So A you decided to betray us after all? I'm surprised that you would get in bed with Konoha after everything that has happened between your villages." Ōnoki said.

"I was never on your side you old gnome. I'm on Kumo's side, and I know better than to trust a snake." A replied.

"It is your mistake to make A when Oto and Iwa combine to take Kumo down; you won't stand a chance. Even with Killer B and Yugito by your side. When I'm done with Naruto-kun, he will be able to destroy them both without a thought." Orochimaru said silkily.

"Like hell, you will. I'll never let you take Naruto-kun you bastard! You've gone too far, this time, Orochimaru, and you will pay for what you did to him." Tsunade shouted.

"Easy there hime we both know Orochimaru doesn't stand a chance against us. Relax and enjoy beating him down. It will be much more fun if we slow things down and enjoy the moment." Jiraiya said with menace.

"Like you ever stood a chance against me dead last. I'm surprised Naruto-kun would even think about being trained by you after all the things I told him about you. It won't matter, though, the Sound Five have already gone to collect my lost pet and Kimimaro is easily a match for any of his support." Orochimaru said with a smirk.

"Rasa why the hell have you turned on us? We have been allies for years and have always aided each other." Hiruzen shouted.

"Because of you and the Fire Daimyō, Suna has been starving for missions. The Wind Daimyō has continually cut our funding to send missions to Konoha instead. Then you sided against us when we demanded Kawa no Kuni stop damming up the rivers that flow between our borders and provide the irrigation for our village. I won't let my people suffer because you were more concerned about your overabundant trees!" Rasa spat.

"We could have worked something out, and I don't believe anyone has the right to stop another country from building infrastructure within their own land," Hiruzen said in a placating tone.

"No. Suna is one of the big five villages despite all the hardships we have to endure but you always treated us as a lesser village and the council was tired of it. It was time to remind you that we stand as equals and Iwa have offered us a much better bargain to wipe you off the map." Rasa said seriously

"So you counter our supposed greed with your own greed. I thought you were a better person Rasa but after seeing what you did to your son, I shouldn't be surprised." Hiruzen said sadly before he quickly summoned Enma. "So be it."

" **Hiruzen are you finally going to finish off Orochimaru now?"** Enma said as he eyed Orochimaru.

"Yes, old friend but first we must take care of another traitor, the Kazekage." Hiruzen replied.

"Let's get this show on the road then already!" A said before he dashed in with his Raiton no Yoroi activated and slugged Ōnoki in the face sending him flying back several feet.

Enma dashed forwards trying to pummel Rasa, who created a shield of gold dust around him, before trying to impale Enma using spikes of gold.

Orochimaru leaped backward and summoned a Rashōmon gate to halt Tsunade's charge. He then summoned two giant snakes to keep both Jiraiya and Tsunade occupied while he prepared his ace in the hole the Edo Tensei.

 **Hiruzen vs. Rasa**

* * *

While Enma continued to keep Rasa within his gold dust shield by smashing his fists against it then avoiding the spikes. Hiruzen began to set up one of his famous combination jutsu.

Running through hand seals at a speed that even a Sharingan could barely keep up with, Hiruzen launched a series of attacks.

Doton: Doryū Taiga (Great Mud River) followed by Doton: Doryūdan (Earth Dragon Bullet). Once the Earth dragon rose and began shooting its mud bullets, Hiruzen finished the sequence with Katon: Karyūdan (Fire Dragon Bullet).

Enma leaped backward as the mud river emerged beneath Rasa and the suction began to pull him down. Before he could react his shield began taking heavy damage from the fiery mud bullets launched at him.

The mud balls clung to his shield, and the fire caked the mud into an almost clay like substance that was beginning to solidify around his gold dust and make it more chakra intensive to maneuver.

In desperation, Rasa sent two large waves of gold dust to break free from the clay like shell that was forming around him. It also served to force Hiruzen and Enma to evade so he could concentrate on sending his gold dust below him.

While Hiruzen and Enma jumped back from the incoming waves of grasping gold dust, Rasa managed to lift himself out of the mud river by sinking gold dust below him and levitating himself out of the mud with the small platform of gold.

Rasa carried himself up into the air and added more force behind the gold dust waves chasing Hiruzen and Enma.

"You won't get away, this time, Hiruzen. Suna will finally get the respect it deserves from all the nations once I take you down." Rasa shouted as he directed the gold dust towards Hiruzen.

Hiruzen quickly ran through hand seals and released a Katon: Karyū Endan (Dragon's Flame) creating a massive wall of fire that spread in an arc around him and Enma. Hiruzen then quickly used Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) to fan the flames hot enough to stop the wall of gold dust in its tracks. The fire became hot enough that it was beginning to melt some of the gold dust even though it was protected by a layer of Rasa's chakra.

"You are a fool, Rasa, Suna's population is as large as Kusa or Taki but is considered one of the five great powers. Now your village will be destroyed because of your delusions of grandeur." Hiruzen replied in a stern tone.

Rasa hovering on a cloud of his gold dust withdrew some of the waves to keep them safe and created a cloud above Hiruzen which promptly formed into thousands of sharp needles that began raining down towards Hiruzen and Enma.

Enma transformed into the adamantine staff and stretched out so Hiruzen could effectively blow the needles away by spinning the staff rapidly and channeling wind chakra into it, forming a fan-like an effect that scattered the needles away from him. As Hiruzen would blow the needles in various directions, Rasa would send them back downwards at Hiruzen in different angles to try and bypass the wind being generated by the staff.

Hiruzen was forced to increase the speed of his staff twirling and spin the staff in a figure-eight pattern while pivoting in place, forming a dome of wind chakra to cover all the angles the needles of gold were trying to strike at him.

Unfortunately for Hiruzen, this move was factored into Rasa's plan as he formed a hand seal and concentrated a large portion of his chakra to release Suiton: Mizu burēdo no jutsu (Water Blade) from the water in the plumbing pipes running through the Arena below them. Shortly afterward he concentrated his chakra into the seal, a large drilling blade of water began to tear through the arena walls through the roof directly below Hiruzen.

Hiruzen narrowly avoided a fatal blow because he had felt the roof tiles shift slightly before the water blade drilled through them completely. Hiruzen took a quick shuffling step forwards to avoid the blast, but he was not fast enough to avoid the attack entirely. Instead, his back was savagely slashed by the water almost exposing his rib cage.

Hiruzen gritted his teeth with the pain and fell to his knees before he Kawarimi with a roof tile further back away from the rain of golden needles. Enma copied himself in staff form and created a cage over Hiruzen to prepare for the next rain of golden needles.

Hiruzen was actually pretending to be more affected by the injury he received then he was in the hopes of luring Rasa into his trap. While the Sandaime was a little winded from having to form the wind dome with his staff, he still had plenty of fight in him, but the gash in his back was bleeding freely and would become a problem for him soon. For now, he rest for a few moments and lure Rasa in with a suspected fatal blow. He would not be disappointed.

Rasa seeing the flying blood did believe he had taken Hiruzen out completely. He slowly floated down closer to Hiruzen to as he prepared his gold dust into a massive spike to impale him and make sure he was dead. As he sent the gold spike towards Hiruzen, he was caught off guard when Enma suddenly extended and slammed into his chest with a powerful driving force knocking him off his cloud of gold, fracturing his sternum and breaking two ribs.

Rasa managed to reduce his fall damage by using Kawarimi to replace himself with a nearby roof tile before he struggled to his feet trying to regain his breath. The broken ribs were making it hard for him to take full breaths and had him hunched over in pain.

Hiruzen, with a burst of adrenaline, charged in with his staff and began trying to pummel Rasa with his staff but Rasa formed a wall of gold dust in front of him to block the attack. He added more mass to the golden wall before he pushed it towards Hiruzen, sending the wave forward to engulf Hiruzen and hopefully ensnare him so that he could pulverize him.

Hiruzen did a quick Shunshin behind Rasa and stomped a chakra laced foot to dislodge more of the clay roof tiles. He then channeled wind chakra into the loose tiles before he launched multiple volleys of the fragmented tiles into Rasa's back before he could redirect his gold dust wall.

Some of the fragments managed to impale Rasa, but most of them merely began shredding through his robes and creating numerous slashing cuts into his torso and arms. Other chunks of tiles were serving as blunt force objects instead, which forced Rasa to cover his face as he redirected the massive wave of gold dust to form up around him.

Before Rasa could enclose himself in his gold dust shield again, Hiruzen stretched Enma forwards to jab Rasa again, sending Rasa flying back through his gold dust cloud.

Before Rasa could hit the ground, Hiruzen brought Enma downwards, putting all of his weight behind a heavy strike to Rasa's body which shattered most of his bones and drove Rasa into the roof with enough force to crater part of the roof below him, shattering all the tiles.

Blood shot out of Rasa's mouth like a fountain due to the force of Enma smashing down on his body and shattering his bones. Rasa was dead less than a minute afterward.

Hiruzen let out a weary sigh before he collapsed from the early stages of shock from the loss of blood.

'I guess that wound was much worse then I thought if it has me this tired already.' Hiruzen thought.

Enma changed back into his normal form and quickly picked Hiruzen up. He spotted the guarded medical tent inside the arena and carried his summoner over to them.

The medics quickly moved to aid the Hokage and once triaged properly, they noted that he wasn't in serious condition, but they would need to get him to the hospital as soon as it was safe.

The medics worked to patch him up for transport while Enma stood guard. Eventually, a team of Anbu, who had been able to defeat their opponents, formed up to help Enma take Hiruzen to the hospital through the war-torn streets of Konoha.

Baki knew that Suna was screwed as soon as he saw Gaara flee from the arena instead of transforming. When the invasion actually started, Suna had to put most of their effort into breaching the walls, taking significant losses before making their way into the village itself.

Only Iwa and Kusa's forces had made it into the village. Oto's forces were also much smaller than promised, and there were not as many snake summons active. Baki knew then that the tide of battle had already turned against them before the invasion had really started.

Once he had seen Rasa fall to Hiruzen, he knew Suna would be lucky to get out of this fight with even half of its forces alive. It didn't take the seasoned veteran to make his decision when their Kage fell. Pulling out a large horn, Baki blew on it using wind chakra to enhance the volume and began sounding out a blaring high-pitched call in short bursts of three followed by one long tone before repeating the pattern three more times.

Suna had now begun a full retreat from the invasion.

 **A vs. Ōnoki**

* * *

Ōnoki almost lost consciousness as A sucker punched him with his lighting enhanced fist and the incredible speed boost he got from his Raiton no Yoroi (Lighting Armor).

'If A had managed to fully charge his armor before that attack I might have been done for already.' Ōnoki thought.

He was able to recover himself and float up into the air to avoid A's follow-up Raiton: Rariatto (Lariat). He sent a conical blast with his Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu (Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling) to try and incinerate A.

Ōnoki would have been more than happy just to create a giant Jinton sphere and evaporate this entire fucking village to dust, but the Earth Daimyō had made it clear to him that Konoha was not to be put to the torch. The other Daimyō wanted to split the fertile lands and divide all the skilled craftsmen and merchants amongst themselves.

Even he had to listen to the Daimyō, or Iwa could find itself suffocating under economic sanctions that would cripple their operations and survival. The samurai armies also outnumbered them at a ratio of 3:1 and were no pushovers so staging a violent coup was out of the question.

A used half of his full speed to dash around the rooftop, kicking up roof tiles and the waterproofing material beneath it. His blistering fast movements left a trail of destruction behind him as he moved in a zig zag pattern to avoid the white translucent cone of Jinton chakra that was attempting to dismantle him on a cellular level.

The cone was obliterating the trail of debris being kicked up by A as well as carving a path of disintegration into the roof. Anything caught within the cone was instantly dismantled into particles.

Ōnoki continued to guide the cone after A but his Jinton, while being very fast, wasn't nearly on par with A's speed when his Raiton no Yoroi was active. He would have to do something he really wanted to avoid with this particular opponent.

He would have to close the gap between them if he wanted to have a shot. A was younger and stronger. While his chakra levels were on par with the Raikage, A's stamina was beyond his. He would have to lure A into a trap at great risk to himself.

A was considering his options as he lazily avoided the Jinton shapes that Ōnoki was sending at him. He knew his Raiton no Yoroi was tough and that Lightning usually beat Earth techniques, but Dust Release was a combination of Earth, Wind, and Fire, which may be strong enough to damage him through his armor.

He would avoid it as much as possible which was easy from this distance, but taking out that old gnome would be impossible if he didn't close the gap between them quickly. He needed to blitz Ōnoki down onto the ground and keep on top of him if he wanted to finish the asshole off.

With a quick burst of speed A seemingly appeared above Ōnoki and kicked him with his Girochin Doroppu (Guillotine Drop) driving Ōnoki down towards the roof. The lightning ripped through Ōnoki causing his Doton: Keijūgan no Jutsu (Lightened Boulder Jutsu) to falter momentarily while the force of the kick itself caused sparks to appear in his eyes. Ōnoki was able to recover from the stunning blow and reactivate his Doton: Keijūgan no Jutsu to hover upwards before he hit the roof.

Taking the opportunity to attack A while he couldn't use his maneuverability, Ōnoki quickly formed a Jinton cylinder and launched it at A who had been falling towards him intending to hammer Ōnoki with the momentum of the fall. A quickly pulled off a Shunshin onto the roof and dashed at Ōnoki with blinding speed to hit him with Raitoningu Sutorēto (Lightning Straight).

Instead of feeling the satisfying crunch of smashing the old bastards jaw, however, he saw the shattered fragments of a roof tile instead. A scowled before he was forced to strafe quickly to the side to avoid the expanding Jinton cube that appeared where Ōnoki was standing before he Kawarimied with a roof tile.

A continued to dash in a wide circle while he tried to find where Ōnoki had hidden himself. He didn't see him in the sky like he expected so that only left the roof or a henge.

"Giving up already you old gnome? I thought you would be more of a challenge than this!" A taunted.

Ōnoki growled under his breath but remained silent so he could execute his trap.

A knew it was a risk, but he was thinking of dropping his Raiton no Yoroi to use Raiton: Bakurai (Depth Charge) and fish the old man out. A decided to hold out for a moment longer and see if the old bastard would make his move first.

A saw another Jinton cone coming towards him from the corner of his eye and evaded it before he dashed in that direction and dropped his Raiton no Yoroi. A flooded his body with lightning chakra from Raiton: Bakurai and ran it through the roof tiles throughout the area they were fighting in.

He continued to flood more lighting chakra into the roof until he saw Ōnoki emerge from beneath the roof, charred with electrical burns. Ōnoki scowled and sent a Jinton cube at A who used Kawarimi to replace himself with a roof tile next to Ōnoki before hitting him with a regular cross to the face and a hook to his stomach.

Ōnoki who had reactivated his Doton: Keijūgan no Jutsu went flying backward. While he wasn't as damaged by the attack due to his weightlessness, but there was some damage taken. He could tell his ribs were fractured or worse, and his nose was probably broken as well.

A reactivated his Raiton no Yoroi and charged towards Ōnoki with a Raigyaku Suihei (Lateral Bolt of Pain).

Ōnoki managed to float up more and send another Jinton cylinder towards A who had to dash sideways to avoid the cylinder but was still partially clipped by the attack causing a cut to appear on his arm.

'Guess that answers that question. Not a good idea to get hit by it, at any rate, but it won't be fatal unless it hits me directly.' A thought to himself as he prepared to dash into attack again.

"Hey Ōnoki your Jinton kind of tickled there. Now, why don't you stop running and tell me how my Raiton feels." A mocked.

"Silence! You muscle headed ape! If you think your Raiton no Yoroi is so tough then let my Jinton cube hit you completely and we will see just how tough you really are." Ōnoki growled out.

Before Ōnoki or A could continue their battle however they were distracted by an annoying sequence of high-pitched sounds

Ōnoki flew up higher to make sure he was out of A's range. It was then that Ōnoki saw why Suna had called for a full retreat. While he didn't see Hiruzen anywhere, he spotted Rasa's corpse on the roof. Ōnoki scanned the village and saw that not even half of Suna's expected forces were in the village as planned. His forces were the only ones in the village beside the small scattered pockets of Suna and Kusa forces. Ōnoki did not see any Oto forces at all, and they were supposed to be covering the entire eastern section.

Ōnoki scowled and looked over at Orochimaru, who was apparently preparing his own retreat. That fucking snake had failed them, and now his forces were taking the brunt of the losses in this invasion. From what he could tell the Konoha counter attack was making short work of them.

"Was that a full retreat call there Ōnoki? What's the matter aren't your little snake buddies helping you out on this invasion?." A called out boisterously, he really loved taunting Ōnoki.

A had a grin on his face as he stared at Ōnoki's scowling visage. His forces did well in keeping Oto out as their presence was minimal. They must have harried Suna as well because he didn't see that many Suna-nin in the village. Unless, of course, they were really fast runners since they called the retreat so soon.

'Not even a fighting retreat at that.' A snorted. 'Konoha barely signaled the counter attack and the village is almost cleared, for the most part.'

"This isn't over yet A! Both you and Konoha will pay for this after I take care of that fucking snake." Ōnoki spat.

"Yea you better run you little shit! The next time we meet you old sack of bones I'll grind you into dust." A retorted.

Ōnoki then sent up a three large Jinton cubes over the village and made them explode to signal a retreat for his forces.

A watched as the Iwa forces began a fighting retreat back towards Kusa with Konoha forces in hot pursuit. He had been hoping to take Ōnoki out of the game today, but he should have known that cowardly little fuck would run. It was no big deal, though, Konoha didn't look like it had taken any significant loss today like Iwa did. His forces should be at full strength, and his reserve forces were untouched, so Kumo was sitting pretty through all of this.

If the Earth Daimyō was smart, he would be pleading for a treaty of some sort, but A knew that the Lightning Daimyō would not agree, and he doubted the Fire Daimyō would either considering it was his territory that had suffered through an invasion. A just had to be patient and in a few years time, he had no doubt he would be moving on the gates of Iwa soon enough.

A looked out over the forest towards where B had gone with young Naruto to subdue the Ichibi. He was tempted to take the Ichibi as well, but he would just let Konoha handle him for now. From what B had told him, the boy was highly unstable anyways.

Naruto, on the other hand, would be well worth the effort as the boy was impressive with his own abilities, and B had told him that Naruto appeared to have the foundation needed to utilize the Kyūbi to it's fullest.

A frowned when he saw a large black dome appear to swallow up a portion of the forest in the same direction B had gone. He took off towards the dome to see if his adopted brother would need any help.

 **Jiraiya and Tsunade vs. Orochimaru**

* * *

As Tsunade's charge hit the summoned Rashōmon causing it to shudder and fracture, two snakes emerged from behind the gate and charged towards Tsunade and Jiraiya.

Tsunade quickly jumped over the snakes diving attack and sent it back to the summoning realm with a powerful gravity enhanced hammer fist to the snake's skull.

The second snake struck at Jiraiya, who used Hari Jizō (Needle Jizō) to block the attack before using Hari Jigoku (Needle hell) to spear the snake with hundreds of needle-sharp hairs stabbing the snake's mouth and head. While the snake thrashed around in pain, Tsunade managed to grab the tail of the second snake and spin it around before slamming it down onto the roof towards Orochimaru.

The snake writhed in the air before it was slammed into the roof, shattering more tiles and cracking the roof supports beneath it. Luckily for Orochimaru, the snake managed to maneuver itself away from where Orochimaru was standing to stop Tsunade from smashing him with its body. The snake merely shuddered for a moment before it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Even though the snakes had been quickly dispatched, they had completed their original purpose. They had bought the time Orochimaru needed to perform Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei (Impure World Reincarnation) with three corpses marked by Kabuto.

He would have to reward Kabuto for warning him about trying to summon the Yondaime without using the Shiki Fūjin: Kai (Dead Demon Consuming Seal: Release). Kabuto had even managed to track down the Uzumaki temple of masks which contained the mask needed to free the Yondaime's soul from the Shinigami's stomach. Orochimaru had completed the ritual to release the Yondaime a few months ago in preparation for his finale.

Now that the Yondaime was free, he would use him to kill Jiraiya to make his old teammate suffer even more. Tsunade would get her due from Hashirama himself, and he would send Tobirama after his sensei to teach them all a lesson in humility.

Orochimaru would finally prove to them that their so called nobility and honor was nothing but an act they put on to make them feel superior to everyone else. He would put them in their places for looking down on him because of his experiments.

If it weren't for him, there wouldn't even be a Mokuton user alive in Konoha right now. A male who could possibly carry on the blood line as well. They should be singing his praises, but instead, they spat on him and labeled him as a traitor, banishing him from his home to kick him while he was down.

Jiraiya and Tsunade were approaching Orochimaru to lay into him when they suddenly stopped to see the coffins rising from the ground.

"I have a special treat for you both and sensei as well if he survives against Rasa at any rate. You see, the truth of this world is that no matter how noble or kind you pretend to be, we are all dark beings with evil living within us. You all turn your noses up at me like you are better than anyone else, turning your backs on me just because you were jealous of my talent and skill. Let us see how noble and righteous you are when facing those who were dearest to you in life. You will learn how the Will of Fire is nothing but a cover hiding the hypocrisy of Konoha!" Orochimaru spat

"Come forth Shodaime, Nidaime, and Yondaime and teach them the truth about the world we live in." Orochimaru pronounced with a cackle.

The three coffins opened up to reveal Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, and Minato Namikaze. The three dead Hokage stepped forwards out of the coffins and began looking around confused.

Orochimaru sat back and prepared himself to revel in his team mate's despair before he finally crushed them all for betraying him.

"Little Tsuna is that you?" Hashirama asked.

"Jichan!" Tsunade said with tears in her eyes. No matter how much information you receive it never actually prepares you for the reality and here was her Jichan alive, in a manner of speaking.

She had to free his soul and let him rest. She couldn't bear it if she had to fight against her beloved jichan.

Tsunade stepped towards Hashirama slowly and looked at him with teary eyes. There were random cracks throughout his body and his eyes were completely black which made her shudder, but she knew that her jichan's soul was in this body.

"My Tsuna. You have grown into a fine woman. Have you been a good girl?" Hashirama asked in a joking manner.

"Jichan I have missed you so much. If it weren't for Naruto, I would be all alone in the world. Little Nawaki, he didn't survive." Tsunade said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Ah, little Tsuna you forget Konoha is also your family. It was what the Senju legacy was all about after all. Remember that, little Tsuna, and you will never be truly alone." Hashirama said kindly.

"Thank you jichan I won't forget." Tsunade murmured as she moved in to hug him. It seemed a little disturbing to her at first, but this was the only opportunity she had to free him.

"I'll miss you jichan" Tsunade whispered as she slapped a seal onto his back and channeled chakra into it.

Hashirama merely smiled at Tsunade as he began to disintegrate. He knew he could count on his little Tsunade to keep the village safe from the man who had disturbed his rest.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya was involved in his own conversation with Minato.

"Shishō? What is going on? What am I doing here?" Minato asked.

"Minato! How is this possible? You should be in the Shinigami's stomach!" Jiraiya said with a shocked expression on his face.

"I'm not sure, shishō. One moment I was able to view Naruto's life through the seal, then suddenly I was freed and released to the Pure land with Kushina waiting for me." Minato said sadly. As he began to approach Jiraiya he asked, "Are you going to train my son?"

Jiraiya gave Minato a sad smile before he replied. "Yea, Minato. I'll teach Naruto, just like I did with you. I'm sorry that I-"

Minato's gasp of shock cut Jiraiya off. Before Jiraiya could ask him what was wrong, Minato started speaking in a rapid and desperate manner. "Jiraiya. I have just remembered something important. Please listen carefully. I am relying on you to fix my mistake." Minato said before he looked around him before making his way towards a loosened roof tile and crouching down. "You have to save Naruto before it is too late. The Kyūbi has some plan for him and is slowly turning him against humanity. Please help him realize what he really is Jiraiya. All of his life he has only experienced the bad examples of humanity. You have to show him what he really is."

"What do you mean by 'what he really is' Minato?" Jiraiya said with a look of confusion on his face.

"I'll try to explain as quick as I can, but there isn't much time," Minato said in exasperation. "When I sealed the Kyūbi, I had split him down into his Yin and Yang components in the hopes that he would slowly deconstruct while the seal fed him into Naruto's chakra system. The modified seal should have slowly leaked the Yang chakra of the Kyūbi into Naruto's system to balance his high Yin reserves eventually removing the physical aspect of the Kyūbi entirely and leaving Naruto with vast and balanced chakra reserves by the time he was an adult." Minato explained before he used Shikoku Fūin (Finger Carving Seal) and began carving a complicated seal onto the tile in front of him. "I made a grave miscalculation when I modified the seal and instead of simply feeding the chakra from the Kyūbi to Naruto; it seems to have been slowly fusing them together. All the negative aspects of the Kyūbi are tied into his Yang chakra, including his hatred of humanity. Because of this fusion, Naruto is naturally adopting those aspects of his personality as well. If the Kyūbi's chakra is not balanced soon, I fear Naruto will become a permanent part of the Kyūbi." Minato said sadly.

The resurrected Kage finished carving the seal he was creating before studying it carefully and making a few adjustments. After looking the seal over one more time, he nodded to himself and rolled up the sleeve on his right arm revealing the key to his seal.

"I will disperse the Yin chakra of the Kyūbi into this storage seal. If my theory is correct, then the seal will stop merging the two and will begin acting as it was intended, but the Kyūbi will remain and have an opportunity to reform once Naruto dies instead of being dispersed thoroughly. You have to make Naruto absorb this chakra no matter what. Convince him to absorb the chakra and do whatever you can to make Naruto realize that he isn't different from the rest of us because he is a jinchūriki. If you can't convince Naruto of this, then the Kyūbi will turn him against Konoha and humanity as well." Minato began to open the seal on his stomach and channeled the chakra through his seal and into the roof tile his other arm rested on.

Jiraiya was confused with what Minato had told him, but once he saw Minato releasing the Kyūbi's chakra he began to piece things together. Closing the distance between them he prepared a paper seal tag behind his back. When his former student was done, he would send him back to his rest to rejoin his wife.

Meanwhile, Tobirama looked around with a displeased look on his face. "How could someone let this jutsu fall into the hands of a man like this. I can sense the foulness in his chakra. Where the hell is Hiruzen?"

Orochimaru just stared at Tobirama blankly. He wanted to let Jiraiya and Tsunade have their touching reunions because it would be so much sweeter when he used their resurrected precious ones to end their lives.

Orochimaru prepared the control tags to make them his mindless servants. He took the first one and stuck it into Tobirama's head, mainly to shut him up, and was about to send him after his sensei when he finally caught sight of what Minato was doing.

Orochimaru wasn't sure how Minato had moved away on his own. It must have been some side effect of Minato being in the Shinigami that made it harder to control him completely. What concerned him more is what Minato was doing sealing away chakra into the roof like that. Orochimaru decided he didn't want to find out.

Orochimaru sent the command to Tobirama to attack Jiraiya and Minato. He then went to place the next tag into Hashirama but hissed in outrage when he saw Hashirama falling apart with a smile on his face.

"Impossible how did you manage to dispel him! There was no method listed in the Scroll of Sealing!" Orochimaru hissed.

"You know, for someone so gifted, Orochimaru, you certainly are really stupid sometimes," Tsunade said snidely as she cracked her knuckles.

"Did you really think my grand uncle would have left that information together with the real technique so that someone could figure out how to block it? He didn't even really want to create that technique but had discovered it on accident and merely documented it so that we would be aware that such a thing could be possible." Tsunade said as she stalked towards Orochimaru.

"The first thing he did when he worked out the implications of the jutsu was to create the counter and seal it away safely, somewhere only a Senju could access it. Once we got word of your little trip to the Uzumaki mask temple, we knew right away what your plan was when we factored in the Mizuki incident as well." Tsunade said before she charged at Orochimaru

Jiraiya saw Tobirama coming to attack Minato and used Doton: Yomi Numa (Swamp of the Underworld) to bog him down and buy Minato time.

"It's finished Jiraiya; you have to seal me away now before the last of my chakra in Naruto's seal disappears, and I fall under the influence of Orochimaru's jutsu," Minato said with a grimace on his face.

Jiraiya slapped the tag on Minato's head and channeled chakra into it. "I'm sorry Minato if I had known about Naruto maybe I could have stopped all of this."

"It was my fault Jiraiya, not yours, I shouldn't have modified the seal to that extent without more research, but there just wasn't enough time. It was my own pride that caused this, for foolishly believing I could eliminate the Kyūbi and infuse his power into my son. Remember what I said Jiraiya. You have to save Naruto's humanity, please. Don't let my son throw his soul away for them." Minato said before he crumbled into ash and a random corpse appeared in his place.

 **Jiraiya vs. Tobirama**

* * *

Jiraiya sighed as he looked at the mindless Tobirama sitting in the swamp jutsu. He pried off the roof tile that had Minato's seal on it and sealed it into a scroll for later.

'What the hell was Orochimaru thinking?' Jiraiya thought.

If he had used the intelligent tags, then Tobirama would have been a big problem. Did Orochimaru really believe he was smart enough to control all three of them and use their signature attacks with ease?

Jiraiya strolled up to the trapped Tobirama and prepared a seal tag only to be surprised when Tobirama began spitting needle sharp water senbon at him using his Tenkyū (Heavenly Weeping) then quickly Shunshined out of the bog he was in and threw a kunai towards Jiraiya.

"Whoever you are I may not want to do this, but you were foolish to think that my summoner would just let you walk up to me so easily after losing his other tools. You would be better suited to try and coordinate your efforts with Tsuna to keep him distracted before you plant the seal on me. The only reason I haven't attacked you until now is because Tsuna is pummeling the bastard who summoned me." Tobirama said seriously.

'Shit' was the only thought Jiraiya had time for as Tobirama then used the Hiraishin to try and slash at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya used his Shunshin to evade the attack and quickly summoned Fukasaku to help him enter sage mode.

"Jiraiya what is going on?" Fukasaku asked.

"I need your help Pa, Orochimaru summoned Tobirama here using a kinjutsu, and I don't think I can survive him without sage mode," Jiraiya said as he prepared his Ranjishigami no Jutsu (Wild Lion's Mane) to try and bind Tobirama to buy him some time while Fukasaku prepared.

Tobirama evaded the grasping hair then threw the kunai towards Jiraiya again. Jiraiya had to Kawarimi with a further piece of debris to stay out of range.

'If I let him touch me with anything he will mark me, then I will probably be done for even with sage mode.' Jiraiya thought.

"You're going to have to do better than this. My summoner is getting desperate and will soon start using my large scale jutsu regardless of the consequences." Tobirama warned.

"I'm working on it Nidame-sama just relax," Jiraiya grumbled.

"Fool! If I could relax then there would be no issue." Tobirama scowled.

Jiraiya ran through the seals for Doton: Yomi Numa and released it where the kunai Tobirama was using for the Hiraishin had landed.

"Ready Jiraiya-chan," Fukasaku said as he infused enough natural chakra to Jiraiya to enter sage mode.

"Okay here goes nothing. I gotta try and get this seal on him before he kills me." Jiraiya said as he entered sage mode.

"Yes, that would be ideal. Be quick about it will you? I am about to use some of my most dangerous jutsu on you." Tobirama warned.

Jiraiya created a Kage Bunshin to help him pin Tobirama down and hopefully tag him with the releasing seal.

Jiraiya then charged towards Tobirama, who just began flipping through hand seals before he spat a highly pressurized stream of water towards Jiraiya using Suiton: Suidanha (Severing Wave).

Jiraiya was able to evade the stream by strafing to the side using Sage mode's speed to keep ahead of the slicing stream of water. As he ran around Tobirama, the other Jiraiya moved into position while he was distracted.

Jiraiya then began running closer to Tobirama, who canceled his jutsu and began the seals for Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon). Jiraiya took the opportunity to close the gap with both himself and his clone.

Tobirama was aware of the clone closing in behind him because of his sensory abilities. As his jutsu was completed, he sent the water dragon towards the Jiraiya in front of him and held a half ram seal to guide it into a circle so it would take out both the real Jiraiya and the clone behind him.

The water dragon veered off to the right before circling around and heading towards Jiraiya, but Tobirama underestimated the speed of sage mode, and the real Jiraiya was able to Kawarimi with the clone behind Tobirama and slap the seal onto his back before the jutsu slammed into him.

Jiraiya was drilled into the rooftop of the arena by the force of the tremendous wave creating a crater that almost cracked under the strength of the water dragon. If the roof hadn't been reinforced with metal, instead of just wood like usual, Jiraiya would have tumbled to the arena below which would have simply been an annoyance in sage mode.

"Not too badly done I must say, at least, you were smart enough not to battle me directly," Tobirama said before crumbling away to reveal a random corpse.

"Ugh that was not fun Jiraiya-chan," Fukasaku said as he spat up some water.

"Yea I can't believe I actually pulled that off Fukasaku, thanks for your help," Jiraiya said sincerely.

"I'm going," Fukasaku said before he disappeared back to Myōbokuzan.

 **Tsunade vs. Orochimaru**

* * *

Tsunade cratered another section of roof as Orochimaru evaded her attacks. Orochimaru hissed as he tried to control Tobirama to kill Jiraiya, but Tobirama was trying to resist him as much as possible even with the control seal. It would have been easier if he didn't have Tsunade rushing him like a bull constantly.

Tsunade had taken full advantage of the situation and had landed several combos before smashing Orochimaru into the roof with her chakra charged ax kick Tsūtenkyaku (Heavenly Foot of Pain) while he was busy trying to control Tobirama. Orochimaru had been forced to shed his skin after that attack to heal himself before resuming control of Tobirama while evading Tsunade's attacks.

Orochimaru jumped back to give himself some space from her charge before flipping through the hand seals for Fūton: Daitoppa sending the powerful gust of the wind at Tsunade and dislodging roofing and the wood beneath it.

Tsunade had to kneel and grip the roof with her chakra in her hand and feet while her other hand was up to shield her head from the roof tiles, and pieces of wood that were launched by the wind. Roof tiles were shattering against her body while splinters of wood were embedded in her arms and legs from the force of the winds.

Orochimaru sent his tongue towards Tsunade to bind her while he regurgitated the Kusanagi. He pulled Tsunade towards him with his tongue and attempted to stab Tsunade with the Kusanagi, but Tsunade used Kawarimi with a beam of wood dislodged by his wind attack.

Tsunade began to charge in again, but Orochimaru was prepared and sent his Sen'ei Tajashu (Many Hidden Shadow Snake Hands) at Tsunade. The snakes attempted to wrap Tsunade up, but she sliced through them with Chakura no Mesu (Chakra Scalpel) and continued to charge in before she jumped up and tried to kick him with another Tsūtenkyaku. Orochimaru barely avoided the attack by rolling to his right.

Tsunade's kick splintered the arena roof's support beams, and both Orochimaru and Tsunade had to leap backward as a portion of the roof collapsed.

Orochimaru was about to attack Tsunade again when he heard the retreat horn from Suna ring out.

As Orochimaru looked around he noticed that there was a suspicious lack of his Oto ninjas attacking the village, Suna was in full retreat, and Rasa was dead with his sensei out of sight.

'Did sensei die or did he run off somewhere?' Orochimaru thought as he saw Konoha launch their counter attack. Danzō with his Root forces were nowhere in sight when they should have been flooding the area to finish off the Hokage as per the arrangement.

Orochimaru hissed in anger as he realized then he had been outplayed. He had no choice but to cut his losses now and flee or he would lose his life. He would have to purge his remaining forces of spies since it was obvious someone had provided all the pivotal information on the invasion before hand.

They had even prepared for the Edo Tensei. After all the work he had done to use that jutsu successfully, they canceled it out so damn easily. If that bastard Mizuki weren't already dead he would have made him suffer through his most horrible experiments.

Maybe not all was lost, though. If his Sound five recovered Naruto or Sasuke, he could still salvage things.

Orochimaru paused his train of thought to evade another one of Tsunade's attacks before he used Shunshin to gain some distance when he noticed Jiraiya joining her.

"Well this has been a lovely reunion with Konoha burning and all, but it seems I have more important matters to deal with at the moment," Orochimaru said with a smirk.

"Oh no you don't! You're not getting away, this time, you bastard," Tsunade yelled out before she tried to charge him again.

"Tsk, Tsk, Tsunade but I have already escaped without you even knowing it. I'm sorry I can't stay and play any longer, but my five most trusted lieutenants are no doubt bringing me my new pet. Don't worry I'll take good care of Naruto-kun for you." Orochimaru laughed before he poofed out of existence revealing he had managed to swap himself with a Kage Bunshin.

"That BASTARD! I know that asshole wasn't a clone, so how the fuck did he escape this time." Tsunade yelled out before she smashed a portion of the roof causing another portion to start collapsing.

"Whoa! Calm down hime. He was most likely just bluffing about Naruto at any rate." Jiraiya said in a placating manner. He was eyeing the roof with concern since his sage mode had ended already and it was a long way down.

"We have to find him now Jiraiya; we have to save Naruto-kun," Tsunade said in an almost panicked tone.

"He went with the Hachibi jinchūriki to deal with Ichibi, hime. That's two jinchūriki and two teams of Konoha-nin that went with him." Jiraiya said trying to comfort her.

"He already marked Naruto-kun once, he could do it again. I'm going to look. Now tell me which direction he went in." Tsunade demanded.

"Okay, hime. I'll help you then. He should have gone west if the invasion plan was correct." Jiraiya said

Tsunade and Jiraiya looked to the west in time to see a black dome appear and devour a large portion of the forest before it disappeared.

"What the hell was that?" Tsunade yelled.

"That looked like a Ura Shishō Fūin (Reverse Tetragram Sealing) that's a complex suicide jutsu. I'm guessing Danzō is done for then, let's head that way and make sure our guys are alright. Naruto probably went that way as well." Jiraiya said.

Tsunade and Jiraiya took off heading towards the forest and towards the remains of the Root base.


	40. Final Act: Prelude to the Aftermath

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edited 4/22/16

 **Chapter 39**

 **Final Act: Prelude to the Aftermath**

 **Myōbokuzan**

* * *

Currently Naruto was trying to patch his tattered clothing as best as he could, but they were probably a total loss. At least he hadn't lost any of his storage seals with the damage so that he could recover all his items.

While Shima had nothing for him that he could use to wear, she did have a large enough needle and some thread he could use. Naruto was able to patch together the larger tears in his shirt, and close up a few of the ripped portions of his pants, so he wasn't exposing too much skin.

Now he just had to convince Shima to take him back to Konoha even with an invasion in progress, which was proving to be little problematic.

"It might be dangerous to use the regular pool to travel back," Shima said in concern.

"I really should get back soon, though, bāchan. My friends were in that base. They might think I have died." Naruto pleaded.

"Are you sure you are okay Naruto? You look like you went through a lot today." Shima expressed in a concerned tone.

Shima had noticed the change in Naruto's eyes and face. She was worried that his stress may have let the Kyūbi begin to seize control of him in some way. Shima had been trying to convince Naruto to simply rest and relax for now until Fukasaku returned from battle with Jiraiya.

"I'm as well as I could be, given the situation bāchan. I gave my trust to Makoto-chan but she turned out to have completely lost her mind, so I killed her and every other Root bastard I ran across. It was necessary though bāchan. I know it sounds cruel to put it in that way, but if they could cut down children the way that they did, then that scum deserved to be cut down as well. I won't regret killing those bastards." Naruto said coldly.

Naruto had told Shima about Makoto luring him into the base and how she drugged him in an attempt to capture him but left out the other lurid details only saying he had to kill her because she was crazy.

Honestly, he didn't want to think about what Makoto had done, He tried to analyze and sort his feelings like he did with everything else, but whenever his mind drifted to the subject, his emotions would start to run riot. Anger, guilt, and confusion would boil up to the point that his head would start spinning. He couldn't afford to become entangled in that twisted ball of emotions just yet, not until the invasion is over and the few people he cared about were safe.

"Please bāchan, I can't rest or relax until I know everyone is safe. I won't forgive myself if those few who bothered to care for me are hurt or killed in battle while I sat here safely." Naruto looked at Shima with pleading eyes.

"Okay Naruto-chan, just promise me you will take it easy for the next few days and relax. If it were safe for you to remain here, I would rather have you stay, but you have already had more exposure to natural chakra then I would like." Shima relented.

"I understand bāchan. Don't worry. I promise I will rest for a few days once everything in Konoha is settled down." Naruto said with a small smile on his face.

Shima felt a little better seeing Naruto smile. While Shima was not familiar with Naruto at all, she could tell the young boy had been through a lot more trauma than he was letting on.

The fact that he was trying to dehumanize or vilify the Root people coupled with his emotional detachment from the situation were both common coping mechanisms for people thrust into a war zone, but they were not particularly healthy ones.

Vilifying or dehumanizing enemies would allow him to justify being unreasonably cruel and might even fuel intense hatred for his enemies. It could lead him down the bloody path of a ruthless killer, and he would only feel justified in his actions making it hard to correct his behavior. Hopefully, since he was still young, Jiraiya could help him adjust to such trauma and help the boy realize that not all of the enemies were bad people, they were just on the wrong side.

Emotional detachment often led to people shutting out their emotions on a regular basis, making it even harder for him to experience the normal range of emotions most people deal with daily. From what Jiraiya had told her while Naruto was unconscious, he had already adopted a form of detachment from the village in general and was hesitant to allow others to get close to him. Shima had hope that his small smile was a sign that he had not tried to smother his emotions entirely.

"Well, let me go and check if things are safe for you to go, then I will return you to the village and travel with you. Fukasaku was already summoned by Jiraiya so it might be dangerous, but I can help you if there is any danger." Shima said before she gathered her battle cloak

"Wait here and I will reverse summon you if it is safe. Okay, Naruto-chan?" Shima said.

"Of course bāchan, and thank you again for your help. I am grateful _ **!**_ " Naruto said.

Naruto didn't know what Shima was capable of, but Jiraiya had given him a rundown of the kinds of abilities he would learn to use with the toads, as partners, so he knew that Shima was capable of fighting and defending herself in some manner. All the other toads respected her, so she was probably stronger than he could imagine so he was truly grateful.

"Such a good boy you are. Jiraiya-chan was never as respectful as you were." Shima said patting him on the cheek before she jumped down and headed out to the pool to Konoha.

After a few moments, Naruto felt the pull and found himself sitting on the ground outside of the village.

 **Outskirts of Konoha**

* * *

"I had to move out of the village itself Naruto-chan, there were still a lot of people fighting, but it looks like Konoha is pushing everyone out successfully." Shima said as she hopped up onto Naruto's left shoulder.

"Thanks bāchan, I need to find that base, but I am turned around now. Give me a minute." Naruto said.

Naruto opened up his senses and began to sniff out anything familiar. There were a lot of foreign scents to sift through and analyze, and Naruto could feel that Kurama was also sifting through the information he was gathering through the wind.

"If it helps I noticed that most of the forces were retreating to the west and northwest. We are currently directly north of the village." Shima said.

"I know that we were heading west at the start of the invasion when we went after the Ichibi, and we didn't deviate too far when I ran into Makoto-chan and followed her into that base. I guess we will have to head that way quietly and hope we don't run into a massive retreating force. Is that okay with you bāchan?" Naruto said.

"I'll bring you back to Myōbokuzan if we spot anything that is too dangerous for us to handle," Shima said.

"Okay, here we go." Naruto leaped into the trees and began heading west while trying to pick up a familiar scent trail. He grimaced a bit at the pain in his leg, but Kurama had already healed the worst of the damage.

" **I sense Gyūki returning to Konoha with Shukaku. They are quite far away, and there are some groups of filthy mortals in between them and us. You will have to get closer for us to link up until we connect in the mindscape and create our permanent bond."** Kurama said.

 _'Got it. I'll head over that way as fast as I can.'_ Naruto said.

 **With Team 7 and Itachi**

* * *

Team 7, Itachi, and Neko were currently escorting the Suna siblings back to Konoha with A, B, and a few Anbu squads.

The retreating Suna forces didn't even make an attempt at rescuing them, merely skirting around them and fleeing without so much as a glance backward. They weren't foolish enough to mess with a squad that large and a Kage.

Sasuke was silent and brooding over the fact that Naruto was gone. He didn't even realize his Mangekyō had been active for most of the trip back until Itachi made a comment about it.

Sasuke thought it was ironic that of all times to get a huge boost in power it was now when he didn't have any ambition or goal that required him to have such power. Danzō was dead and his family avenged. His oldest brother would be cleared and able to return to the village. All it had cost him was the only friend he had. Sasuke gripped the necklace Naruto had given him and felt some of the pain of his grief dull a bit.

Sasuke decided that if Naruto had to pay to give him this power, then he could start earning the power he was given by killing Orochimaru first. He had been Orochimaru's original target in the first place, and if Naruto had not intervened, he might have been the one dealing with the effects of that curse mark. After Orochimaru was dead, he would hunt down all the other bastards in the world like Danzō and Orochimaru and kill them all too.

Hinata was depressed that Naruto had died before he had even experienced any real joy in his life. He had struggled and suffered so much in his life and for it to be stolen away so quickly. If Hinata were any other person, she would be ranting about the unfairness of it all, and why the Kami would be so cold to such a kind soul, but she knew better than anyone that life was not fair.

While her struggles in life couldn't really compare to Naruto's, she was still a person bound in a gilded cage that was the Hyūga clan. An heiress that had to bow to the whims of arrogant and greedy elders who cared only for themselves. Perhaps the Kami had seen fit to remove Naruto so he didn't have to struggle anymore. If only she could have fulfilled the promise she made to herself in Nami no Kuni and made his life better. Hinata touched the necklace Naruto had given her and felt the tears that had begun to build up again dry.

At least, she had this memento from him, something he had bought just for her. At least, she had those happy memories from the festival playing games and seeing Naruto in his unguarded moments. To see that brilliant light he hid from everyone else but allowed her to see if only for a moment.

B had been making his way back towards where Naruto had been before their connection was cut off suddenly. He wasn't concerned because Gyūki had told him that Naruto had reversed summoned himself out and would probably come back to meet up with them soon.

He ran into Team 7 and their group while making his way back to the village and handed over Gaara to Kakashi without any protest. Since none of the group had bothered to say anything more to him, he just decided to tag along until A or Naruto came around to give him something else to do.

A caught up with the group and made his way directly to B to get his report. He had been concerned when he saw that Naruto wasn't with B, but B had reassured him that "little nine is fine" along with some other stuff he didn't understand but just wrote it off as more of his rapping nonsense.

A managed to decipher from the rest of B's rapping that Naruto had not been put off at the offer of a home in Kumo, but wasn't likely to leave Konoha unless something particularly bad happened to him. A decided that was a good foundation to work with and began to relay to B how important it was for him and his team to talk up the benefits of Kumo and see if his team were compatible enough to become friends with the boy during the two-week training period.

Since A and B were currently following the group at a distance conversing quietly with each other to avoid being overheard, they were unaware that Team 7 and the others believed that Naruto had perished in the Root base along with Danzō.

The party halted when Tsunade and Jiraiya appeared with a few more Konoha ninjas with them. A and B stopped their conversation and decided that they should join the others as Team 7 gave their report to Tsunade and Jiraiya.

Tsunade burst into tears and was comforted by Jiraiya, who looked defeated by the news they had just received. Sensing the mood A and B decided to remain quiet as it appeared they were mourning the loss of someone and didn't want to impose.

Tsunade spotted B and glowered at him. "You were supposed to keep Naruto-kun safe you bastard! How could you let him go off on his own!"

B just looked at A with a confused look on his face. A just shrugged, having no idea why Tsunade was so angry at B. B said the boy was fine so there shouldn't be a problem right?

"What the dilly dime? Killa B was ace, but little nine had to dip on the down low." B rapped out before A sighed and bopped him on the head.

"What the hell does that even mean?" A shouted.

"Little nine had to go deal with something. He obviously took care of it and decided he was ghost." B said with a sigh.

Jiraiya had to hold Tsunade back while Team 7 were openly scowling, as they misunderstood what B had meant when he chose that particular slang word. An unfortunate coincidence but most people didn't understand B's rhymes as it were, so it was no surprise that the confusion only continued to build.

"How dare you! We trusted Naruto-kun to be safe with you! Now he's dead and you just make light of it?" Tsunade shouted as she struggled against Jiraiya's hold.

"What? You think he's dead? You see what your stupid rap caused now B?" A said before he used Aian Kurō (Iron Claw) on B's head. B gripped A's wrist to try and alleviate the pressure of having his face on the verge of being crushed, but A had always been much stronger than him.

"What are you saying? Are you saying Naruto is alive?" Kakashi said in a hopeful tone.

"B, tell them and say it normally this time, or else!" A threatened before releasing B's face.

"Yea man, little nine is fine. He got in contact with me a little while ago. If Hachibi's senses are right, he's about 12 miles north east of us and heading this way, but he had to dodge a lot of Iwa nins and even scrapped with some Kusa nins." B said as he rubbed his face with a pout.

"We have to go help him sensei!" Sasuke and Hinata both pleaded to Kakashi.

Kakashi looked at Tsunade and Jiraiya with a silent question in his eye. He wanted to nothing more than to make sure Naruto was okay, but he had to follow orders, and right now Tsunade was the boss. Tsunade nodded, and Team 7 moved out with A and B to rendezvous with Naruto.

Tsunade quickly ordered the Anbu teams to continue onto the T&I department with the Suna siblings before she followed after Team 7 with Jiraiya on her heels. The Sannin quickly caught up with the rest of the group that was following behind B as he leads the way towards Naruto.

As the group jumped through the tree paths, Jiraiya sped up to match speed with B and asked. "How did you know that Naruto had to dodge Iwa nins and do whatever with Kusa nins?"

"He probably already bonded with B and Hachibi when they went after Ichibi." A replied in a nonchalant tone.

"Yea, we was tight like. I said," B responded with a pout. Didn't they hear him the first time?

"Bonded? What do you mean by that?" Jiraiya asked ignoring B. It was obvious he wouldn't get a straight answer out of his secret contact without some incentive, but if the Raikage was feeling generous right now he wouldn't complain.

"Jinchūriki naturally gravitate towards each other. If their meeting does not end in hostilities, they will establish a link of some sort to communicate with each other and their respective bijū." A explained.

"So you're saying that jinchūriki speak with each other, mentally and that in some cases speak to other bijū as well?" Jiraiya asked incredulously.

"Yes. They can even grant each other chakra and abilities if they feel like it. B says that the Hachibi will speak with the Nibi all the time and that sometimes they will both talk to B about things." A said

"Yea, little nine will be strappin after Ichibi's trappin. I might have to flex, so get ready Konoha! We be causing wrecks." B rapped out.

There was an awkward silence while the Konoha members looked at him in confusion for a moment, trying to figure out what B had said before they gave up and returned their focus onto finding Naruto.

A just sighed. He still didn't know what B said half the time. It was like he used new words whenever people started to figure out what he was saying.

Jiraiya was processing this new information as he reviewed what Minato had told him after his resurrection. Jiraiya had been disturbed by the desperation and panic in Minato's voice as he spoke about the Kyūbi's influence over Naruto. He hated to think that Naruto had been lying to them about the Kyūbi all this time but it didn't seem like that was the case.

Sure the boy was serious and stoic, more often than not, but he had seen the boy come alive when his team was near. During their training for the Chūnin Exam finals, Naruto had been really open with him about the things the Kyūbi would talk to him about, and would tell him all about how his life had been since he left the orphanage.

'What he really is... That is what Minato said, but what exactly does that mean? Does this ability to connect with other bijū and jinchūriki make them feel like they aren't human?' Jiraiya thought to himself.

Jiraiya stole a glance at B for a moment. 'He is a little weird, but he doesn't seem to act like he isn't human. Is it because of the Hachibi itself or does he have a stronger sense of self?'

They group entered a small clearing to see Naruto landing in the center after jumping down from a tree.

"NARUTO!" Team 7 cried out before they rushed forwards along with Tsunade.

Tsunade got there first and crushed Naruto in a bear hug. Shima had to grip to Naruto's shoulder with chakra and held a lock of hair to remain in place.

"Oba-chan, can't breathe..." Naruto wheezed out.

As she let up on her hug, reluctantly, Naruto saw Sasuke, Hinata, and Kakashi surrounding him with mixed looks of anger and happiness.

"Naruto-kun, you baka, you made us think you were dead! How could you do that to us!" Hinata cried as she repeatedly smacked him on the arm.

"Oi! Watch out for Sennin bāchan! She's standing there!" Naruto said as he looked over at Shima.

"I'm fine Naruto-chan, but you should apologize to the girl! She was obviously very hurt." Shima scolded Naruto.

"I'm sorry guys, really _ **!**_ I didn't mean to make you think that, but I didn't have a choice in the matter. I came back as soon as I could." Naruto said sheepishly.

"How did you get away from Danzō?" Sasuke asked.

"It was close, but I managed to summon Gamakichi and have him reverse summon me to Myōbokuzan before the base exploded," Naruto said.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Shima-bāchan these are my teammates. Hinata-chan, Sasuke, and my sensei Kakashi." Naruto introduced each of them.

"It's nice to meet you Shima-sama, I apologize if I almost hit you earlier," Hinata said with a slight bow.

Sasuke and Kakashi merely bowed their heads respectfully, but both of them were now staring at Naruto's eyes which they had just noticed were inhuman looking. His whisker marks even seemed to be darker, but there was nothing else visibly wrong with him.

"That's quite alright. I should get going now Naruto-chan, I'm sure Fukasaku is waiting for his supper if Jiraiya-chan is here. Now you remember what I told you Naruto-chan, about calming down, right?" Shima said.

"Yes Shima-bāchan, I promise I will take it easy for a few days and relax," Naruto replied dutifully.

"Such a good boy. Jiraiya-chan, I want updates from you while on your trip and don't pawn it off on Kichi!" Shima said before she returned back home.

Jiraiya merely grumbled under his breath; he was planning on letting Gamakichi provide all the updates since he would have to write full reports to Tsunade. Now he would have to copy all his reports which meant less research.

"I'm glad you are all right, brat, but you have some explaining to do!" Jiraiya said.

"Yea little nine, you shouldn't be ghosting like that. Dime here be flipping, while your homies be tripping that's not how you be ace, wrecking on that grace." B rapped as he gestured towards where Tsunade and the others were standing around observing their interaction.

"I really didn't have any choice. I know it was stupid of me to go, but I thought I was helping her, and I didn't sense any lies from her." Naruto said muttered as he looked away in embarrassment and shame.

"Well you can explain all of that later, but Naruto, are you sure you're okay?" Tsunade said as she just noticed his eyes.

Tsunade took him by his shoulders and gently turned him to face her while she studied his eyes closely before she started running a scan on him. She didn't feel any demonic chakra radiating from Naruto, and she could tell that there wasn't any extra chakra being channeled to his eyes to keep up this altered appearance. That revelation made her unease grow as it appeared to simply be a permanent change.

"Yea, I'm fine! Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Naruto said in exasperation.

"You had to fight a lot of people in that base, didn't you," B said in a knowing tone.

"Well yea, besides killing Makoto-chan, I had to kill... I don't know maybe 40 more insignificant pests, at least? I wasn't really counting them as I went through and killed them all. They dared to stand in my way, so I showed them the error of their ways but cutting them down or incinerating them. They were just trash anyways." Naruto said with a shrug.

" **Hmph. Couldn't have said it better myself, kit. You had proven quite effective at purging that filth."** Kurama said.

Tsunade had a sad look in her eyes as her grip tightened on Naruto's shoulders. He looked around as everyone had gone silent after his reply. When he looked back at Tsunade, he saw that same look of concern that everyone else had.

Only A and B didn't seem to have any concern at his response.

"What?" Naruto asked with a confused tone.

'Why were they all looking at me like that?' Naruto thought.

" **Tch. It seems these fools are disturbed by your disregard for the purging of that filth. They were cursing that same filth not too long ago, yet if you treat that filth like they deserve, then mortals will accuse you of being ruthless. Such foolishness."** Kurama said with a snort of contempt.

" **I think they are disturbed for another reason instead Kurama, and even if those people were scum, it is not normal human behavior to talk so nonchalantly about killing in such great numbers."** Gyūki retorted.

"Naruto, that is a lot of people to kill, and you killed a girl that you referred to in a close manner, but you don't seem to be bothered by it at all. Doesn't that sound any alarms to you?" Kakashi said in a serious tone.

Kurama merely huffed while Naruto could almost sense Gyūki's smugness at being correct.

Naruto swung his gaze over to Kakashi as he thought about it more.

"Well I felt bad for what happened to Makoto-chan, but she was better off dead after what Danzō had done to her, and she was a threat. As for the rest of the base, I was able to make my way through all of the Root operatives in my way, and I didn't even feel any blood lust. It just seemed right to kill them all after what they had done." Naruto paused as he considered that thought further.

"It is kind of strange, now that you mention it. I had wondered why it hadn't bothered me as much as it did in Nami no Kuni. I had enjoyed the battle and felt a rush as I fought against them, but I was in no danger of losing myself to the emotions. When I began to think about why it no longer bothered me, I remembered that they were just filth that needed to be cleansed." Naruto concluded in a casual tone. "Plus it seemed more important to stop that reinforcement group from reaching you guys while you were fighting Danzō," Naruto added with a nod.

Tsunade and Jiraiya looked at each other briefly while Kakashi narrowed his eye at Naruto in suspicion. They all suspected the Kyūbi had done something to change Naruto's mindset permanently.

"Naruto-kun, what happened to your eyes?" Hinata asked deciding to stop beating around the bush and draw attention to the most obvious changes in him.

She was nervous about his personality change and hoped it wasn't something permanent. He seemed the same at one moment but suddenly he was completely different.

"What do you mean? What's wrong with my eyes?" Naruto asked.

" **They are referring to our battle synchronization. The seal had blocked us from forming this kind of bond until I strengthened the bond using the perfectly balanced Chakra. We were able to establish our first sync while battling inside that base of filth. Apparently, it has had some physical manifestation that we were unaware of, and we have not bothered to deactivate the sync because there are still threats in the area. "** Kurama answered.

" **It is normal for a Jinchūriki who is first bonding to be unaware of such changes. Once you rest and let the adrenaline from today subside, your eyes will lose their feral look. You two have to practice in order to sync yourselves on command, instead of relying on adrenaline to help facilitate the bond, but with the type of seal that you have it will be difficult."** Gyūki added.

"OH!" Naruto said out loud before anyone could respond to his question.

The rest of the group gave Naruto more strange looks, except for B who had the same problem when he first began working with Gyūki. It was part of the reason he wore the sunglasses because he was almost always in sync with Gyūki, even outside of combat. That and the glasses were baller if you asked him.

Naruto drew Makoto and looked at his eyes. He was quite surprised to see his cat-like pupils and darkened whisker marks. Naruto also bared his teeth and studied the slightly larger than normal canines he had.

"... I see. Now it makes more sense why everyone was asking me that." Naruto mumbled to himself.

"So, what caused your eyes to change Naruto? you haven't answered the question." Kakashi asked seriously.

"It's from when I fought in the Root base because I had to deal with a lot of enemies in close quarters and the Kyūbi was helping me sense everyone and react to threats, I guess. He says we are "synchronized" right now, and this is the result. It will go away after I rest a bit and the adrenaline in my system leaves." Naruto explained.

'That must be why he talks about killing all those people as if it were nothing but a trivial matter.' Jiraiya thought.

"Why do you have that sword Naruto? Where did you get it from?" Sasuke asked.

He was also troubled by the changes in his friend but figured that drawing attention to it in such a matter would only allow the Kyūbi to hide it from them. It would be easier to respond to the changes in Naruto's personality if they were obvious instead of concealed.

Sasuke tended to believe Naruto when he said that the Kyūbi had only been helping him. Since the Kyūbi had helped remove Orochimaru's curse mark, Sasuke wasn't as wary of the changes as the other were.

Besides, if the Kyūbi was making Naruto stronger, then it was all right in his book. He didn't want to experience the pain of grief when he thought Naruto was dead. He had experienced more than enough grief in his lifetime.

"I took it from Makoto-chan after I killed her. It's a long story, and I'd rather not explain it more than once. I'll explain it all during the debrief." Naruto said.

"Right, well let's get this show on the road then, we have a lot of things to discuss and some serious clean up to do," Jiraiya said.

The group then took to the trees to head back towards the village. Sasuke and Hinata were sticking close to Naruto as they soared through the treetops, almost as if they were doing so to reassure themselves that he was actually still there. Kakashi was following along directly behind them instead of in front of then like he usually did.

Naruto noticed that he felt somewhat more distant from his team than usual, and he hadn't even been concerned if they made it out of the base or not. He knew it should have been something that would have caused him a lot of worries normally but for some reason, it never even crossed his mind. He couldn't help but be a little unsettled by that thought.

 _'Why have I changed so drastically? Is it because of the aphrodisiac and chakra?'_ Naruto thought

" **It is due to our battle synchronization. Our minds and bodies begin to synchronize our thoughts and feelings along with our circulatory systems like heart, blood flow, and chakra flow. While it seemed like we were communicating and reacting normally because our systems began to synchronize, in reality, we were reacting faster than usual. Think of it as utilizing the mindscape's slower passage of time to calculate threats and plan strategies so that you can react much more rapidly. You have more time to decide how to respond or avoid a threat once spotted, and I do not have to communicate those risks to you since our minds are almost acting as one."** Kurama explained.

 _'So essentially, while this sync is active, I will also think more like you, and you think more like me because of it. Does that mean you actually care for them while we are like this? Or do you just have less disdain for them?'_ Naruto asked.

" **More like they are neutral to me, but our synchronization is incomplete as you still sense the disconnect between your own thoughts and our thoughts. You still have affection towards the toad elders did you not?"** Kurama said.

" **That's because even though you don't like the summoning clans, you still have respect for them. You still hate humanity overall, but Naruto here is the only one you truly respect. You are neutral to his companions because he cares for them while you have only contempt for them."** Gyūki said.

 _'You will still keep your thoughts, for the most part once you manage to master syncing with Kurama, but that won't happen until you unlock your full transformation. Until that time, certain things can trigger your emotional responses over the sync, so you have to be careful. Once you have mastered syncing, then you won't have to worry about losing control. As you described during your battle in the Root base, the blood lust wasn't an issue at all. Instead, you were feeling adrenaline and the thrill of battle that Kurama enjoys.'_ B added.

 _'So you can make this happen without having to kill a lot?'_ Naruto asked B.

 _'It's possible, but it requires meditation and a lot of effort. It is usually unnecessary outside of battle unless you are training in full or partial transformations.'_ B explained.

" **This reminds me. I sense a significant portion of my lost chakra being carried by the toad sage there. I did not think it was possible to obtain the other half of my chakra because of the seal that your father used."** Kurama mused.

 _'Really? Should I ask him for it?'_ Naruto asked.

" **Might as well absorb the rest of it if your balance can be maintained safely,"** Gyūki suggested.

 **"** **The kit already has high Yin reserves, as it were, but with the addition of my Yin chakra it maybe too much. We should prepare some conversion seals to apply just in case, but do not approach him about it, for now, I am suspicious as to why he would hold my chakra and how he managed to obtain it."** Kurama said

 _'Wait. You guys are saying little nine only had half of Kurama sealed in him?'_ B thought incredulously.

" **Tch, of course! No puny mortal kit could contain my full power."** Kurama scoffed.

Gyūki just lets out a snort at Kurama's arrogance while Naruto lets a small smile spread across his face.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata whispered drawing Naruto out of his mental conversation.

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan, can you repeat that?" Naruto asked thinking he had inadvertently ignored her.

"Naruto-kun, you owe us for making you think you were dead like that. We were really upset about it Naruto-kun, it was terrible to feel that way." Hinata said in a serious tone.

Sasuke grunted his agreement.

"I said I was sorry, and it wasn't my fault, it was Danzō's," Naruto whined.

When he saw that his teammates weren't convinced, he sighed. "What do you guys want me to do to make it up to you?" Naruto asked with resignation.

"I don't know. It will have to be something special, I think. We were _mourning your loss_ after all." Hinata replied with a huff.

Naruto grimaced. "Well I know Sasuke will be interested in some of the rare jutsu I managed to steal from Danzō, but I doubt that would satisfy you Hinata-chan."

Sasuke perked his head up when he heard "rare jutsu." Sasuke was always interested in new jutsu, especially rare ones.

"What kind of rare jutsu?" Sasuke whispered.

"I saw a Katon jutsu that I think you will like if it isn't already in the Uchiha library. Danzō's notes seemed to indicate that it wasn't though." Naruto said with a smirk.

"Hn, I'll forgive you if you give me two of those rare jutsu and promise not to be such a baka anymore," Sasuke replied.

"Fine. I'll admit I was being a baka, this time, but you don't get to start calling me that regularly." Naruto said with a frown.

Hinata hummed for a moment. "I don't know. This was a very foolish decision; it might deserve you gaining the label permanently."

'Now she's starting to sound like Kurama.' Naruto thought to himself.

"Just let me know what you want Hinata-chan. I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you." Naruto said sincerely.

"I'll have to think about it for awhile as I'm still quite upset about all this," Hinata said with a false sniffle.

Kakashi merely smirked at the interaction between his team. He was curious to see what Naruto had stolen from the Root base. It was curious that he had the presence of mind to actually go and raid Danzō's jutsu library, given the situation he was in.

Inwardly Hinata was beaming. She would finally get her shot, and she wouldn't let anything ruin this chance. She couldn't demand her penance from Naruto while Tsunade was within striking distance, though, or Tsunade would throw a wrench into her plans.

Finally, she would get a date with Naruto, just the two of them.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hiruzen winced in pain as he sat down in the Hokage's chair for, hopefully, the last time _again_. Once all this business with the council and aftermath of the invasion had been dealt with, he would hand everything off to Tsunade and finally retire. His injuries weren't too severe, but he was sore already. It would really be bad tomorrow if it was this painful already.

His thoughts turned to their surprise ally and his adopted grandson. Did B and Naruto subdue the Ichibi without injury? He hoped Naruto was okay with the Hachibi there, but he had to be suspicious of the Raikage's motives.

The Raikage's "genin" team for the exams had been trying to subtly get in contact with Naruto from the beginning. Plus the Raikage's deal breaker of having the Hachibi spend two weeks with Naruto was a telling indicator that the Raikage desired Naruto for something.

'Could it be as simple as him trying to get Naruto-kun to leave the village and join Kumo or does he have something else in mind?' Hiruzen thought.

That could be dangerous if Naruto had the Kyūbi always whispering in his ear to desert Konoha at the slightest infraction. He could only hope the newly formed bonds that he was establishing with Jiraiya and Tsunade would add to the fragile bonds Naruto held with himself and his teammates.

Hiruzen was no fool and knew that Kakashi and himself were not within Naruto's full confidences even now. That revelation about the Kyūbi had been forced because of the event in Nami no Kuni. Hiruzen had no doubt that if the mission had gone smoothly, the Kyūbi would be whispering who knows what into Naruto's ear and they would all be none the wiser about it.

It was a troubling thought compounded by the fact that Kakashi had blown his chance with his misplaced grief-fueled anger. While they seemed to have become closer to being the close-knit team that was expected in Konoha, there still appeared to be a distance between Naruto and Kakashi.

Sasuke had improved under Naruto's influence surprisingly. He had to suspect that Sasuke's willingness to abandon the village to achieve his goals may have helped tie him to Naruto, but it was surprising that Naruto was the one to convince him to put more trust in the village itself. It was the primary cause of Hiruzen's hope that Naruto would remain loyal.

Hinata Hyūga taking an interest in Naruto could cause him to go either way depending on the outcome. If Hinata was only interested in a toy until her arranged marriage went through it could be disastrous. With the combination of traits Naruto inherited from his parents, Hiruzen guessed that Naruto would feel a deep love for his woman of interest in a short amount of time.

If she was genuine and Naruto returned her affections, it could lead to a whole new legacy for Konoha. The Uzumaki blood with the Byakugan could be a devastating combination in a shinobi. Add to that a proficiency in fūinjutsu and maybe that barbaric cursed seal could disappear in two generations.

An Anbu member appeared in the office with a Shunshin (Body Flicker) and bowed before the Hokage.

"Report." Hiruzen barked out.

"Hokage-sama, the latest reports from the sensor barrier monitoring teams estimate that Suna lost approximately 20% of their fighting force during the battle before they executed a full retreat into Kawa no Kuni. Currently, we have received no reports of a scorched earth retreat or occupation of villages within that land." the Anbu member stated.

It seemed that the Ichibi had set the stage for Suna's main strategy by fleeing the arena like he did. Hiruzen wasn't entirely sure why the jinchūriki fled, but he knew it had something to do with Naruto and B.

"Iwa and the remains of the Kusa ninjas fell into a fighting retreat and were engaged by remnant Root forces, who are currently in disarray either engaging retreating forces or holding at various staging areas. Currently, there have been no reports of hostile action from Root by any regular forces. Sensor estimates put Iwa at 35% of their invasion forces lost while Kusa lost 38%." the Anbu member continued.

'If I know Ōnoki, he probably only brought 50 or 60% of his total forces, so it was still a blow. It will probably take him years to build up enough forces to attempt another attack with Kumo as our allies. I'll be surprised if Kusa survives more than two years with that much loss. Maybe Ame will make a move on them if Taki doesn't beat them to it.' Hiruzen thought as he puffed on his new rosewood pipe.

"Oto forces are in complete disarray, and sensor estimates put their losses in the 60 – 75% range. The specialists were unable to narrow down their estimates because Kumo may have eliminated portions of their invasion force outside of the sensor barrier, and tracking teams have found evidence that portions of the invasion force discarded all Oto insignias to flee as missing nin or mercenaries." the Anbu concluded.

"Very well. Find the Jōnin Commander and have him report to me at once." Hiruzen commanded.

The first Anbu member bowed again before disappearing with a Shunshin. A second Anbu member appeared right afterward and bowed.

"Excellent timing Baku. What do you have to report?" Hiruzen asked.

"Currently, the village proper has been secured and swept for any traps or sabotage from the retreating forces. The evacuated villagers should be able to leave the shelters within two hours time. Our forces to the North, East, and South have all reported all clears for main forces with small scattered skirmishes remaining, primarily in the North and West. The Western approach to the village, however, has had numerous conflicting reports at this time." Baku said.

"What kind of conflicting reports are we dealing with?" Hiruzen asked.

"The first conflicting reports are regarding Root numbers in the area. Some place their numbers in the hundreds while others report severe casualties taken by Root. The second matter is of Naruto himself. We have received reports that he is traveling with the Hachibi jinchūriki, but we also have reports that he was assaulted and killed by Root operatives, or Danzō himself. We have sent two teams out to try and confirm either of these reports, but we have not received any reports from those teams yet." Baku said.

Hiruzen put his pipe down and rubbed his eyes. He really hoped that last report wasn't accurate. Would the Hachibi just abandon Naruto to Root like that, or did they get separated? If Kumo had an interest in him, they would protect him, but if a Konoha affiliated group were to attack Naruto, they might not interfere for multiple reasons. Either to avoid an incident or to give Naruto the incentive to abandon the village.

He didn't believe Naruto would abandon his orders to go after Root, but there was also the possibility that Danzō would have seen Naruto chasing the Ichibi and moved to take advantage of the invasion, and capture him.

Hiruzen hoped that Kakashi and the Anbu squad he had sent to eliminate Danzō had succeeded and that Naruto was simply engaged with other forces at the moment. There had been no sightings of the Ichibi or the Hachibi forms appearing, and no flaring of demonic chakra had been sensed so he could still be chasing the Ichibi or subduing him in some manner.

"Send a few more squadrons to the Western approaches to clear out any remaining hostiles that aren't in a full retreat. Then have them start sweeping and identifying any hidden Root bases or staging areas. For now, leave the Root members to their own devices." Hiruzen ordered.

Baku bowed before he disappeared from the office.

'Rasa I killed myself, so Suna will be in disarray, Orochimaru fled along with Ōnoki when Oto and Suna failed to reinforce the invasion forces. I wonder if the Daimyō will press for war right away, or argue amongst each other for concessions for a few years instead. The Fire Daimyō had been on good terms with the Wind Daimyō, so he might not seek for retaliation against Suna just yet, and the Lightning Daimyō wouldn't have any incentive.' Hiruzen thought.

Tora appeared in the office with a Shunshin causing Hiruzen to eye him warily. Tora was guarding the Daimyō, so he would only show up if the Daimyō made such a request.

"Hokage-sama, the Fire Daimyō requests an update on the invasion and when he may leave his secure bunker," Tora said with a bow.

"Inform the Daimyō that he will be able to leave the bunker within the hour, and to expect the company of the Lightning Daimyō most likely in two or three hours time based on the last report we received from the Kumo guards," Hiruzen responded.

Tora nodded and awaited his extraction orders.

"When you receive the all clear, relocate him to the ceremonial chamber here in the Hokage tower. His personal effects have already been moved there, so he can prepare for the Lightning Daimyō's arrival. Once both Daimyō's are secured, lead them to the council chambers so we can review today's events with them and the clan heads at the same time." Hiruzen ordered.

Tora bowed and left with a Shunshin.

Hiruzen picked his pipe back up and cleared out the bowl before he loaded his most expensive pipe tobacco.

While the scattered Root presence and lack of response during the counter attack lead him to believe that Kakashi and Itachi were successful, he wouldn't put it past Danzō to have escaped in some way, but some of the reports in the hospital led him to believe that his old teammate was dead.

The reports he received in the hospital about a large black orb being seen devouring a portion of the forest to the west were troubling. If it was an Ura Shishō Fūin (Reverse Tetragram Sealing) like he suspected, Danzō would have had to be pushed to the very edge to resort to that. Danzō would have done the utmost to conceal such an attack before it was too late.

Hiruzen exhaled a cloud of smoke as looked out the window in his office towards the west. All he could do now is wait and hope that he didn't lose any more people to this invasion.


	41. Dealing with the Aftermath

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edited 4/22/16

 **Chapter 40**

 **Dealing with the Aftermath**

 **Outskirts of Konoha**

* * *

Baku stood on top of the Western wall as he awaited the approach of the high-value prisoners that were being escorted under guard.

He had received word from his assessment teams that Team 7 accompanied by Itachi Uchiha, Jiraiya, and Tsunade had been escorting the Suna prisoners and that Naruto was believed to be lost, only to receive contradicting information that the Raikage and the Hachibi jinchūriki were spotted with Naruto and Team 7 and the Sannin.

The second assessment team went to track down the group that left the prisoner escort team to confirm Naruto's survival, but he had not received any word from that team yet.

Baku spotted Jiraiya with a group of people approaching the village from the northwest and moved to cut them off to direct them to the Hokage Tower. As he ran along the wall, the members of the group became more recognizable, and he was relieved to see the Yondaime's legacy was with them apparently unharmed.

The group halted before the wall as they saw Baku approaching them.

"Jiraiya-sama the Hokage had been searching for your group. I have been instructed to direct you to the Hokage tower at once." Baku said.

"I was just leading them there myself actually," Jiraiya said.

"Did the second assessment team I sent out to establish contact with you?" Baku asked.

"Yea we directed them to help escort the prisoners as there were still some clusters of Suna and Iwa forces in the area who haven't pulled out. You might want to have a few teams go in and keep an eye on them." Jiraiya said seriously.

"I will send out more scouting teams at once Jiraiya-sama," Baku said before he Shunshined away.

"We better hurry, I have no doubt that sensei is deep into his pipe with worry," Tsunade said with a sigh.

The group all began to run up the wall and jump across the rooftops until they reached the Hokage Tower.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hiruzen and Shikaku were reviewing the losses that Konoha had sustained during the invasion. Overall, their losses were not too significant, thanks to the early warning they received.

The combat forces were only down 15%, but the support and logistics forces had taken a 22% loss while defending the walls and gates. Hopefully, those losses were not entirely comprised of Academy graduates who only required a few more years of supplementary training to advance into the combat forces.

The assessment last year stated that at least 12% of the support and logistics teams were capable of advancing to combat force levels with a few more years of standardized training. Even with a 22% loss if that number remained the same, they could easily refill their combat force and have a healthy support force to maintain their supply lines for the potential war in the future.

Iwa and Kusa had mainly met resistance at the wall and the village center before the counterattack had begun and they found themselves flanked on two sides without any support from Oto and minor support from the Suna forces which were already in the village.

He noticed the seal on his desk flare up three times and responded by releasing his chakra right away into the seal to allow the visitors entrance. He breathed a sigh of relief as his secretary only used the three flare signal when Naruto, Asuma, or Konohamaru were present, and he knew that the latter two wouldn't be approaching him anytime tonight.

Jiraiya, Tsunade, Itachi, Team 7 and the Raikage along with B entered the Hokage's office.

Shikaku looked up from the reports in question, but Hiruzen just motioned for him to stay put.

"Raikage-dono I must thank you again for your assistance in this invasion and to reassure you that all we have agreed upon will be honored," Hiruzen said as he rose from his chair out of respect.

"I didn't doubt it for a minute Hokage-dono. I'm just pissed that little rat Ōnoki ran like he did. I was ready to finish that bastard off for good." A said with a scowl.

"I'm certain you will get your chance if the mood of the Fire Daimyō is anything to go by, I met with him before your arrival, and he was quite incensed. The Lightning Daimyō should be in council with the Fire Daimyō right now if you wish to join them to give your update." Hiruzen said with a smirk before retaking his seat.

A sighed. "Yea I will have to go and talk to him about all this I'm sure he's in a real fine mood right now."

B grimaced at the thought of the moody Lightning Daimyō. That guy was annoying on his good days; he was probably really worked up at the moment too.

Hiruzen snapped his fingers, and an Anbu member appeared from the shadows. "Direct the Raikage and his escort to the ceremonial chambers to meet with the Lightning Daimyō and inform them that the council meeting will take place in 1 hour and 20 minutes."

"I'm confident I will see you at that meeting as well Raikage-dono," Hiruzen said.

"Till then, Hokage-dono." A said before he followed the Anbu member out of the door.

B gave Naruto another fist bump before he followed A out of the room.

Hiruzen turned his focus back towards the group and Naruto in particular.

"Naruto-kun I heard a lot of strange and conflicting reports about your role in all this mess can you please clarify what happened with the Ichibi and why I was told you were dead?" Hiruzen asked with narrowed eyes.

Naruto grimaced when he heard that last part.

 **"** **Try not to reveal our role in the link right now,"** Kurama said.

 **"** **It's too late to hide that from him. The Toad Sannin already knows because of the Raikage,"** Gyūki said in a suspicious tone.

" **Hmph, I can't believe you were foolish enough to reveal that skill to the humans. You will only regret it later when they cast more suspicion on my kit."** Kurama snorted.

 _'I just won't mention anything about it since I wasn't there to help. I will be in enough trouble when he learns about Makoto-chan.'_ Naruto replied.

"Well, when the final exams began I was mainly focused on preparing for the next round when I started to fall asleep during Sasuke's match. I didn't realize that it was a genjutsu until I was awoken by the Kumo kunoichi Karui. At that point, Sasuke relayed that I was supposed to go after the Ichibi jinchūriki with the Hachibi jinchūriki and secure him so he wouldn't attack the village." Naruto said.

Hiruzen nodded at that so far. Jiraiya was curious if the Kyūbi was involved with causing the Ichibi to flee at all but figured Naruto would have mentioned it.

'It must have been the Hachibi that suppressed the Ichibi then' Jiraiya thought to himself.

"So, I left with Sasuke and Hinata and the Kumo team to chase after the Ichibi, but I sensed some of Orochimaru's people closing in on us. Team 8 who had joined us while we were leaving the village decided to stop them from interfering along with the Kumo team while I continued on with Team 7 and B." Naruto said.

'A little risky to split up like that, but it makes sense to eliminate a flanking force and with B supporting him it shouldn't have been a problem.' Hiruzen thought.

"Once we neared the Ichibi himself we were engaged by the Suna prisoners and a squad of Suna-nin. We decided that B and I would continue the pursuit before the Ichibi could get further behind the Suna support lines while Sasuke and Hinata took care of the Suna team. I left some clones behind to support them while B and I continued onward."

Naruto paused and took a deep breath for the next part.

"It was then I was engaged by Ren, Taro, and Makoto-chan to be captured by Root," Naruto said while his head lowered.

"Oh, Naruto-kun those were your only friends from the orphanage who tried to recruit you, were they not?" Hiruzen said sadly.

Naruto just nodded.

"I'm guessing that Danzō had all three of them attack you so you would be hesitant to attack them back, didn't he," Hiruzen said with a growl.

The rest of the group had not known this information and felt sorry for Naruto at that moment. Sasuke, who had known, was just as angry as Hiruzen was.

"Not exactly, jiji. Ren and Taro both tried to kill me. Makoto-chan, however, decided to fight along side me to stop them. Another squad of Root joined with Ren and Taro, and we managed to defeat them all. She told me how Danzō had threatened them with death if they didn't succeed in recruiting me and that they were severely punished because I didn't join them at the time. That was when Makoto-chan told me what had happened to them and all the other orphans that Danzō had." Naruto said with a tone of disappointment.

Hiruzen had to take a deep breath to calm himself as he knew where this was going already. He really wished he had been able to deal with Danzō directly for resorting to such underhanded tactics on Naruto.

"I think I see the picture here now Naruto-kun. She wanted to enlist your aid in freeing the other orphans, didn't she," Hiruzen said as he shook his head.

"She claimed that she didn't want me to get involved, but I wanted to help her. I didn't sense any deception from her, so I believed it was all genuine. We were supposed to wait for Danzō departure from the base then help all the orphans out, but it was just a trap in the end." Naruto said with gritted teeth.

Sasuke shook his head in exasperation. He should have known it was something like that.

Hiruzen, Jiraiya, and Tsunade merely sighed. It was a damn shame that something like this could destroy Naruto's trusting nature.

Kakashi and Hinata were both mentally facepalming at the fact that Naruto had fallen for it so easily.

"What happened then Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen said.

"I created clones henged as her team with one of my clones acting as me tied up. I went with her after she gave me the all clear, but I left a clone behind with a copy of the map she gave me in case more of our forces came by and would need to help me if I got caught." Naruto answered.

'At least he had the foresight to leave a clue behind in case things went badly.' Hiruzen thought glumly.

"I followed her deep inside the base only to find that Danzō had ordered all the children to be ...purged... There had to be at least 20 of them no older than eight years old, and those bastards cut them all down for no reason at all." Naruto said with a growl.

The rest of the room fell silent as they absorbed that news. To think that they could ruthlessly kill children that young. The scene must have been worse than a nightmare.

"After that, Kakashi-sensei and the rest of the team began their assault because the alarm seals started to go off. At this point, Makoto-chan told me that the anti-henge seals would be active so we needed to wait out the counter attack before I could raid Danzo's office and remove the control and suicide seals on her." Naruto said before taking a deep breath to compose himself.

"That was when she lured me into this room full of gas and revealed to me her true intentions. That's when I learned that Danzō had driven her crazy. She truly believed she was saving me from everyone else by luring me into the trap and planting a memory seal which is why my senses didn't pick up any negative intent towards me. She said the seal would free me from the village and we could escape together. The Kyūbi managed to remove the effects of the gas, and I killed her. Then I began to fight my way out of the base. As I did, I searched Danzō's office and library. I managed to get some things that might be important." Naruto said while shuffling uncomfortably.

Naruto pulled out the scrolls that contained the documents from Danzō's office as well as some of the library scrolls, but he kept the vault scrolls, and the rarest jutsu scrolls a secret. He handed the selected scrolls over to Hiruzen, who began unsealing and organizing them.

"That was great thinking, Naruto-kun. With just a quick glance I can tell there is a lot of evidence against Root here, as well as information about the bases. This information will come in handy for when we search the rest of Root out. As for the jutsu scrolls, it seems you acquired a lot of stolen and rare jutsu here. Was this all there was?" Hiruzen asked.

"There were a lot more, but I wasn't able to get them all. I looked through the registrar and picked the ones I didn't recognize." Naruto said.

"What happened after that?" Hiruzen asked.

He wasn't the only one who noticed that Naruto had been behaving very strangely when he described what occurred with the Root agent Makoto, but he had a suspicion, and it made him very uneasy. Kakashi and the rest of Team 7 were giving him odd looks as well.

"While I was sealing up everything in the library I sensed a battle going on and a large presence of Root approaching them, so I left and cut the reinforcements off at the area labeled as the central crossroads. While I was holding them off, my clones were engaged by Danzō briefly, but it appeared he Shunshined away back towards the exit. I just continued to fight off the reinforcements and the next thing I know a wind jutsu hit me, and Danzō himself stabbed me through the leg." Naruto before taking another deep breath to settle himself.

"Danzō started going off about how the invasion was all my fault and how you were dead because of me. He said that if I had just done as he said, the invasion wouldn't have happened at all. Then he told me he was going to take me to hell with him before triggering the demolition seals then activating some crazy seal on his chest that I have never seen before. I pulled the sword out of my leg and Shunshined as far as I could before summoning Gamakichi to reverse summon me to Myōbokuzan." Naruto concluded.

"I think that is good enough for now, Naruto-kun. I have to prepare for the council meeting soon. I want you to organize these jutsu scrolls you recovered for me while I do that." Hiruzen said.

Naruto nodded and collected the scrolls before moving off towards one of the side tables.

"Kakashi I want you to take the rest of Team 7 to go and assist the remaining genin teams in making sure the civilians remain orderly while leaving the shelters. I want your report on your task during the invasion by tomorrow night." Hiruzen ordered.

Kakashi and Team 7 nodded before they left the office.

"Itachi, I have set aside a place for you to remain in Anbu HQ for the time being. You will need to remain out of sight until we cleanse the council and reinstate your status. It may take quite some time, but I will send for you tomorrow to give you a status update." Hiruzen said before he snapped his fingers and another Anbu appeared.

"Please escort Itachi to the specialized trainee dorm in Anbu HQ. The Anbu commander will know which room I have assigned to him." Hiruzen said.

The Anbu member nodded before he went and placed his hand on Itachi to Shunshin him directly to HQ.

"Jiraiya, if you could prepare the special seals we discussed in the council room before the others arrive?" Hiruzen said.

"You got it sensei. This should be fun to watch." Jiraiya said gleefully before he left the office.

"Shikaku if you could please analyze the evidence from the Danzō's office that Naruto-kun so kindly provided for us. Let's prioritize anything on the council for right now then we will do a full analysis later. Take these into the council room and organize what I need to show to the Daimyo immediately." Hiruzen said.

"Of course Hokage-sama," Shikaku said before moving over and picking up all the sealed and unsealed documents that Hiruzen had been organizing during the debrief.

Hiruzen gestured to Tsunade to take a seat before he looked over at Naruto.

"Naruto-kun can you come here a moment?" Hiruzen said.

"Sure, jiji. What is it?" Naruto said as he walked over and stood in front of his desk.

"Naruto-kun I know that something else happened in that base with the one named Makoto. I want you to tell me the truth, Naruto-kun. Did she do something to you?" Hiruzen said in a serious tone.

Naruto fidgeted for a moment before he looked down at the ground.

"She lured me into this room full of gas that made me feel strange and injected me with something while I tried to disable the seals on the room... After the injection, my body felt... strange, and I couldn't resist her as she... she did... things to me," Naruto voice grew quiet towards the end.

"What do you mean she did things to you? What sorts of things?" Hiruzen asked delicately.

He didn't like the sound of where this was going.

Naruto remained silent for a few minutes, and Hiruzen was about to press the issue when he finally answered. "She was obsessed with me jiji and Danzō used that to send her after me. I realize now that's why my emotion sensing didn't work with her because she truly believed everything she was telling me and because... because she really loved me jiji." Naruto turned his head away from Hiruzen as he whispered that last part.

Tsunade was still for a moment as she registered what he said before she gritted her teeth in anger. Hiruzen got up from his desk and walked over to Naruto and knelt before him and placed his hand on Naruto's shoulders.

"Naruto-kun I know this might be painful or confusing to bring up but we need to talk about what happened. Do you want to discuss it now or do you want to do it later on when you feel more comfortable?" Hiruzen murmured.

Naruto just shook his head but wouldn't meet Hiruzen's eyes. "No, it's okay, jiji, we can talk about it now. I shouldn't have fallen for her trap so easily. I guess I deserved what happened to me because of that."

"No, Naruto-kun, you didn't deserve what happened to you at all. It wasn't your fault that this happened either Naruto-kun, remember that. She took advantage of you and violated your trust. It gave her no right to do things to you." Hiruzen said before giving him a reassuring squeeze on his shoulders.

"It's fine, jiji. It's not as bad as it sounds because I realized something when it happened. It made a lot of things clear to me, and she taught me a valuable lesson about trust, so I'm not as badly affected by it as you believe, but it is really embarrassing." Naruto mumbled.

"What did she do Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked in a soothing tone.

"Well, she touched me and kissed me mostly but then she... well...she used her mouth on me down there," Naruto whispered the last part with a huge blush on his face.

Tsunade had a look of rage on her face at the thought of some hussy violating her godson like that.

"Is that all she did Naruto?" Hiruzen asked in a serious tone.

"Well by then I couldn't resist her any longer and I... well... we were going to do... more but then Kyūbi freed me from the influence of the gas and stuff. I began to realize what had happened, and I was furious with her and myself for letting this happen. That's when she revealed the truth to me more or less. She said she couldn't live without me, and I was her whole reason for existing and that we would always be together no matter what."

Naruto took a few deep breaths to get his turbulent emotions under control before continuing with his explanation.

"I realized that Danzō had driven her mad. She kept saying that everything would be better once we were together. That she couldn't live without me and that you and everyone else was standing in her way. She said she was going to remove everyone that came between us. She was getting hysterical, so I told her that it was okay. I hugged her to calm her down, and when she started kissing me again, I stabbed her in the back with a kunai." Naruto said coldly.

That was an unexpected turn of events for Hiruzen and Tsunade. They didn't even bother to hide the look of shock on their faces.

'Was he lashing out because of the assault on him?' Hiruzen thought before he took Naruto's chin in his hand and turned his face towards him so he could see the look on Naruto's face.

Naruto had put his stoic mask on, but Hiruzen could see the guilt and sadness in his eyes. Hiruzen noted the change in Naruto's pupils as well but decided to set that aside for the moment.

"Naruto-kun, why would you do that if she loved you? Didn't you think that you could redeem her and help her be free of Root?" Hiruzen asked.

Naruto looked Hiruzen straight in the eye for a few moments before he answered.

"No, jiji. She wouldn't have known peace at all because she would always come after me over anyone else. She couldn't have simply reintegrated because she had this ideal reality that required me to be by her side without anyone else around us. She made it clear that you and anyone else that interacted with me were a threat to "us", and she would eliminate any of those threats." Naruto sighed before he continued.

"There was no salvation for her, so I killed her in cold blood to force myself to remember the cost of being so damn careless with my emotions. Now when those feelings begin to cloud my judgment once again, the look on her face as my kunai pierced her heart and the feel of her last breath on my neck while I held her in my arms will bring me back to reality. I took her sword so that I could remember that lesson always when I look at it." Naruto said with a stony expression on his face, but his eyes were beginning to tear up.

Hiruzen drew Naruto into a hug and rubbed his back to try and get him to release the pent up emotions Naruto was trying to suppress.

It was evident that Naruto had lashed out because of his abuse and was attempting to justify her death but at the same time punishing himself for killing her. It was a complicated issue which would only lead to further problems down the line if he didn't come to terms with it soon.

"Naruto-kun. I understand that you feel you need to justify her death, but it wasn't your fault how you reacted to her. It wasn't your fault that you behaved how you did, given the circumstances, and it doesn't make you a lesser person because of what happened." Hiruzen said soothingly.

"When I realized what happened I got so mad. I murdered her jiji...I murdered her in cold blood and it... it wasn't her fault. It was all my fault for being so careless." Naruto whispered before he began to break down in tears.

"Shhh. It wasn't your fault at all, even with her being obsessed with you, it was Danzō who caused all this. You didn't murder her Naruto-kun. She assaulted you. By law, you were justified in defending yourself after what she did to you, even if it caused her death. The fact that you feel so sorry about it is a good thing Naruto-kun. Do not think yourself lesser for retaliating how you did. It is a typical reaction for victims who have experienced what you have." Hiruzen said before he backed off to let Tsunade hug Naruto.

Naruto stiffened for a moment when Tsunade embraced him before he let all his pent up emotions go and hugged Tsunade back. She simply rubbed his back while he cried into her shoulder.

"I didn't want her to do those things to me but when she did I couldn't stop myself. It felt so right what she did to me, and I gave in so easily to her when I shouldn't have. I did things to her without even realizing, and I liked it, but I didn't want to. I was so confused and angry. I still don't know what to think." Naruto said as he sobbed.

"Just because you reacted doesn't mean you gave in Naruto-kun. It was the result of the drugs that they used on you. Even if she didn't bring you into that room full of gas, your body would have had a natural response to her touching even if you didn't want to. Trust me Naruto-kun when you do find the right woman for you, it will feel so much better than what you experienced there." Tsunade said in a comforting tone.

Naruto looked up at Tsunade "You mean even if I wasn't drugged it would have felt the same?"

"Yes, your body can have a natural reaction to certain stimulation even if you didn't want it to happen. Don't think of your reaction to her as an emotional response Naruto-kun. It was because of the gas that your mind gave into her advances and wasn't able to resist her further. It was because of that natural response to stimulation that your body reacted the way that it did." Tsunade said in a reassuring tone.

'It was just like Kurama told me but I didn't realize I felt so guilty about it. Even though I said it was Danzō's fault, I guess I still did think it was all my fault that it happened.' Naruto thought.

" **Hmph, such thoughts are beneath you. It was obvious that green eye vixen was a lost cause. Do not feel guilty for setting her free and giving her peace as you described. Do not feel shame that you fell prey to those primal urges as you are only mortal, and you have already shown resilience above most puny humans. It was only the effects of the drug that caused you to falter in your weakest moment. In a few years, I doubt that even that drug will have any effect on you."** Kurama said.

"I understand," Naruto said in response to both Kurama and Tsunade.

"Promise me that if you start feeling angry for no reason, or you start feeling guilty or ashamed of what happened you will come and talk to one of us. Don't remain silent about these things Naruto-kun because it can have more of an effect on your mind than you realize." Tsunade said.

"I promise, oba-chan," Naruto said with a sniffle.

"Is that the sword you are wearing now Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yea, jiji, after I killed her I realized she just wanted to remain by my side so I thought maybe her spirit could find peace and move on if I carried a part of her with me," Naruto replied softly.

"That was very kind and noble of you Naruto-kun to give someone who was your enemy peace in death even after everything she had done. That proves you are still a good person, but you don't need to carry such a reminder with you all the time. I have no doubt that you will grow to become a strong and honorable man without it Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said giving Naruto a pat on the back.

"Thanks, jiji. I feel a lot better now that I spoke about it, but I still want to carry the sword with me." Naruto said seriously.

As Naruto looked up to Hiruzen, he was reminded again of the change in his eyes.

"Naruto-kun what happened to your eyes?" Hiruzen asked taking a closer look.

"When I had to fight all those Root shinobi inside the base, the Kyūbi was helping me sense them all since there were a lot of small corridors and hallways. I kinda synchronized with him, but he says it will go away once I rest." Naruto explained.

Hiruzen looked at Tsunade, who nodded in confirmation. It was troubling, but they would wait until tomorrow to press the issue. It was likely due to the amount of stress he had to deal with today alone.

"Well, Naruto-kun, it is almost time for the council meeting. I think it would be a good experience for you to attend if you feel up to it," Hiruzen asked. "Don't feel obligated to go though if you don't want to."

"I actually do want to go jiji. I really do feel a lot better now. The only thing that will make me feel even better is some ramen and my bed I think." Naruto replied.

Hiruzen and Tsunade both chuckled and Tsunade gave him a little squeeze.

"I think that everyone would agree with that right now. Let's get this meeting over with. You can stay with me the whole time and don't worry about anything those fogies bother you with. You don't have to answer to them tonight." Tsunade said.

Naruto nodded and backed up so Tsunade could stand from the kneeling position she had taken up to comfort him.

Hiruzen picked up all the invasion reports that were the most recent and looked over the rest of his papers to make sure Shikaku had all the documents from Danzō's office. He was certain those documents had the evidence needed to convince the Daimyō to indict Koharu and Homura. They might try to make a scene but with just a few things Hiruzen had read over already, there was no chance for them to try cover this up.

Naruto might have some nasty things shouted at him but in the end, he felt it would be worth seeing the two most problematic members of the council face justice. Naruto would see that a message would be sent to people who had plotted against him and hopefully he would finally be able to feel safe in his own village.

Naruto followed Tsunade and Hiruzen out of his office and into the Council chambers.

 **Konoha Council Chamber – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Jiraiya sat at the back waiting for the show to get started. He might have missed out on Danzō's death, but he couldn't wait for Homura and Koharu to get their comeuppance.

His eyes flicked towards the entrance when he saw his sensei enter the room followed by Tsunade and Naruto surprisingly. As he looked at Naruto, he could tell that something had gotten the boy worked up recently, and he shot a questioning glance at Tsunade, who saw it and subtly shook her head.

The boy must have had a traumatic experience in Danzō's base regarding that Makoto girl. He had caught the glances that Team 7 had sent Naruto's way when he mentioned killing the girl. He had thought it was another symptom of his "Kyūbi sync" as he called it.

Tsunade took her seat next to Hiruzen and directed Naruto to take the seat next to her. Naruto sat in the chair and adopted his stoic pose with his eyes closed but instead of crossing his arms beneath his chest he held them folded in his lap. Naruto could feel that all eyes were currently on him for the moment but didn't want to feel their emotions while he was still worked up, so he had shut his senses off as much as possible.

Homura and Koharu sat in their respective places with blank looks on their faces. They looked unfazed by the events of the day. They didn't know why the jinchūriki was in the chamber, and they were curious about the stacks of papers Hiruzen was currently discussing quietly with Shikaku.

On the other hand, the Clan heads all had signs that they had been involved in the battle, minus Shikaku Nara, who had been directing the forces, and Inoichi Yamanaka, who had been relaying the commands to the division leaders using his clan jutsu to transmit the orders mentally.

Everyone was currently studying Naruto, wondering why he was sitting next to Tsunade and the Hokage as most were aware of his status as jinchūriki, but didn't know what purpose he had at this meeting. Now that they had gotten a look at Naruto closely in person, however, many were beginning to question if he was related to the Yondaime after all. Silent conversation began to break out amongst the clan heads as they waited for the meeting to start.

Naruto, for the most part, remained unphased by their staring. Kurama had been trying to settle his emotions by saying that he didn't sense anyone having any harmful intent towards him, but there was some deception from the old man and woman near the Hokage.

Naruto still felt a little uneasy at how Makoto had fooled his senses so easily when no one seemed to be capable of it. Even with the plausible reasons for his senses to have failed, it was still unsettling.

Perhaps it was just a result of the trauma he had experienced after he fell into her trap. At the time, it didn't seem to bother him as greatly. Then he had been too caught up in fighting and surviving that he pushed it aside altogether. When he tried to analyze it after the reverse summons, he pushed it aside as a lesser concern so a small part of him felt that it must not have been important to him at all.

When he had to relay it to the Hokage and Tsunade in detail though it was as if an invisible floodgate of emotions had arisen and he couldn't help but run the gauntlet of fear, anger, betrayal, guilt, and shame that seemed to collide into a tangled mess.

Perhaps he didn't feel such things before because of the battle synchronization also. It was possible since Kurama wouldn't be affected by such things.

" **Do not dwell on it, for now, kit. Once this gathering has ended, you will return to your den to rest. The light of day is more revealing then the dark of night. Remember what the old monkey goat had told you in the past."** Kurama said.

 _'Yea "Time changes how all things are viewed" It is still fresh in my mind on top of everything else, though.'_ Naruto replied.

" **You will master such feelings in time as we move forward with the plan. Soon they will only be nuisances for you to simply disregard."** Kurama snorted.

 _'Thanks, Kurama.'_ Naruto said with an internal smile.

Kurama's rare compliments were always the best thing to making him feel better when he screwed up.

Naruto sensed B entering the council chamber and looked up to see him enter with the Raikage.

"Ah, Raikage-dono. If you would please have a seat over here," Hiruzen said motioning to the set of chairs next to Naruto.

"Thank you Hokage-dono. I think you have the right idea here. Your council is much smaller than the one in Kumo." A said with a smirk as he moved towards his seat.

A chose the seat on the end to allow B to sit next to Naruto. B strutted over and stuck his fist out again which Naruto bumped right away with a small smile on his face. B then sat down and began to scribble in his notebook already bored.

 _'Man you had the right idea B, I should have thought of that, but oba-chan will probably get really pissed if I worked on seals instead of paying attention.'_ Naruto thought.

 _'You don't have to go to these all the time?'_ B asked.

 _'Nope, this is the first time I have even been in here.'_ Naruto replied.

 _'Well don't worry about it so much. If it's anything like the ones we have in Kumo it's just boring village stuff.'_ B said nonchalantly.

" **It will be a little more exciting today I bet considering that there was an invasion to deal with, plus look at the surprise on the council members faces at your presence here,"** Gyūki said.

" **Tch those are the fool clan heads not council members. The two deceptive weaklings by the Hokage are the only real council members."** Kurama said with contempt.

Both Naruto and B looked over at the clan heads and the council members when Gyūki made his comment before Naruto closed his eyes again, and B just went back to scribbling lyrics into his notebook.

Jiraiya noticed the synchronized look and had to smirk at how the council and clan heads that noticed became unsettled by that action. He was really curious to what the bijū had said to make them both look at the council like that.

'To think they are probably having a whole conversation right now with the bijū as well and no one is any wiser about it for the most part.' Jiraiya thought.

 _'So how did things turn out with Shukaku?'_ Naruto asked.

" **Shukaku has been suppressed for now, and the toad sage is due to look at his seal tomorrow sometime. You should request to be present so we can all link together and finally discuss the plan."** Kurama said.

" **I know that Shukaku would agree with what you are planning, but it does not relieve my concerns,"** Gyūki said firmly.

" **Of course, it doesn't,"** Kurama said with contempt. **"You care too much for the humans and think they should remain in control. They have shown they are incapable of such with the world soon to be on the brink of ruin."** Kurama finished with a huff.

 _'Well if we use the meditation that Gyūki and I created we can keep the balance restored.'_ B said.

 _'Won't that all stop when you get old or your seal breaks though? I mean my seal is designed to be adjustable so it can either lock or open completely, but your seal will weaken over time regardless.'_ Naruto said.

" **You are correct, unfortunately. The more B uses my chakra, the sooner the seal will weaken."** Gyūki said in a concerned tone.

 _'Which is why Killa B don't scrap and rather throw down with rhymes.'_ B rapped.

Kurama growled, **"Don't start with that incessant noise now."**

" **For now, I believe we should exchange chakra in our mindscape and solidify our bond before we face Shukaku at the next opportunity,"** Gyūki said.

 _'Won't they all notice if we do that right now?'_ Naruto said nervously.

 _'Nah it will be all right little nine. We just dip on to the mindscape and split then it will be legit.'_ B rapped.

" **Will you grant your ability to B Kurama?"** Gyūki asked.

" **Very well I will aid your jinchūriki. Perhaps it will give him more humility."** Kurama grumbled.

 _'YO Mr. Nine dropping phat rhymes!'_ B shouted excitedly.

Naruto could barely keep from laughing out loud and giving them away.

 **"** **SILENCE you pathetic fool! I will not be humiliated by one such as you."** Kurama roared.

 _'Okay chill man I was just giving you props.'_ B said sheepishly.

" **Let us get this over quickly shall we?"** Gyūki said with an eye roll.

Kurama merely grumbled some more before he pulled Naruto into the shared mindscape with B and Gyūki. B moved over to Kurama cautiously while Naruto strolled up to Gyūki and immediately placed his hand onto one of Gyūki's hands. B placed his hand on Kurama's paw and braced himself for the rush.

Naruto felt cold as Gyūki's chakra entered his pathways. He felt his pathways and tenketsu expand, and his chakra felt cooler than usual, but it didn't appear to increase in density like it did with Matatabi.

Naruto looked up at him and bowed "Thank you for your gift, Gyūki."

" **You are welcome, Naruto. I have granted you the ability to create my ink which will allow you to disorient or bind your enemies with ink clones. Once the ink has dyed the opponent, it will seal them so they can not move. I have also increased your reserves slightly and made it easier for you to control your chakra then it was before."** Gyūki said.

"Wow, that's awesome _ **!**_ Does this mean I can use the ink to create other seals as well?" Naruto asked in an excited tone.

" **Yes, it will make any other seals you create using the ink twice as potent, However, do not use any healing or chakra restoration seals made with that ink on non-jinchūriki since they will likely be injured by the infusion of my chakra in the ink,"** Gyūki said.

They both were distracted by B's cry of pain as he rolled on the ground of the mindscape.

"Argh, it burns!" B said as the Kurama's chakra died down and B started to heal slowly.

" **Hmph. Even the kit handled that better when he was but a newborn."** Kurama snorted.

B just pouted before bowing to Kurama, mumbling his thanks, and moving back over to Gyūki.

"The emotion sensing is going to be really hard to decipher for awhile, but you will probably adjust to it sooner than I did, seeing as your much older than I am. Kurama told me that life experience was essential to understanding what you are sensing." Naruto said to B.

"It's hard to describe, but the best advice I can tell you is that you will feel like there is a giant orb around you and you will want to close that orb around your head at the beginning until it feels normal. Once you don't notice the orb, expand it slightly until you start feeling everything around you again. That way it won't overwhelm you when you sense everyone's lies, deceit, manipulation, anger, hate, lust, greed, or fear." Naruto said in a knowing tone.

"Man, I feel ya. I can already start picking some stuff up now, and it's not cool yo." B said with a frown.

" **I supposed this explains why Kurama is so damn grouchy and untrusting all the time,"** Gyūki said flatly as he was starting to pick up the emotions through his bond with B.

Kurama just snorted.

"Can you really blame him for that when all you can sense is anger and hatred around you, though?" Naruto said sadly.

"I understand why he hates us so much when I practically was drowning in those emotions as I grew up," Naruto said solemnly.

" **Hmph. That is no excuse kit. Even with the whole village hating you, your behavior did not change. That tells me that the rest of the filth have no reason besides their innate corruption and vile nature."** Kurama said.

Naruto walked back over to Kurama and jumped up onto his paw.

"I know Kurama, but now that I experienced some of that myself I can see why it was so easy for them to fall. Yes, it took a drug for me to actually lose control of myself but the feeling was just so overwhelming maybe it was easier for me before since I had you inside of me from the start." Naruto said.

" **No, kit. You had a pure soul from the start. I never sensed any emotions from you until you began to become exposed to the taint of humanity as you grew."** Kurama said seriously.

Gyūki and B watched on but didn't say anything. They were still working on the negative emotion sensing control exercise that Naruto described and were beginning to understand why they felt the way they did.

Even now they could sense the villagers anger at the invading forces; they sensed people lying about their losses or lying to their neighbors about looting their home while they were still trapped in the shelter. These emotions were truly ugly, and they could see why Kurama always called humans filth or corrupted.

Gyūki sighed **"It must be difficult. When you are forced to focus on the bad, it is easy to lose sight of the good. Remember that Naruto, Kurama.**

" **We must depart I sense the final fools are approaching, and the gathering will begin shortly,"** Kurama said.

With that thought, the shared mindscape faded, and the four of them prepared themselves for a boring meeting.


	42. Council Revelations

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edit 4/22/16

 **Chapter 41**

 **Council Revelations**

 **Konoha Council Chamber – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Naruto and B exited the mindscape shortly before the Lightning, and Fire Daimyō's were about to enter the Council chambers.

B twitched oddly as he was still sensing half of the village's negative emotions, which were relatively strong given the events of the day. A gave B a strange look who simply shook his head and gestured that he would explain later.

Jiraiya had been watching the two carefully and noticed how both B and Naruto had remained as still as statues for a minute when B suddenly twitched and Naruto had a small almost imperceptible smile on his face.

 _'Wow, this is intense yo all these feelings flowing round. People be raring for a pounding, screaming for a scrapping, snatching, and grabbing or running up on fools.'_ B said as he tried to contain his sensing even further.

Naruto extended his senses out to catch a snippet of what B was feeling.

 _'Yea it's a little worse than usual, but things seemed to have calmed down for the most part.'_ Naruto replied.

" **A little worse? This is only a little?"** Gyūki said in an astonished tone.

" **Like I stated before the village is full of the prime example of humanity and its filth. This is the village who sought out and tried to kill my vessel before he had seen six winters. Their hatred of him still after six more winters have only started to dim even with him going out of his way not to incite them."** Kurama said with a growl.

 _'Why do you stay if they hate you so much here?'_ B asked.

 _'It's my home, and my parents sacrificed everything to protect it. I just think I am supposed to honor them by staying even if there isn't much to keep me here.'_ Naruto said sadly.

 _'You are quite the straight and low little nine. You keep in mind if things go down B is always willing to throw down. Kumo will be your new clik you just need to make the trip.'_ B rapped sincerely.

" **It will be interesting to see how much different the people of Kumo are when it comes to negative emotions,"** Gyūki said.

" **It won't be much different at all. The only difference I suspect will be the emotions won't be targeted at you specifically like they target us here."** Kurama replied.

The conversation between the bijū and jinchūriki halted as both of the Daimyō entered the room and everyone stood and bowed to them. Once the Daimyō had taken their seats on the dais, the room fell quiet as Hiruzen called everyone to attention.

"First, I would like to thank our Honored Daimyō for their presence in this meeting. May I confirm that the agreement between Kaminari no Kuni and Hi no Kuni has been agreed upon to your favor?" Hiruzen said.

"That is correct. The terms were agreed upon earlier, and you may proceed." the Fire Daimyō said as he started to fan himself.

"Agreed. This contract is most acceptable to me as well." the Lightning Daimyō stated with a nod towards A.

"Very well the terms of our latest alliance with Kumo and Kaminari no Kuni are as follows. First Konoha and it's allies agree to a mutual aggression clause in which if Kumo assaults or is assaulted by a foreign nation not allied with Konoha, then Konoha will support in the attack of that foreign nation or in defense of Kumo." Hiruzen stated.

Murmurs were going around the room at the unexpected alliance with a village that was, for the most part, hostile recently.

"Second, Konoha agrees to the boycott of goods from Tsuchi no Kuni and Iwa including all ores, minerals, domestic goods, and weapons that are obtainable in Kaminari no Kuni," Hiruzen announced.

"Third, Kaminari no Kuni and Kumo will be capable of purchasing no more than 15% additional chakra paper and lumber over the current restrictions," Hiruzen stated.

"Finally, the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi will receive instruction from the jinchūriki of the Hachibi for a period of no more than two weeks with additional periods of instruction to be negotiated in the future based on the results of the first instruction period," Hiruzen concluded.

 _'Well, that's a surprise to me. What's on the agenda B-sensei?'_ Naruto said as he looked over at B.

 _'We will work mostly on chakra cloak stage 1 and synchronization.'_ B said seriously.

" **It will be difficult to train you further without access to Genbu and the Waterfalls of Truth,"** Gyūki said.

" **Plus we need the key from the toad sage and the remainder of my chakra as well if I sensed correctly,"** Kurama added.

 _'Key?'_ B asked.

 _'It's part of my seal that allows to adjust how much chakra Kurama can grant to me. The key can tighten the seal or loosen it completely.'_ Naruto explained.

" **I see. So you may not even be capable of fully synchronizing with Kurama until you open the seal completely. Do you think that the toad sage will grant you this key now?"** Gyūki said.

 _'I don't think so.'_ Naruto said sadly.

 _'I believe he plans to give it to you during your training trip. He had made secret plans with me to have you meet us in Genbu during my normal training time with Yugito in two years time.'_ B said.

 _'I guess I will just have to wait until then.'_ Naruto said

" **Hmph. It is better this way. Your body still requires time to grow fully and while synchronizing with me and using stage 1 chakra will not affect your growth adversely using partial or even full transformations during that time could have an effect."** Kurama explained.

 _'You mean on top of the whole natural chakra effects right?'_ Naruto said with exasperation.

" **Natural chakra will never make anything negative occur but using bijū chakra can since we have been outside of the natural cycle for so long it is almost like tainted chakra that you encountered within the curse mark. That is why it is so corrosive to mortals. We are also created from a more raw form of dense chakra which is why we can, in essence, create our forms as we desire."** Gyūki explained.

 _'Think of it as Lava once cooled down it forms new ground on which things grow.'_ B added

 _'I see the bijū chakra is like lava and the ground is like natural chakra.'_ Naruto said

" **Correct. It is also laced with our emotions from the start of our creation which is why you have begun to sense more from me as our bond solidifies and becomes stronger,"** Kurama said.

 _'That warm feeling when I connect with you, those are the positive emotions.'_ Naruto said in understanding.

Naruto was distracted from the conversation by the ruckus that had started in the council chamber.

There Clan heads and the council members were currently arguing over whether Naruto should be trained as a jinchūriki at all. The council members being firmly against with a few of the clan heads while the remaining clan heads were arguing that Naruto should be trained.

"We maybe in an alliance now but can we be confident that Kumo's motives are pure enough to allow them access to our jinchūriki?" Hiashi said with as suspicious glance at the Raikage and B.

"Precisely. None of this would have been necessary if we had the boy properly trained in the first place." Homura added.

"Do you really think that Danzō would be better at training a jinchūriki then a jinchūriki themselves?" Tsume said as she shook her head.

"Calm yourselves!" Hiruzen called out. Once everyone finally settled down, Hiruzen continued. "The training will be supervised by Naruto's shishō Jiraiya. There is no need for concern."

There were some murmurs amongst the clan heads when that information was revealed, but Homura and Koharu were not convinced.

"I still say it is too dangerous to train the boy in this manner. How do we know that the Hachibi will not assist the Kyūbi in bending the boy to his will." Koharu said.

" **Tch, useless old bat. What fools these mortal filth are."** Kurama grumbled.

B face planted on the table when he heard Koharu's statement. He had to bite his forearm so that he wouldn't burst out laughing.

A shook his head at the stupidity he had just witnessed.

" **Is she really serious?"** Gyūki asked in astonishment.

Naruto appeared to be unaffected by the whole outburst.

 _'Well, at least, I know who was trying to stop me from joining the Academy when I was younger. This must be why jiji wanted me to attend he must have something planned for the old bat.'_ Naruto said with a flat tone.

" **Hmph. Not soon enough if you ask me. At least, if what you suspect is true then the old monkey goat has accomplished something."** Kurama snorted.

 _'Hey don't be like that Kurama. You know jiji has done a lot for me considering the circumstances.'_ Naruto replied.

" **He was just doing his duty,"** Kurama said with a growl. **"He should have done more! You should have been raised by the Toad Sage and the brown eyed vixen next to you."** Kurama snorted.

 _'If he was dealing with these meetings half the time I can only imagine what else these idiots had tried to plan for me. I find myself more tired now than when we were fighting in the Root base.'_ Naruto said snidely.

"If that were remotely possible then the Hachibi would have already successfully freed himself or the Nibi and assaulted Kumo. If such an incident occurred, they would be unable to keep an attack of that magnitude silent for long." Shibi said.

"That is correct, and to acquire full transformation of their bijū could only mean that there is cooperation between their bijū and the jinchūriki themselves. This info can only mean that both parties have come to some type of arrangement for mutual benefit. Seeing as B is the adopted brother of Raikage-dono, I do not see how we can justify such accusations since Kumo has not had an attack by a bijū for a considerable length of time." Shikaku added.

"You are right about that Nara." The Raikage jumped in. "We have had both the Nibi and Hachibi sealed over 20 years with no incidents since their last holders died of old age or battle. Our jinchūriki are not feared or hated in Kumo because the people have no reason to fear them. Our jinchūriki have displayed perfect control over their bijū to the populous on many occasions without incident."

"Truly? It seems a wonder to me that we do not extend the training further for our own jinchūriki if that is the case." The Fire Daimyō spoke up.

"I was a witness to these demonstrations on a few occasions I must say it was quite impressive indeed." The Lightning Daimyō added after a glance at the Raikage.

'Perhaps attempting to lure the Kyūbi jinchūriki was not as much as a fool errand as I thought.' The Lightning Daimyō thought to himself.

"That maybe so, but the damage done by your bijū had always been contained outside of the village proper. There are too many people here who still deal with the trauma of the Kyūbi rampaging the village," Homura said with a scowl.

"After 13 years you people still haven't got over it? How long will this invasion scar your people for? 30 years? The Raikage snorted. "That is just a ridiculous argument on its face. Your people need to get over it already, seriously."

"Please, Raikage-dono there is no need to be facetious about this. There have always been those of lesser constitution than others. I am confident you can still find some in Kumo who have resentment against us, and we haven't been at war for over twenty years." Hiruzen said sternly.

A just snorted before crossing his arms.

"I believe that there is no more to discuss. I have already agreed to the terms. The jinchūriki will be trained for two weeks time at the present, and I _strongly_ recommend that more time is negotiated in the future." The Fire Daimyō said sternly.

"Correct. If there are no other portions of the new treaty that need to be discussed then we may dismiss our honorable guests and continue with the village business." Hiruzen said.

No one objected since the Fire Daimyō had put his foot down quite clearly.

"I bid you a good evening then, Daimyo-sama. Raikage-dono, I suspect you are planning on leaving tomorrow?" Hiruzen asked.

"Correct. B will remain with his team for the two week training period." A replied.

"Very well. I will have an Anbu come and collect you sometime tomorrow afternoon to set up the arraignments," Hiruzen said to B.

"Cool with that Hokage-sama. See ya little nine" B said before fist bumping with Naruto.

After the Lightning Daimyō, A, and B had left the room, Hiruzen activated the security seals.

"Now. Onto private business regarding the invasion itself." Hiruzen said before he began rifling through the papers Naruto had obtained from Root.

"I must sadly inform you that there have been multiple traitors exposed within Konoha on this night thanks in part to Naruto-kun's efforts here," Hiruzen said.

"What do you mean Hokage-sama?" Hiashi asked.

"When Naruto-kun was sent to subdue the Ichibi and prevent its transformation from reaching the village itself, he was intercepted by Root forces who subdued him and took him directly to Root HQ where they attempted to re-educate him for their own purposes. Such an act during the midst of an invasion can only be seen as treasonous." Hiruzen said with a stormy visage.

Homura and Koharu glanced at each other in concern. How could Danzō do something so damn foolish? Did he flee and leave them to take the fall for all their actions?

"Naruto-kun was able to break free and, in the process, discovered Danzō's private office. Naruto-kun brought to me all the documentation Danzō had within which clearly identifies multiple traitors in our ranks. These traitors not only aided Danzō but Orochimaru and the Tsuchikage for setting the stage for the invasion of Konoha for their own goals." Hiruzen said as he looked over at Homura and Koharu.

"What nonsense is this? Are you accusing us of being traitors?" Homura said shakily.

"That is exactly what I am doing Homura, Koharu. How could you do this to Konoha?" Hiruzen said sadly.

"What are you talking about how could we? You wouldn't leash the damn demon like he should have been. Look at him and tell me you don't see the Kyūbi taking him over. Even his eyes are demonic!" Koharu cried out.

Everyone looked over at Naruto, who stared back at them with trepidation. Tsunade grabbed his hand under the desk and gave it a squeeze for reassurance.

"You are a fool Koharu. Naruto-kun is no demon, and he is not being taken over by the Kyūbi. Do you really think the Kyūbi would be sitting in a room with us placidly? Do you really believe that the Kyūbi would sit and wait idly by instead of just immediately breaking free and rampaging us?" Hiruzen said back.

"She raises a good point, though, Hokage-sama. Why have his eyes changed in that manner?" Shikaku asked.

Both Inoichi and Shikaku were concerned that the Kyūbi had finally begun manipulating Naruto for his own gain. Currently, they were the only ones on the Shinobi Council that knew that the Kyūbi had established contact with Naruto already.

"That's easy to explain." Jiraiya cut in. "In times of stress, the seal is designed to allow more chakra to flow into the boy to give him access to what he needs to defend himself. In situations where there is a lot of anger or hatred directed at him, he will be allowed to gain more of the Kyūbi's chakra. So, in essence, the more you idiots attempted to isolate him with the hatred of the villagers, the more power you granted to the Kyūbi." Jiraiya said in a mocking tone.

Homura and Koharu paled with that thought. They had been behind the whole propaganda campaign to isolate the jinchūriki so that Danzō could gain access to him when the village turned against him.

"Ah, I see you have finally realized just how stupid your plans really were," Hiruzen said in a scathing tone.

"I have here in my hands proof that Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane provided sensitive information to Danzō and that information was transmitted to Orochimaru as well as Iwa and Kusa. I also have proof that Danzō had been dealing with Orochimaru in the smuggling and exchange of orphans for experimentation and forced recruitment into Root." Hiruzen said.

Naruto looked down at his hands in his lap with that thought.

'...Makoto-chan did they do experiments on you also? How much did you really suffer?' Naruto thought to himself.

"No, it was not to be given outside of the village. We just wanted to make sure the jinchūriki was controlled!" Koharu shouted.

"It doesn't matter because everything you provided to Danzō was sold outside of the village for Danzō's own gain. You both also received payments in the form of land deeds and money from these deals." Hiruzen said waiving a ledger in his hand that showed Danzō had kept track of all exchanges of information and values of items, money, or goods received for that information.

Homura and Koharu could only stand there dumbfounded that Danzō had been so foolish enough to document everything in that manner. They knew he was arrogant, but they had no idea he was that arrogant.

"Anbu! Arrest the traitors and bring them to Ibiki immediately. He will ensure that we haven't missed any information that wasn't documented." Hiruzen said with a sigh.

Koharu had been a trusted teammate since he was a genin, and Homura had been one of his best friends. How did they manage to become like Danzō doing such shady deals and selling information as they were? It made no sense to him that they suddenly changed so quickly.

Koharu and Homura didn't put up any fight as they were carted away to be interrogated.

Naruto watched as they were taken away, but he wasn't certain what to think at this moment. Too many things had happened to him on this day already, and he was emotionally drained at this point.

" **Now that those fools have been removed we need not worry about any threats towards us anymore. The most dangerous snakes have been removed and we can continue with our plans freely."** Kurama said.

 _'Yes, I suppose that is true. We will just have to find a place where we can keep everything hidden so that jiji and oba-chan don't find out.'_ Naruto said as he eyed Tsunade from the corner of his eye.

" **We need not concern ourselves with that at the moment. Only some of the items we require will draw the attention of those who have the knowledge. Mainly the old monkey goat and the toad sage.** Kurama said

 _'Maybe we should try to set one up tomorrow while everyone is busy. Do you think the chakra caverns will work? Otherwise, we will have all the stuff with us when we return and no place to put it.'_ Naruto replied.

Kurama snorted **"If we managed to get it all during your trip, I will be pleasantly surprised. However do not anticipate this as a possibility. There are a few items on there that you may have to acquire by force."**

 _'Which means leaving the village once we have obtained everything that doesn't require force... I see.'_ Naruto thought with a soft sigh.

" **It has to be done. I know it pains you, but it has to be done."** Kurama soothed.

 _'I know. It will just hurt them badly when I do leave. The betrayal I felt with Makoto, Taro, and Ren, I am uneasy with making them feel that way even if I know it is necessary.'_ Naruto replied.

" **This is why it must be you who does this kit, anyone else would take advantage of the situation. I trust you will not take advantage, and will do this for the good of the bijū and the world. Humanity must not maintain the upper hand or all is lost."** Kurama said seriously.

 _'I haven't forgotten, and I know what is at stake. I won't falter Kurama; I made a promise, and I don't go back on my promises.'_ Naruto said

"The remaining traitors are being dealt with throughout the night and into tomorrow. We have a few Chūnin, Jōnin, and even some Anbu traitors to round up that were, in essence, Orochimaru's spies or Root spies. We will also have to start sweeping more Root bases and deciding what to do with the Root operatives themselves." Hiruzen said.

"What about Danzō? What are we going to do about him?" Tsume asked.

"Danzō has already been dealt with." Hiruzen spat. "It was part of the reason why we had made an alliance with Kumo on such short notice. Kumo was initially recruited to join in on the invasion, but the Raikage decided he didn't trust Oto or Iwa not to turn on Kumo once we were out of the picture. Kumo provided the intelligence needed for me to send a squad to attempt to apprehend Danzō once the invasion started. Danzō self-destructed himself and the main Root HQ in an effort to eliminate Naruto-kun here." Hiruzen said.

"The Raikage had his forces in the position that Orochimaru had designated to him for the invasion. This move put the Raikage's troops in the perfect position to flank Oto forces. Afterward, his forces moved from East to West outside of the village to break the support teams for Iwa and Kusa." Hiruzen explained.

"So for now, we move onto the shinobi force status and damage estimates before we begin to create contingency plans for later invasions," Hiruzen said.

Shikaku stood up at this and cleared his throat for a moment before beginning.

"Even with current updates, we still are sitting at 15% of our combat forces and 22% of the supply and logistics teams. Out of the 15% loss to the combat forces, 2% are critically injured or crippled to the point where they will only be capable of joining the support and logistics teams once recovered. The remaining combat losses of approximately 350 shinobis or kunoichi will be capable of drawing on permanent disability and pensions within a month. 9% of the active support and logistics teams will be capable of fulfilling a combat role within two years time with focused training. Given the trends for graduation rates from the academy for the past five years, we can expect to have the support and logistics teams back to pre-invasion numbers in 4 years time and combat forces within 2." Shikaku said.

"Collateral damage to the village is mainly civilian residential sectors, training ground security fences, and the West and North West walls. With a few business impacted at the village center and some infrastructure damage, we are looking at probably 1.5 million ryō in losses total with the majority of those costs going towards replacing the defensive walls, and infrastructure damage to all sectors." Shikaku concluded.

"Much less that I had expected considering the forces arrayed against us," Hiashi said.

"It certainly could have been a lot worse with Ōnoki. He must have had orders from his Daimyō not to use his Jinton to the effect that he is capable of." Hiruzen added off hand.

"That brings up another question. How was the Ichibi jinchūriki subdued and why didn't Iwa bring their Jinchūriki to the battle.?" Chōza asked.

The clan heads all looked at Naruto when Chōza brought that up.

 _'Should I bother explaining to them or do you think it will cause more problems?'_ Naruto asked.

" **The toad sage may be aware already it might be better, for now, to appear cooperative,"** Kurama said.

"Naruto you don't have to reply to that if you don't want to," Jiraiya said.

"It's okay, shishō. I think it might be better to explain some things so that everyone can react to facts instead of paranoia and fear," Naruto said before he stood up.

"If you feel it is best Naruto-kun, but I am labeling all this information as S-rank that is not to be discussed with anyone outside of this room," Hiruzen said firmly.

"The Ichibi jinchūriki had an extra seal placed on him at some point in his life that made him unstable because it would cause pain to the bijū every time chakra was accessed. It made the bijū constantly strain against the seal containing him because he was driven mad by the pain. This seal, in turn, resulted in the jinchūriki himself taking on a more bloodthirsty and heartless disposition to try and appease the bijū inside him." Naruto said sadly.

"The process of subduing him required to separate the link between them in this berserk state to prevent a full transformation. Then we pulled the Ichibi into a shared space created by the seals used to store the bijū to calm his mind before placing a chakra restriction seal onto the jinchūriki itself." Naruto concluded.

"What do you mean by link?" Shibi asked

Inoichi and Shikaku gave each other glance before they looked back at Naruto.

"As was brought up earlier, during times of stress the chakra flow between a bijū and its jinchūriki is increased. If enough of their chakra is blended, a mental link can be established between the jinchūriki and their bijū. The more chakra that is used, the stronger and deeper this link can become." Naruto said before pausing to let the Clan heads ask questions or to see if Kurama objected to him continuing.

" **Let us see how these fools react to the truth. Answer their questions, for now. I will interject if there is something we should keep secret."** Kurama said encouragingly.

 _'Okay, Kurama I guess it is time to put everything on the table for now.'_ Naruto said.

" **Yes, we will be able to determine if there are more snakes to be watchful for,"** Kurama replied pleased that Naruto had also deduced his reason for revealing such things.

"What sort of things can happen when you have this link established?" Inoichi asked.

"It's different for each bijū and jinchūriki, but in my case, I can see, hear, smell, and feel emotions and chakra usage in a much greater capacity than normal," Naruto replied.

"Like how much are your senses affected when you are linked in comparison to normal?" Tsume asked.

"Well, because of the Kyūbi being sealed within me I was already able to smell and hear things around me for up to 150 yards, I can see in low light conditions, and sense the emotions that people are feeling if they are negative. Emotions like anger, hatred, deception, manipulation, lust, greed, or fear. When I link with the Kyūbi in battle, I gained the ability to sense chakra usage and my normal senses are increased to 300 yards." Naruto answered.

The Clan heads began to mumble to themselves about this revelation. The sensor capabilities that the boy had were beyond most accomplished sensors that they knew of.

"What about the other bijū and jinchūriki? What kind of abilities do they gain when they have this link?" Shikaku asked.

" **Do not reveal the knowledge of the other bijū that we have not encountered yet. It will raise too many suspicions."** Kurama said.

"I know that Hachibi grants some sensing capabilities like Kyūbi, but his abilities are mainly in his ink which can cloud the vision or act as a paralyzing fūinjutsu seal if the ink stains you. The Ichibi grants the Magnet Release bloodline which also increases one's affinities to Fūton and Doton to a degree. The Nibi granted an increase in Katon affinity and the flames from the Nibi are more resistant to water." Naruto replied.

"What about the others?" Shikaku asked.

"I haven't encountered any of the others," Naruto said quickly.

'Hmm, it seems the Kyūbi doesn't want him to reveal that knowledge. I supposed it's a good thing that Naruto is revealing everything he does know. The real question is: Does he know more and isn't revealing it himself? Or did the Kyūbi just refuse to tell him that knowledge?' Jiraiya thought.

Hiruzen also had his eyes narrowed as he had similar thoughts as Jiraiya did. He had not known about the linking ability and some of the information that Naruto was revealing was new to him as well.

"Going back to your emotion sensing. Are you saying that you have always sensed the negative emotions of everyone around you this whole time?" Inoichi asked with some concern.

"Yes. I didn't understand what they were when I was younger. I could tell when someone had bad intentions towards me or other people. As I grew I began to learn what these emotions were through trial and error I guess you can say. My range also began to expand to the point that I had to find out how to suppress my senses since I could detect the emotions from large portions of the village." Naruto replied.

Hiruzen was already aware of the emotion sensing, but he wasn't aware of the kind of range Naruto was capable of. It saddened him that Naruto had to feel all of that animosity. It was a wonder he had turned out as well as he did give the circumstances.

Tsunade felt terrible for Naruto having to grow up feeling that kind of emotions being directed at him. It was bad enough when you knew that someone hated you, but to actually feel that hatred being directed at you?

Jiraiya was just glad he would be taking the boy away from the village even more. He would modify some of his stops so that Naruto would experience a lot of the smaller more placid countries and villages to let the boy relax a bit.

"Let's not drag this boy through unpleasant memories anymore. The Ichibi, you said, was "dragged" to a shared space created by the seals. What do you mean by this?" Chōza asked.

"In order for a bijū to be sealed within a jinchūriki space needs to be created with fūinjutsu. Different seals behave in a variety of ways, but the creation of space that allows chakra to flow between reality and seal space is the one thing all bijū seals must establish in order for the bijū to remain sealed and a jinchūriki to access the bijū in some manner. This allows a jinchūriki with a link established to their bijū to create a space for other jinchūriki linked with their bijū to enter. In this case, B linked with the Hachibi and created a space for myself, the Kyūbi, Gaara, and the Ichibi to enter so that Ichibi was no longer in pain because he essentially exited the body of Gaara and inhabited this new space temporarily so the seal couldn't effect him. Once the Hachibi and the Kyūbi subdued the Ichibi physically to drag him into the new space B subdued Gaara with a chakra seal so that Ichibi could return to his normal seal without going mad again." Naruto answered.

"How could you be involved or even aware of this process if you were subdued by Root instead?" Hiashi asked suspiciously.

"Yes. Root subdued me at the time but I was within range to access the space created by the Hachibi and B. In fact, I would have broken free of the Root trap sooner if the Kyūbi had not been busy subduing the Ichibi for the village." Naruto snapped.

"Don't take that tone with me, boy, you better show the proper respect to your betters," Hiashi said in a scolding tone.

Naruto glowered at Hiashi but before he could reply, everyone attention was caught by Tsunade splintering the table in front of her.

"You shut your arrogant mouth Hiashi! You don't get to speak to him in that tone after throwing your subtle accusations. After all he went through today for the village he deserved better. I am warning you right now. Don't push your luck." Tsunade growled.

"Calm down everyone there is no need for this," Hiruzen called out.

Tsunade plopped back down in her chair after brushing it free of splinters.

"My apologies to you Tsunade-sama, Hokage-sama. I am also sorry if it seemed I was accusing you as well Naruto, but it seemed a little far fetched that you could be in two places at the same time." Hiashi said contritely.

"Yes it would seem like that to people who are unfamiliar with _real_ _fūinjutsu_ ," Naruto replied testily. "What you have to realize is that I was not physically in the shared space. Neither were Gaara or B physically present in that space. The space created is outside of this plane of existence, so mental representations of us were present in that space. The bijū, however, are not physical, so they were actually present in that space because they are just higher chakra manifestations." Naruto said in a droll tone.

Hiashi bristled at the offhanded insult Naruto had thrown his way with the "real fūinjutsu" comment. How dare this foolish boy insinuate that he had any involvement with the Caged Bird Seal.

"Ah yes, Shikamaru said that you were quite the prodigy with fūinjutsu Naruto. Do you think you can explain it in a more simplistic manner for the rest of us who are unfamiliar with sealing?" Shikaku said.

He was beginning to understand why Shikamaru had said that fūinjutsu was fascinating but troublesome.

"The storage scroll is probably the simplest explanation that can be used for this example. We all know that a small "pocket" of space is created with a seal that places the object into this pocket to be accessed later on. The bijū seals work in a similar manner but instead of a pocket imagine a house with nine rooms and each bijū is in their own room. A jinchūriki can create the tenth room inside this house, and the bijū and jinchūriki can all enter this new room through different doors." Naruto explained.

"What happens to this room when you leave?" Tsume asked.

"It just disappears since there is nothing to occupy the room at the time. Technically this is what also occurs with a storage scroll. The pocket doesn't exist until you channel the chakra to put an object into it." Naruto replied.

"So you as a jinchūriki can group up with the other jinchūriki and bijū at any time?" Chōza asked in a concerned tone.

"No. There are limits, of course. We need to be within range of each other probably 20 miles I would guess if what B told me was correct. The bijū must have established a link with each other and their jinchūriki in order for it to work by exchanging chakra. If the bijū do not get along with each other, then the link can't be established." Naruto explained.

"Are you saying that the bijū don't get along with each other?" Tsume said incredulously.

"Of course not do you get along with every human in the world?" Naruto snapped.

"Whoa! Don't get so angry there pup! How am I supposed to know?" Tsume said in a placating tone.

Naruto just crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes with a stern frown on his face.

"I think that is enough for now," Hiruzen said.

He could tell they were starting to get into dangerous territory with the questions they were asking and that they were starting to push into a territory Naruto obviously didn't want to talk about.

"What about Iwa's jinchūriki do we have any ideal why they wouldn't have attacked along with Suna's?" Chōza called out.

"I don't know anything about them so I can't answer that," Naruto said.

"Let us adjourn for tonight I am certain most of us are tired from battle and need to take care of matters in our own houses for now. If you have anything else you want to ask Naruto about, however, you will bring it to me directly and if I deem it worth learning about I will make the request of Naruto. None of you are to approach Naruto about these sorts of questions unless you have received permission beforehand. Is that understood?" Hiruzen said.

Everyone nodded in affirmation before they began leaving the council chambers.

"I am grateful that you revealed so much to us Naruto-kun. I think it will help a lot with getting the village to understand you better." Hiruzen said with a smile.

"That's the only reason I did it jiji. Once I saw what that councilwoman was thinking, I realized it might be better to reveal some things even if it was uncomfortable. I just hope they don't get all worked up over the bonds and linking." Naruto muttered.

"Bah, what does it matter? Soon you will be with me kid and after a few years it will all settle down, you'll see. It will be much better when you return." Jiraiya said patting Naruto on the back.

"I hope so shishō. Do you know how long it will be until we leave? I know before you said maybe three months depending on what your sources were saying." Naruto asked.

"Actually, we will need to leave sooner than that, I received some important information that I need to verify soon, but it will have to wait till after your training with B. I can only put off chasing down this lead for one week after your training. Hopefully, this will give you enough time to settle everything and say goodbye to all your friends and teammates." Jiraiya replied.

"I think that should be sufficient, shishō, will I get to go with you to meet Gaara tomorrow? I want to make sure he isn't suffering anymore." Naruto murmured.

"Sure, kid. I was going to have B show up in case the Ichibi managed to break free again," Jiraiya replied.

'Maybe the kid will get the Magnet release ability as well out of it.' Jiraiya thought with an internal smirk. He made a mental note to test the other abilities Naruto had gained from the Hachibi and Nibi while he was at it.

"Well let's all go home and rest for now. I won't expect too much from any of you until the afternoon so feel free to sleep in a bit Naruto-kun, you must need the rest." Tsunade said kindly.

Naruto nodded and followed his adopted family out of the Hokage tower.


	43. Tanuki Revealed

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There is mild sexual content present in this chapter.

4/22/16

 **Chapter 42**

 **Tanuki Revealed**

 **Next Morning - Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Jiraiya, Hiruzen, and Tsunade sat around discussing the events that occurred during the invasion yesterday. Currently, they were focusing on everything that had happened to Naruto and their concerns about his mental health.

Jiraiya had just been informed about what had really happened to Naruto in the Root base and was discouraged by the news.

"This is bad news. If Naruto ends up not allowing women to get close to him after this, there will be no reason for him to avoid whatever plan the Kyūbi has in store for him. Damn, I wish Minato could have given me more details." Jiraiya said.

"How will Naruto becoming a pervert stop whatever the Kyūbi is planning?" Tsunade said with a twitch in her eye.

"It's not like that, Tsunade. Minato said that I have to remind him of what he is. That Naruto had only experienced the bad things about humanity." Jiraiya said with guilt in his tone. "I am assuming that Minato meant that the Kyūbi is trying to establish that Naruto is separate from humanity as a jinchūriki and, unfortunately, most people treat them exactly like that," Jiraiya said with a growl.

"...and Naruto trusts the Kyūbi probably more than any of us," Hiruzen concluded. "I think Jiraiya is right about this, Tsunade. Mito had told Kushina that she needed to fill herself with love to counter the effects of the Kyūbi's hatred. It maybe that love is necessary for Naruto to feel a part of the village and humanity itself." Hiruzen said with a concerned look on his face.

"Yes. Love, sensei, not lust. Naruto is going to be turned off by lust since he said he can sense it. I don't think he will turn away a woman who is genuine." Tsunade replied stubbornly.

"Come on, hime! You know as well as I do that you can't have love without that lust as well." Jiraiya protested. "Can you honestly tell me that you never once lusted after Dan when he was alive?" Jiraiya said in a knowing tone.

It hurt Jiraiya that Tsunade had loved another man instead of him, but he had always been willing to do anything for her just to make her happy. Jiraiya had always loved Tsunade, but she had never shown interested in him in that way, so he turned to womanizing to try and sate his desire. He couldn't see any other woman seriously when compared with Tsunade, so he was content to seek out women who, like him, had no desire for a serious relationship. Jiraiya had more honor than to lead a woman on in any manner and always made it clear he was only looking for a good time.

"I... I suppose your right. I will have to speak with him again when he is more comfortable. To try and make him understand if I can, but it will probably take him a lot of time Jiraiya. Time we don't have if this threat you mentioned is true as well." Tsunade said sadly.

"That's why I've changed some of my destinations on our training trip. It will give the kid a chance to experience new things and give him a sense of adventure as well. I'll bring him to more of the tourist type villages where everything is peaceful, show him some of the better sides of humanity." Jiraiya looked over at Hiruzen. "It might add another year to our absence but while he in enjoying himself, I'll pick up more information on this organization that is actively tracking and gathering information on the jinchūriki and their bijū," Jiraiya replied.

"We will have to keep an eye out for their propaganda campaign to begin in Konoha soon as well," Hiruzen noted. "Are you confident that they are promoting the jinchūriki and bijū instead of portraying them in a negative light?" Hiruzen asked.

"It seems to be both, from what I gathered, sensei. There were reports of the same person talking up the jinchūriki in one bar and moving to another and spreading hostilities against them." Jiraiya scratched his chin in thought. "Whatever they did, rumor says they were successful in Iwa as both Roshi and Han disappeared from the village a few months after these strangers moved in and began their campaign. You and I both know that while Han was distant and surly, Roshi was completely loyal. For him to abandon Iwa? I have no clue what this organization could have done to convince him to abandon Iwa." Jiraiya said in a serious tone.

Hiruzen sighed. "Sadly, Naruto-kun is a flight risk. Especially with the Kyūbi constantly trying to get him to leave the village as it is."

"Do you really think so, sensei?" Tsunade said sadly.

"I can not disregard the fact that the Kyūbi has been trying to convince Naruto to leave the village. I am even reluctant about this training trip because of it. There just isn't enough here for him to want to remain if the situation gets bad. He doesn't know you very well Tsunade." Hiruzen explained.

"I wouldn't rule him as a flight risk just yet, sensei. If he had dealt with sensing all those emotions as a child and the Kyūbi didn't convince him to leave, then there could only be two possible outcomes for that." Jiraiya said with a thoughtful expression on his face. "One, the Kyūbi can't convince him to leave at all, or two, the Kyūbi and Naruto disagree on the subject entirely but have agreed upon certain circumstances that would have to be met in order for Naruto to leave the village. In truth, I believe the second to be the most likely. I think Naruto doesn't _want_ to leave the village, but he will not put himself or the Kyūbi at risk to remain in the village." Jiraiya said as he tapped his fingertips together.

"If anything, I think the best chance this organization has at getting Naruto to leave the village would be to strike his ultimate weakness," Jiraiya added after a few moments.

"What weakness is that?" Tsunade asked.

"The same thing that Minato was weak to, of course. If any of us who are close to him become threatened he probably wouldn't hesitate. I believe that is why he fell into that trap with Root so easily in the end. He identified with those orphans and he probably still cared for that girl on some level, regardless of her previous betrayal. Him possibly falling into a trap if there was a chance at saving all those people? That has Minato written all over it." Jiraiya said with some sadness.

"Actually, I think it was Kushina that time. Minato would have come up with a plan. Naruto just charged right in." Tsunade said with a sad smile.

"I have to agree with Tsunade on this one. Even with the pressure of a time limit, Minato would have come up with a plan of some sort. Naruto, at least, left a clone behind but decided to go in after a short amount of time." Hiruzen said as he shook his head.

"Kushina would have gone straight after Danzō. Eliminating the threat first was always her preferred method. Minato would have worried about the prisoners first." Jiraiya said with certainty.

"It doesn't matter either way," Tsunade said with a casual wave of her hand. "What is important now is this bond that has been established. Is it permanent? Will the Kyūbi gain more leeway with Naruto because of it?" Tsunade said thinking out loud.

"Well, at least B and the Raikage seem to be quite open about it. I suspect Kyūbi wouldn't have been as forthcoming about such things. I could tell that Naruto was holding back in the council meeting last night. I wouldn't be surprised if he was filtering things through the Kyūbi as he spoke." Jiraiya said.

"He was, for certain. I can tell." Hiruzen confirmed. "While he has been able to hide things from me, he has never been good at concealing the fact that he has been hiding things." Hiruzen chuckled.

"Well, he should be arriving soon. Hopefully, this sync he was talking about has ended, and he is more like himself again." Tsunade said.

All three of the older nins just fell silent as they waited for Naruto's arrival.

 **Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Naruto sat in his shower letting the water and tears run down his face. He wouldn't leave the comfort of his steamy shower until the tears stopped. When he had woken up this morning, the reality of everything finally bore down on him. All the people he had cut apart, incinerated, or stabbed in the Root base and, of course, Makoto.

He was letting himself mourn for Makoto, finally. After he had killed her, he had avoided the topic. When the Hokage and Tsunade pressed for the details about his assault, only the initial pain of being violated and betrayed flared up. Now that he studied his actions in the stillness of the morning, he realized that he _had_ still cared for her in some way.

While the primary reason behind claiming her sword was to grant Makoto peace and closure, subconsciously it was his way of preventing himself from finding the same peace or closure for what he had done to her. He realized now that he _wanted_ to feel the guilt for killing her. He wanted to look at the sword and punish himself for killing her in cold blood.

It didn't help that he had his first complete lewd dream last night, and she was the star of it. The pleasure and lust, the taste of her flesh against his tongue, feel of her around him, it had all felt so real.

In the end, she lay on top of him as they both tried to regain their breath, basking in the afterglow. She was clinging to him lovingly with a smile and blood decorating her face, his kunai in her back, and her body rapidly cooling. Her beautiful green eyes were glittering with tears.

Naruto had awoken after that in a cold sweat with sticky boxers and a disturbing visage of her in his mind. He had pulled off his boxers and his bed sheets off and put them in a pile debating whether he should wash them or burn them. He hadn't decided quite yet.

Naruto finally calmed himself and exited the shower before finishing his morning routine and dressing. He put on his wraps, secured his holsters and pouches and checked his sealed items.

Next, he put his dirty clothes and after a final debate, he put his sheets into the hamper to wash later on. With that task done the lamenting blond turned his attention towards the entrance of his room to where Makoto hung on the coat hook behind his door. He would need to find a better place for her to stay at night. Taking her down from her perch, Naruto studied Makoto for a minute, cleaning some smudges off her saya with his arm wrap before sliding her onto his back before heading out of his apartment.

In his mind, Naruto was making a mental list of things he would need to purchase after things with Gaara were settled. He would need to get some books and supplies to take care of Makoto properly since he had heard that swords required more maintenance and care than kunai and shuriken. Perhaps B sensei and his team would be able to help him since they were all kenjutsu users.

Naruto took a deep breath before he entered the Hokage tower. He put his stoic expression on his face and headed towards the Hokage's office.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Naruto entered the office to see the Hokage, Tsunade, and Jiraiya speaking with B. As soon as Naruto entered the office B strolled over and put his fist out.

Naruto returned the fist bump before turning his attention to his three adopted family members.

"Good Morning, jiji, shishō, oba-chan," Naruto said in a solemn tone.

Tsunade got up and moved up to him. She grabbed his face unabashedly and turned it up towards her so she could study his eyes. She was relieved to see they were normal now.

"How are you feeling now Naruto-kun?" Tsunade murmured.

"I'll be okay, oba-chan. Honest," he replied quietly before elaborating. "It was a little strange yesterday but when I woke up this morning it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I mean, I killed Makoto-chan and so many people in that Root base. It was unsettling that it didn't effect me at all yesterday but in a way, I think it helps me to survive in a dangerous situation like that." Naruto said stoically.

"You may be correct about that much. Shinobi your age often have trouble compartmentalizing their feelings when it comes to this sort of thing. Perhaps the sync had helped you to sort those feelings out for you." Tsunade said before she gave him a brief hug and returned to her seat.

"I'm glad Naruto-kun that you are able to analyze your actions afterward and accurately break down what occurred within yourself. It is a rare feat to honestly review your actions and reactions to events." Hiruzen said.

Naruto merely nodded as he wasn't sure if he had been very accurate with his review.

"Well kid you ready to check up on Gaara with B here?" Jiraiya said.

"I'm ready when you are, shishō," Naruto replied with a nod.

"Good," Jiraiya said firmly before rising from his seat. "After we are finished dealing with that mess, I will lead you and B to the training ground so we can review what you guys are going to work on for the next two weeks," Jiraiya said.

"Let's bounce, y'all. And if Ichibi starts to front Hachibi is ready to pounce and give him the punt. AWWW YEAH." B said before taking up a strange pose.

Hiruzen, Jiraiya, and Tsunade were just staring at B oddly.

Naruto went up and gave Tsunade a hug before nodding to Hiruzen and tapping Jiraiya on the shoulder to draw him out of his stupor.

Naruto didn't understand a word of what B was saying either but luckily for him he had a bijū translator named Gyūki so he was never caught off guard when B started his rapping.

Jiraiya didn't say anything but lead Naruto and B out of the office.

 **Konoha Intelligence Division**

* * *

Kankuro and Temari just sat in their prison cells wondering what would happen to them now that their father was dead. While Rasa wasn't the greatest father, he was still their flesh and blood, and they were quite upset when they learned of his death.

Temari looked over at the placid and spaced out looking Gaara. While in some ways it was a relief that he wasn't a bloodthirsty killer anymore, she also knew that their chances of escaping this situation without him were slim. As the demon was now, there was no way for them to break out of this place. The last thing she wanted to do was wait around until the damn tree huggers have decided to have _fun_ with her.

Temari tensed up when the door opened revealing Jiraiya of the Sannin, that little blonde kid who Gaara was worried about, and a giant Kumo ninja which surprised her.

She watched them warily as they entered Gaara's cell and began studying him as an object of interest.

"Okay, guys what do you need me to do?" Jiraiya said to the other two.

The Kumo-nin and the blonde kid just stared at Gaara for a moment without saying a word before the blonde kid spoke up.

"We will have to check his seal and see if it can be modified. Other than that, we don't think there is anything short of releasing Ichibi and resealing him into something else. I rather not do that, though." the blonde said.

"Little nine is right. Ichibi be tripping for sure but ripping the seal is bunk." the Kumo ninja said.

"Well then, let's look at his seal and see what we can do to stabilize it," Jiraiya said as he moved closer to Gaara and began looking him over. "You said there was a seal added that caused pain whenever chakra was utilized?" Jiraiya said.

"Yea. That's the best way I could describe it, but it might be more complicated than that." The blonde kid shrugged. "We would need to see it first."

Jiraiya had lifted Gaara's shirt while the blonde was speaking. After channeling chakra to Gaara's torso, the seal array was revealed on his abdomen. Jiraiya and the blonde kid leaned in close and studied the seal for some time before Jiraiya made a humming sound.

Temari started to get nervous. While she had heard that Konoha, and by proxy Jiraiya, were masters at sealing, the last thing she wanted anyone to do was poke around the Ichibi's seal. Were those idiots looking for a quick yet painful death?

"What the hell do you think you're doing to him!" Temari shouted out having enough of these guys meddling with Gaara.

All three of them looked at her for a moment before the Kumo-nin and Jiraiya simply ignored her and turned their attention back onto Gaara.

The blonde kid, however, strolled over towards her cell with an emotionless look on his face.

"You don't need to worry about him any longer. We will fix his seal, so he isn't driven crazy by the Ichibi anymore." The kid said as he turned his gaze from her to Kankuro. "You are a part of his family right?" the kid asked.

"What's it to you, Konoha scum?" Temari sneered. "You do nothing but make our lives difficult! Why the hell should I believe you are doing anything to help us?" Temari shouted.

"I could care less if you believe me or not. I am going to help him because he is the same as me." the blonde snapped at her. "Are you afraid that you are going to lose your little weapon when he finally has his sanity restored?" the kid replied coldly.

"Shut up! You know nothing! Leave him alone!" Temari shouted while trembling from a mix of anger and fear.

"No! I won't let him suffer just to make you feel safer you stupid bitch." the kid snarled viciously. "Just shut your fucking mouth. I can sense what you truly feel about him, and honestly, I think you deserve to face his retaliation for all the shit you put him through." The kid snarled before he turned his back on her and went back towards Gaara.

"What the hell is he talking about Temari?" Kankuro asked.

Kankuro had always cared for his younger brother but could only watch on helplessly as his sibling grew crazier each year resulting in numerous assassination attempts that only made things worse. In a way, he hoped that Konoha might find a way to make Gaara less crazy. Just like when he was still a small child that wanted to play with him all the time.

Temari's face had gone pale when she heard the last thing the kid said. There was no way he could have known what she had done to Gaara. No one knew that she was responsible for adding the crippling seal to Gaara in an attempt to stop him from killing randomly.

After her best friends had died when Shukaku broke free one night, she had pleaded with her father and Chiyo to kill the demon and be done with it, but they refused. Instead, they decided to apply a control seal onto Gaara to make sure that he remained in control by causing the demon pain when used. It only required a Tiger seal to activate.

Temari and Kankuro were the only ones still capable of touching Gaara at that time, so they needed her to apply a suppression seal in order to render Gaara unconscious for Lady Chiyo to apply the control seal. Kankuro had questioned what they were doing to Gaara and was told that they were just applying a simple control seal to subdue the demon when it got out of hand. Only Temari had known about the crippling seal because she had been the one to apply it onto Gaara after Chiyo added her control seal.

To cover up the presence of the extra seal, Temari would regularly abuse the control seal on Gaara. In her mind, it was justifiable revenge on the demon that had killed all her friends and made it impossible for her to gain any new ones. All the other kids believed that the demon had intentionally targeted Temari's friends for trying to get close to his family, so they avoided Temari and Kankuro like the plague.

"They are going to remove the control seal on him," Temari whispered in trepidation.

While she was certain no one knew the truth about the crippling seal she had added, the amount of times she had used the control seal just to make the demon suffer were numerous beyond count. If Gaara ever got his hands on her, she knew that death would be the most pleasant part of that experience.

"Shit! He's going to go on a rampage if they do that!" Kankuro exclaimed in fear.

"They are probably going to take it off then release him right in the middle of the village," Temari said with tears in her eyes.

"Don't do it! He's going to go crazy and kill everyone! You have to leave that on!" Kankuro shouted out.

The three of them looked back up, and the blonde kid began to walk back over with a scowl on his face.

"Naruto, you can't injure them at all. Remember that." Jiraiya called out.

Naruto walked over to Kankuro and stood in front of him with narrowed eyes.

"Do you have any idea what that so-called control seal has done to Gaara himself? Did you really think that torturing the Ichibi was the best way of controlling him? If you did, you people are despicable, and I'll gladly support Gaara as he wipes your fucking village off the map." Naruto spat.

"What are you talking about torturing the Ichibi? It was supposed to stop him from channeling his chakra and breaking the seal. Ever since the seal was applied, he has been killing fewer people at random." Kankuro argued.

Temari remained silent knowing that Kankuro didn't know the truth.

"Is that what they told you?" Naruto said before laughing and looking over at Temari.

"What you don't know, Kankuro is that the seal they applied to Gaara was no control seal," Naruto said with a glare. "It was a crippling seal designed to cause extreme pain whenever the body channels chakra. What that means is even when the body naturally uses chakra to repair the pathways and tenketsu, it will cause severe pain during the process. A process, mind you, that is impossible to stop." Naruto said in a chilling tone. "Did you not wonder why Gaara hardly ever slept at all?"

Kankuro had a look of shock and confusion on his face while Temari simply looked away from her brother with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Tell me," Naruto asked in a serious tone. "Did you even investigate why Gaara was killing people "randomly" as you put it? Did you even bother to rule out the fact that your villagers may have been attacking him first?" Naruto looked over at Temari with narrowed eyes.

"I can tell that she despises Gaara and the Ichibi. She obviously blames him for something, and I suspect she is the reason that he is suffering because of that seal." Naruto said as he glowered at Temari.

Kankuro had finally managed to find his voice at that moment and decided to respond. "No. They never investigated the random killings because Gaara was _known_ to lash out at people for no reason. It only stopped when the seal was applied."

"So there were no assassination attempts on him at all? No one treated him like dirt, threw things at him? People didn't curse him in the streets at all?" Naruto said in disbelief.

Kankuro didn't reply as he knew that before everyone feared Gaara, they treated him like shit. It was no secret at all. He had even witnessed a few of the bloody assassination attempts on Gaara and had done nothing out of fear. Seeing a group of shinobi far more talented than you were being liquidated by sand in under five minutes tended to make you rethink your actions.

"That's what I thought," Naruto replied, taking the Suna siblings silence as a confirmation of his suspicions.

Naruto turned around as if to walk away before he decided to pose a few questions to this so called family of Gaara. "Why is it that people expect their so-called demon weapons to behave and perform flawlessly with rough treatment while they polish and maintain their other weapons to ensure that they remain efficient in battle." Naruto looked over his shoulder at Kankuro before continuing. "If you truly just saw us as objects to be used and disposed of wouldn't you prefer to take care of us in a humane fashion at least? I bet that those puppets you carry around get treated well. I bet you maintain them and care for them. I bet you keep them secure in climate controlled environments." Naruto said with a scowl.

Temari and Kankuro's eyes widened as Naruto spoke when they realized he was also a jinchūriki.

"Naruto, that's enough! Calm down and get over here. I think you will find this interesting." Jiraiya said.

Naruto walked back into Gaara's cell. For the first time in his life, he actually felt grateful for living in Konoha. He was certain he would have lost it in Suna if what Shukaku had been telling them was true.

Kurama snorted **"I would not have allowed you to remain in long enough for you to get to that point. I would have made you flee the village or simply broken free and destroyed them all if you refused."**

" _I wouldn't have refused if they were trying to kill me,"_ Naruto said to Kurama.

"I think the best way to fix all of this is to add a Shishō Fūin (Four Symbols Seal) onto this seal and remove the secondary Ryūsa Fuin (Quicksand Seal) leaving a seven symbol seal on him," Jiraiya stated before turning his gaze to his apprentice. "What do you think?"

Naruto studied the seal as he thought it over. He wasn't familiar with crippling seals, but it appeared that it was a three-pronged seal array. At a glance, he figured he could probably take it down to one easily but two or four?

 **"** **It is a sufficient fix, and they will not be capable of applying another crippling seal on him with two or four-pronged seal arrays. It will only succeed in destabilizing the entire seal and anyone foolish enough to attempt it will be dead but Shukaku will easily survive."** Kurama noted.

"You are right shishō, that should work just fine," Naruto said.

 _'Who should make the mindscape this time?'_ Naruto asked.

" **You should try it, this time, kit. You will need the practice."** Kurama said.

 _'I agree with him. You will need to be able to do this without Gyūki or me helping in case Kurama is indisposed.'_ B said.

 _'Okay, give me a minute.'_ Naruto replied.

"We will get everything ready on our end, shishō; then I will let you know when to remove the restriction seal and begin. It should be fine to use the Gogyō Kaiin (Five Elements Unseal) on him to clear the seals and start painting on the new seal." Naruto said to Jiraiya.

"Ready when you are. Are you certain we can do this here without anything going wrong?" Jiraiya asked.

"It will be fine shishō. Once Ichibi knows what is going on, he won't try to break out." Naruto said before he closed his eyes in concentration.

He concentrated on the pull to enter his mindscape and then imagined a large cavern in another portion of space. Once he entered that portion, Kurama came with him right away. Soon Gyūki and B appeared in the cavern as well.

"Not bad little nine that was quite fly," B said.

" **Now you must reach out for Shukaku and bring him in along with Gaara,"** Gyūki instructed.

" **Together with me kit, open up our bond and we will reach for him together,"** Kurama said.

Naruto moved closer to Kurama and felt that warm feeling enveloped him as everything else began to fade. Suddenly he felt a small tickle on his mind and then something pulled on him heavily.

Naruto was caught unaware at first and partially recoiled before he felt Kurama stop him from recoiling completely. Soon he saw a spaced out Gaara appear along with Shukaku, who was flailing about awkwardly.

" **Kurama, Gyūki what the hell was that about?"** Shukaku cried out.

" **Silence Shukaku, the kit is still learning how to create a space and link with others."** Kurama snarled.

" **Fine, fine, please tell me you are going to remove that damn seal! I can't take it anymore."** Shukaku whined.

"We are going to remove the old seal and put a new seal on which should stop them from doing this to you again Shukaku," Naruto said with a small bow.

" **So this is the little one you were talking about eh? How intriguing. I am pleased to finally meet you Naruto if you pull this off I will be grateful to all of you, maybe even Kurama."** Shukaku said as he leaned down to study Naruto closer.

Kurama just growled at Shukaku.

" **What? Don't growl at me Mr. Superior. Thinking you're so far above us with your nine tails."** Shukaku said with a grumble.

" **No kidding. I still don't see why Matatabi was so fond of you after you went on about the number of tails being equal to power."** Gyūki said with a snort.

"You mean that isn't how it works?" Naruto asked curiously.

" **Hmph. Do not let their incessant chatter fool you kit. There is a reason that only half of my chakra could be sealed in you as a child while the rest of these fools can be sealed away in their entirety."** Kurama said with a snarl.

" **Oh, boy. Here we go again,"** Gyūki sighed.

" **Whatever. Let's just get this over with, please. I'll even submit to your theory that more tails mean greater power if you just get this cursed seal off of me."** Shukaku whined again.

"We are going to start soon, Shukaku. Please remain still as we will remove the first seal but if you struggle it will shatter our attempts, and you may end up dying with Gaara." Naruto warned the tanuki. "Please don't try to escape, even if it feels like you will succeed. Gaara didn't deserve what happened to him either." Naruto pleaded.

" **Fine, fine, just start already! I won't go anywhere."** Shukaku said.

Naruto opened his eyes and gave Jiraiya the thumbs up before he moved over to watch. As Jiraiya pulled out his fūinjutsu kit to prepare the ink, Naruto placed his hand on his arm.

"One-second, shishō, I think I know a way to make it stronger," Naruto stated.

 _'Gyūki will it help to use your ink on this seal or will that prevent it from working?'_ Naruto asked.

Gyūki and Kurama both thought about it and after conferring with each other for a minute, they both nodded to each other.

" **Go ahead and use my ink on the seal. It shouldn't cause any problems."** Gyūki replied.

 _'Thanks'_ Naruto said.

"Here shishō use this ink instead," Naruto said before he channeled Gyūki's ink from his mouth and coated it with chakra to create a small ball of ink in his hand. He carefully lowered the ink into Jiraiya's little inkwell when Jiraiya removed the lid and held it up.

"Is this the Hachibi's ink that you mentioned at the council meeting?" Jiraiya asked in an excited tone.

"Yep! It should make the seal stronger than usual." Naruto replied with a small smile.

Jiraiya stirred the ink carefully to make sure it was thoroughly mixed without any air bubbles before coating his brush carefully and tapping off the excess ink back into the well. Setting the brush and inkwell down next to Gaara, he lifted Gaara's shirt again.

"Okay, here we go then," Jiraiya said as he prepared his Gogyō Kaiin.

"NO STOP! He's a monster! A killer! You're making a huge mistake." Temari said in a panicked tone.

Naruto and Jiraiya just ignored her as Jiraiya slammed the Gogyō Kaiin into Gaara. Gaara responded with a strangled cry as his back arched off of the futon he was laying on. The hodgepodge collection of seals faded off of his stomach.

Naruto kept Gaara's shirt out of Jiraiya's way as he rapidly painted the Shishō Fūin onto Gaara before channeling chakra into it. Then he painted one Ryūsa Fuin instead of two and channeled chakra into that seal to finalize the sealing.

Besides leaking a small amount of bijū chakra everything went smoothly, and Gaara appeared to be resting peacefully.

"Now for the moment of truth," Jiraiya said before he removed the suppression seals off of Gaara.

Gaara just continued to sleep without stirring in the least.

"Hmmm, should we wake him up to make sure everything is fine?" Jiraiya asked.

He looked up at Naruto and noticed he had that blank look on his face.

'He must be checking it out in this shared space he was talking about.' Jiraiya thought to himself.

Naruto and the rest of the group had waited in the shared mindscape for Shukaku to return and verify that the seal no longer bothered him. After a few minutes, Shukaku reappeared with Gaara passed out before he began celebrating.

Naruto watched Shukaku dancing around the mindscape shouting in glee with a mixture of amazement and amusement. Who would have thought the stubby tanuki could move around like that. Kurama was grumbling at his foolishness while Gyūki and B were just smiling at his exuberance.

" **Ahhh. That is so much better. I finally don't have that unbearable pain anymore. It feels amazing! I forgot how good it felt not to hurt all over!"** Shukaku said with a sigh before he stumped over towards Naruto.

" **Thank you Naruto, Kurama, Gyūki, and B! Thank you,"** Shukaku said

" **Especially you, Naruto. I know you didn't have to get that man to help with the seal at all, but you finally gave me peace. I'll gladly share my chakra with you and help you whenever you need it."** Shukaku said as he extended his tail towards Naruto.

Naruto reached out and touched Shukaku's tail. It felt like very fine sand, surprisingly, he had expected it to be coarse and gritty. As Shukaku's chakra enveloped him, Naruto was reminded of electricity, but it wasn't painful in any way. His chakra pathways tingled along with his muscles and his organs. Once it settled down, Naruto released the breath he was holding.

"Thank you for your gift, Shukaku." Naruto bowed.

" **It was the least I could do for your help. I will give it to B as well if you want."** Shukaku said.

B shrugged and placed his hand on Shukaku's tail as well. After the chakra was done enveloping him as well, Shukaku explained his gift to the two jinchūriki.

" **I have granted you the** **Jiton (Magnet Release)** **capability so you can generate magnetic fields and apply them to different materials even if they are not magnetic by nature. With enough training and focus, you might be able to recreate my sand defense like Gaara uses, but it will take a lot of training and chakra for you to use it as efficiently."** Shukaku explained.

"How would you suggest I train Jiton?" Naruto asked.

While the Academy had briefly touched on magnets and their properties, he knew that there were more advanced principles of magnetism as he had seen books that had expanded on those theories.

He had not bothered to read those books because their primary focus had been more of a scientific and medical nature instead of combat or jutsu. Naruto decided that he would try and pick up one of those books before they left so he could see if he could apply some of those theories into the Magnet release.

" **The best way to train Jiton is to start by magnetizing objects made of metal and getting used to the feel of creating a magnetic field. Then move on to magnetizing objects that do not have magnetic capabilities like wood. Once you get used to creating magnetic fields around individual objects you can work on creating magnetic fields around yourself. With enough practice, you can create a field that will repel any projectiles at you by charging them magnetically as they fly towards you while having a magnetic field with the polar opposite charge around you, to repel them away."** Shukaku explained.

"Wow, that sounds amazing Shukaku," Naruto said.

B politely thanked, Shukaku but was indifferent about using Magnet release. It was nice to be able to have such capabilities, but he was more than capable of avoiding projectiles without expending so much energy or effort.

" **Ah but that is not all my chakra grants you, I have also increased your Doton and** **Fūton** **affinities,"** Shukaku said gleefully.

"Really? Thanks, Shukaku. I wonder how strong my Fūton affinity is now. I was already naturally aligned with it but with Kurama and now your gift I can't even imagine what kind of effect that would have." Naruto said

" **Your affinity can't get much stronger. You will require little to no hand seals to use** **Fūton jutsu, and they will take less chakra** **,"** Kurama said

"Awesome! I can't wait to see how strong they are now _ **!**_ Hey, what about Gaara is he okay?" Naruto asked as he moved over towards his unconscious form in the mindscape.

" **He is going to sleep for awhile. You will have to check in on him when he wakes up. If I had to guess, I would say at least two days if not more, but he won't be in a healthy state of mind, unfortunately."** Shukaku said.

"Are you going to be fair to him Shukaku? Please don't blame him for what happened." Naruto pleaded.

" **I didn't really have a chance to speak to him before this all happened. I don't know if he will be willing to talk to me at all after everything. I'll give it a shot but don't expect too much Naruto. All of my interactions with him after that seal was applied were out of desperation and pain."** Shukaku said sadly. **"I wasn't in the right state of mind, and the only thing I could do was lash out at him to try and break free of my suffering."**

"I understand it will be hard for him to trust you after that. I don't blame you for it, though. You had to endure so much but just remember that he also had to endure it." Naruto said sadly.

" **We should return to reality soon. The toad sage has been staring at you oddly for some time now."** Gyūki said.

"Right we will see you later then, Shukaku," Naruto said.

Shukaku swished his tail before he disappeared with Gaara. Afterward, Gyūki and B exited from the mindscape. As Naruto was preparing to leave Kurama got his attention.

" **You have done well, kit. Soon we will begin our journey to find what we need. You created those conversion seals I told you of last night, correct?"** Kurama asked.

"Yea. I got them. Do you want me to ask shishō about that chakra or should we wait?" Naruto asked.

" **Let us wait for now. He may reveal how he acquired the rest of my chakra which is important. He might be waiting for you to grow more before he grants the chakra to you, but that is nothing to be concerned about. When I flushed your body with the perfectly balanced chakra, your body adapted to it quite well, and your pathways might be capable of handling the influx of my Yin chakra now that you have absorbed Gyuki and Shukaku's chakra into your being."** Kurama said.

"Okay, Kurama," Naruto said with a smile before he faded out of the mindscape.

 _ **'I wonder what the Yondaime is planning releasing my chakra like this. There was no way the toad fool could have acquired it without the Yondaime actively releasing his seal with the key. How did that fool manage to pull the Yondaime out of the Shinigami's stomach in the first place?'**_ Kurama thought.

As Kurama settled back down behind the seal, he thought over what else the Yondaime might have revealed about his plans to the toad sage. Kurama knew that Yondaime had been present within the seal because he had sensed that bastards chakra inside of it. It had appeased his more malicious side to have the man who trapped him watch as his beloved son was turned against humanity.

Kurama truly believed that Naruto was too pure and noble to associate with humanity and set him on this current path because he truly believed that Naruto would be the one to free the bijū of their predicament. If his bastard of a father got to watch and suffer for it, that was only a bonus.

He would have to keep his eye on the Toad fool and make sure that humanity doesn't make any moves to taint his kit any further. The incident with that green eyed vixen had already exposed the kit to lust, and now his tainted human body will start easily succumbing to the lure of vixens.

Kurama ran through various scenarios through his head as he tried to determine the best way to ensure Naruto remained happy while moving forwards with the plan. He still had a few years until it became a real problem, but if an idea vixen was found it maybe possible to give the kit what he desires most without compromising.

Naruto would have the family he always wanted, and humanity would be put in its rightful place. The cycle would be restored, and the bijū would never have to fear being sealed away again.


	44. Date with a Hyūga

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** Mild sexual content is present in this chapter.

Edit 4/23/16

 **Chapter 43**

 **Date with a Hyūga**

 **Two Weeks Later – Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Naruto sat on his couch as he went through his weekly maintenance routine with Makoto. Technically it wasn't required that he maintain it this often, but he made it a habit to practice what he had learned using her once a week. Tenten had made it clear that he should clean and maintain his sword after every practice.

He had just cleaned the previous oil off of the blade with a sheet of rice paper and now was applying the polishing powder with the powder ball. Once he had a fine coating of powder on the blade, he began rubbing the powder into the blade with a new sheet of rice paper. He flipped Makoto over and repeated the process on the other side until the blade had been wiped clean, and Makoto was gleaming.

He applied the camellia oil and spread it across the blade carefully using another sheet of rice paper to ensure the oil was evenly coating the blade before he flipped the sword over and repeated the process once more. With that final task complete, he re-sheathed Makoto into the saya. After polishing the saya with a soft cloth he walked into his bedroom and placed Makoto on the sword stand he had purchased with the cleaning kit.

Naruto left his bedroom and entered his bathroom to prepare for his date with Hinata tonight. Getting undressed he stepped into the shower and began to wash as he thought over his time with B and the Kumo Chūnin team.

Naruto discovered just why Tsunade physically abused Jiraiya as much as she did. His shishō was truly an unabashed pervert, getting himself beaten quite thoroughly by Samui and Karui on a regular basis. Even then, it wasn't enough to deter the old pervert from spying on the hot springs and eventually getting pursued or beaten on by a group of angry women.

Naruto couldn't deny that he had been flustered and distracted by Samui's beauty. He could barely stop himself from physically reacting to her when she put her hands on him to adjust his sword stance, or when she was pressed against his back while she was adjusted his grip and used his arms to demonstrate how to swing the sword properly.

It made it difficult to focus because he would have such conflicting emotions when he felt that way, but Jiraiya had given some useful advice on how to settle those nerves and convinced him it was normal to react the way he was, even after what happened with Makoto.

He wasn't sure if Samui was flirting with him. She was very kind, like Hinata, but more reserved in her behavior, and once he got over his initial hormonal reaction to her, he found that he could get along with her quite well. He was grateful to her for teaching him all the basic Academy level kata and stances in Kumo as well as the beginner's level of Kumo-Ryū style that she preferred.

Naruto had to admit he did enjoy his time with Samui as she showed him the basics in using Makoto and how to maintain her properly. He also bought a ninjato similar to Makoto for training purposes at her suggestion. Samui explained it was necessary to use a practice blade for training. Especially when trying to learn how to block, parry, and counter appropriately. Naruto didn't realize that you avoided using sharpened edge to block or defend all costs until you were certain you were going to land a strike on the opponents body itself.

His training with B, Karui, and Omoi hadn't really taught him anything new, though. Karui and Omoi used longer swords which didn't help him because it required different stances and counters, but they did help him start learning how to defend against longer weapons during spars.

He did find it amusing how Omoi would start going off on a tangent about the snowball effect of actions in a pessimistic manner only to be trounced by Karui when she finally got annoyed by it. Omoi was very talented with his sword, and he knew a lot of strong Raiton jutsu. When he wasn't describing a downward spiral of systematic unfortunate events, he was actually interesting to talk to.

Karui was also interesting to him because he had never seen an example of a strong and proud kunoichi that didn't annoy him before. She could certainly be loud when she wanted to, and he had only been exposed to that personality type when dealing with Sakura and Ino, which had been bad experiences for him. Karui, on the other hand, was proud and strong, and more than capable of remaining calm and collected even when something riled her up, saving her loud personality for close friends and Omoi in particular.

His time with B was spent mostly understanding more details about working in sync with Kurama. While they were able to make some progress, they could not advance further without the key and the resources that were only available on Genbu. Jiraiya had already stated that he wouldn't give Naruto the key until it was time for him to travel to the island turtle and face the Waterfall of Truth.

When they described the giant tortoise that acted as their training grounds, Naruto was excited. It sounded like something out of a storybook, and he couldn't wait to go there to finish his training. He could only imagine how it would feel to complete his full transformation and give Kurama the opportunity to experience the outside world once more, if only for a little while.

Finally, he learned how to activate and cancel his combat synchronization with Kurama but discovered he could not fully synchronize his mind with Kurama because of the seal. While it meant that he couldn't gain the full benefits, it was still good enough in his eyes and he wasn't too particular about reveling in the killing.

As long as the bloodlust was controlled or contained, he was satisfied. At least now he could recognize when he was in sync with Kurama earlier and cancel the connection sooner. He didn't like the feelings of distrust and fear coming from his adopted family and teammates.

Naruto let out a breath as he finished his shower and began to dry himself off. He was nervous about going on a date with Hinata. A small part of him was concerned that Hinata might become like Makoto, but his logical mind squashed that thought ruthlessly.

He trusted Hinata. She had never betrayed him and had always been kind and caring towards him even in the Academy. He would not subject her to suspicion when she had never given him a reason to distrust her.

He still hadn't told his team about what happened to him in the Root base with Makoto because he was still embarrassed and frightened about how they would react once they learned the truth. Would they lose respect for him because he gave in? Would Hinata think he was some kind of pervert or a murderer?

Naruto knew that Sasuke was suspicious about Makoto as he would always ask him about it, but Naruto was always able to change the subject with training or sparring. He even challenged Sasuke using his training ninjato and got his ass handed to him a few times, much to Sasuke's delight. Sasuke would always be too busy gloating to ask about it afterward.

Naruto had copied two fire jutsu he had taken from the Root base and given them to Sasuke, who appeared to be satisfied with them. One of them was a Sarutobi clan exclusive jutsu, and he worried that his jiji would kick his ass for it, but there was always the chance that an Uchiha had copied it in the past. Katon: Gōen no Jutsu (Great Flame) was a stream of fire that continued to grow wider as it spread farther away from the caster.

The other, apparently, was one that Madara Uchiha had used himself but didn't document in the library which made Sasuke quite happy. Katon: Gōenka (Great Flame Flower) was a massive destruction jutsu that required an insane amount of chakra to use and was capable of destroying even rock domes, bunkers, and even bypassing most water attacks.

Naruto had been focusing his clones on Jiton (Magnet Release) and the Nidaime scroll, but it would require a lot of work on his part before he could manage to learn any of the jutsu on there.

He debated giving a copy to the Hokage since he was the Nidaime's student but wasn't sure how he could manage to give it to him without getting into trouble for it. Eventually, he made a copy for himself and gave the Hokage the original.

Kurama had suggested that he simply say that he found it in one of his seals when he went to do laundry. Naruto had forgotten a few things in the same manner before, so it seemed plausible. The Hokage gave no sign that he didn't believe Naruto and was happy to have received the original all the same.

Now, he was going out to a fancy sushi restaurant with Hinata to make up for his apparent death in the Root base and was trying not to be so nervous about it. He knew that Hinata liked him in a more than friendly way, and while Tsunade had explained to him how a woman could genuinely love a man and still feel lust for him, Naruto was still uneasy with the feeling after what happened with Makoto.

Since that the restaurant he had chosen required a traditional form of dress, Naruto went to his closet and put on his light gray Hanjuban and dark gray juban (under kimonos), dark blue and gray striped hakamas (Pleated pants), and a dark blue Haori (kimono jacket that remains open).

He ran his fingers through his unruly hair and was satisfied that his untamed spikes wouldn't block his vision. Trying to manage them in any other way was usually futile without an absurd amount of hair products and, quite frankly, he didn't want to change his hairstyle at all.

Naruto thought over the advice he had received from Jiraiya for the date, and some general advice he had received from Tsunade in the past. Jiraiya had given him a rundown on the art of flirting in his own way, to show a girl that you have an interest in her without putting yourself on the line to commit to anything serious right away.

It seemed wrong to him on some level, but Jiraiya's logic had made sense when he explained that it was better to show a passive interest and allow the woman to decide if they wanted to proceed any further. It also made sense that it would be unrealistic and cruel to give Hinata the impression that he wanted something more significant when Naruto himself was still uncertain, and he was due to leave the village for such a long time.

Tsunade had mentioned to him, during one of their dinner conversations, that the best way to behave towards a woman was to act naturally during a date. It would help both of them decide if they were compatible with each other instead of leading the girl on with false behavior only for them to be disappointed or surprised by a sudden change later on.

Naruto had not acted like himself in front of anyone else for quite some time when he thought about it. His personality change had been engineered by him at a young age intentionally. He had maintained this behavior to the point where it became ingrained in him to behave this way all the time. Lately, he had been letting some of those walls down with his teammates, but he had never revealed himself completely. In truth, Naruto believed that his old personality no longer existed anymore and wasn't entirely certain what would happen if he dropped all his defenses completely.

Naruto decided that to truly make up for Hinata's pain, at believing he was dead, he would let his walls down for her tonight, maybe then he would realize where his true personality lied after all this time.

He looked into the mirror one more time and took another deep breath before he put Gama-chan into his inner pocket and left his apartment.

 **Hyūga Clan Compound – Konoha**

* * *

Hinata looked herself over in the mirror and adjusted her kimono one last time before she picked up her hand purse and left her room. Her father was still standing outside with his face set in his firm disapproval look. Hinata didn't care for it, though, nothing was going to stop her from going out with Naruto.

"Hinata. You should reconsider going out with that boy. He is beneath you in every way and will only bring trouble to you." Hiashi said sternly.

His true concern was with how much the Kyūbi had an effect on the boy, and he didn't want Hinata to foolishly ruin her reputation, considering the boy was already partially ostracized by the village. If the elders learned that she had willingly chosen to be seen with him in an intimate manner, they would be scandalized and would raise all sorts of issues with him.

"I don't care, father, I am going out with Naruto-kun regardless of what you or anyone else says," Hinata said coldly. "He isn't as beneath me as you would think father."

"Think it through, father. He is overseen directly by the Hokage himself, trained by one of the legendary Sannin, and was told to call the other Sannin his oba-chan. His pedigree has to be first rate. Otherwise, they would never have selected him for such a... burden." Hinata narrowed her eyes when Hiashi flinched at her reference to his tenant. "Why would they trust something like that to an ill-bred orphan? Surely you must realize that his true parentage is being kept secret?" Hinata said chidingly.

"I understand all that, but his situation is precarious at best Hinata. His burden is quite nefarious, and we can't afford to simply trust him because of it. You are at risk with him." Hiashi pleaded.

"I won't hear it, father" Hinata turned away from Hiashi and crossed her arms to show her displeasure. "I refuse to believe that he is as lost as you say. If you truly knew him, then you wouldn't be saying such things. He is noble, honorable, kind hearted, intelligent. He is a talented shinobi and a caring teammate. If it weren't for that burden he would be the best candidate for a husband hands down." Hinata said firmly.

"...Hinata you aren't serious about this, are you?" Hiashi said with shock.

"It's too soon for that right now, father. I have studied all of the contracts and candidates in the past, even mother's and to me, Naruto-kun is the only one in Konoha that meets those standards. Especially if what I believe of his heritage is true," Hinata said with a sigh.

"What do you mean by that Hinata. Do you honestly think he is related to Tsunade?" Hiashi asked.

"Just look at these photos I found, father, and tell me what you think," Hinata said as she handed three photos to Hiashi.

The first photo he studied was a Genin team photo of Team Jiraiya, one that Hiashi was familiar with as it had his best friend in the center of the frame. The second photo was of another familiar face for Hiashi. Kushina Uzumaki. The photo was a close-up of her face when she had obtained the Jōnin rank, and she was wearing a hitai-ate and the standard Jōnin outfit. The final picture was of Naruto at his graduation wearing his gaudy orange and blue jacket with his hitai-ate on and a small smile on his face.

"The Uzumaki clan were descended from the Senju were they not? Even if that is not the case I am certain his father more than makes up for that fact." Hinata said in a serious tone.

Hiashi had considered the thought when he saw Naruto in the council meeting but was in denial. He remembered those feral eyes and couldn't help but believe that the Kyūbi had a lot more influence over the boy. Minato's son or not if the Kyūbi had that effect on him he was a threat.

Hiashi let out a sigh of exasperation as he considered the situation. Hinata must be very determined to land Naruto if she had gone to these lengths but with things the way they were even if he were Minato's son, or weren't influenced by the Kyūbi, it wouldn't work. The Elders would never accept a jinchūriki.

"Hinata. Even if this were true, it wouldn't eliminate his burden from being considered. You know as well as I that the elders would never approve Hinata. I won't stop you from enjoying yourself with him if it means that much to you, but you have to understand that what you desire above all else will never come to pass. Even if you were right and his heritage was announced publicly in front of the entire village." Hiashi said sadly.

"Let me worry about that for now, father. There is still plenty of time before the elders try to make their move and sabotage our efforts, but I will find a way to circumvent their plans. It may not be with Naruto, but I will stop their plotting." Hinata replied.

"Tread carefully, my daughter, for you are in dangerous territory with this. Your actions may bring problems onto Naruto's head as well, don't forget that." Hiashi replied in a serious tone.

Hinata merely frowned as she continued walking with her father towards the compound entrance. She didn't think the elders would even bother with someone they felt was beneath her, but if they did learn that she was serious, they would try to intimidate or coerce Naruto to their way of thinking.

Not that Naruto would ever go for that at all, but it would be something that could drive a wedge between them. She would have to think about it later as she had caught sight of Naruto and he just looked absolutely delightful.

Hiashi and Hinata approached Naruto, who was waiting by the gate to the compound next to a stone-faced Neji. As drew closer to the pair, Naruto responded with the traditional bow in greeting to Hiashi.

"Good Evening, Naruto. I trust everything is going well," Hiashi said in a bored tone.

"Yes, of course, Hiashi-sama I hope you are enjoying your evening as well," Naruto replied politely but his face was stoic without any expression.

"It is a pleasant evening, but I will depart and let you enjoy yourselves. Neji will keep his distance, but you are not to leave his sight and ensure you do not bring my daughter home too late or do anything inappropriate to her." Hiashi said before he turned and left.

Hinata sighed. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, please don't take it personally. Father is rather stringent with who I spend my time with and after everything that happened in Nami no Kuni they have been afraid that Kumo will try something, even with the alliance."

"It's understandable, Hinata-chan. It probably didn't help that we had a little disagreement in the council meeting after the invasion," Naruto replied.

There was awkward silence for a moment before Naruto cleared his throat.

"Umm, are you ready to go now?" Naruto said sheepishly.

"Yes. I am ready Naruto-kun," Hinata said with a smile trying to calm him down a little.

"Okay, let's go." Naruto offered his arm to Hinata, which she accepted, and they began strolling leisurely towards the merchant district with Neji following behind them at a respectable distance.

While Neji would not usually care too much about what Hinata was doing with others, Hiashi had made it a point to him to keep an eye on Naruto because he was not to be trusted. Naruto had proven to be strong in the Chūnin exams, and he had heard a lot of the village speak ill about him so he was inclined to believe that the blond could be a serious threat to Hinata if he wanted to.

He didn't know what Hinata saw in Naruto seeing that he was an orphan of questionable heritage and was of ill repute. He would do whatever he could to make sure she was safe. It was his purpose, after all, and Hinata was the one who would eventually free him and the others in the Branch family. He wouldn't let anyone stand in the way of that goal.

 **Restaurant Row - Konoha Merchant District**

* * *

Naruto knew he should compliment her on what she was wearing, but he wasn't exactly sure what he should say. He wanted to say she was pretty in a friendly manner but not sound like he was being too forward. Yet he didn't want to sound like he was being polite and make her think she didn't look good because she actually did.

She wore a stunning black kimono that with an intricate, pearly white wave motif that splashed over her right shoulder and along the hemline where it reached her waist on the left. Her hair was done up in a traditional bun that held in place by ivory hair sticks that had several delicate strings of pearls dangling from the ends. Hanging from her ears were matching pearl strand earrings and the necklace he had purchased for her was on full display around her neckline.

"You look lovely tonight, Hinata-chan," Naruto said shyly.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. You look very handsome in traditional clothing. I'm surprised you had something different from what you wore to the festival. Besides that one kimono in Nami, I don't think I have seen you wearing anything else." Hinata said in a teasing manner.

"Ah, well. I didn't really see the need for casual clothing, but Hokage-jiji always told me to have at least one set of formal clothing to use because you never know when you might have to attend an important ceremony or visit the Daimyō," Naruto replied.

"So, where are we going tonight Naruto-kun? Unless you were going to surprise me, that is. I know there can only be a few places that would require us to wear formal clothing." Hinata said with a smile.

"Actually, I got reservations for us at Hoshi Akari. I hope that you don't mind sushi." Naruto said.

"Is that the kaiseki only restaurant? I heard that place is really expensive Naruto-kun." Hinata said with shock.

It was hard to get a reservation to Hoshi Akari since it had limited seating and the chef was famous for his kaiseki which was a traditional multi-course meal, arranged in an artful manner, to celebrate seasonal ingredients supplemented by rare, high-quality ingredients.

"I know you worry about me so much as it is, but to think I had actually died must have been terrible for you. I thought that you deserved something really special to make it up to you Hinata-chan. I care for you a lot, and I don't want you to ever feel bad because of something I did. I only want to make you happy." Naruto said sincerely.

"I did want to do something special, but you didn't have to go out of your way, Naruto-kun. I would have been happy just spending more time with you." Hinata said.

"It was not a problem for me Hinata-chan, please don't worry. I was supposed to make it up to you! Not make you worry some more." Naruto said in exasperation earning a giggle from Hinata. "Besides, I will be gone next week for probably four years. You deserve something like this Hinata-chan for all you have to go through, and I won't see you for so long. It will almost be like we are different people when we return. At least, let me give you one very happy memory together as we are now." Naruto said with a small smile on his face.

"Oh, Naruto-kun, that is so sweet. I'm glad you want to share a memory with me before you leave. I will miss you dearly Naruto-kun you have been such a good friend to me." Hinata said as she squeezed his arm.

"I'll miss you too Hinata-chan. All the training sessions we had alone together and those lunches we shared were some of the only fond memories I have with anyone from our class." Naruto replied sincerely.

Naruto and Hinata arrived at the restaurant and after checking in with the hostess, they were seated in a few moments at a private table for two near a window facing out towards one of the larger rivers that snaked their way through the village.

The duo made some small talk about the restaurant's decorations and the view of the water which sparkled with the numerous street lamps and decorative lanterns hanging from the different shops and restaurants that lined the river.

It wasn't long before the first item was brought to their table along with a small carafe of plum wine to compliment the next few dishes. The appetizer was a chilled pumpkin and butternut squash soup which threw Naruto through a loop. The look on Naruto's face when he received the dish almost made Hinata laugh out loud.

Naruto looked taken back by the fact that it was cold and would have made an embarrassing comment to the waitress if Hinata had not nudged him with her foot gently. When Naruto whispered that they forgot to cook the soup, Hinata couldn't hold back her giggles. She explained that some soups were meant to be cold. Naruto just shook his head at that thought before taking her word for it and tasting the soup.

"At least, it tastes good but what's the point of making soup if you just let it grow cold? I don't think I could ever get used to it." Naruto said with another odd look on his face.

Hinata just giggled some more as she watched his reaction before letting a smile grow slowly. She hadn't ever seen Naruto so unguarded before, and she really enjoyed it. She hoped that this was a sign that things were getting better for him and that he would start being more open around others.

The next item was brought out a few minutes later, revealing a salad with crab and salmon roe with a white wine vinaigrette, which Hinata was not fond of. While she wasn't a fan of seafood in general, she didn't have a problem with fish like she did with crab and shrimp. Naruto, on the other hand, enjoyed the crab and salmon roe, so he wasn't as bothered by the salad.

"I don't like anything with crab or shrimp in it, but, at least, the dressing calms the flavor of those ingredients enough so that it is bearable," Hinata commented.

"I usually don't like salad at all but this I don't mind so much. Usually, I would want a lot more dressing." Naruto said with a shrug.

"Don't tell me you are one of those typical boys who avoid all vegetables," Hinata said in a falsely scandalized tone.

"I don't mind cooked vegetables. I just don't like raw ones at all," Naruto said with a slight grimace.

Hinata just shook her head at that. "You can taste the vegetables authentic flavor when they are fresh."

"Precisely," Naruto replied with a smirk. "That's why I like them cooked. At the very least they need to be lightly grilled with some sauce for me to enjoy them. Sort of like how I prepare them at Yakiniku-Q." Naruto explained.

The waitress arrived with the next selection which consisted of several different types of sashimi. Yellow Tail Tuna, Scallop, Abalone, Octopus, Anago Eel, Bonito, and Fatty Salmon on a small bed of seasoned sushi rice. The waitress also set down a small dish with pickled ginger, wasabi, and few sheets of nori (dried seaweed) cut into rectangles.

Both Hinata and Naruto enjoyed their sashimi immensely. Naruto favored the Abalone and Eel with Hinata favoring the Tuna and the Salmon. Naruto joked that Sasuke would have made his own onigiri out of the sashimi, which Hinata just rolled her eyes at.

The next entree was a warm soup which Naruto tested first, cheekily, garnering another giggle from Hinata. It was a tuna and scallop dumpling soup with mushrooms in miso broth.

Naruto loved anything miso so he ate it up quite quickly. His only complaint was that it didn't have any noodles. Nothing went better with miso then noodles, except for chashu (roasted pork) of course.

Hinata sampled the dish indulgently as she was quite fond of the mushroom and miso combination. It was almost as good as red bean soup which she absolutely adored, all most as much as she loved cinnamon buns.

The next entree was a red snapper tempura with ginger and fresh green seaweed.

"At first, I was going to be upset that all the dishes were so small, but if they continue to bring us more dishes, I don't think I can complain anymore. Though I have to wonder just how many more dishes they are going to bring." Naruto said in exasperation.

"That is how Kiseki works Naruto-kun, it's a lot of tiny dishes to highlight the best ingredients of the current season," Hinata explained patiently.

While she knew that Naruto had lacked exposure to this sort of culture due to his upbringing, he was still well mannered enough to fit in without seeming uncouth like most lower class people would. Even his naivety about proper etiquette in this scenario was more endearing than off-putting.

"That makes sense then. It has all been pretty tasty so far, that's for certain, I don't think they will disappoint me." Naruto said with a genuine smile.

Hinata was stunned by his smile momentarily before she gathered her wits and returned the smile. She had never seen Naruto smile in that way before. His face just suddenly came alive and his eyes sparkled with that inner light he seemed to carry but hid away when anyone was looking at him. The sight of him with that smile made her heart start to race.

"I have really enjoyed myself too Naruto-kun. Everything has just been wonderful this evening." Hinata said with a blush.

Naruto was staring at her with a strange look in his eye that made her slightly uncomfortable for a moment, and his smile had faded a bit. She wondered what Naruto was thinking about when he studied her like that and hoped it was nothing bad.

Naruto had sensed Hinata's growing emotions and his first response was alarm after his attack, but that trepidation faded after he studied Hinata's demure posture and reminded himself that he could trust Hinata.

Tsunade had said that it was normal to have lustful thoughts about someone you cared for deeply, and Kurama had told him that it was also a part of growing into an adult. With those conversations running through his mind Naruto decided that he would just accept these feelings from Hinata instead of trying to block them or analyze them for ulterior motives. Deep down he had to admit that he might have the same feelings for her as well.

"I am glad that I came here with you, Hinata-chan. I was a little nervous about coming to a place like this. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it has been relaxing to just have a nice meal and talk about nothing in particular." Naruto said seriously before his smile returned.

Hinata smiled shyly and took a sip of her wine to try and hide her deepening blush. Her heart started to race again when she saw that beautiful smile of his. Her body began to heat up as her imagination began to run wild thinking about his lips and the warm aura that radiated from his body naturally.

The waitress saved her when she arrived with the next entree which was steamed duck breast with Chrysanthemum petals, lotus root and a smoky brown sauce over a bed of lightly seasoned glass noodles.

They both ate in a comfortable silence with only small comments on what they thought of the dish as both were lost in their thoughts about each other.

The waitress arrived a short time later to clear their plates and brought a small bottle of sake to go with the final course before dessert. Naruto and Hinata took turns pouring for each other before drinking their first cup to taste the sake and cleanse their pallets.

The final course arrived to reveal a nice beef sukiyaki with raw egg, onion, and steamed rice in two scorching stone bowls set on thick wooden bases to prevent the bowls from burning the table.

The waitress added the raw meat, onions, and egg to the sizzling rice before adding a small dish of mixed herbs and spices before she stirred and flattened each dish to ensure that the raw ingredients were thoroughly mixed and began to cook. The scalding hot stone started toasting the rice and releasing the oils from the herbs while searing the thin beef strips and lightly caramelizing the onions.

Naruto seemed to enjoy stirring the dish, getting it to cook in a more balanced manner. He would fluff everything up, mix it around, then smash it back down in a similar fashion that the waitress did. After watching the ingredients cook intently for few minutes, he would repeat the process again.

Hinata just waited patiently for her bowl to cool down while leaning on her arm and watching Naruto play with his food. She was mesmerized by the childish sparkle in his eyes and his crooked grin as he began to mix his bowl around some more.

It was quite refreshing to her, actually, since most people who would attend a restaurant like this had that insufferably stuffy air about them. Where it was almost an insult if they received a dish that wasn't in perfect form, temperature, and seasoning. Even she wouldn't have been seen stirring her food like he was as it was considered taboo.

Yet, Naruto seemed to enjoy this aspect of the evening more than anything else. That such a simple thing brought him such happiness was odd to her. She wondered what it was that caused him to stir and flatten the dish repeatedly. Other than the small sizzle that would accompany the initial flattening she couldn't think of anything.

Unknown to Hinata, the combination of smells and sounds of all those ingredients cooking in front of him had attracted Kurama's attention. That was the main reason Naruto also liked to go to Yakiniku-Q as much as he liked going to Ichiraku's. Kurama never required to eat anything being a being consisting of chakra, and secretly he found the process of cooking things interesting. Especially how dramatically the composition of scents changed when applying heat to various food items.

Naruto was stirring the bowl up then flattening it again so that the sounds and smells would continue to remain at their most potent. Their sensitive sense of smell could pick up the subtle changes when the uncooked portions met the heated stone bowl, and Kurama would always study the changes to the scents intently. That was the biggest factor in Naruto's childlike glee. That with this small action, he was doing something for Kurama that had his interest so thoroughly. Usually, Kurama was indifferent at best.

Naruto started to eat his dish when Kurama grew bored and claimed he was returning to his nap, but Naruto was confident he was analyzing the taste through their connection as well. Naruto thought the dish was quite satisfying in that department too. He would try to find something similar in a cheaper restaurant so that they could enjoy it more often.

He looked up and just smiled at Hinata's dreamy expression, too caught up in his joy at pleasing Kurama to realize she had been staring at him the whole time.

Hinata snapped out of her daydreams of a cheery and non-bashful Naruto when she saw Naruto look up and beam that smile at her. She moved the bowl closer to her and began eating as well.

Hinata decided Naruto had the right idea with constantly stirring the dish as she wasn't a fan of the crispy rice around the edges of the bowl.

Naruto and Hinata enjoyed the final cup of sake as they neared the end of the final dish before the waitress returned with dessert. Green tea mochi ice cream with a fruit salad of pear, apple, persimmon, grapes, and figs.

Naruto quite enjoyed the selection of fruits as he didn't usually eat fruit. If he wanted sweets, he usually went for dango or mochi. He decided that he would add more fruits like these to his diet instead of always just going for dango or mochi. Green tea mochi ice cream wasn't his favorite, but he finished it off once he had eaten all his fruit.

Hinata polished off her end of the meal with the usual grace. She thought the fruit salad was a little too overdone with an odd combination of fruit that didn't sit as well with green tea ice cream. Vanilla would have been a better choice to try and tie those different fruit selections together.

When the tab came, Hinata was surprised when Naruto revealed a highly bloated Gama-chan and pulled out a large stack of ryō more than enough to cover the bill. When Hinata noticed this, she frowned a bit before commenting.

"Wow. You are quite... generous Naruto-kun. Perhaps you shouldn't leave so much behind like that." Hinata said in a polite tone.

"Shishō told me that this is the best way to make sure you can get invited back. Since he was the one that helped me get the reservations I figured I should, at least, give what he would normally. I do not want to make him lose face." Naruto said nonchalantly.

"Um, Well. If that is what Jiraiya-sama told you was appropriate, then I suppose it is fine. It's just that most places that I have been to might take offense to you leaving ryō behind like that." Hinata said sheepishly.

"You know, I thought it was odd when he told me about doing that. I have never been able to go to any restaurants like this before and thought it might be something that was required just for places like this. Maybe I should ask oba-chan instead next time." Naruto said with a shrug.

Naruto stood and offered Hinata his arm again before leaving the restaurant. Hinata and Naruto were both a little tipsy from the plum wine and the sake at the end but it wasn't anything too noticeable. More of just a happy feeling added to their pleasant evening.

They decided to stroll through the village the long way before returning to the Hyūga compound and made their way through the park. While they made their way through the park, they continued discussing their experiences with the dinner that they just enjoyed, and their silent observer was forgotten for the most part.

They ended up turning around and leaving the park in a rush, red-faced with embarrassment when they stumbled onto a drunken couple having sex on a bench surrounded by sake bottles and take out containers.

"I can't believe they were doing.. that .. just .. doing it right there." Naruto sputtered.

Hinata clung to Naruto's arm in laughter while she hid her blushing face in his shoulder.

"It's so embarrassing I can't imagine it. Doing something like that in the open, aren't they afraid they will get caught?" Hinata said in a scandalized tone.

Naruto let out a breath "I guess not. Remind me never to get that drunk. Ever."

Hinata just giggled and pressed herself closer to Naruto. It was time for her to see if they had any chemistry between them.

Naruto began to get nervous as he felt Hinata's soft body against his arm. He could sense the rise in the lust that Hinata was feeling towards him and was unsure of what he should do about it exactly.

"I really had a wonderful time with you Naruto-kun. It was so much more interesting and much more enjoyable having a dinner like that with you. I hope we can do it again sometimes, but you don't have to go so far out of your way again. Even someplace like Yakiniku-Q would be fun just the two of us, don't you think?" Hinata said in a seductive tone.

She had stopped walking causing Naruto to turn towards her. Now she closed the distance between them but remained about an inch away from his body. She would allow him to close the distance to show he was interested.

As she looked into his beautiful blue eyes, she was surprised and disappointed to see that he appeared to be indecisive and almost troubled. Was she being too forward for him?

"Hinata-chan... I don't know if we should try anything further right now. There is just too much confusion in me to know how I feel about you, honestly. I feel a really strong connection to you, and I'm afraid that if this just turns out to be a hormonal thing between us, that our friendship will be ruined because of it." Naruto murmured.

"Naruto-kun, it's normal for us to have these kinds of feelings. The only way we can know if any of this is real for us is to try." Hinata said encouragingly.

"You don't understand, Hinata-chan. I told you how Makoto lured me into a trap in the Root base, but there are...details that I left out. Makoto injected me with something and...she did...things to me. " Naruto looked away from Hinata in shame.

Hinata had a sinking feeling when she heard what Naruto said. All kunoichi had secondary classes at the Academy that shinobi students were unaware of. Mainly the class touched upon the additional challenges and dangers that kunoichi had to deal with since they were female. The secondary focus was entirely on the so-called benefits of being a kunoichi, the ability to seduce and distract enemy shinobi using more abhorrent means. Part of those lessons was knowing how to use things like poisons, drugs, or alcohol to make a target more receptive to your advances if necessary.

Hinata couldn't help the twinge of jealousy and hurt that flared within her briefly and asked, "So she seduced you and you gave into her advances is that it?

"Yes. If it wasn't for the Kyūbi, I might have done everything she wanted me too. I-I couldn't help it. I tried to resist her but my body just..." Naruto let out a breath of air before he gathered himself and tried to explain again. "The feelings that were running through my body were so intense, feelings I have never felt before. I don't know what to think because the things I felt with her are the same things I have started to feel about you. I have felt close to you since we became teammates, but now I am afraid of that feeling." Naruto whispered.

"Naruto-kun, I'm sorry about what happened to you. I understand it can be difficult to come to terms when that sort of thing has happened to you, but I don't think what you felt because of those drugs is the same. I know it must be confusing for you, but you can't be certain until you try, right?" Hinata said before she cupped Naruto's face in her hands and turned his head back towards her.

"It's okay Naruto-kun. I understand... but I want you to know that I really do care for you. You will always be my cherished teammate, nothing will ever change that between us, but how will we ever know if there can be something more between us if we don't at least try." Hinata said in a pleading tone.

Naruto stared at her and as the words of Tsunade and Jiraiya echoed in his head. Both of them had said similar things to what Hinata had told him, but he had still been reticent about embracing that feeling. Naruto decided that he owed it to Hinata to kiss her and see if it felt different from when Makoto kissed him. Maybe things would be a lot less confusing for him if he did try. Hopefully, if it didn't work out between them, they would still be friends.

Naruto put his arms around Hinata and pulled her closer, slowly, while looking into her eyes. His body started to react just by holding her, and he was a little nervous as the sensations he was feeling by being so close to her were similar to how he felt with Makoto.

When he felt Hinata press closer to him and saw her close her eyes, he decided to take the plunge and moved to take her lips.

As their lips met, Naruto felt a much stronger sensation than when he had kissed Makoto. He realized that Tsunade was right about it feeling different, as their lips continued to move against each other, he slowly found himself getting lost in his feelings again.

Hinata felt an incredible spark shoot through her, as his lips met hers and she eagerly returned his kiss. At last! Naruto was kissing her and it was truly amazing. She felt that wonderful heat between her legs building and ran her hands up down his chest before sliding them back up and wrapping her arms around his neck. Naruto grunted at the sensation before he tightened his grip on her more.

Hinata ran her tongue against Naruto's lips tentatively, encouraging Naruto to deepen the kiss. Naruto began to kiss Hinata more passionately, tangling his tongue with hers and exploring her mouth. Hinata couldn't stop the soft moan that left her as Naruto responded to her kiss and she clung tighter to him, reveling in his warm aura that seemed to be caressing her body.

Neji had lost track of Hinata and Naruto when he encountered the couple on the park bench. He had been instructed to follow at a distance. His Byakugan was not active out of respect for Hinata's privacy. When Naruto and Hinata fled in embarrassment, he had lost sight of the couple. Neji managed to track down Hinata just in time to see Naruto kissing her, much to his chagrin, and things appeared to be getting quite heated between them.

Neji interrupted the moment by clearing his throat loudly before speaking in a stern tone of voice.

"Hinata-sama, I must stop this immediately. This sort of thing is not allowed." Neji said with a scowl on his face.

Hinata's face went red with embarrassment for being caught in an intimate moment before her mind caught up to the situation and became absolutely livid at her cousin. She made it very clear by leveling an icy glare at him for his interference.

Naruto was jolted out of his dazed state of mind when he felt the anger coming from both Hinata and Neji. As his mind cleared, he became concerned at how quickly he had been carried away by those feelings again and had to wonder if he was still affected by whatever Makoto had injected into him. When he first kissed Hinata, it felt quite different, but once she ran her tongue against his lips, it was like he was carried away once again. Before he realized it, he was kissing Hinata just like Makoto had kissed him and it unsettled him.

What if he lost control of himself and went too far? Was he doing the same thing to Hinata that Makoto did to him? Maybe it was safer for both of them if he stepped back from all of this and was certain that his emotions weren't being affected because of the drug in his system. Once he was sure that there was no foreign substance influencing him, and his feelings were clear, then perhaps he could explore what he felt about Hinata.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-chan. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have gone so far..." Naruto trailed off nervously as he saw and felt Neji's hostility towards him increase.

Naruto released Hinata and took a step back to create some space between them. Suddenly another very problematic thought crossed his mind, and he felt pained by the realization he had.

He had been so concerned about the drug's effects that he had forgotten the even larger reason for the village's hostility towards him. How could he forget that everyone hated him for what he contained? He would only be bringing all that trouble down on Hinata, and she already had to deal with quite a lot of trouble with her family as it were.

Hinata could see Naruto withdrawing into himself again as that stoic look came across his face. It was like she could see the walls coming back up and pushing her away again.

"No! Naruto-kun, you have no reason to apologize to me. You didn't do anything wrong." Hinata said pleadingly.

"Hinata-sama, he was touching you inappropriately. Only someone who has officially filed for courtship is allowed to touch you in that manner." Neji said sternly.

"That is not true Neji, and you know it! Stop lying to him." Hinata hissed before she stalked towards him. "Did my father put you up to this?"

"Hinata-chan, please don't fight with him. I know you don't have a lot of people you can trust in your clan, and I don't want to come between you and your family like that." Naruto said in a calm tone.

He placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her advance on Neji, hoping to calm the situation down. The last thing he wanted to do was cause even more trouble for her.

Hinata turned back towards him and placed her hand over his before responding. "There is no trouble Naruto-kun! Neji is just being over protective." Hinata shot another seething glare towards Neji daring him to say something.

Neji looked ready to reply, but when he caught the rage-filled expression on Hinata's face, he decided to remain silent.

It looked like he had completed his task for the most part. Naruto appeared to be backing off completely. Hopefully, his embellishment of the courting rules would be enough to keep Naruto away from Hinata, like Hiashi ordered.

"Hinata-chan, please, I don't want to stir up any trouble for you, and I don't want to hold you back because of my... situation," Naruto said as he squeezed her shoulder, getting her to look at him once more. "I can't deny that I have strong feelings towards you, but I am still confused about what it all means. I will be leaving the village for four years soon. I would hate to start something now, only to find out that we have outgrown what we feel. You're my closest friend, and I don't want to lose that for anything." Naruto said seriously.

While it still hurt to come so close, only for him to back off right now, she realized the truth in his words. To try and kindle a relationship right before he left her for an extended period of time would only cause them heartache and trouble. If they were to start anything, it should be when he returned. They could take their time and become more familiar with each other face to face, and their relationship could grow properly.

She couldn't deny that she still had to grow and mature also. While her feelings towards Naruto had grown the past year, it was her first experience with these kinds of emotions. All her aunts had warned her that first loves were more often than not a flash in the pan.

They could both be completely different people by the time Naruto returned. She would not do him any justice by sitting idle waiting for him while he his world experienced reshaped him into a man. If she did that Naruto might not even be interested in who she was anymore. At the very least she knew there was some chemistry between them, but it was best to see if that spark remained once they had been apart.

Realistically, Hinata was more worried about Naruto closing himself off from people entirely. He had always been standoffish around strangers and slow to trust anyone. He would be surrounded by strangers for the next four years with Jiraiya as his only company.

An unrepentant pervert with a penchant for loose women if his reputation was anything to go by.

Hinata stepped forward and embraced Naruto once again before whispering to him.

"Naruto-kun promise me that you will not shut everyone out completely and that you will embrace whatever comes during your journey?" Hinata clung to him tightly as she spoke. "Live your life to the fullest so that you have no regrets when you return. If you promise me that you will do this, then I will promise you the same. When you return, we will see what becomes of us then okay? Can you promise me that?" Hinata said as she looked up at him with watery eyes.

Naruto stared into her eyes and let out a sigh of resignation before nodding. "For you, Hinata-chan, I will make that promise."

Hinata smiled genuinely at his answer and felt relief. If Naruto made a promise, she knew that he would follow through regardless of the situation. It was a risk that she might lose him to someone else while he was out in the world, but she was confident that he would return to her and hopefully then he would be more confident about embracing his emotions.

As for her, she would train hard and grow stronger. She would experience life as she should. When he returned they would get together as old friends and if the fates decreed it, they would be something more. At the very least she had one very memorable first kiss to remember.

Any of the suitors she would be required to meet with, while he was gone, would have quite a high bar to reach. If she even allowed them such liberties at any rate, which she highly doubted. She was kind of surprised that Naruto even knew how to kiss so spectacularly.

"I promise I will embrace whatever may come and that I will have no regrets Naruto-kun. You have been a dear friend to me Naruto-kun and will always be." Hinata replied with a sniffle.

"Hinata-chan, please don't be sad, you know I won't ever forget about you. I'll always think about you." Naruto murmured as he closed his eyes and hugged Hinata tighter before inhaling her scent to imprint it on his memory.

Naruto broke the embrace and gave Hinata a sad smile before he bid Hinata good night and took his leave. It was starting to get late, and he still needed to start packing for his journey.

Once Naruto was out of sight, Hinata whirled on Neji and stalked towards him with her fists clenched tightly and a furious expression on her face. Neji shivered at the killing intent she was directing towards him and wondered what she was going to do to punish him.

"Neji-nii-san, I will only warn you once, If you ever cross the line like that you will regret it dearly. Do you understand?" Hinata said coldly.

"Hinata-sama, I was given orders by Hiashi-sama not to let him get forward with you, and I agree with him, Naruto maybe a trusted comrade and a strong shinobi, but he is beneath you. The clan would never accept him as an eligible suitor." Neji replied vehemently.

"That is not for you, my father, or the fucking clan to decide!" Hinata shouted before stabbing her finger into his chest with each statement to emphasize her point. "Do. You. Understand? I will not let anyone dictate who I can or can not date or associate with. Especially not you! You would do well to remember that Neji-nii-san. I think a lesson is in order here, for crossing the line." Hinata said before putting her finger to her lips in a thinking pose.

"Yes, I know! Hanabi-chan and all her friends wanted to attend the Pretty Pink Hime Dress Up and Sing Along show that arrived in town. In fact, I think I shall take Hanabi-chan and all her friends to a showing for every single free day I have that doesn't coincide with your training schedule. Since Hanabi will no doubt wish to join the characters on stage to dress up and sing with the characters, you know what that means for you dear Neji-nii-san, and I WILL take pictures. If you ever cross the line like you did tonight again, I will give copies of those pictures to Ino, Kiba, and Lee." Hinata said with a smirk.

Neji shivered at the thought of attending a show full of screaming little girls and being forced to dress in frilly pink dresses and kimonos while singing along to highly monotonous and girly songs.

The bodyguard directives were very clear about this scenario. If he let Hanabi on stage with a group of strangers without joining her, Hiashi could punish him severely. Hinata would have highly embarrassing blackmail photos to use against him. His pride would never survive if those pictures came out and if she gave them to those three people the entire village would know about the pictures in less than an hour.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-sama, but you know I can't just go against Hiashi-sama like that. I don't want to fail you or your father. Please don't make me choose between you and him." Neji said while bowing.

"You don't have to choose Neji-nii-san. All you have to do is let me deal with my father. If he asks you for a report, all you have to say is that Naruto did nothing that I did not allow. He can not punish you for that, so you can not use that as an excuse because you do not approve of my choice. I decide who I spend my time with and who is allowed to touch me." Hinata said sternly.

"I understand Hinata-sama, I don't agree with this, but I won't interfere directly anymore if this is what you truly want," Neji said with resignation.

Hinata looked in the direction that Naruto went with a rueful expression on her face.

"It is what I truly want, Neji-nii-san. I will just have to hope that Naruto-kun feels the same way when he returns." Hinata said sadly.

Neji felt a little guilty at hearing the sadness in Hinata's voice, but he couldn't help but be concerned with her choice.

He would just have to bite his tongue and wait until Naruto left the village, hopefully, Naruto's status would change during his absence or Hinata would find another love interest, and there would be no more problems.


	45. Cherry Blossom and Tea

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edit 4/23/16

 **Chapter 44**

 **Cherry Blossom and Tea**

 **The Next Morning – Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Naruto was sitting in the middle of his apartment with everything he owned piled around him messily. After waking a few hours ago, he debated on what he should take with him or purchase for his trip and decided that he would be better off just cataloging everything and moving on from there. It was probably more prudent store everything instead of leaving it out to gather dust for four years.

After he had created a list of everything, which wasn't much, he sealed or stored everything that he was leaving behind and piled those scrolls and boxes off to the side. Now, he was sorting through the items that could be useful for his trip and comparing it against the list of necessities Jiraiya had given him.

Kurama was providing his input while Naruto scanned over all his travel gear laid out in front of him.

Kurama had convinced Naruto to withdraw a large chunk of his lease ryō to take with him, in addition to the large bag of ryō he stole from Root. Kurama believed that some of the materials needed for the plan would be very expensive and would need to have to be purchased in bulk. Naruto had mentioned selling the house for more ryō, but Kurama rejected that idea.

" **You will need the bigger den after this trip is over. In fact, you should begin examining it for preparation."** Kurama said.

 _'I can't. Unless I've been promoted to chūnin.'_ Naruto replied.

" **You don't need to be chūnin to look at the den from the outside do you?"** Kurama said in an amused tone.

 _'I guess not. I will look it over the day before we leave.'_ Naruto said.

" **You should also make more storage scrolls. Many of the items we will need to purchase are only available in certain countries. We will need to buy large amounts of these materials when they are available to account for any unexpected loss or misuse. Make two large scrolls at least and maybe 20 medium scrolls."** Kurama said.

Naruto scanned over his available scrolls and did a quick count.

 _'So 15 more mediums scrolls and two large... What do you think about me making a giant scroll like shishō carries for the toads?'_ Naruto thought.

" **That is not too wise. Some other mortal filth will try to steal it thinking it might be a summoning contract. The more subtle the scroll, the better chance it has of being left untouched."** Kurama explained.

 _'Right. So not as large as that but big enough to store large bags or boxes I am assuming?'_ Naruto said as he pictured the boxes he had in mind.

" **That should be sufficient size, but perhaps we should make four just to be safe,"** Kurama said.

 _'I'll have my kit on me. What if I just take a large roll of paper and make my own if we need it.'_ Naruto said

" **You will need to do that as well, I think you are underestimating the amount of materials we will need to accomplish our goals,"** Kurama said as showed Naruto a mental image of the things he would be trying to collect on his journey.

 _'...Wow, that is a lot. It looks like I will need to pick up a book or two as well to make and prepare some of those things.'_ Naruto said as he laid out the necessary paper and pulled out his fūinjutsu kit.

Naruto created some ink within him and channeled a little more of his chakra into it before he balled it up with a small layer of chakra in his hand. He then gently placed the orb of ink into his inkwell and prepared his broad brush to get started on creating his sealing scrolls.

Naruto set to work making his four large storage seals on the larger rolls of paper he had unfurled. Once those two were ready, he moved them closer to the window to let the sunlight aid in drying them faster.

Naruto cut up 15 more medium sized scrolls, then decided to add five more for chakra storage and twelve dozen smaller chakra storage seals for his teammates to use while he was gone.

After laying everything out, Naruto continued happily creating his storage seals of various types completely oblivious to everything around him at the moment. He had to admit that he missed the calming nature of drawing seals with his brush. He had been focusing on drawing the majority of his seals directly with his chakra instead to apply them in combat.

He would have to try and draw them with Gyūki's ink instead now if he could manage to create the ink elsewhere on his body. Either that or he would have to produce the ink then try to project it in a seal pattern.

" **You could coat it in chakra like you do now to create those little balls of ink, then shape it in your hand like you would regular chakra, if necessary, but you would need more time to perform such a task. It would not be feasible unless you were facing a very strong opponent who was capable of resisting your normal seals."** Kurama noted.

 _'True. So far I haven't had a lot of testing overall, but all those Root people and even Danzō himself had been affected by my seals after only a short time.'_ Naruto said as he began working on the smaller chakra storage seals.

" **Your gravity seal might not be something that useful against any real opponents but it's inexpensive and doesn't require much, so it isn't a waste to continue using it. The chakra draining and paralysis seals will be your best bet."** Kurama said.

 _'I've been lax in applying paralysis seals during combat. I will need to brush up on those a lot more. I also want to work on that crippling seal that we saw on Shukaku. Maybe I can find the bastard who made that seal and see how he likes it.'_ Naruto said with a scowl.

Just as Naruto finished the last of his sealing scrolls and set them out to dry, he smelled someone approaching his door that he didn't expect to see visiting him. Naruto looked up towards his window to see if they were just passing by but instead she stopped at his door and after taking a deep breath she knocked.

Naruto mentally blinked for a few minutes stunned that she would even know where he lived or would want to visit him at all before he was roused from his thoughts by her knocking again.

"Just a minute please," Naruto called out before he cleaned his brush off in water quickly, covered up his inkwell, and moved towards the door.

Naruto opened the door and greeted his surprise visitor. "Hello, Sakura. Is there something I could do for you?"

Sakura bowed to him politely before responding. "Naruto, I came to apologize again and to ask if I can make it up to you by taking you out to eat. If you aren't busy and don't mind, of course," she replied nervously.

Naruto just stared at her for a moment while she fidgeted nervously. He could sense fear, but nothing else coming from her.

"Sakura, you don't really need to do this. I already accepted your apology, so this isn't necessary." Naruto said trying to calm her down.

"No. Naruto, please let me do this for you. I won't lie and say it isn't to help myself also, but I have to do this. Please come and let me explain everything to you. I promise I'm not just trying to make excuses, but I wanted to let you know the truth before you left. I want you to understand that I am sincere in making it up to you and not just trying to act cordial." Sakura said seriously.

 _'What do you think Kurama? Should I even bother?'_ Naruto said as he thought it over.

" **Tch perhaps it will be entertaining, and she may just continue to bother you later if we do not accept. You should do it now lest she seeks to track you down later on when you return and we won't want the attention then."** Kurama grumbled.

"Okay, Sakura, just give me a minute to put some things I was working on away," Naruto said.

"Thank you, Naruto for giving me this chance," Sakura said.

"Why don't you come in and have a seat while I put these away? It shouldn't take long." Naruto offered before he stepped back letting Sakura enter his apartment.

Naruto directed her towards the couch, and she sat with her arms folded in her lap as she studied her surroundings.

Naruto didn't have much in the means of decorations besides random houseplants that he appeared to be in the process of moving, and all scattered all over the floor were sealing scrolls.

Naruto was currently testing each scroll before he would either roll them up or move them into the sunlight to dry faster. He was done checking them all in five minutes and, apparently, most of them still needed to dry as he left them out. She watched as Naruto put his fūinjutsu kit away carefully before he went into his room and changed into his usual outfit minus the hand and leg wraps.

"Ready when you are Sakura," Naruto said as he waited for her to stand and walk out the door.

"I made us reservations at a special tea room here in the village. I hope you like it," Sakura said.

"I haven't been to a tea room before. I'm sure it will be interesting," Naruto replied politely.

 **Gaikoku Tea Room – Konoha Merchant District**

* * *

Kurama stirred immediately when Naruto entered the Tea Room with Sakura as they waited to be seated.

" **Interesting, I have not smelled some of these scents since I left for the other continent. I wonder if that means that humans have infested that land already as well."** Kurama said.

 _'Maybe I can find something interesting for you to taste along with me?'_ Naruto asked.

" **I will admit that the tasting of things is intriguing to me as I do not require feeding like mortals do to sustain myself. I still find the scents more interesting, however, so order what you wish."** Kurama said offhandedly.

"Naruto?" Sakura said in a questioning tone.

"I'm sorry Sakura did you say something? I've never seen some of the things they are serving here before and was just studying them closely." Naruto said sheepishly.

"I like this place because it offers a lot of things from the other continent as well as some local things to try. I know that most people have never tried some of the food or tea here before, so I already ordered their high tea service which will allow you to sample a bit of everything." Sakura said.

"Thank you, Sakura, that sounds great," Naruto replied.

The hostess directed them to their seat, and Naruto looked over the tea menu before he decided on one that claimed it was a mix of herbs and spices from an island far from the other continent.

Naruto's nose began to perk as the waitress brought their tea around and placed the clear glass teapots on their table. Naruto was a little put off by the strange ball that was floating in the water until Sakura explained that it was part of the brewing process and that the ball would bloom into a flower when it was ready.

The waitress then brought an array of sandwiches and bread with different kinds of sauces and fruits. All these foreign scents were quite intriguing to him, and he was curious to try everything but noticed that Sakura was just watching him, so he turned his attention back to her while Kurama continued to analyze the scents for him. There were even a few scents Kurama was unfamiliar with apparently.

There were a few moments of awkward silence while Sakura and Naruto just waited until he saw Sakura reach over and pick up his teapot. He watched as she carefully poured him a cup of tea and noticed that the ball had indeed bloomed into a strange looking flower he had never seen before.

When Sakura set the pot down, he studied the flower in curiosity almost tempted to take it out but decided that might not be appropriate. Naruto then watched as Sakura poured herself a cup of tea before she added some sugar and milk to her tea.

"Did you just put milk in your tea?" Naruto asked

"Yea, for this kind of tea it is normal to put cream in it. The cream is a little thicker than milk, and is the base component that they use to make butter with." Sakura explained.

Naruto just nodded before he decided to sip on his tea after taking a deep breath of the scent. The variety of flavors exploded on his tongue, and he found it quite fascinating. All the different flavors and scents he was noticing made it like drinking a puzzle for him and Kurama.

Naruto decided to try it with some sugar and cream like Sakura added and found that the cream smoothed the overall flavors out instead of them all hitting you at once. He decided he preferred it without the cream for now.

He saw Sakura take a sandwich and start nibbling on it, so he decided to try one of the sandwiches near him. He picked up a sandwich that appeared to have eggs smashed with herbs and some sauce that smelled of more eggs and oil. There also seemed to be tea in the eggs as well, and Naruto found that he really liked the sandwich.

The awkward silence continued for a few more moments as Sakura ate one of the strange lumpy pieces of bread with some sauce she said was clotted cream and fruit spread onto it, and Naruto ate a sandwich that had cucumber and this weird soft cheese on it that was pretty rich tasting. For once he enjoyed the raw sliced cucumber as it calmed the thickness of the white cheese on the sandwich.

After Sakura had finished what she called a scone, Naruto heard her take a deep breath and took his focus off his sandwich for a moment.

"Naruto. I brought you here to explain why I behaved the way I did in the past to help both you and myself understand why what I did was wrong. Let me be clear up front, this is not an attempt to excuse or justify what I have done in any way. I am doing this so that I can understand my behavior and try to stop myself from falling back into old habits in the future if things become difficult for me." Sakura took her gaze off her folded hands and looked directly at Naruto before continuing. "My therapist told me that the only way I could improve myself was to confront one person who I had blamed for all my problems and choose one person to reveal all my problems to. After a lot of thought, I decided that you were the best choice to explain myself to you because I caused you the most damage of anyone with my behavior and you were not the reason for any of my problems. Yet, I still took all of my problems out on you anyways." Sakura said.

Naruto was about to say something, but Sakura held up her hand. "Please Naruto I have to do this, or I won't be able to find peace with myself. Please just listen to everything I say first before you decide anything. I won't ask you to do anything else beyond listening if you don't want to, but I need to explain everything to you so you can understand why I was unreasonably mean to you."

Naruto nodded and began to nibble on another egg sandwich while Sakura composed herself.

"Before I was born my father had been trying to join the shinobi forces for some time. He had been from a merchant family, and they saved up a lot of money to register him for the Academy. It was his dream to become a shinobi for the village and help protect his family's merchant caravans. I don't know the full truth but from looking up records, I found that he wasn't very skilled, and he didn't meet the requirements to make a combat team like we did." Sakura said before taking another sip of her tea.

"He ended up in one of the logistics teams with the opportunity to train and test up into the full shinobi forces because he showed the potential for growth but for whatever reason he never succeeded. At some point during this, he met my mother and led her to believe that he was a full shinobi during their romance. They got married soon afterward, but my mom didn't know that my father was just part of logistics and support." Sakura said with a sigh.

Naruto decided to refill her tea for her before filling his own cup.

"Thank you," Sakura said before she added more sugar and milk.

"So, my mother and father were together and happy for a time until she became pregnant with me and discovered that she was not able to get some of the benefits that expectant mothers get for prenatal care. Those benefits are only available to the full shinobi forces. After that, I was told that my mother and father never stopped arguing with each other. My dad blamed the whole civilian bias that shinobi have for holding him back and preventing him from joining the full forces. I don't know if any of that is actually true, but it was the primary reason for why I attacked you so much in the academy." Sakura said with a sad look on her face.

That caught Naruto by surprise. He was certain it was because of the whole stay away from the demon brat thing from her mother.

"My father became a drunk, and my mother felt trapped with a failure, but she was no angel either. She had only been trying to use him to get all the benefits that a shinobi wife could reap. She had just been looking for any ninja to marry so that she wouldn't have to work as much and if her husband died then it wouldn't matter because she would receive his pension and could still live comfortably. I guess you can say all my bitch traits came from her." Sakura said with a self-deprecating smirk.

Naruto couldn't stop himself from snorting slightly at her comment before he scratched his head sheepishly.

"It's okay, Naruto. Don't feel embarrassed about it. I can admit I was an extremely rude bitch to you all throughout the academy. You don't have to cover it up to be polite." Sakura said while shaking her head.

"Anyways, my father's parents still supported him because they were wealthy merchants and they wanted him to succeed, but he was a proud man and didn't want to give up and just enter the merchant business like they offered. He refused to quit the logistics team and accept his role in the business, leaving his brother and his uncle in charge when his parents retired. How my life would have been so much more different if he had accepted the offer." Sakura said before she took another sip of tea.

"Not long after I was born the Kyūbi attack happened and my father's family were all killed leaving only his uncle in charge of their merchant business. His uncle hated him for abandoning the business, so he just cut my father off completely, only giving my father what was mentioned in an old will instead of the monthly stipend they gave to help my mother feed and clothe me. My father became even more of a drunk to the point that he couldn't even remain on the logistics team and was abusive towards my mother since she didn't work to help provide. My mother was then forced to work and take care of me while my father just drank most of his money away and did odd jobs." Sakura wiped a tear from her eye and took a moment to compose herself.

Naruto had been thinking about what Sakura had revealed so far and for the first time, he realized that having parents might not always be such a good thing. Being an orphan the consideration that your birth parents might not actually be loving or caring towards you had always been at the back of his mind. Did your parents despise you so much that they just dropped you off like trash?

Now he could see that not all parents who abandoned their children in an orphanage were doing so out of malicious or selfish means. Some of them might have been considerate enough realize that giving them away allowed their child a chance at finding a new home with people that cared. That giving the child away could actually be better than keeping them around to be mistreated or abused.

Sakura picked up another scone and absentmindedly added more clotted cream and strawberry jam before she savored the scone to help her regain her composure by relaxing a little.

Naruto took a cue from her and decided to try one of those scones. He put the same amount of the clotted cream and jam as she did on hers before taking a bite. The bread was a little dry for his tastes, but he liked the cream and the jam itself. He added another scoop of cream and jam before he polished off the pastry.

His eye drifted towards the last egg sandwich but decided to leave it for last since Sakura hadn't eaten one those yet. He picked up a smoked salmon sandwich that had some of that soft white cheese as well and ate that instead. So far Naruto found himself enjoying this place immensely and the fact that Kurama found it intriguing was enough of a motivating factor for him to plan on visiting regularly. He would have to bring Hinata-chan or Tsunade here. Maybe the Hokage would enjoy it as well. Jiji was _always_ drinking tea when he wasn't smoking. He didn't think Jiraiya would care for it, though.

Sakura wiped the crumbs from her face before she took another breath and continued.

"So I mentioned after the Kyūbi attack right?" Sakura asked.

Naruto nodded.

" So time passed, and soon I was nearing the age to enter the Academy. My father suddenly began to pay more attention to me and started to help train me. This attention would only last for a few years but for those few years, things began to get better in our home. My father stopped drinking as much and got a steady part time job but focused mainly on training me to enter the Academy. My mother worked full time to provide the tuition fees for me since she believed all her problems would be solved once I became a kunoichi. Then all of the sudden on the 6th anniversary of the Kyūbi attack my dad went out drinking with his friends and just disappeared." Sakura said.

Naruto already knew where this was going but remained silent. He had to suspect that her father could be one of the ones who had attacked him that night.

"I didn't find out until much later that he had gone with a group of men to attack you at the orphanage for some stupid reason. I still don't know why exactly, but I have an idea after hearing some of the things people have said as I was growing up. It was only confirmed for me after the Nami no Kuni mission, but I won't go into detail, and I won't say anything about it either. I am quite aware of the punishment for doing so." Sakura said as she looked at Naruto with a knowing look.

"I was angry and upset that my father was gone and with no real explanation. Then people came over and told my mother that you were involved, somehow, and that the Hokage was protecting you from punishment. I didn't really understand it, but my mother began to be abusive towards me. Constantly belittling me for not being stronger, or better when I trained. She made me start working with her at the store to make money towards the Academy fees. She was always threatening me to succeed or else she would make my life miserable. Saying that I was responsible for providing for her since I had taken her entire life away from her. She was always going on about you also. She would often switch between blaming me or blaming you for making her live such a pathetic life. She also complained about the shinobi benefits, how they had it so easy and always got everything handed to them while they treated the civilians like dirt." Sakura took another bracing sip of tea.

"That is the real reason why I lashed out at you so much Naruto. My life was a struggle of scavenging, training, and working hard while it seemed like you just had everything handed to you. I had run into some of the adopted kids from the civilian side of the orphanage and asked them about you. They had nothing but bad things to say about you. They also mentioned that you weren't actually a shinobi child at all, but none of the clan children treated you in the same way that they did the civilian kids. I heard all the snide comments the clan kids made towards the civilian children in the academy, but yet there you were being treated as if you were one of them. They all knew you were orphaned without any known shinobi family, but they still treated you as one of them while they looked down at all of us civilian children. I hated you so much for being able to lose that stigma, acting like you were so superior to us when your origins were just the same as ours. It didn't matter to me that your scores justified your superiority to us." Sakura said before she reached over and took Naruto's hand much to his surprise.

"I was such a fool Naruto, and I can only apologize over and over again to try and repay you. I know I should have been thrown out of the shinobi program for my actions against you. I also know that you convinced the Hokage to give me a second chance. I can never repay you for that. I tried to end your life only for you to save mine. If I had to go back to my mother after being kicked out of the program, I probably wouldn't have survived. I would be dead or locked away, and I can only thank you and Kami for stopping that from happening. Thank you for giving me this chance to reveal all this to you and thank you for saving me." Sakura said with tears in her eyes.

Naruto was silent a moment before he gripped her hand gently and sent a soft smile at her.

"You had such a difficult life Sakura, but I am glad that it is better for you now. I have to admit that I had so much hatred for you back then. No matter what I tried to do, you always treated me so nastily and it hurt because I couldn't understand why. One day I finally realized that keeping that hatred festering in my heart just left me tired and unhappy all of the time. It wasn't worth the pain or effort to return that hatred when it did nothing to change their feelings about me. I'm glad that at least you have realized this truth in your own way. If more people were strong enough to admit that they were simply clinging to that hate for foolish reasons, then I think the world would be a much better place." Naruto said before patting Sakura's hand.

"...You think I'm strong?" Sakura said in a shocked tone.

"Sakura, I can tell you were being honest with me and after hearing your story, I don't see how anyone could think otherwise. I may not know all the details of everyone's life, but I am confident that Ino hasn't even remotely had to struggle like you have. Hinata might have the burdens of being an heiress to her clan, but she had tutors helping her from a very young age. Hinata has never had to worry about earning money for food or supplies. She hasn't even had to prepare food for herself unless she decides to on a whim. Even with all of those advantages that Hinata had, you managed to keep up with her and compete with her. You managed to keep up with a clan heiress with no one supporting you. You managed to do all of that while dealing with an abusive mother. I can confidently say that you are a member of the fucked up childhood club, just like Sasuke and I."

Naruto chuckled a bit before continuing. "I remember my first two years at the academy I was struggling with the taijutsu and bukijutsu instructors. I didn't have the Hokage or Anbu helping me, contrary to what everyone believed. I only began receiving help when the Hokage discovered that those instructors were deliberately sabotaging me to prevent me from graduating. If things had been different, we might have been friends who would have helped each other succeed."

"I-I had no idea they were actually trying to make you fail like that. I didn't realize how much your life has been a struggle until that mission in Nami no Kuni. Sasuke also had a much more painful childhood, I think." Sakura said sadly.

"Honestly, I don't know what is worse between the three of us. I have always wanted to know how it would feel to have a mother that loved me. I had wondered for the longest time if there was anyone who truly cared that I existed in this world." Naruto mused as he looked out the window. "What is more scarring to a person? Loneliness? Loss? Abuse? I never had the love of a mother, so I can't comprehend how it would feel to lose a mother who was kind and caring. In that same vein, I wouldn't know how it felt to have a mother become abusive towards me either." Naruto turned his gaze back to Sakura. "Some would say that your mother betrayed you. I know how betrayal feels. To be betrayed or abused by someone who should be protecting you has to be worse than being treated the same way by a stranger or even someone who has betrayed you in the past. It's in the past now at any rate. We can only move forward and I can, at least, respect the fact that you are moving forward as well, Sakura." Naruto concluded with a small smile towards the pinkette.

Sakura wiped her eyes before she nodded, "Thank you, for hearing me out Naruto. This little chat has helped me more than you realize. I hope, in some small way, that it has helped you heal from all the emotional damage I put you through as well."

"It has helped me to understand how the other side views things," Naruto said with a nod. "Honestly, I never believed I would gain any insight on why people clung to such hatred. Now, at least, it makes some sense to me. It might have spared a lot of unnecessary pain when I was younger. Now it just makes me feel pity for those who are trapped in that cycle of hate." Naruto said before shrugging.

"Anyways, I am glad that you brought me here Sakura. I would never have believed that having tea and a quiet conversation would be so entertaining. I think the tea helped take the edge off of an emotional and depressing conversation. " Naruto said with a small smile.

Sakura couldn't help but chuckle lightly at Naruto's humor. The burden of her guilt lightened slightly, but she couldn't let it go completely after their discussion today. Naruto had been so kind and considerate to her while she unburdened herself. All she had ever done was be a complete and utter bitch towards him, but here he was cheering her up after she relived the pain of her past.

"I'm glad you do Naruto. It was the least I can do, perhaps when you come back from your trip we can come here again and talk about what we have seen and done over the years." Sakura said with a smile of her own.

"I would like that Sakura. I really would." Naruto said genuinely.

Naruto and Sakura fell into a comfortable silence after their discussion and finished their tea and sandwiches before departing the tea room. Sakura gave Naruto her address for him to look her up when he returned from his trip before she bowed and left with a smile on her face.

 _'Well, Kurama, who would have thought that Sakura of all people might become a friend.'_ Naruto said as he looked at the address she had given him.

" **Hmph. I would have never expected her of all people to ever move beyond that foolish hatred that corrupts most mortal filth. I suppose it makes sense that such filth is indeed spread from generation to generation. You have proven to me at least that there are very few mortals who are not entirely corrupted."** Kurama said.

 _'You may be right about that. Unlike Ino, Sakura never wavered from her beliefs. She hated me, and that was that. She never changed her position, and she followed through on it even if it was wrong. Now I have to think Ino is lesser than Sakura ever was because she just changed her opinions like the wind. At least, Sakura stood fast in her belief until she realized it was wrong and had the courage to own up to it.'_

" **Perhaps there is more to the pink hair banshee then we thought after all."** Kurama mused.

Naruto walked towards his apartment with a smile on his face as he discussed the various scents they had encountered in the tea room. Naruto decided that one of the first things he would do when he returned would be to visit that place again with Sakura and maybe Hinata as well.

He would also look into buying more tea in general since Kurama had been very interested in what he had purchased at the tea room, and from browsing the menu he saw that there were a lot of different varieties he could entertain Kurama with.

Naruto had usually just stuck with the ordinary run of the mill green tea for drinking, but now he had been introduced to the world of tea and wanted to learn more about it.


	46. Moving Up and Out

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edit:4/23/16

 **Chapter 45**

 **Moving Up and Out**

 **Late Afternoon - Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Naruto entered his apartment and began organizing his dried storage scrolls. Naruto began to lay out all the items by type and importance so he could prioritize which scrolls would be carried on his person, and which seals he would store away in a bag of some sort.

Naruto made a mental note to look for a bag that would be large enough to suit his purpose, but small enough to be usable in combat if necessary. He could always augment it with seals to increase the storage capacity in the end. Once he had everything laid out his focus turned to the chakra storage seals that he created.

Naruto pulled the seals over towards him and began filling them with chakra. After charging the twelve dozen small chakra seals with his chakra, he split them up evenly and sealed them away into the smaller storage scrolls he typically used for short term missions. He would give those to Sasuke, Kakashi, and Hinata before he left.

Next, he went through and began sealing all of his belongings into the larger storage scrolls. Soon he had everything he owned sealed away and piles of scrolls organized and labeled for him to pack or put away.

Deciding that he wasn't going to do anything strenuous today and feeling a little drowsy from the lunch he had at the tea room, Naruto decided to store the rest of his chakra away into one of the big storage scrolls before he went to his room and took a nap.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hiruzen sat with Tsunade as they prepared the rest of the documents required for the ceremonial transfer of the Hokage position to Tsunade in a few more weeks. As they were filling out the paperwork for the Daimyō, they were discussing the details of the ceremony and festival afterward. They were distracted when the secretary notified them of an important messenger's arrival.

Hiruzen granted admittance to the messenger who carried the judges results from the interrupted chūnin exams.

Hiruzen accepted the scroll before dismissing the messenger and reading the scroll.

"Well, Tsunade, it looks like we have a few new chūnin to promote today," Hiruzen said with a smile.

"Oh? You mean they managed to agree on some of them anyways?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes. I know we discussed the field promotions for the invasion, but we now have two more to add to the list," Hiruzen said with a sigh.

Tsunade read the message from the judges and saw that Shikamaru and Naruto were listed along with Shino. Hiruzen had discussed promoting Shino, Sasuke, and Naruto with her earlier, but Hiruzen had been reluctant to promote Naruto.

"Shikamaru is a surprise, but I can't say I disagree with their reasoning. I'm not surprised that Sasuke was excluded, given how his fight went down. Do you still intend to invoke the wartime clause and promote him anyways?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes. Sasuke is more than deserving of promotion to chūnin." Hiruzen said firmly.

Hiruzen was not surprised the Sasuke wasn't included by the judges either. While it was true that Gaara had not attacked, and Sasuke's Chidori failed to kill him before he ran off, it wasn't Sasuke's fault he couldn't be fully evaluated. Hiruzen had read the reports about his actions during the invasion and when coupled with reports from all his completed missions he felt Sasuke deserved the promotion.

Sasuke had always been the defacto leader or Team 7. He was usually the one to develop their combat strategy but did not oppose any input from Naruto or Hinata. He was also able to keep up with Naruto's jutsu knowledge without using the Kage Bunshin, which was impressive to say the least. Hiruzen would use a loophole in the Treaty of Five Nations, signed after the Third Shinobi War, to give Sasuke a field promotion instead.

Usually, the Treaty of Five Nations prevented a village from promoting its genin without the Chūnin exams. Since Konoha was invaded, Hiruzen was able to evoke the wartime exception clause to justify promoting Sasuke. It probably didn't matter since the Treaty was technically broken with the invasion. Hiruzen wouldn't be the one to break the treaty, not when there was a chance the Daimyo might reinforce the treaty in the first place. The likelihood of that was slim, but the Daimyō's were known to be perverse.

They might decide to simply settle the matter according to which one had the most extravagant yacht, or which one managed to win a Go tournament.

Hiruzen stamped and signed the promotion orders for Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Shino and set them aside. He stared at Naruto's orders with a frown.

"I'm guessing you are reluctant because of that whole Root fiasco?" Tsunade said with an eyebrow raised.

"That isn't the only reason," Hiruzen replied with while shaking his head. "He showed he was more than capable during the finals, but I had hoped to force him to stay under Kakashi longer. I fear what would happen to Naruto if this organization begins to move against him without more ties to the village." Hiruzen admitted.

"Holding him back for that reason would be a mistake, sensei. It would be valid to dismiss the promotion because he made a huge error in judgment going after Root as he did." Tsunade said with her hands planted on her hips and a frown on her face. "Unfortunately, the main reason he went after Root is part of the Will of Fire doctrine that Jichan created for the village so that excuse is still flimsy at best. Technically, he didn't abandon his orders either since he was still assisting in subduing the Ichibi with this jinchūriki... link... thing." Tsunade began to tap her finger to her lips in thought.

"If you think about it more, the promotion might help to strengthen his ties to the village. Owning his own house and property in the village is a strong way of keeping him invested. He might also want to keep his mother's and father's legacies alive in the village if we give him his inheritance. We don't have to announce it publically, but as he reveals his heritage to others, word will spread anyway. We know that once that truth is out most of the village will view him in a positive light. He will have to deal with the false praise, but he can sense those who are trying to deceive him right?" Tsunade said.

"That may drive him out of the village faster. Both Minato and Kushina hated fan girls." Hiruzen said pointedly.

"Still, giving him the land and the money wouldn't hurt. He will be beyond chūnin level in skill when he returns with Jiraiya. If what Jiraiya is planning takes fruit, Naruto will be pushing Jōnin easily." Tsunade said.

"Oh? What kind of things have you heard from him?" Hiruzen asked.

"Well, I know he has arranged for training in Yuki, and Tetsu no Kuni. He will also most likely have him learn Sage mode from the toads before he returns." Tsunade said.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at Tsunade for a moment. "He's going to sneak Naruto-kun into Kaminari no Kuni to train with B isn't he."

"I don't know that for certain, sensei, but I wouldn't put it past him at all." Tsunade chuckled at Hiruzen's scowl. "Naruto-kun mentioned to me that some things necessary to master control over the Kyūbi were currently unavailable to him. If B has what is needed for him to learn control the Kyūbi, then I am all for it." Tsunade added.

Hiruzen sighed as he gave in and shook his head. Tsunade smirked as she realized she was breaking the old shinobi down. Her victory was near.

"Come on sensei, you know you were only planning on keeping Naruto-kun back, so you don't feel like you are showing favoritism to him. You were never really overly partial to anyone in the past sensei, even when you thought you were doing so with Orochimaru." Tsunade said.

"That maybe so, Tsunade, but do you know what the difference was between Orochimaru and Minato?" Hiruzen asked.

"Quite a lot I would say sensei, they seem like night and day to me," Tsunade replied.

"No, Tsunade, Minato was exactly like Orochimaru. The only difference between the two was Minato had people very close to him. Minato was charismatic and cheerful, always letting people grow close to him easily. Orochimaru was always guarded and stoic, even as a genin. He would only let people in if they actively sought him out and even then he kept them all at a distance, afraid to suffer the same pain he had felt when his parents had died. With that in mind, I have one question for you to answer. Can you name one other genin who acts in that exact manner?" Hiruzen said with a knowing look.

Tsunade thought for a moment before a scowl crossed her face. Tsunade stood up and slammed her fist down onto the table she was sitting behind, causing the table to shatter into pieces.

"I refuse to believe that Naruto-kun is like that traitor in any way sensei!" Tsunade shouted.

"Naruto-kun isn't like Orochimaru, yet. He is like Orochimaru was back when we could still trust him. When he was your comrade and teammate who trained and fought alongside you and Jiraiya. You can't deny it Tsunade. You know that there is truth in my words." Hiruzen said with a sigh as he stroked his brow.

"I suspect that is the main reason Orochimaru fixated on Naruto-kun. We are aware now that his original target was Sasuke since he had always coveted having a Sharingan of his own. When Sasuke and Hinata reviewed the battle it was obvious that Orochimaru only sought to separate Sasuke from the others. Unfortunately, Naruto-kun's persistence drew Orochimaru's eye. Once he marked Naruto-kun and gained access to his mind, his focus changed entirely and Sasuke was almost an afterthought. I think Orochimaru recognized himself as a child when he saw Naruto-kun's past. That is why he was trying so hard to indoctrinate Naruto-kun to his way of thinking. Orochimaru must have seen it as helping a kindred spirit come to the same realizations about the world as he did." Hiruzen said softly.

"Do you really think he will end up just like him sensei? Do you have so little faith in Naruto-kun that you believe he would betray us so easily?" Tsunade said with a pained look.

"I don't think he would do so easily, no. Unlike Orochimaru, Naruto-kun has a stronger moral fiber to him, but he also has something that is dangerous and manipulative within him. I believe that is the main reason behind Minato's warning to Jiraiya. Jiraiya stated that Minato had been watching over Naruto from inside the seal. That means that Minato saw signs that Naruto-kun was or is being guided by the Kyūbi to not only turn his back on the village but humanity as well." Hiruzen explained.

"Naruto-kun is more caring towards other people than Orochimaru ever was, sensei. While they have a lot of similarities I will admit, Naruto-kun wouldn't do half of the things Orochimaru would. His foray into the Root base proved that much." Tsunade argued.

"I hope you are right, Tsunade. I don't want to fail Naruto-kun like I failed Orochimaru. When Naruto-kun had his first personality change, it was so frightening to me. At the time, he managed to convince me that the Kyūbi was not involved. Naruto was so much like Orochimaru when he was in the Academy it honestly _scared_ me. Then I learned that he has been in contact with the Kyūbi since he was six, Tsunade. That damn demon has been manipulating him that whole time, and there was _no one_ there to counter that influence for _six years_." Hiruzen said with a frustrated tone. "He only spent a few hours with me a few times a week, and a few days with his friends, but for the most part, he was alone with the Kyūbi. Even with the inroads that you, Jiraiya, and Team 7 have made in opening him up to others, I still fear that the Kyūbi has more influence than we believe. I can only hope Jiraiya can breakthrough to Naruto-kun during this trip." Hiruzen said before taking a deep breath to compose himself.

"Sensei, I know that I haven't had much time with Naruto-kun. I know that you have said that his personality had changed dramatically, but I don't believe that is true. I think he just masks himself to spare himself from the pain of the village's hatred. While he is reserved, I have seen the life returning to him slowly. I can feel him relax whenever we embrace. As much as I hate to admit it, I have seen him light up when that Hyūga hussy comes around. If there is one thing that perverted baka of a teammate is capable of doing, it will be breathing more life into Naruto-kun. I just hope his pervertedness doesn't also spread." Tsunade grumbled the last sentence.

Hiruzen sighed tiredly, "I know you are right, Tsunade. I know I should have faith, but as the Hokage, I can't rely on faith alone. I can only pray to Kami that Jiraiya can manage it somehow. Even if he has to develop some of Jiraiya's strange personality quirks it will be worth it in the end. I am certain Minato and Kushina will have punishment enough for us all in the afterlife now that Minato was freed. I will grant Naruto-kun the promotion."

Hiruzen finally stamped and signed Naruto's promotion order before he reached down and opened up the bottom drawer of his desk. He sorted through the various scrolls stored in the drawer before pulling four yellow banded scrolls. Hiruzen then channeled chakra into the seal on his desk to summon his assistant and secretary.

"Hokage-sama, you called for us?" The assistant asked.

"Yes, I need you to collect four Chūnin vests from storage in the following sizes," Hiruzen said before handing a slip of paper to his assistant.

"I will also need these Chūnin promotion certifications updated and the ninja ID's updated for the genin on this list. Here are the details that you will need." Hiruzen said to the secretary before he handed her the four yellow banded scrolls and another slip of paper.

"I would like to hand those out later this evening, if possible. Do you think you two can have that completed in four hours?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yes. Hokage-sama," The secretary and assistant answered simultaneously.

"Excellent! Thank you for your hard work. You are dismissed." Hiruzen said.

Tsunade looked over the final list one more time and smiled.

Aburame, Shino

Nara, Shikamaru

Uchiha, Sasuke

Uzumaki, Naruto

 **5 hours later – Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Naruto bolted awake suddenly and looked around. Naruto reached out with his senses and discovered that Neko was waiting at the front door.

'Neko-chan's knocking must have woken me up.' Naruto thought to himself.

Groggily, Naruto left his bed and threw on some pajama pants and a shirt before heading to the door.

As Naruto approached the door, he noticed that it was now evening, and he had slept for much longer than he had planned. He would have to be quick if he wanted to buy the supplies he needed for his trip before all the stores closed for the day.

He opened his door and greeted Neko. "Hi Neko-chan, is something wrong?"

"Hi Naruto-kun, Hokage-sama wishes to see you right away," Neko said.

"Oh? Is there something wrong?" Naruto said as he blinked a few times to wake himself up fully.

"He didn't mention anything about it being urgent," Neko replied with a shrug.

"Okay, Neko-chan, let me get dressed real quick and I'll be right out. You can come in and sit if you want." Naruto said.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," Neko said as Naruto stepped aside to let her in.

Naruto left to get dressed in his full gear just in case something would need him to be ready. His chakra reserves were still kind of low from before, but he could always just use one of his large chakra storage seals if he needed to.

Neko looked around the room and noticed that Naruto seemed to be packing up his whole apartment.

Naruto came out fully dressed a few minutes later and was sliding Makoto into place on his lower back.

"Naruto-kun, are you moving or something?" Neko asked as she eyed all the storage scrolls again.

"No. I was preparing for my trip with shishō. Since he said we will be gone for possibly four years, I decided to seal up everything into storage scrolls instead of letting it all collect dust." Naruto replied.

Neko hummed an affirmative, but her focus was on the ninjato Naruto was gripping. "I didn't know you started using a sword now, Naruto-kun. Is that a ninjato? It seems short for your size. You also have it set up for a reverse grip instead of a regular draw. Are you certain about that?"

"I just started learning actually. The reason I have it set up this way is because this sword belonged to someone who was important to me before. I wanted to honor them by using their sword in the same manner as they used to wield it. While I do want to learn to use it properly, it won't be my primary focus. I was told it was better to have it set up in a reverse draw for quick retaliatory strikes if someone closes the distance and I can't use jutsu." Naruto replied.

"That makes sense then. It is easier to use a reverse draw if you are just planning to deflect and slash to drive an opponent back and create more range for a jutsu. Let us make our way to the tower, shall we?" Neko asked.

"Are you going to Shunshin (Body Flicker) me into the office?" Naruto asked.

Neko nodded and waited for Naruto to lock his apartment door before placing her hand on Naruto's shoulder to Shunshin them away.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Neko appeared in a Shunshin with Naruto in tow to see Tsunade and the Hokage sitting in the office.

"Hi, jiji, oba-chan. You wanted to see me for something?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. We are still waiting on a few others to join us first, Naruto-kun." the Hokage said with a smile.

"So, jiji, when will you let me Shunshin into the office like all the Anbu do?" Naruto asked.

"Ah, you will have to ask Tsunade about that now. She is taking over in a few weeks, after all." Hiruzen said.

"Really, oba-chan? You're going to become Hokage?" Naruto asked in a surprised tone.

"Why? What's wrong with me becoming Hokage you little brat," Tsunade said with a growl.

"Nothing is wrong with it. I was just surprised is all." Naruto replied as he scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Uh huh. Well. I don't know about giving you access after what you did in the invasion. Besides, that right is usually limited to Anbu only." Tsunade said with a smirk.

Naruto just sighed at the reminder before adopting his stoic pose.

 _'I wonder if they will ever stop bringing that up.'_ Naruto said

" **Tch, a few reminders won't hurt you. However you should be more concerned about why they have you here."** Kurama said.

 _'I don't sense anything bad from them if that is what you are thinking.'_ Naruto replied

" **Perhaps not, but what other reason would they have to summon you here for?"** Kurama asked.

 _'Probably something to do with me leaving for the trip and we are just waiting on shishō.'_ Naruto thought.

" **Something unusual is going to happen. Usually, the Toad sage is present before us, but he is remarkably capable of evading our senses most of the time,"** Kurama said with a growl.

Naruto chuckled softly causing the Hokage and Tsunade to raise their eyebrows at him.

"What is so funny Naruto-kun?" the Hokage asked.

"Huh?" Naruto said opening his eyes and looking towards the Hokage.

"I asked what was so funny?" the Hokage said in a curious tone.

Kurama just growled out a warning; he would be furious if Naruto admitted made it common knowledge that Jiraiya had managed to evade his senses.

"It's nothing, jiji," Naruto said sheepishly.

"Oh? Is that so? Then you shouldn't mind telling us then Naruto-kun." Tsunade said with her eyes narrowed.

 _'Aw, crap. This isn't good.'_ Naruto thought.

Kurama just huffed in amusement.

"Uhh... I just remembered when shishō got beat up by all those ladies at the hot springs. That's all." Naruto said while he fidgeted nervously.

Tsunade and the Hokage both gave him incredulous looks at that lame excuse he made up but decided to let it slide as the other genin were arriving.

The Hokage channeled his chakra into the seal to allow the rest of the genin to enter the office.

Naruto looked over at Shino, Sasuke, and Shikamaru as they all entered the room.

The three genin moved in next to Naruto. Greetings or nods of acknowledgment were exchanged briefly before they all faced forward and waited to hear from the Hokage.

"As you know the Chūnin exams were marked as incomplete due to the invasion. Because of this, many of the contestants didn't have the opportunity to be thoroughly evaluated for promotion. However, the judges did send over their notes, and when we combine these notes along with reports of your actions during the invasion itself, we have determined that all four of you are to be promoted to the rank of Chūnin effective immediately." the Hokage said.

Sasuke had a large grin on his face. He was happy that his skills were recognized and that he would be able to take more advanced missions now. He would need the pay from higher ranked missions to help accumulate more funds to start repairing the damage to the Uchiha district until Itachi was reinstated and could help contribute.

Naruto blinked a few times before he also grinned. He didn't feel that he deserved the promotion because of his stupid mistake in the Root base, but if the Hokage believed he earned it, then he would accept it without complaint. At least now he would be able to start gathering the things Kurama wanted.

Shino didn't appear to react at all. Inwardly he was pleased that he had met the requirements for a promotion. He would be able to travel to more distant lands and acquire more specimens for integration with his hive.

Shikamaru muttered under his breath before looking out the window. Not only was he going to be forced to learn more clan techniques now, he knew it was only a matter of time before he was actively leading teams on more troublesome missions with his intelligence. He would actually have to work hard if he wanted to get out of this situation which would take too much effort. Perhaps in a few years, he will find the motivation to advance once more and wouldn't need to worry about troublesome tests.

"Now remember. Chūnins are required to operate on their own without Jōnin supervision. You will also be expected to lead genin teams when there is an absence or loss of a Jōnin sensei. In reality, you will be leading fellow chūnin instead, but sometimes it is necessary to fill in for missing Jōnins. You will now have no restrictions on purchasing weapons, access to the higher level jutsu library, and will be assigned primarily C and B ranked missions." Tsunade added.

The Hokage stood and walked around his desk before handing a scroll to each of them before congratulating each of the genin on their promotions.

Shino just nodded and accepted his scroll before standing back.

Shikamaru muttered about how troublesome it was before he took the scroll and stood back.

Sasuke took the scroll and nodded before he smirked over at Naruto.

Naruto took the scroll with a small smile on his face, surprised that he had been promoted at all.

"Inside you will find your new ninja ID's with your updated clearances, your chūnin vests, should you decide to use them, and your certificate of promotion. Keep in mind that for official functions or in the outbreak of war, you will be required to use the standard uniform so I would suggest you purchase a few outfits of the standard issue uniforms just to be prepared." the Hokage said.

Sasuke, Shino, and Shikamaru all thanked the Hokage before they moved to leave the office. Naruto also thanked the Hokage and was about to leave with them when Tsunade called out for him to stay behind.

Naruto turned around and looked confused for a moment before he was reminded by Kurama about his inheritance.

"Well, Naruto-kun, it seems you are ready to take over your legacy fully now. Are you going to relocate to your home before you leave?" the Hokage asked.

"Well. I am going to have most of my stuff sealed away to take with me for my trip. It wouldn't require much work for me to simply store all of my unneeded scrolls over there. Do you think I should, though? No one will be around to watch the house, but an apartment always has people around it." Naruto asked.

"It will be okay Naruto-kun. It might be better since you can keep your plants outside and the gardener that is hired to maintain the grounds will keep them watered for you. The only thing you may have to worry about is the appliances and, of course, groceries." the Hokage said.

"It might be better to just buy everything new in that case. I will just keep all my stuff in scrolls like I planned and stash them away inside the house somewhere." Naruto said.

"Oh! Naruto-kun, make sure you carry a sizable amount of ryō hidden on you from your inheritance on your trip. Be wary of that old pervert! He won't hesitate to commandeer your Gama-chan for his research." Tsunade said with a snarl.

Naruto looked scandalized at the thought.

"Shishō would actually steal my Gama-chan?!" Naruto gasped.

"I wouldn't put it past him at all when he gets into his perverted mode. Just keep a healthy amount in your Gama-chan and leave the rest sealed away somewhere safe. Somewhere that old fool won't find it." Tsunade said

"Why would he steal from me? Doesn't he have a lot of money on his own?" Naruto said sullenly.

Tsunade became concerned that her teasing manner might have just put Naruto off of Jiraiya even more. With what her sensei had said earlier she decided to clarify further.

"It's not like that Naruto-kun. Keep in mind that Jiraiya will be paying for everything for most of the trip. Don't think of him as some sneaky thief who is just trying to take advantage. Think of him as one of those people who borrows without permission, but still pays you back in the end." Tsunade said seriously.

"Ah, I get it then. It is just like he said about you when it comes to gambling halls or casinos." Naruto said innocently.

Tsunade's eyebrow twitched when Naruto said that.

"That old pervert. I'm gonna make him pay when he shows up." Tsunade said with a growl.

The Hokage had been watching the situation unfold with a smile on his face.

"If you like, I can keep these documents and scrolls safe for you until you return, unless you would like to take them with you instead. Once you return, however, I will have to give them all to you for your own safe keeping since they fall under clan protection." the Hokage said.

"It's probably better if you keep them for me, jiji. I will be gone for quite awhile and who knows what I will run into out there." Naruto said.

"Very well, Naruto-kun. Here are the keys to your home. I will notify the gardener that you will be leaving some of your plants outside for him to water. The back porch will probably be your best bet to make sure they get enough sun. Once you return, you will have to take over paying the gardener or release him from your service if you like. I must tell you that your parents trusted the gardener, and he is quite knowledgeable about all types of plants. I know how much you like to tend to your plants yourself, but I think you should consider keeping him on." the Hokage said.

"Thanks, jiji! I'll think about what you said during my trip. There are quite a few herbs and flowers that I have always wanted to grow, but they all require a lot of space and the right type of soil. I hope there is space enough for all of them." Naruto said with a smile as he took the key.

" **We should explore this den as soon as we are dismissed from here,"** Kurama said.

 _'Yea, I can't wait to see it also. I think I will seal up all my stuff first then move it over.'_ Naruto replied.

"Do you have any questions for us, Naruto-kun?" the Hokage said.

"No, jiji. I think I will just grab all of my stuff from the apartment and move it over before it gets any later. Thanks again, jiji!" Naruto said.

"Congratulations again Naruto-kun." the Hokage said before he ruffled Naruto's hair for possibly the last time.

He knew that when Naruto returned he would be a young man and he wouldn't be able to do that to him anymore. He would miss giving Naruto signs of his affection, but he would be practically grown and probably wouldn't welcome it anymore.

Naruto just smiled up at him before turning away only to fall into the Tsunade Hug Trap. After several minutes of kisses and gushing, Naruto managed to convince Tsunade to let him go so he could finish packing and try to make it to the stores before they all closed.

Naruto left the Hokage's office eager to check out his new home.

 **Outside the Hokage Tower**

* * *

Sasuke was waiting for Naruto outside the tower, eager to go out and celebrate their promotions. As he waited, he thought about his upcoming training trip with his brother.

Itachi would have to wait for two years before he could be officially accepted back into the village. In that two-year period, he would be on a probation of sorts and had to be monitored by a Konoha shinobi. With Sasuke being promoted to Chūnin, he would fit the requirements to "monitor" his brother for two years before he was reintegrated into the shinobi force once again.

Jiraiya had told them both that the toads had established contact with the snake summoning clan and showed them the tainted natural chakra that Orochimaru used in his curse mark.

The snake sage Hakuja was already displeased that Orochimaru had failed to survive his sage mode training and was willing to listen to the toads if they could find a stronger summoner for the snakes.

Hakuja had agreed to revoke Orochimaru's contract if a stronger summoner managed to discover Ryūchidō (Ryūchi Cave), bring the heads of three rare giant mongooses, and survive sage mode training. That new summoner would gain sage mode and the summoning contract as well.

Jiraiya offered the choice to Itachi, but he had refused since he signed the crow contract in honor of Shisui. Sasuke had been interested in any summoning contract and was very interested in pursuing the contract since Snakes were also able to teach sage mode. Plus he would be helping Naruto by screwing over Orochimaru.

Jiraiya already had leads provided on the location of the Mongooses that Sasuke would need to slay, but he would have to kill them without any support. Itachi decided that he would take him out to some of the hidden Uchiha bases outside of the village and train Sasuke before they went out and killed the Mongooses.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya would be on the look out for Ryūchidō during Naruto's training trip and would provide them information if he found any leads for them.

Sasuke saw Naruto leave the Hokage tower and start walking towards his apartment.

"Oi! Naruto!" Sasuke called out.

Naruto stopped and turned around, waiting for Sasuke as he approached.

"Do you need something, Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"I came to see if you want to go out and celebrate our promotion," Sasuke said.

Naruto looked up at the sky for a moment to gauge the time before he looked back at Sasuke.

"I was thinking of going to my new house, but I can do that tomorrow instead. Where do you want to go?" Naruto said

"New house?" Sasuke said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yea. Something my parents left behind for me before they died," Naruto said with a small smile.

"You learned who your parents were then? Who were they?" Sasuke said in an interested tone.

Naruto looked around for a moment as if searching for something.

"Not here. I don't want everyone to know about it. You'll understand when I tell you." Naruto murmured.

"Well. There is still, at least, three more hours until anything closes. Do you want to move your things first then? I'll help since you don't have much anyways." Sasuke replied.

"Really? Thanks, Sasuke. It will make things much easier." Naruto said before they walked down the street towards Naruto apartment.

 **Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke were packing all the storage scrolls into different boxes and bags. Everything Naruto owned was able to fit into four boxes and two bags.

Sasuke had told Naruto to just get rid of most of the things he did have and buy new things when he returned. Naruto was actually considering it at the moment. He would probably run by the consignment shop before he left and unload everything for some quick ryō. When he returned, he would be able to buy everything new.

"So, now that Root is gone and done for, are you going to move back to the Uchiha clan compound?" Naruto asked as he moved his houseplants into a crate.

"Yea. Probably after my training trip as well. I don't think mine will be as long as yours will, but you never know." Sasuke said.

"I bet it will be. Shishō said that finding the summoning realms is almost impossible. I would say you could try his method, but you might end up with the rat contract or something lame like that." Naruto said with a snicker.

"Whatever, baka, so are you gonna tell me who your parents were?" Sasuke asked.

"Well my dad was Minato Namikaze, and my mom was Kushina Uzumaki." Naruto said.

"Wait... you mean the Yondaime Minato Namikaze was your dad?" Sasuke said as he stopped piling up the remaining scrolls into the last of the four boxes.

"Yep, That's the one," Naruto said with a smirk.

"Hn. It makes sense now. Why the Hokage was always so concerned about you. It also makes everyone seem like idiots for not realizing it sooner. I mean seriously you look just like the guy." Sasuke said with a snort.

"Oh? So you figured it out before I told you right now?" Naruto teased.

"I did. I will admit that I did not make the connection until Nami no Kuni. After that, it all just fell into place for me really. I had always suspected that you were the child of someone important for the Hokage to take such an interest in you. Even though he tried to downplay his interest in you, everyone could see it. " Sasuke admitted.

"Yea. I wouldn't be surprised if Hinata-chan figured it out on her own as well. I'm just glad no one else has put it all together. The last thing I need is the same bullshit that you had to deal with." Naruto said with an eye roll as he put his last plant into the crate.

"No kidding. I think I will enjoy it when my brother rejoins the village and has all the fan girls and merchants all over him instead of me for once." Sasuke said as he shook his head.

"It's funny how that works. When I was a child, it always used to piss me off that he got all the attention, and my father would seemingly ignore me. Now I would be quite happy for him to take it all." Sasuke said with a laugh.

"Maybe it's because you have gotten used to being alone, for the most part," Naruto said with a shrug.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke said as he looked over at Naruto strangely.

"Nothing bad, I just imagine that when you had your family with you, it felt normal to have people around you all the time. Back then it was probably strange to have all these people around you who didn't notice you. When I was in the orphanage, I had similar feelings. I doubt it was on the same level as your feelings since they were your family while all those kids were strangers to me, for the most part." Naruto paused as he gathered his thoughts.

"When you are used to being alone all the time suddenly it doesn't matter if people notice you or not. In fact, it starts to become strange when they do notice you. In my experience, people will not take an interest in someone who is alone unless it's for something specific. It could be for a selfish reason or a good reason, but there is always a motive for approaching a person that is alone. From what I have seen, it is not the same for people who have a family. The family will approach each other just because they are family. People with families are also more willing to let other people approach them." Naruto added before he looked over everything.

Sasuke studied Naruto for a moment and wondered about what he had revealed. What Naruto had said was primarily true to a degree. What didn't ring true to him is the fact that lonely people would find it strange if people noticed them. In Sasuke's own experience, lonely people would reach out to others in an attempt to end their loneliness. Even him in all his brooding glory had reached out to others when the solitude became unbearable. The only exception to that rule was individuals who hated other people or people who had something to hide from everyone else. Even Naruto, during the first year at the Academy, had been trying to reach out to people only to suddenly stop sometime during his second year.

It was like one day Naruto decided to stop reaching out to other people. Instead, he just kept to himself for the most part, but he wouldn't turn away other people if they approached him. Sasuke couldn't stop the frown from appearing on his face when he thought about that in more detail. Could it be the Kyūbi that caused Naruto to change in that way? Did Naruto start to hate everyone else or was he hiding something from everyone? If he were just hiding the Kyūbi from everyone, then his attitude would have remained the same from the beginning.

Sasuke didn't like the direction his thoughts were taking him in. He knew that Naruto was capable of abandoning the village. That was the primary reason Sasuke had even befriended Naruto in the first place. While Naruto had convinced him to trust in the Hokage and stick with the village, he knew that Naruto was on the razor's edge himself. Sasuke hoped that Naruto would not be lured away from the village when he got to travel around the elemental nations with Jiraiya.

Root was gone, so that was one less threat for Naruto to worry about, but Sasuke knew that Kumo was more interested in Naruto than they should be.

Sasuke shook off his negative thoughts. Naruto was close to the Hokage of all people. Then there was Tsunade, Hinata, Kakashi, and himself who he had admitted were his precious people. Sasuke could tell that Naruto thought of him as a brother, just like he thought of Naruto. Naruto also spent time with Shikamaru and Choji whenever he could. Naruto's voice interrupted his train of thought.

"I think that is everything. I suppose I will have a lot more things when I get back, eh?" Naruto said.

"Yea. Plus you will have a home now instead. You will have to buy a lot more furniture and other things just to fill the house up," Sasuke said.

"Well, let's check out my new house," Naruto said excitedly.

Sasuke and Naruto collected the bags and boxes easily enough before they left the apartment.

 **Konoha Merchant District**

* * *

Naruto looked around as they began to near the Clan district of the village.

According to the directions Naruto had received from the Hokage, the house was located right before the entrance to the clan district in the Northern part of the Merchant District. He noticed he was by the Gaikoku Tea Room that Sakura had taken him to earlier which made up for the fact that he was now farther from Yakiniku-Q and Ichiraku's.

'That reminds me I need to stop by the old couple's store and let them know I will be gone for awhile.' Naruto thought to himself.

Naruto finally spotted the black bamboo fence that was growing around the house and stopped in front of the gate.

"I think this is it, oba-chan said that it had a small bamboo forest around it acting as a fence," Naruto said.

"Hn. That isn't such a bad idea I can't really see that far into the bamboo, but it isn't entirely blocking everything like a wall would," Sasuke said.

"It's almost as tall as the outer walls too," Naruto said in awe.

"Let's go then, we will only have a few more hours until everything starts to close," Sasuke said.

"You mean the Omusubi cafe, anyways. Yakiniku-Q and Ichiraku's will still be open." Naruto said with a smirk.

"Whatever it doesn't matter to me right now. I just know that Yakiniku-Q will be busy still, and I'm famished." Sasuke grumbled.

"Okay, okay, do we want to get Hinata-chan as well?" Naruto asked.

Secretly, he was hoping that Sasuke would say no since he still felt awful for what had happened between them yesterday. It would probably be awkward for them both. He could tell he had hurt Hinata's feelings in some way, but he didn't want to cause more drama in her life.

"We probably should, and Kakashi-sensei also don't you think?" Sasuke said.

"You are right about that. It totally slipped my mind about him." Naruto said guiltily.

Naruto approached the gate and used the first key seal on the bamboo gate. The gate swung open, and both Sasuke and Naruto entered before the gate closed on its own.

"How could you forget about poor Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked in a teasing manner.

"I don't know! I'm a bad person I guess? It was just with Root, then B-sensei, and shishō plus my inheritance, then the promotion on top of everything. Oh! I didn't tell you that Sakura came to me earlier, and we went out to eat. She unloaded her whole back story on me on why she was such a bitch to me in the Academy and all that. I actually felt sorry for her it was pretty bad." Naruto said.

"Seriously? She tried to kill you in Nami no Kuni!" Sasuke said in disbelief.

"I know, but she was serious about it. She had a terrible life just like us Sasuke I think she finally realized why she was being such a bitch and is improving herself. She was like a different person entirely. I actually think I could be friends with her now. I mean when was the last time she actually went fangirl on you anyways?" Naruto said

"I haven't even seen her for a few months now that you mention it. Ino still runs into me on occasion, but I haven't seen or heard Sakura at all, but I still think you are forgiving her a little too quickly." Sasuke replied.

Naruto and Sasuke both stopped and looked over the house. It was a nice traditional looking home with the blue-tiled roof and white walls with dark wood wainscoting. While it wasn't particularly large, it had plenty of lands and a large garden in the front.

"Not bad there Naruto. This place is really nice." Sasuke said.

"Yea. It's a lot better than I thought. It is right against the clan district wall too." Naruto said looking around the corner towards the back yard.

"I'm gonna put my plants down on the back porch real quick," Naruto said before he walked around towards the back.

Sasuke just shrugged and followed along looking at the garden itself. The grounds were still maintained, but there was plenty of space to change things up if Naruto wanted to. Knowing his love of plants, Sasuke wouldn't be surprised if the garden started to grow even larger.

Naruto and Sasuke both halted in wonder when they saw the back yard of the house.

There was a large pond for training with Suiton and Katon jutsu and a secondary deck for training or outdoor gatherings nearby. There were also two large dirt training fields with dummies against the Clan district wall off in the corner of the lot.

What got the boys attention most of all was the three platforms built around the towering cedar trees that dotted the grounds.

"Awesome!" They both said in childish glee as they dropped the boxes they were carrying and immediately walked up the trees to check out the platforms and bridges.

"Not that I don't think it is cool but why would your parent have this at all?" Sasuke said as he walked across the bridge towards another wooden platform.

"I have no idea, to be honest. Maybe they just thought it was cool? Or maybe it was for training... something?" Naruto guessed.

"Well, this one looks like it's an office of some sort," Sasuke called out from across the bridge.

Naruto darted across the bridge in excitement before he saw the little tree house that Sasuke had mentioned. While the interior had been weathered over the years, he could tell what it was used for by the faded stains and an occasional burn mark.

"I think my mother and father used this to work on their sealing. That makes perfect sense now that I think about it. It would be the best way to work on new seals and test them without damaging the house." Naruto said.

"What about the other platforms then?" Sasuke said looking out of the small window.

"Test platforms most likely. They would create and power the seal up here, then test it on an object over there." Naruto said.

"Hn. Either that or spying on the clan district. You can see into everyone's compounds from that far platform I bet." Sasuke snorted.

"What? My parents weren't doing that you jerk!" Naruto growled.

"Uh huh. Let's go put your stuff away now so we can get the others and eat." Sasuke said before he leaped down the branches.

Naruto jumped back down after him and after arraigning his house plants around the back porch in an aesthetically pleasing manner, he used the key seal on the back door.

Naruto entered the home and flicked the light switch to reveal the kitchen. Sasuke set down the boxes and bags he was carrying on the table. Naruto shrugged and placed his bags down and the last box down there as well.

The boys moved through the kitchen, past the laundry room, and into the dining room. Naruto slid the doors open revealing a large living room. Sasuke walked in and studied the empty room for a few minutes before he spotted a door to his right and moved to open it. Naruto walked directly ahead and opened the sliding door to reveal the entrance room for people to put their shoes and sandals.

Naruto turned around and went over to where Sasuke was standing and saw that it was an office or den that contained some dusty books and a small table. Connected to this room was another side room that could be used as a library, sitting room, or a storage room.

They left the living room and opened a solid wood door to reveal a guest bathroom.

Seeing that they had explored all the rooms on the first floor, Naruto decided to climb the stairs next to the den and explore the second floor. Sasuke followed behind him quietly.

At the top of the stairs, they saw four different doors in the small hallway and opening these doors revealed two empty bedrooms, without any furniture. The third door opened up to a larger bathroom that was shared between the two bedrooms. At the end of the hall, there was the master bedroom.

Naruto and Sasuke entered the master bedroom and began looking around. Attached to this bedroom, there was a private bathroom and a large closet. Naruto started searching through the drawers and found some clothing that probably belonged to his father. Naruto got lost in his thoughts as he examined a worn uniform shirt. It had baggier sleeves then normal and was currently too long for him, but was not much wider than the shirts he wore now, by his estimation. His father must have been tall and thin but why would he want his sleeves to be so wide?

"Oi! Naruto, check this out," Sasuke called out from the closet.

Naruto walked over and saw one of his father's jackets hanging in the closet along with some of his mother's dresses. Naruto didn't know what he was going to do with these as he didn't think he should wear his father's jacket but at the same time, he didn't want to get rid of it either.

His mother's clothes, he had no idea what to do with those, either. He would probably keep a few of her things for nostalgia, then sell the rest to the consignment shop or donate them. He would have to ask Tsunade for her opinion.

"Don't you want to try your dad's jacket on at all?" Sasuke asked.

"Not really. I mean, I don't want to get rid of it, but at the same time, I don't think I should wear it. It was his trademark after all and I don't want to be seen as copying him." Naruto said in an unconvincing tone.

"I heard you get something like this for mastering sage mode," Sasuke said as he studied the jacket.

"I haven't seen shishō wearing one like it, though." Naruto retorted.

"Maybe he didn't like it. I don't think you should avoid wearing the style just because your dad did. If you like the style, then wear it. I can understand if you don't want to wear his coat in particular." Sasuke said before he smirked at Naruto.

"Come on baka. Stop trying to act cool. You know you want to." Sasuke teased.

Naruto sighed. "Fine. You got me. I do think it is cool, but I don't think I can wear it yet. Not until I have at least mastered his jutsu. That means I will have to wait for now. Besides, I'm not even fully grown, yet. It's just gonna drag on the ground and get messed up."

"Well, let's go get Hinata and Kakashi-sensei to celebrate already," Sasuke said.

Naruto simply nodded before following Sasuke back down the stairs. Once Naruto had locked everything back up, they walked out of the gate and headed into the clan district to find Hinata.


	47. A Final Dinner with Comrades

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edit 4/23/16

 **Chapter 46**

 **A Final Dinner with Comrades**

 **One Hour Later – Yakiniku-Q restaurant – Konoha Merchant District**

* * *

Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke, and Kakashi all entered the restaurant and were going to put their name down on the waitlist when Choji caught their attention.

"Oi! Naruto! I heard about your promotion from Shikamaru! Why don't you guys join us? We've got room for you all!" Choji called out.

Team 7 just looked at each other before shrugging and joining the large party that was seated at the largest table in the center of the restaurant.

Sitting at the large circular table was Team 8, Team 10 and Team Guy along with their Jōnin senseis.

Team 7 took the remaining spots at the table with Naruto ending up seated next to Sakura, and Hinata taking the seat next to him. Sasuke sat next to Hinata leaving Kakashi to sit next to Guy.

"Well, my eternal rival, it seems you have surpassed me twice this time with two of your genin being promoted. Truly your team is in their springtime of youth. I will have to push my team much harder before they can surpass your team with their overflowing youth!" Guy said boisterously.

Tenten and Neji merely looked glum at that news, while Lee started bouncing in his seat, excited at the prospect of more training.

"Yosh! I will succeed with this new training regimen, or I will run 100 laps around the village backward after doing 200 pushups on my fingertips!" Lee said with enthusiasm.

"That is right Lee; together we will show Team Kakashi what a true genius of hard work is capable of. Be warned Kakashi your students will not stand a chance when my geniuses bypass your team with their flames of youth to the Jōnin rank!" Guy said with his nice guy pose.

"Huh? Did you say something, Guy?" Kakashi asked as he looked up from the menu he had been reading.

Guy just started grumbling to himself about Kakashi's cool attitude.

"Neji-nii-san I'm glad you attended to support our teammates, I'm sorry that you didn't receive a promotion either. You did so well." Hinata said politely.

"Thank you, Hinata-sama, I wish I could have continued and faced your teammates, in particular," Neji said as he glanced at Naruto.

Neji still had his concerns about Naruto and didn't fully trust him. He wouldn't interfere directly, but he would keep his eye on him. Glares were always effective in deterring people, especially Hyūga glares.

Naruto looked up from his menu when he sensed some negativity towards him. He sighed internally at the dilemma that he was currently in. After he had gotten home from their date, he was surprised to see Jiraiya waiting for him at his apartment. Jiraiya had reversed summoned himself back just to get the details of Naruto's first date. After Naruto relayed everything that happened, Jiraiya simply bopped him on the head for being so stupid.

Jiraiya understood his concerns about being affected by the drug and agreed that it was wise not to engage in a relationship right before leaving on his trip. What Jiraiya bopped him on the head for was trying to make a decision that Hinata should be making herself.

"Never try to decide what is best for a woman without her knowledge. Trust me, boy. It will lead you to nothing but trouble." Jiraiya had advised.

Jiraiya then went on to explain that if a woman found out you made that decision for her, they would see it as a sign that you believe they are either stupid, unimportant, or inferior, which was the best way to piss a woman off. He also explained how Hinata could have misconstrued his caution as rejection and could have been hurt by his actions.

Naruto felt guilty after Jiraiya's lecture. He never wanted to hurt Hinata. He was trying to protect her, but it made sense. He had been so afraid of what she would think of him after revealing his assault, and how people would redirect their hatred for him onto her instead, he didn't realize his actions might have hurt her feelings. He had hoped his words were enough to let her know how he really felt, but Jiraiya had reminded him that actions were always more reliable.

Naruto was drawn out of his thoughts when Sakura asked him a question.

"Oh, Naruto. I never did ask you what you thought of the tea you had earlier? Did you enjoy it?" Sakura asked.

"Yea! I really did like it ** _!_** I can't say that I am a fan of putting the cream in, though. I preferred to try and filter out all the different flavors in the tea on my own instead of having the cream to smooth it out, I guess." Naruto replied.

"I heard you would be passing through Cha no Kuni during your training trip. If you get a chance, you should try and get some Silver Needle tea. It's really great but expensive and very rare. If you do try some, make sure that the tea is a golden color and has very tiny hairs visible in the tea. A lot of people try to pass off fakes because it's expensive and rare. Also, you might like the Garden Tea as well it is much stronger than the one you had earlier." Sakura said.

"Huh, I will keep an eye out for those then. I have to admit I didn't really drink much tea before but green tea, and while I didn't mind green tea, it just isn't like anything we had earlier at all. I really liked that tea that I ordered." Naruto said with a soft smile.

Since Kurama had really enjoyed the smells of the various herbs in the tea Sakura had introduced to him, he had resolved to buy and drink more tea. Sakura would be a good source to help him learn more about teas that Kurama might be interested in.

Naruto decided he would have to buy her some of that tea she mentioned on if he found it on his trip. Kurama had not expressed such interest in something like that before, and Naruto could tell Kurama had enjoyed it. While he couldn't thank her directly for helping him bring some enjoyment to Kurama's life, he could indirectly thank her by getting her some tea.

"Which one do you tend to like the most?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, the tea I ordered today while we were at the tea room is my favorite but like the one you ordered, it is from the other continent. They call it Grey tea and they actually recommend taking it with cream. I've heard the owner say that the one your ordered is more half against and half for with putting cream in it. She stated that it was a serious argument for their culture actually. People would actually get into fights over it." Sakura said with a laugh.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle when he heard Sakura's statement. Fighting over putting cream in your tea was ridiculous. They continued to chat animatedly about the different teas and food served at the tea house before Naruto and Sakura noticed that everything suddenly grew silent. They looked away from each other to see the rest of the table staring at them in shock.

Sasuke already knew about their reconciliation and took advantage of the other people's shock to take up more grilling space for his meat. He thought it was strange that Naruto had become so friendly to Sakura all of the sudden. He wouldn't have been so forgiving, but he believed Naruto when he said that she had a tough life like them, and was trying to make up for being a bitch to him for so long.

Kakashi was looking at Naruto with a raised eyebrow. He seemed awfully friendly with Sakura all of the sudden considering what happened between them in Nami no Kuni. His eye drifted over to Hinata, and internally he couldn't help grin evilly.

'Perhaps things will start to get more interesting now. I wonder how Hinata will respond.' Kakashi thought.

Hinata and Neji were both glaring daggers towards them, Neji at Naruto while Hinata was focused on Sakura.

"Oi, why are you all staring at us like that for?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Naruto, you and Sakura are actually having a friendly conversation. When did this happen?" Shikamaru with raised eyebrows.

"Oh! Well, Sakura and I had a long talk today, and we cleared the air between us. She also took me to this really nice tea room. I had no idea tea had so many different types and varieties to it before Sakura showed me this place _ **!**_ The food was different, but it was excellent too it was unlike anything I have ever seen or tasted before." Naruto said with slight enthusiasm.

Sakura blushed a little at all the attention she was getting from everyone. She was used to pushing everyone away from her with her old attitude and most people just called her useless or a bitch before ignoring her. She didn't realize that she had made an enthusiast out of Naruto so easily. Most of the shinobi populace tended to be distrustful of anything foreign.

"What?! Sakura, you went on a date with Naruto and didn't tell me!?" Ino shouted out.

"WHAT?! NO! NO! it wasn't anything like that!" Sakura yelled back.

Naruto almost choked on a piece of meat he was swallowing. He blushed before sputtering out an embarrassed denial.

"I just wanted to apologize to him since I was so mean to him for stupid reasons and I felt terrible. I'm glad you really enjoyed it though Naruto." Sakura said sincerely.

Ino was now eyeing Sakura suspiciously while Hinata had her hands clenched into fists under the table.

'Is Sakura attracted to Naruto? Is she just in denial?' Both Ino and Hinata thought.

"I'm glad my new house is so close to it too. I'm going to be going there more often for sure _ **!**_ " Naruto exclaimed, hoping to divert the topic of conversation into safer territory.

Kakashi looked up from the grill when he heard that.

"Naruto, do you mean that house by the clan district?" Kakashi asked.

"Yep! I went with Sasuke to check it out earlier. It was pretty cool! Wasn't it Sasuke?" Naruto said proudly.

Sasuke nodded his agreement. He would probably spend more time there when they came back from training. He preferred the enclosed house compared to the wide open space of the Uchiha compound.

Hinata frowned at that thought. Naruto hadn't invited her to his house, but he had taken Sasuke and Kakashi. Did Neji really manage to drive Naruto completely away from her? Hinata shot Neji a glare, which caused Neji to stop glaring at Naruto and start paying more attention to the food on his plate.

"When I get the place fixed up, I'll invite you all to check it out, for certain. Right now, the inside is pretty dusty and empty for the most part. I will have to put a lot of work into it when I return." Naruto added

Naruto was not oblivious to the feelings he felt radiating from Hinata, but he was acting the part very well. Inwardly he sighed as he thought about his actions hurting Hinata. Maybe he would invite her tomorrow to that place that Sakura took him to make it up to her. Though there was one other thing he could do, he just needed to muster up some courage for it.

"How did you get a new house Naruto? Did the Hokage give it to you?" Choji asked.

"That is pretty expensive for a gift, especially a house near the clan district. Those usually reserved for people who are high profile shinobi but aren't from a clan at all." Shikamaru added.

"Ummm... Well, I guess you can say that the Hokage gave it to me. " Naruto said sheepishly.

Naruto gave Shikamaru a glance that told him not to press the issue any further. Choji and Shikamaru were familiar with that look and just nodded to him.

"Wow, I can't believe the Hokage gave you a whole house. That is really quite something." Ino said.

"Well, I think you deserve it for all your hard work Naruto-kun," Hinata said.

"Thank you, Hinata-chan," Naruto said with a smile.

Hinata couldn't stop herself from blushing at Naruto's smile, much to Neji's annoyance.

"So, I heard from my father that you will be leaving in a few days for quite some time. Are you excited?" Asuma asked.

"Yea. I can't wait to see what shishō will teach me, and to visit all those other villages." Naruto said.

"I can imagine. It will also be quite the challenge keeping up with the legendary toad sage." Asuma said.

"That's what will make it more worthwhile, I think. To be able to understand our world better and to see how other villages operate." Naruto replied.

"Wow! You are going to be training with Jiraiya-sama outside the village?" Tenten asked.

"Yes. I'm going to be leaving in a few days to travel with him for probably four years he said." Naruto said as he turned to Tenten.

"That sounds so amazing. I can't even imagine all the things you will get to see or do. Do you know if Tsunade-sama has taken any apprentices yet?" Tenten asked.

Ever since it the announcement was made about Tsunade becoming the next Hokage, everyone knew that Naruto would be involved with her in some manner, given his close proximity to the Sandaime. While everyone had always questioned why the blonde was always so close to the major players in the village, no one would ever reveal any information about it.

"Well, I know she was thinking about it, but she hasn't decided yet from what she told me," Naruto said as he put some slices of beef tongue on the grill.

"Do you talk to her often? Do you think you can put in a good word for me? I really want to train under her." Tenten said excitedly.

"Well, the best way would be to join the iryō ninjutsu class that she has during the spring and summer months. It might be different now when she becomes the Hokage though." Naruto said.

Tenten looked down when Naruto said that. "I tried, but I just don't have the chakra control to join that class."

"I don't think she could teach you very much then. All of her techniques require a lot of precise chakra control. She even tried to show me some of them, but I failed miserably." Naruto said as he shook his head thinking about some of the exercises he had tried.

Naruto noticed that Tenten looked depressed, so he tried to cheer her up more. He could give her some of the copies of the fūinjutsu basic training from his mother since they were just very introductory lessons and copies of all the other things he had learned a long time ago.

"Hey, I thought your storage seals we exchanged were great, though. If you want, I can give you my old books and scrolls on fūinjutsu that might help you. There aren't very many people who are capable at it." Naruto said encouragingly.

Tenten snapped her head up when she heard that. "Really? Would you? I heard that stuff is expensive, though."

"Well, they are, but I made some copies of the originals, and I was lucky enough to find them for cheap at the consignment shop. Just make sure you are careful with the explosive tags and the gravity seal. I can tell you that I had some nasty experiences when those failed." Naruto said with a shiver.

"You're telling me, some of those theories that you came up with sounded too troublesome to deal with. I can't imagine learning fūinjutsu without the use of shadow clones." Shikamaru said.

"Actually, I learned that there is a remote seal that is possible once you learn the chakra storage seal. That is how most fūinjutsu masters start learning. I didn't have access to materials of that sort until much later." Naruto said as he flipped over his sizzling meats.

"I would appreciate it Naruto. Thank you." Tenten said sincerely.

"No problem, I will bring it by your shop sometime tomorrow. I will probably need to stock up on supplies for my trip anyways. Who knows if there is anyone who makes kunai as well as you do." Naruto said offhandedly.

"I heard you would be making your way into Tetsu no Kuni for some sword training, though. If anyone can make better weapons, you would find them there." Kakashi interjected.

"Maybe, but shishō said that the samurai aren't too fond of shinobi, so I doubt I would find a lot of weapons that I would use there. It was hard enough for shishō to get one of them to commit to reforging Makoto as it was." Naruto replied.

Hinata gave Naruto an odd glance when he mentioned the name of that Root bitch who trapped him.

"I can't believe you named your sword that after what happened." Sasuke scoffed before he picked up a piece of kalbi.

"I have my reasons, Sasuke, and I don't think she had a choice. In the end, she taught me a valuable lesson and because of that I kept her sword so that I could always remember that lesson." Naruto replied before picking up several pieces of beef tongue from the grill.

The group grew silent after that seeing the sudden sullen mood that had taken over Team 7 after that discussion. Sasuke was a little off put by the fact that Naruto would never go into detail about what happened to him in the base, but he trusted that Naruto would tell them in time.

Hinata kept her regular expression on her face, but she couldn't help but clench her fists and feel a surge of jealous anger at the Root bitch who had laid her hands on Naruto. To take advantage of his naivety and innocence in that way was despicable.

Tsunade and Jiraiya had filled Kakashi in on the details because he was still technically in a supervisory position over Naruto until today and needed to keep an eye out for any symptoms of lingering trauma. When Naruto returned he would still be technically under Kakashi's supervision but like most chūnin teams, the team compositions were not as strict.

Kakashi had spoken with Naruto about the incident during his training with the Kumo team, but he knew that the best thing in this situation was to let Naruto come forward at his own pace. So he didn't push Naruto to tell the others at all. Instead, Kakashi merely encouraged him to trust in the strength of his bonds with his teammates.

Ino was about to ask who Makoto was but was distracted by Shikamaru when he "accidentally" dropped a piece of raw chicken on her lap.

Naruto and Shikamaru had already spoken with each other about what they did during the invasion, and while Naruto had not been forthcoming with all the details, Shikamaru knew very well who Makoto was from what happened to Naruto in the past and knew it had to be a painful subject for him.

While Ino was chewing out Shikamaru, Naruto flagged down the waitress to order some more meat and a glass of plum wine to calm himself down. It bothered him that talking about Makoto could still unsettle him so much, but Tsunade had said it would take time to come to terms with what happened.

As Naruto placed his order, the conversation around the table picked up as the rest of the group added their own additions of food, while other people decided to join Naruto in having a drink or two.

Team Guy and Team 10 were scandalized that Team 7 and Team 8 were ordering drinks nonchalantly.

"Well if you went through what we did in Nami no Kuni you would start drinking too, that's for certain," Sakura grumbled.

"No kidding! Even Akamaru likes to drink now, don't you?" Kiba said as he looked down under the table.

Akamaru yipped out an agreement. It wasn't true at all, but he would agree with his master about anything that wasn't overly stupid.

"What happened there that was so crazy? I mean, you guys are like the only genin ever to do an S-ranked mission." Ino exclaimed.

Naruto felt a little guilty that he had forgotten about Akamaru being below the table, so he discreetly held out a couple of slices of his remaining beef short rib beneath the table for Akamaru to snatch up from his fingers.

Hinata smiled as she noticed Naruto's kind action and held out a piece of pork belly for Akamaru to take as well.

"Ino, we aren't allowed to discuss such details openly with a mission of that ranking, but I can guarantee you that mission was nothing short of a standard ambush scenario between two village supply lines like I experienced in the Third Shinobi War," Kakashi replied.

"What's the point then if you can't even talk about it?" Ino said in exasperation. How was she supposed to get the juicy details if everyone kept clamming up about it?

Asuma, Shikamaru, and Choji just shook their heads in embarrassment while Team Guy was looking at her incredulously.

"The point, Ino, is that people don't talk about those missions because it isn't something you want to talk about. Just to put it in perspective without violating the mission parameters for you. Imagine that you are in a battle wherein the opening attack 35 people were killed instantly by being incinerated or impaled by wind-enhanced fire jutsu, shuriken, and kunai. That was just the very first move made at the very beginning Ino. It's not something for you to casually mention while reading a fashion magazine." Sakura snapped.

"Tch. Stop trying to act all cool forehead," Ino grumbled.

"It's not really about trying to act cool Ino; it is a truth that we all must face eventually now that you have all become ninjas for the village. To be honest, I was hoping this lesson would come much later after my team had grown. Being in a support team you will be fortunate if you can put off this harsh reality for much longer. Even in the invasion, your assignment was relatively light in comparison." Kurenai said in a soothing tone.

"That is true. Most rookie teams are not exposed to these types of missions to preserve their springtime of youth. The only exception would be Team 7 being the first contact team. That is why the top shinobi and kunoichi are reserved for that team as they are expected to be capable of handling and surviving a situation like that." Guy added.

Ino was feeling a little defensive with everyone looking down at her. She wasn't exactly stupid, and she wasn't exactly the dead last of the kunoichi. She knew how to handle herself.

"I just don't see what the big deal is, seriously. We decided that this was our job of choice. You take a mission, you complete a mission and sometimes that requires you to fight or kill, it's not a big deal at all." Ino retorted.

"Troublesome, hasn't your father spoken to you about taking your first life at all Ino?" Shikamaru asked.

"Of course, he did. It was just as boring as a lot of his other lectures. I'll deal with it when the time comes without any problem." Ino said arrogantly.

Naruto had to snort at that comment before shaking his head.

"What? Don't look down on me because you think you're so special!" Ino shouted.

"I wouldn't say that we are looking down on you Ino. In fact, I would say a lot of us would like to go back to that moment you are still living in. You can't possibly understand what we have gone through until you look another person in the eye before you take their life. No matter what anyone tells you it never really prepares you for the reality of it. You are lucky, Ino, that you haven't had to deal with it yet." Naruto said

Ino was taken back by the seriousness in Naruto's tone of voice, and as she looked around the table, she could tell everyone else agreed with Naruto as well.

"No one is trying to say you aren't a serious kunoichi Ino. You have to think of it more in the line of thought that you just haven't had the right experience yet. Something that everyone lacks in the beginning. As I said before, Team 8 shouldn't have had that kind of experience until a few years from now if I had my way." Kurenai reiterated.

"Okay! I get it! I just won't bother asking you guys about it anymore." Ino said before crossing her arms.

The waitress arrived with the latest orders, and everyone decided to just let it slide before the evening got ruined by foul moods.

Naruto and Hinata both received a glass of plum wine while Sasuke got a bottle of the Kikusui sake along with Sakura and Kiba.

Naruto took a sip of his plum wine and enjoyed the taste of this one much more than what they had at Hoshi Akari.

"Oi. Hinata-chan, don't you think this wine is better than the one we had at that restaurant?" Naruto asked in a low tone.

"You are right about that Naruto-kun. It must be because the meat is a much stronger flavor here than the fish, so they carry a much richer type of wine." Hinata replied.

"I guess so, I think I would have liked this more with the dishes we had, though," Naruto said.

"I bet. I believe that it would go well with that sukiyaki dish at the end that you loved so much." Hinata said with a smile as she recalled him playing with the stone bowl.

"It was good, but it wasn't my favorite. I liked the Abalone and the Eel much more." Naruto said seriously.

"Really? You were so fascinated by that stone bowl and the ingredients cooking in it, though." Hinata said with a giggle.

"Ah, but Hinata-chan, you forget I wasn't the only one there that evening," Naruto said mysteriously.

Hinata was confused and wasn't able to keep her confusion masked on her face which caused Naruto to actually laugh out loud for once.

Hinata was a little miffed that Naruto actually laughed out loud at her confusion.

"What do you mean by that Naruto-kun? What do you find so funny?" Hinata said in that sickly sweet tone that displayed that Naruto was in dangerous territory.

Naruto smirked before looking around and seeing that everyone else was mostly distracted, so he decided to try and flirt with her like Jiraiya suggested. Naruto leaned in close to Hinata and whispered in her ear.

"You look so adorable when you're confused Hinata-chan. I like that look very much. If you must know, it was the Kyūbi who enjoyed that last dish the most." Naruto leaned back and winked at Hinata before turning his attention back towards the grill.

Hinata was absolutely stunned at what had just occurred. Did Naruto just flirt with her? She would have never thought it was even possible for Naruto to do such a thing, and was certainly not expecting it after how their date ended.

Hinata looked over and saw Naruto had an insufferable smirk on his face. She was certain he was looking at her from the corner of his eye. Oh, he was going to get it! That was for certain. Two could play this game.

Kakashi had been watching the exchange between the two with some amusement. While he didn't catch what Naruto whispered to Hinata, he was surprised with the way Naruto leaned in and whispered to Hinata before winking at her. He couldn't help but feel a little proud that Naruto was maintaining his composure while Hinata was returned his advances. He didn't even blush when Hinata lightly smacked him on the shoulder or leaned in closer to him.

Naruto had been pleased with the results of his interaction with Hinata so far. She seemed to be happier now. He hoped it made up for what happened between them after their date.

Naruto found flirting with her fun. It was definitely better than being red-faced and flustered, but it was still hard for him to hide that part of himself when Hinata started to flirt back.

Naruto was on the verge of losing his cool composure until Neji drew Hinata's attention away from him by calling her name. Naruto looked away, bashfully, to try and hide his blush only to see Sakura eating quietly. Sakura had removed some meat from the grill but was looking at her sake bottle with a forlorn expression.

"Sakura, do you want me to pour for you?" Naruto asked

"Oh, yes please, thank you," Sakura replied softly.

Naruto just shrugged before pouring her a cup full of sake. "Don't mention it, just let me know when you want some more and I'll take care of it for you."

Sakura merely nodded before she held her cup up in the toast position.

Naruto picked up his wine glass and after a quick "Kampai", Sakura drank up her cup while Naruto took a few sips of his plum wine.

Naruto saw some open space on the grill and seized the chance to put the last of his shrimp and short rib on the grill. When he saw Hinata narrow her eyes at him, he took the opportunity to tease her by placing his shrimp next to her pork belly. When he saw Hinata grimace at seeing those dirty shrimp fouling her pork belly slices, Naruto smirked at her, earning him a gentle elbow to his ribs.

Now that the last of his meat was sizzling on the grill, Naruto took the time to look over each of the members of the Rookie 12 and wonder just at how much they would change in four years time.

Kiba had gotten quite tipsy after finishing his sake bottle quite quickly and was being boisterous and loud much to Shino's chagrin. Kiba was currently hanging off Shino and tell him how he was a cool dude.

Naruto guessed that Kiba would not change too much, perhaps mellow out a little bit more once he got control of his hormones.

Shino was just as stoic as ever with Kiba hanging off of him even when he had to keep pushing up his glasses every few minutes after Kiba would knock them down by swaying into him.

Naruto doubted that Shino would change very much, either. Everyone commented on how Shino was just like his father. Naruto had some dealings with Shibi when selling his chakra scrolls to the man and could see the truth to those rumors.

Kurenai was simply shaking her head in resignation at Kiba's loud mouth before turning and saying something to Asuma.

Naruto didn't care much for Kurenai and doubted that he ever would. She didn't seem to have any interest in caring for him either.

Asuma was flipping some vegetables on the grill near their side of the table before turning to reply to Kurenai. Asuma must have said something interesting since Kurenai merely blushed instead of replying.

Naruto wondered how his relationship with the Sandaime was progressing. Naruto knew that the Sandaime wanted to make amends for their rift. Hopefully, he would be able to make progress now that Tsunade was taking over for him. Asuma had always been kind to Naruto when they had interacted in his youth, and Shikamaru thought highly of the man, which was a compliment in itself.

Ino was eyeing Asuma and Kurenai with a smirk on her face. Half the village would probably know what Asuma said to Kurenai by mid afternoon tomorrow if the look on her face was any indicator.

Naruto didn't know how Ino might change. He would have written her off as being useless, but Shikamaru and Choji said she wasn't that bad. They would have labeled Sakura as being worse, but Naruto's opinion of Sakura had changed. Four years was a long time to change and mature, though.

Choji was polishing off his fifth plate of meat with gusto and was quite happy at the moment. Choji had gotten a lot bigger from the last time Naruto saw him and Naruto wondered just how big Choji would be when he returned.

Chōza was an enormous man, and Naruto was confident he could give Jiraiya a run for his money in the height department. Choji took after his father a great deal from what Naruto had seen so he could imagine his friend would soon be towering over him when he returned.

Shikamaru was the same as usual. A bored expression on his face as he stared out the window of the restaurant. Naruto imagined he was plotting how to get out of training to do some serious cloud watching next week. Naruto guessed that since the snows had not set in yet, Shikamaru would be trying his best to get a few days in before the skies become overcast for most of the season.

Naruto didn't expect his lazy friend to change at all.

Lee was conversing with Guy in a very animated fashion. Naruto didn't know the two very well, but they certainly seemed dedicated if not more eccentric than most. As Naruto thought about it more, he wasn't certain anyone he knew wasn't odd in some way except for Hokage-jiji. He might have been eccentric in the past but was just simply old now.

Tenten had an embarrassed expression on her face as Lee was practically jumping out of his seat from whatever Guy had said to him. Naruto thought she was a nice girl who was a serious kunoichi and her weapon skills were top notch. She seemed like an honest, hardworking, and noble woman that could be trusted. Naruto had to admit she was also pretty, but he didn't have any interest in her in that way. He would prepare the copies for her tonight and give them to her first thing in the morning so that the village would have someone else with fūinjutsu skills at the least.

He would have to think of a way to compile his knowledge in that respect so that if he were forced to leave the village, his mother and father's knowledge would be passed onto the right people in the village, so it wasn't lost to Konoha forever. Tenten was probably his best bet for keeping the Uzumaki fūinjutsu alive in a sly way.

Neji was caught up in a staring contest with Hinata and Naruto wasn't certain why. He didn't really have any problem with Neji, but apparently Neji had some problem with him. Naruto had thought that since he was close to Hinata, there wouldn't be any problem with him but apparently that was false. Naruto decided he would just let it drop for now and see if issue remained when he returned.

Kakashi was reading his book with his regular bored expression on his face. He had already made his food vanish miraculously while everyone was distracted, so there was no chance at taking a peek at his face, but Naruto also knew that he wasn't completely unaware of what everyone else was doing.

Naruto had to smile as he saw the strand of amazonite beads hanging from the book margin. He would have to seek Kakashi out tomorrow and spend some time with him alone before he left since he felt guilty about forgetting about him earlier. Naruto could sometimes tell that Kakashi wanted to have a stronger bond with him, and Naruto had expected him to approach him in some manner.

Now, however, Naruto realized that with Kakashi, he might have to take the initiative for once, instead of waiting for Kakashi to approach him. He didn't really know how to make that approach, though. Kakashi was reclusive, at best. It actually made Naruto rethink about how difficult it must be for some people to approach him since he had been just as reclusive if not more.

Thinking about the promise he made to Hinata, Naruto realized it would be tough for him to keep his word to her. Perhaps he could start being more aware and cordial to strangers, instead of disregarding them all completely. Kakashi had already met him half way, for the most part, so it wouldn't be against his own beliefs to open up to him more.

Kakashi had been covertly observing Naruto and was curious as to why Naruto was suddenly studying him so intently. In the end, he decided that Naruto must be thinking about asking him for something or giving him something before he left.

Kakashi looked down at the metal book marker he gave him and felt a little of that black hole of grief inside of him disappear when he looked at it. Kakashi had been stunned that Naruto got him such a gift that he wasn't entirely certain how to respond.

Kakashi then remembered about wanting to give those jutsu to Naruto when he watched his fight in the finals and decided he would approach Naruto tonight as they left and set up a time tomorrow to demonstrate them for him. Kakashi would have liked to have been more active in Naruto's life, but he still felt that he had blown his chance and would only be a sensei and comrade at best. Still that was better than hostility, and he would accept it if that were all Naruto would allow.

Meanwhile, Naruto had been watching Sasuke in his brooding drunk mode, trying to remain still instead of swaying. It brought a small smile to his face to watch Sasuke try to stay aloof and stiff while he swayed side to side. Oh, Naruto was certain he wasn't much better when he was drunk, but it still was fun to poke at Sasuke with his unflappable ego. He wondered how much Sasuke would change over the next few years as he traveled with Itachi.

Naruto had wanted to meet up with Itachi to thank him for all that he helped him with when he was younger, but he was not allowed to visit him at all. Hokage-jiji had put his foot down on the matter and wouldn't allow him to even send a message or mention him at all. Naruto wondered if Sasuke would adopt more of his mannerisms over the years like Naruto had tried to emulate as a kid, but Sasuke had mentioned in the past how he always wanted to beat Itachi not copy him.

Naruto hoped that Sasuke became really strong and that he began to open up to the others. Sasuke was the one Naruto worried about the most if he was forced to leave the village. He knew Sasuke would be hurt the most by his desertion and felt terrible that he might end up severing ties with one that he would call a brother. Sasuke was the only one who really understood how it was for him growing up.

The only other person who even had half a chance of understanding him was Sakura, which just boggled Naruto's mind. Naruto swung his gaze over to Sakura and watched as she grilled some more meat. He noticed her cup was empty and snatched up her bottle to refill it for her.

Naruto would never have thought he would be on cordial terms with Sakura, at all, or that he would even consider actually being friends with her. She had shown a whole new side to herself and Naruto was still processing how bizarre it was that he actually felt close to her now.

After all the shit that she had put him through it would have seemed impossible for him to feel like being her friend. After hearing her talk about her abusive fucked up childhood, he felt drawn to her. He would have thought, after Makoto, he would be wary of trusting his senses with Sakura, but somehow he knew this was legitimate. Sakura had some significant role to play in the future with him. He just didn't know what exactly that role would be.

Something had driven him to forgive her right away and to allow her to become close to him. Kurama had not even seemed disinclined to befriend her either, which was odd since Kurama had advocated for her death more than any others.

Naruto subconsciously grabbed his necklace while he pondered this turn of events. Suddenly, the idea of Tsunade taking Sakura as an apprentice popped into his head. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like it was the right path for her. There was a pressing need to convince Tsunade to do this. Naruto was confident the puppy dog eyes would do the trick.

Naruto's eyes drifted to the last person that was always seemed to be on his mind, Hinata. For the first time in years, he had let all of his walls down with her and enjoyed himself, until the end at any rate. She was beautiful, kind, smart, confident, and when they kissed his feelings were stronger than he ever imagined. A small part of him still feared what he had felt, but he wanted to get over this fear.

Naruto knew it would still be problematic for them to become a couple, given the fact that she was an heiress, and he was pretty much the village outcast. Even if the village accepted the truth of his heritage, she would become a target for his father's enemies. The other hurdle he had to overcome was the plan to fix the chakra cycle.

Saving the world might cost him his life, and possibly, his very soul. If he did have a relationship with Hinata and they fell in love, he would be leaving her alone to deal with his death. It seemed almost selfish of him when he thought of it like that. Naruto saw how the Sandaime mourned for his wife. It was a pain that didn't seem to ease with time.

Kurama had warned him about succumbing to base emotions because they always led to pain and suffering, but for a moment when he had Hinata in his arms, and their lips met, Naruto had felt a spark of something greater, A spark of something that was warm and wonderful. Naruto didn't know if that spark he had felt was love or not.

Kurama had once told him that his mother had often stated her love for his father. Being reluctantly curious, Kurama had taken note of the emotions he had sensed and tried to match them with her words. Since he was not bonded with Kushina, he was only able to catch small snippets of emotion from the small cracks he had managed to create in her seal.

Kurama had told Naruto that if he managed to sense a similar feeling in Naruto himself, he would let him know about it. Naruto had sensed that Kurama was aware when he had kissed Hinata, and Kurama made no mention of that spark of emotion he had felt. That could only mean he didn't feel love or the feeling was different for males and females. It was possible that women felt love differently from men since everyone seemed to define love differently when they tried to explain it to him.

Naruto inwardly sighed, he was too young to be thinking about this right now. This subject was something best left for later on. After the plan went through if everything worked out for him, then he could worry about that sort of thing. Right now he had to focus on gathering what he needed for the plan, and becoming strong enough to complete it.

No one else would help the bijū or his jinchūriki family like he would.


	48. The Journey Begins

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edit 4/23/16

 **Chapter 47**

 **The Journey Begins**

 **Early Morning – Two Days Later - Naruto's House**

* * *

Naruto woke up to the sound of an unfamiliar alarm, and it took him several minutes to find the clock and switch it off. As he stretched himself, he took in his surroundings and decided it still felt a bit strange to be waking up in his parent's former bedroom. At first, he considered taking one of the smaller rooms as his own, but in the end, he decided it wouldn't make any sense.

The house belonged to him now, and if he did manage to start a family in the future, it was only fitting that he would take this room with his future wife. There were still so many obstacles in the way, and while the chances were slim that he would get through everything intact, there was always a way to succeed.

Naruto quickly left the bed and made his way into the bathroom to get cleaned up. Today was the day that he would finally leave the village and begin his trip with his shishō, and he was nervous and excited all in one bundle.

As he went through his morning ritual, he went through his mental checklist of things that he needed to do before he left.

He had already given Tenten copies of all his early fūinjutsu work, so he was good on that front. He was now the owner of at least 200 kunai and 500 shuriken sealed away into six of Tenten's finest storage scrolls.

He had added the two new jutsu that Kakashi had given him to his training wish list that Jiraiya had told him to create, so he could cross that off the list. Naruto smiled as he remembered the time he spent with Kakashi yesterday and how hilariously awkward it was for both of them before they managed to form a bond in the end.

After Kakashi had approached him the night before with an offering to show him two new Fūton jutsu, Naruto thought that Kakashi had decided to approach him on his own, and Naruto happily agreed. Once Kakashi had displayed the two jutsu and given him the scroll, they spent some time practicing for a bit before leaving to get some lunch.

Afterward, however, neither of them knew how to proceed, and it resulted in both of them just sitting together in silence while Naruto fidgeted and Kakashi just pretended to read his Icha Icha. In the end, Naruto decided to bite the bullet and tell Kakashi how he was the basis for most of his clone strategies that he came up with and how much Kakashi helped him before Nami no Kuni and the Chūnin exams, much to Kakashi's surprise.

Kakashi and Naruto then spent the next few hours talking about some things Kakashi had learned from his father. Before departing, an agreement was made that Naruto and Kakashi would set up some training time together on his return. Naruto then gave Kakashi a large bundle of his chakra storage seals for him to use while he was away "so that he wouldn't fall too far behind when he came back". Kakashi merely replied by ruffling Naruto's hair before waving over his shoulder and walking off.

As Naruto left the shower and began to dry off, he recalled how Hinata had responded to his late afternoon tea at the Gaikoku Tea Room and tour of his home. He didn't understand why Hinata had a sour look on her face and a negative feeling when Naruto spoke about how much he enjoyed it when he was with Sakura until Kurama explained that he was feeling her jealousy.

Naruto was quite surprised that Hinata would feel jealous of Sakura and almost ended up spitting out his tea when Kurama had laid it out plain for him. In the end, Hinata grudgingly admitted to liking the place but was still adamant about downplaying the experience overall.

Naruto was disappointed that Hinata seemed to be determined to dislike the place. Naruto decided that it was best to just keep the Tea Room as a place for him and Sakura to enjoy after that and just led Hinata to view his home.

When Naruto revealed it to her, he was a little miffed that she called it small and quaint. Hinata thought the house was indeed beautiful in design but that some of the large acreages should be used up to make the home bigger itself. Naruto didn't really agree with that as he felt there was more than enough space in the house as it was and liked having more space to train and run around in.

Naruto asked her why it would need to be bigger when there was an office, a den, a sitting room, a dining room, a living room, and bedrooms for two children. He didn't see why it would need more than that. Hinata was silent for a moment before she admitted that all the extra rooms she would add were quite trivial now that she thought about it more.

Hinata laughed when Naruto said he should just rename the den into the "drawing room" that she mentioned since the Kyūbi called the whole house the den, and he felt having a den within a den was kind of redundant. Hinata then shook her head and explained to Naruto what a drawing room was when he mentioned he would do most of his seal drawing in the tree house.

Eventually, Naruto managed to coerce Hinata into admitting that the tree house was cool, after some shy flirting attempts on his part. He ended up losing the battle to Hinata when he became too embarrassed after some very forward actions by Hinata. Overall, Naruto felt he was successful in cheering Hinata up after the sad end to their previous date as she left with a large smile on her face.

As Naruto dressed, he meticulously went through and sealed the most important items close at hand. He sealed a leather bag with his large sum of ryō away in a micro seal on his necklace. His important scrolls, weather gear, fūinjutsu kit, blank scrolls, and extra weapons he sealed up in the 6 arm seals on both arms. His put his camping gear, and other survival supplies in the two leg wrap seals.

He slung a sleek black messenger bag over his shoulder that was filled with his travel papers, Gama-chan, the remaining scrolls of bulk weapon bundles, more ryō in scrolls, extra clothing, training equipment, and various instructional books, manga, blank books, and rolls of blank paper to use.

The messenger bag had golden yellow stitching down the center of the shoulder strap, with matching trim around the pockets and zippers. The bag was designed to hang like a bandoleer on the front for easy access and was very slim, only measuring 1 foot wide where it reached the hip and narrowed to ¾ of a foot as it neared the shoulder. It had a large zippered pocket at the bottom that fit most average size scrolls, with a button pocket on the front for easy access. There was a smaller pocket near the top that could fit smaller items like a wallet, keys or ID cards. The side had two lateral zipper pockets, and one smaller internal pocket to help organize items inside the bag.

Naruto had triple checked everything in this bag last night, so he felt he was good on that front. If he did forget anything, not only was Gama-chan fully stocked along with the Root stash of ryō in the scroll, he had a chunk of his inheritance in his necklace.

As Naruto slid Makoto into her place, he realized the only thing left for him to do now was take another crack at coercing Tsunade on taking Sakura as an apprentice. He didn't get too much time with Tsunade yesterday, and she was reluctant, to say the least.

Naruto told Tsunade that he was no longer at odds with Sakura and tried to convince her to accept Sakura. Tsunade still seemed to hold a grudge against her for what happened to Naruto at the Academy. He would try to convince her again this morning before he left.

Naruto stepped out of his new home and locked the door before activating the security seals. The morning was brisk, so he removed his messenger bag and unsealed his sweater and threw it on. He put his bag back over his torso before looking out at the false dawn shining on the eastern horizon. He probably had a few hours before his shishō would show up at the Hokage Tower to claim him and start their journey.

Naruto walked through the small bamboo forest surrounding his home before securing the gate. With a smile on his face, he leaped up onto the nearest roof and began making his way to the Hokage tower knowing that Tsunade would be waiting for him there to say her farewells.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hiruzen yawned and stretched before going back to reviewing some of the Anbu patrol reports from last night. He couldn't help but sigh at the thought that Naruto would be leaving today and that the next time he would see him, the boy would be practically a man at that point.

'4 years... Naruto will be approaching 17 when he returns. I wonder how much he will change in that time.' Hiruzen mused.

Would he look exactly like his father did? Oh, the women would be in for quite a shock if that was the case. Naruto's eyes were shaped just like his father's, but they were much larger, like Kushina's. With the effects of the natural chakra used to purge the mark, he might end up being just as tall and bulky as Jiraiya.

Hiruzen chuckled slightly with that thought. Naruto would be quite the imposing young man if that were the case. Minato had not been very tall, and he had been a more slender male which was necessary for his speed style of combat.

Naruto's growth since the orphanage had mirrored that for the most part, but Naruto had also weighed more. Naruto was small for his age at six, but heavier than most. When he entered the academy at age eight, Hiruzen was a little concerned because Naruto had not grown much and was quite the runt compared to all the boys and girls in his class. Then the following year he suddenly shot up in height like a bamboo shoot. He was then about average overall. While his body didn't appear to be bigger than the rest of the kids, Naruto still weighed, at least, a handful of pounds over everyone except Choji.

Tsunade had mentioned to him how she believed Naruto had primarily white and pink muscle when she first ran a physical on him. Tsunade had then explained that while white muscle was good for quick, powerful bursts, it was not built for prolonged endurance activities like red muscles were. Pink muscles, however, had the capability to do both depending on how a person trained.

Hiruzen was drawn out of his thoughts as he saw the seal flash on his desk three times and he quickly channeled chakra to let Naruto in.

"Good Morning, jiji," Naruto said as he approached Hiruzen.

"Good Morning, Naruto-kun. I bet you are excited to start your training." Hiruzen said with a knowing look.

"You know it, jiji! I am kind of nervous about leaving, though. I won't see the rest of you for such a long time." Naruto said seriously.

Hiruzen couldn't help but smile when Naruto mentioned that.

"Well, Naruto-kun. I will miss you dearly as well. If things remain calm, I might run into you and Jiraiya on one of my vacation trips." Hiruzen replied.

"That would be nice, and you deserve a vacation more than anyone, jiji," Naruto said with a soft smile on his face.

"So, do you have everything you need? Did you need any more ryō?" Hiruzen asked as he stood up.

"I packed about 350,000 ryō. I think it will be more than enough, right?" Naruto asked.

Hiruzen coughed a bit at that amount. "That is quite a large sum Naruto-kun, I don't think you will need that much."

"Well, I know shishō said that the smith in Tetsu no Kuni would want at least 50,000 ryō to reforge Makoto, so I figured if I found something unique or rare that I would want, it might cost a lot more than that. Plus I know I will need to buy new clothing during the trip as well as other supplies." Naruto said with a calculating expression.

"That is true, you might find some things that you want to purchase, but I think you are forgetting that Jiraiya will also be paying for a lot of your expenses, despite what Tsunade might tell you," Hiruzen said with a smirk.

"I know, but I will also want to buy some things from each place I go to. I also want to buy some presents for you and oba-chan, Kakashi-sensei and all my friends and teammates too." Naruto said.

Hiruzen ruffled Naruto's hair with a fond smile on his face. "That is quite generous of you Naruto-kun. I, for one, will be very appreciative of whatever you get for me, but you don't need to spend so much on me."

Naruto looked up at his jiji with a genuine smile. "The ryō doesn't matter to me jiji, even if it was your duty to help me I will still be grateful for all that you have done for me. So, I will use it to get things to show my gratitude properly to those who are precious to me."

Naruto's declaration touched Hiruzen, and the aged shinobi ruffled the blond's spiky hair once more for good measure. A little of the knot of worry he had about the trip helping the Kyūbi drive Naruto away from the village loosened as he looked down at his adopted grandson.

'Perhaps Jiraiya was right, and Naruto will only be convinced to leave if something dire happens. I hope to Kami that it is true, but Minato's warning still rings in my ears.' Hiruzen thought.

"You are very precious to me too Naruto-kun. Remember what I said before. I will always care for you Naruto-kun. No matter what happens in your life and what path you must take, never forget that." Hiruzen said in a serious tone.

Naruto nodded before he hummed his affirmation as well.

"Now, I pulled those notes on the Hiraishin that you requested yesterday along with some of the other scrolls. Are you certain you want to take them with you?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yes, jiji. If I keep up with my fūinjutsu training at the rate that I have been, I believe I can have the basics of the Hiraishin down by the end of the third year, at least, and I don't think I can learn it properly without those," Naruto said

"Very well, Naruto-kun, that will be something very impressive to have under your belt, but please be very careful using it if you do learn. It will be like putting a giant target on your back." Hiruzen said as he walked back over to his desk and plucked up a scroll.

Hiruzen handed the scroll over to Naruto, who sealed it away into the storage seal on his left bicep.

"I won't jiji. I don't think I will end up using it as much in combat like my father did. Truthfully, I prefer using combination jutsu from a distance with my shadow clones if I can. I feel I will mainly use it as an evasive tactic to keep my distance since everyone tries to rush a ninjutsu specialist." Naruto replied.

"Your father told me the same thing you know, it just never really works out that way," Jiraiya replied, causing Naruto to whirl around in surprise.

"Shishō! When did you get here?" Naruto said.

"Not too long ago if you must know," Jiraiya said with a smirk. "So kid are you ready to go see the world?"

"You bet shishō, but Tsunade-bachan hasn't arrived yet, and she will be furious with me if I left without saying goodbye to her," Naruto said with a frown.

"She's coming, don't you worry about that. It shouldn't take her too much longer to get here. Tsunade-hime was never much of a morning person." Jiraiya said with a laugh while Hiruzen merely chuckled.

"So, did you finish that list like I told ya to?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto nodded before unsealing a scroll from his left wrist and handing it over to Jiraiya to look over.

"Not bad, not bad at all. I see you are still committed to learning how to use that ninjato you got there then?" Jiraiya commented.

"Yes. I have my practice ninjato sealed close at hand for training, and I also made sure I have the ryō for the smith you said would reforge her." Naruto said.

"Good. The guy we will take your sword to is serious about his craft, he will make sure your sword is the best it can possibly be, but don't be surprised if he makes some changes to the length or width." Jiraiya warned.

Naruto frowned at that thought. "As long as the saya and tsuba remain the same, then I won't care as much, but I don't want either of those to change."

"We'll see, Naruto, like I said he is very particular and if the size or style doesn't fit with your body type he is damn hard to budge," Jiraiya replied.

Hiruzen saw the seal on his desk flare up and went to let Tsunade into the office.

"So the old pervert is actually awake at this hour, I thought you would be deep in your hangover still," Tsunade said as she entered.

"I think that more aptly describes one of your gambling binges. Don't you agree, Tsunade-hime?" Jiraiya retorted with a smile.

Tsunade's eyebrow twitched before she raised her fist threateningly. "Watch it old pervert and don't you forget my warning about turning my Naruto-kun here into a womanizer like yourself!"

"Hah! The kid would be lucky if he turns into half the pervert I am, after all, no one else can claim the title of super pervert!" Jiraiya said with a boisterous laugh before he was clobbered by Tsunade.

Naruto groaned in embarrassment.

Tsunade moved over to Naruto and pulled him into a hug which he happily returned.

"My little Naruto-kun, you're going to be all grown up when I next see you. I didn't nearly get enough time to hold you like this." Tsunade said sadly.

"I'll make a deal with you then, oba-chan. I promise I will always let you hold me like this if you promise to take Sakura as your apprentice." Naruto said as he looked up at Tsunade's face.

Tsunade heaved a sigh before she eyed Naruto warily. "Why do you want to help that girl so much? After what she has done to you, she doesn't deserve the privilege. I'm surprised you're not pushing for that scheming little Hyūga hime instead."

"Hinata-chan has her clan and family to help her get stronger, but Sakura is just like how I was when I was a child, oba-chan. Sakura has no one to help her. Please help her oba-chan! She needs someone to help her." Naruto said before giving Tsunade the puppy dog eyes.

"Alright Naruto-kun, I'll take her on but if she shows any of that attitude or that personality of hers acts up then she is finished," Tsunade said with resignation.

Naruto beamed at Tsunade. "Thanks, oba-chan, I know she won't let you down. You should ask her to take you to Gaikoku also, oba-chan, I think you will like it. I really liked that place a lot when she took me there."

"Oh, so my little apprentice already has another one lined up, does he?" Jiraiya said with a perverted grin.

Naruto whipped his head around towards Jiraiya while Tsunade glared at him.

"It's nothing like that I swear. She wanted to apologize and explained to me about all the stuff that happened to her in the past. I only went on a date with Hinata-chan!" Naruto shouted in embarrassment before he felt Tsunade squeeze him harder.

"Oh? So you went on a date with that Hyūga schemer did you? Tell me Naruto-kun whose idea was it? Did she do anything forward with you?" Tsunade said in a sweet tone.

Naruto gulped before looking up at Tsunade and answering. "Well, she said I owed her for making her think I was dead inside the Root base. So I took her to that restaurant shishō recommended and then well... I kissed her but then Neji said I was too forward with her, so I stopped. Nothing else happened after that, and we both agreed it would be better just to wait."

Tsunade just stared at him for a moment before she nodded then cupped Naruto's cheek. "That was foolish of you to do something like that so soon after what happened to you, Naruto-kun, but I'm glad you are at least giving yourself the opportunity to find someone. Just be careful not to force it or let anyone push you because you are worried about being normal. Only you can decide when you are truly ready to take the next step okay?"

Naruto nodded. "Thank you, oba-chan, for helping Sakura. I have a feeling you won't regret helping her."

"I hope you are right, Naruto-kun, I will be busy once I become the Hokage, nd that will just be one more thing to add to the list," Tsunade said wearily.

"Can't Shizune-nee help you with some of that also?" Naruto asked.

"She would, but she was also really angry at Sakura for the things she heard about her doing to you in the Academy. It might be difficult for her to accept her." Tsunade said.

"Where is Shizune-nee anyways? I haven't seen her in awhile." Naruto asked.

"She had to go back to the capitol at the Daimyō's request last month and was quite disappointed to miss your battle in the finals from the last letter I received. She won't be due back to the village for another few weeks, unfortunately." Tsunade said softly.

"That's too bad that I didn't get to see her before I left. I'll just have to find something to get her as a gift for when I return then. To make it up to her." Naruto said.

"I'm certain she will love anything you get for her Naruto-kun," Tsunade said with a smile.

"Well, I think we need to get this show on the road, unfortunately. We will want to be on the road before the sun rises and we don't have much time left before it starts." Jiraiya said.

Hiruzen and Tsunade both nodded sadly and followed Jiraiya and Naruto out of the office to walk with them towards the gate.

 **Northern Gate – Konoha Civilian Residential Sector**

* * *

Hinata waited by the Northern gate with Kakashi and Sasuke hoping that they didn't miss Naruto's departure from the village. Even though Naruto told them he would have to meet with Jiraiya and the Hokage at his office by false dawn, they didn't want to risk trying to meet with him there in case Jiraiya just simply picked Naruto up and left.

Kakashi had told them that Jiraiya was known to be quick and decisive when he decided to move out and since he had mentioned taking Naruto to Takigakure first, he knew the best shot at catching the wandering Sannin would be at the Northern gate.

Kakashi's intuition was rewarded when they saw the Hokage approaching with Naruto, Tsunade, and Jiraiya.

Hinata inwardly glowered when she saw Tsunade walking with Naruto as she had hoped to give Naruto a proper farewell kiss to remember her by. She could tell that it would be a bad idea by the way Tsunade was eyeing her currently.

"Oi! Good Morning, Kakashi-sensei, Hinata-chan, Sasuke," Naruto said after he dashed forward to meet up with them.

"Thanks for coming to see me off. I'll miss you guys _ **!**_ _"_ Naruto said with a soft smile on his face.

"Naruto-kun please accept this lunch I made for you. I'll really miss you to Naruto-kun." Hinata said as she held up a bento box for him.

"Wow, thanks, Hinata-chan!" Naruto said before giving Hinata a hug.

Naruto enjoyed the feeling that Hinata in his arms and the scent of lavender and vanilla shampoo that she used on her beautiful hair. His recent experiences with her had been a little rocky, but he couldn't forget that spark that he felt when they had kissed, and he couldn't deny that he really enjoyed holding her.

"I'll really miss you too, Hinata-chan. Take care of yourself." Naruto said softly.

Hinata reveled in his warmth as long as she could. She really wanted to tell him that she would be waiting, but she had promised him she wouldn't, so she wouldn't say anything. Deep down she really wanted to simply wait for him but there were no guarantees he wouldn't find himself in love with someone else.

"Please come back safe, Naruto-kun. Please be careful." Hinata whispered.

Naruto nodded while he hummed his agreement and began to move back to release the hug.

All Hinata could hope for now is that he would be available when he returned and she could claim him as her own soon afterward. Hinata took a deep lungful of his scent to remember him by before releasing him as he moved to step away from her to talk to Sasuke.

Sasuke and Naruto gripped each other's forearms and both had smirks on their faces.

"You better get really strong baka. I better not hear about you becoming Orochimaru's new toy while you're out there." Sasuke said.

Naruto snorted "Tch, you should listen to your own advice there Sasuke. He wants your body after all."

Sasuke scowled. "Did you have to put it like that Naruto? Seriously, that was just wrong."

Naruto laughed a bit before he shook his head. "You're right that was uncalled for. At least, I know Itachi will be around you to chase him off."

Sasuke merely grunted before getting a serious look in his eye. "Naruto, you better return safely. Don't pull any of your baka moves like you did with Root."

"Don't worry, Sasuke-chan, I'll be careful," Naruto said in a teasing tone before he switched to a serious tone. "Good luck with your quest for the Snake contract Sasuke, I will be looking out for the location of Ryūchi caves along with shishō for you. When I get back we will have an epic summoning battle complete with all our awesome new jutsu."

"Count on it," Sasuke replied.

Sasuke and Naruto let their forearms drop before they both nodded to each other. Naruto stepped to the side and stood in front of Kakashi.

Kakashi looked down at Naruto for a moment before he hesitantly put his hand on top of his head. Naruto simply smiled softly as he looked up at his first sensei.

"Make sure you always stick close to Jiraiya-sama. There are a lot of dangers out in the world that you will need to learn about first hand. Remember to always look underneath the underneath." Kakashi said in a serious tone.

"I will Kakashi-sensei. I won't forget what you taught me." Naruto replied.

"You are already really strong for your age Naruto, you don't have to prove yourself to anyone. Remember that it is always better to live without glory than to die with glory. Do what is necessary to come back to us safe Naruto, that is your mission." Kakashi added.

"I understand Kakashi-sensei. I will come back safely and I will be much stronger when I do, so you better be ready for me." Naruto said with a grin.

Kakashi nodded before moving his hand from Naruto's head to his shoulder and giving it a firm pat.

Naruto gave Hinata one more long hug before moving toward Tsunade and getting another good squeezing from her. After receiving his final hair ruffling from the Hokage, he gave one last long look at the group before turning and walking up next to Jiraiya who had been leaning against the gate in a nonchalant manner. Naruto looked him in the eye and nodded. He was ready to begin the journey and he had no regrets.

Jiraiya merely stared back at him for a minute before he smiled when he saw Naruto had only determination in his eyes. Jiraiya threw a casual wave towards the group then turned around and began to set off down the road. Naruto quickly fell into step with him.

The group that had assembled to bid Naruto farewell watched with some melancholy as the small black form of Naruto and the tall white and green form of Jiraiya strolled leisurely down the dirt path until they faded out of view into the forest. Eventually, they all dispersed quietly to their own tasks for the day and all of them wondered just how much their stoic blonde would change by the time they saw that sight once again.

Jiraiya was going through his mental list and comparing it with the list Naruto had showed him in the office before they departed. He knew that Naruto now had an extremely powerful affinity for Fūton and a powerful affinity for Katon because of the combination of his own natural affinities, the Kyūbi, the Nibi, and the gift from Ichibi including the capability to use Jiton (Magnet Release).

He also knew that Naruto himself had a naturally strong Water affinity on his own so he decided that would be the best to focus on first since he hadn't received a boost to that ability just yet.

It was a good thing that Takigakure (Village Hidden by a Waterfall) was an ally, was renown for their Suiton techniques, and also happened to have a jinchūriki that Naruto might be able to gain more abilities from. The village was also relatively close to Konoha so it would only take them a few weeks to arrive at a casual speed.

Jiraiya nodded to himself as he solidified the plan for the first year of Naruto's training. He would have Naruto focus on sealing and the various toad combination jutsu while they traveled. They would spend a few months training in Taki getting his Suiton strengthened. Next he would visit his contacts in Kawa no Kuni (Land of Rivers) to see what Suna was plotting while Naruto would be able to practice and maybe learn some more Suiton techniques in Tanigakure (Village Hidden in Valleys).

After he was done in Kawa no Kuni they would head north-west through Kaze no Kuni (Land of Wind) on the border of Ame no Kuni (Land of Rain) to reach Tori no Kuni (Land of Birds) where he would get info on Iwa's movements and Naruto would hopefully be able to pick up a Doton technique or two and improve his taijutsu. They wouldn't be able to stay there for long though being so close to Iwa.

Then they would have some time relax a bit and spend some time in Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Springs). There they would work more on his taijutsu and sealing, plus he would get some much-needed research done and submit the next few volumes of Icha Icha before they headed into the more distant lands in the world. It would only take him about three weeks at most to get that all completed.

Finally, he would move Naruto up into Shimo no Kuni (Land of Frost) and take a ship to Yuki no Kuni (Land of Snow) to get Naruto used to cold weather conditions and work on strengthening his Katon and Suiton jutsu in freezing temperatures. Plus he had some rumors of an Akatsuki presence being established there and he needed to verify the rumors before they became aware that Naruto was traveling with him.

If everything went according to plan then his pass into Tetsu no Kuni from Mifune would be ready by then and he could take Naruto to get his sword repaired and get him some first class kenjutsu and meditation training from the samurai. Though he doubted Naruto really needed to calm down more, the kid was stoic enough as it is and had only begun to show signs of emotion recently. Still it couldn't hurt for him to learn meditation and breathing exercises.

Jiraiya was satisfied with the plan so far and hopefully by the time the first year was up the civil war in Kiri would be over and done with so he could hand over the documents from his sensei with the beginning overtures of an alliance agreement to whoever managed to become the Mizukage. Hiruzen had wanted to establish an alliance with the island nation for the upcoming war. At the very least it would stop Iwa from gaining a superior naval force to use against them. By then B would probably be ready to train Naruto on Genbu, and he would have time to establish contact with his more dangerous informants in Iwa and Suna since Naruto would be safely ensconced in Kumo.

Jiraiya knew he would be in the dog house if Tsunade and his sensei found out that he had planned to leave Naruto in Kumo alone for almost a year, but it was necessary for him to master the Kyūbi, and the Raikage would never allow him to remain to oversee the training. He did have some concerns about them trying to tempt Naruto into joining Kumo full time, but he doubted it would prevent Naruto from wanting to continue training with him since Naruto's honor wouldn't allow him to leave Konoha for something so petty as hero worship.

The one thing that did concern him though was remaining in the company of jinchūriki and bijū that whole time. That could be problematic if you took Minato's warning into account. Jiraiya planned to counter that influence by saving some of the more exotic and peaceful lands for training and general sight seeing after he spent his time in Kumo.

Cha no Kuni (Land of Tea), Umi no Kuni (Land of Sea), Tsuki no Kuni (Land of Moon), Kuma no Kuni (Land of Bears), even Udon no Kuni (Land of Noodles) are all quiet little tourist trap type locations with exotic cultures and items to experience and explore. It would do good for the kid to see and experience the foreign cultures and sights to see just how special Konoha truly is, just like he first did when his spying took him out to the eastern and southern countries. He also suspected that Ryūchi Cave was located around one of these countries based on what his sources have told him.

Once he was done with his exploring and experimenting, he would be ready for Sage Mode training in Myōbokuzan and Jiraiya felt assured that after the grueling experience that was Sage Mode training, Naruto would be more than ready to return to his home and take on all challengers.

Jiraiya looked over towards Naruto who was just walking along and looking around the forest with curiosity and boredom in his eyes. Jiraiya smirked before he made a suggestion to take to the trees for a bit and gain more distance. He wasn't surprised when Naruto eagerly agreed.

Naruto would learn soon enough just how inconvenient it was to travel in most other lands since Hi no Kuni was one of the few where shinobi could move so rapidly through the trees with such ease.


	49. Year 1: Establishing Cognizance

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edit 4/23/16

 **Chapter 48**

 **Year 1: Establishing Cognizance**

 **Two Weeks Later – Outskirts of Takigakure no Sato**

* * *

Naruto was in awe at the numerous large waterfalls cascading down the mountainside around them. He shouldn't have been surprised considering their village name pretty much stated it as fact. He was surprised at how hidden their village actually was.

While Konoha was called a "hidden village" it was much too large to be successfully hidden from anything. The Hokage Monument alone was extremely high profile to begin with, and if it weren't for the dense and lush forest surrounding Konoha, you would probably have a clear view of the monument from quite the distance.

Naruto was also quite surprised to learn that this was the first time he had set foot in a natural forest, considering Konoha's surroundings. Jiraiya had launched into a lesson of how the Shodaime had grown most of the trees around Konoha to establish a buffer for the village.

It had been successful for the most part, as there were only specific trails created through the tree tops that only Anbu teams could utilize. At some point before the Nidaime's rule, however, Hashirama decided to open up more paths of travel that were not as concealed. This change, coupled with natural growth, lead to how the forest maintained a more uniform appearance around Konoha.

As Naruto studied his surroundings, he could see now why it not as common for other shinobis to take to the trees right away. It would be difficult if not painful to try and jump through the various smaller branches and leaves, and their placements were not always uniform or stable enough to support their weight. He had to admit that he did find it somewhat more aesthetically pleasing to see the various species sprinkled about in random patterns instead of endless rows of the same breed of tree.

" **That is because this is a natural environment created with balance in mind. While the fools of your village have been thorough in maintaining the life of the forest around them to keep the land healthy, it was still created instead of occurring naturally."** Kurama said with contempt.

 _'At least, it is convenient and clean. Some of those areas in Nami no Kuni were gross. I guess I will have to reserve the rest of my judgment until we see all the other places shishō has planned.'_ Naruto replied.

" **I sense** **Chōmei** **nearby behind the waterfalls. Perhaps the toad sage has brought us here to link. I will reach out towards him now, but it may take some time as he appears to be hibernating."** Kurama replied.

Naruto noticed that Jiraiya had stopped walking and had plopped himself down onto a log near the edge of the pools beneath the waterfalls.

"Shishō, is this where the village is located?" Naruto asked as he approached Jiraiya.

"Yea. The entrance is around here somewhere, but they are very strict on letting outsiders know of the actual sequence to bypass the natural cave defenses. Unfortunately, that means we have to wait until a patrol shows up to let us in, so you might want to make yourself comfortable." Jiraiya said as he went back to his writing.

Naruto shrugged before he sat down next to Jiraiya and unsealed his father's journal. He had managed to read about a quarter of the way through and believed that he was starting to gain an understanding of his father's mindset in his teen years.

Judging from the terminology his father had been using, it seemed that he had started this journal some time after passing his Chūnin exams, which Naruto guessed made him around 14 or 15 years old. He had also noticed that his train of thoughts had started to switch from primarily his training and jutsu to his mother which was interesting and embarrassing at the same time.

It was interesting to see how his father conveyed his feelings for his mother and in some ways it had started to help Naruto sort his own feelings on Hinata out. Minato had developed strong feelings towards Kushina starting in the Academy, but Kushina at the time was almost as bad as Sakura if his father's descriptions were accurate. Naruto had to laugh at how his father had practically stalked his mother in his academy days.

The embarrassment came from the details about his father's erotic dreams about his mother. He could have lived happily without that type of knowledge. Naruto would simply skip a sentence to focus on the way that Minato conveyed his feelings towards Kushina in detail to try and help sort out his own.

That feeling deep inside of him that he felt when he had kissed her it sounded similar to how Minato recounted first kissing Kushina. Naruto wasn't certain if he loved Hinata because he had felt only a small spark when he kissed her. What Minato described as his first kiss with Kushina was much more potent and overwhelming. He also mentioned that it happened immediately instead of after some time had passed.

Naruto also had to take into account that, while he was uncertain about how his father was raised, he most likely had an infinitely more stable upbringing and support structure that Naruto himself had. He had to wonder how that impacted his other emotional responses. His father had constantly conveyed his desire to prove himself as a capable defender and protector to his peers and Kushina.

When Naruto had given up on trying to gain friends or approval of the villagers, he hadn't wanted for much, now that he thought back. He had only really desired to become a ninja and to have a real bond with Kurama. Everyone else was either allowed in or blocked out based on their own actions.

In the end, Naruto decided that he couldn't try to apply logic towards an emotion like love when he hadn't been capable of really understanding lust until he had experienced it first hand. It was something that required him to have more life experience to be capable of identifying.

The more Naruto read his father's journal, the easier it was for him to pick up similarities between him, his father, and his mother. Even coming from his father's perspective Naruto could tell that he had a lot in common with his mother. He had been pleasantly surprised to see that he had adopted a lot more of his father's mannerisms minus the cheery nature that both of his parents seemed to have.

He wasn't about to change that, though. His current standard of behavior had all the benefits of protecting him emotionally from his detractors and enemies alike, but still had the potential of gaining allies if his growing list of precious people was any indication. Naruto preferred to be stoic and silent with an almost nonchalant attitude towards things.

A small gust of wind blew in from the west, and Naruto scented a group of incoming strangers. He looked up from his journal and began to sniff out the scent to try and identify them further. They smelled similar to the Taki team he had scented during the Chūnin exams, so he assumed it was a patrol.

Naruto closed his eyes and stuck his nose up in the air to get a better smell of everything around them. He could pick up his shisho's lingering scent trail heading back towards Konoha about the same amount of distance as the patrol team, as well as some rabbits, various birds, and even a few deer within that same radius.

What surprised him, however, was how far away he had smelled the patrol from. He guessed that they were at least 300 yards to the west and approaching their position at regular speed so it would take them an hour at their current pace.

'Guess my scent range has increased recently. I hadn't even noticed.' Naruto thought to himself.

When Naruto opened his eyes, he saw Jiraiya looking at him with a curious gaze.

"I caught the scent of what I think is a Taki patrol coming our way to the west. I'm guessing they will intercept us in an hour unless they deviate off course." Naruto said.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at Naruto's response.

"An hour? Just how far can you smell things Naruto?" Jiraiya said.

"If I focus it seems my range has expanded to 300 yards I'm guessing. I'm not sure, to be honest." Naruto said with a shrug.

"I didn't pick them up until that gust of wind blew in, but when I reached out to study the scent closer, I noticed I could smell things from much further away.

Jiraiya let out a low whistle. "That's pretty impressive there Naruto. I guess we won't have much longer to wait then. I've had to wait a week to get into the village once. It was really annoying."

"So what is the plan for us to learn from here, shishō?" Naruto asked.

"Well. Taki here, as you can tell, is big on Suiton jutsu. Since I know you have gotten boosts to your affinities from other sources, I wanted to focus on your own natural Suiton affinity before moving on. Plus I know Taki has the Nanabi here so you might be able to establish contact and gain another ability." Jiraiya replied.

 _'Seems you were right about meeting up with Chōmei. Why do you think he would be hibernating?'_ Naruto wondered.

" **Perhaps there was no need for Chōmei to contact his jinchūriki or there has been nothing life threatening to the jinchūriki to establish a bond yet."** Kurama mused.

"I'm glad I will get to focus more on Suiton while I'm here. I remember reading one of the scrolls from the Root base. It had the Nidaime's chakra control exercise and some of his jutsu on it." Naruto said. "This place would be perfect for that."

"That would be an impressive feat if you could manage it, but even with Kage Bunshin, I bet it would take you years to get to his level," Jiraiya replied offhand, his focus entirely on his writing.

"Yea. I still have to complete Suiton Level 2, but that shouldn't be a problem considering all the water in this area" Naruto paused in his response as he turned a page in his father's journal. "Who knows? Using a pool beneath the waterfalls might speed it up the process. I can try to reverse the natural flow of the water in the pool instead of simply spinning it one way then the other using water chakra,"

"What was the Nidaime's exercise?" Jiraiya asked as he looked up from his notebook.

"From what I read, it is mainly drying water out then reversing the process. All it explained was how to convert chakra laced water into mist before deconstructing the mist into molecules." Naruto replied.

"I can see why no one else figured it out. It seems to be the exact opposite of a chakra control exercise to create water from nothing." Jiraiya replied.

Naruto and Jiraiya both tensed up when they heard splashing from the pool and saw several Taki ninja emerge from beneath the water. The Taki ninjas quickly surrounded Naruto and Jiraiya, who remained still in order to keep the group of Taki ninja from becoming spooked.

"Konoha-nin? What are you guys doing here?" One of the Taki-nin said with curiosity.

Jiraiya stood up and put his writing materials away before answering.

"I am Jiraiya of the Sannin, and this is my apprentice Naruto. We have permission from Shibuki to enter the village and train with some of your ninja for a jutsu exchange," Jiraiya replied.

"We will have to confirm this with the village head before we can allow you in. We have just recovered from an attack by a traitor who tried to steal the Hero Water, so you will have to forgive us for not showing our usual hospitality." The Taki-nin replied.

The Taki-nin made a hand motion to a few of the other ninja who dashed off and dove back into the water. Naruto assumed they would go and check with the village head to verify that they could gain entry.

Naruto was glad that most of his stuff was sealed away, he couldn't imagine how annoying it would be to live in this village without sealing since you had to constantly dive and swim to enter and exit the village. It must have been really annoying to get all of your stuff wet and then dry it out. He would have to wrap up his bag in his weather gear to prevent it from getting soggy but other than that he could enter the water without any problems.

It didn't take long for the Taki ninja to return and confirm Jiraiya's story, so Naruto sealed away his journal and prepared to follow their escorts into the village. Naruto put his messenger bag into the waterproof bag he had bought as part of his weather gear and tied it off to one of his belt loops. After sealing Makoto away, he was ready to go.

Jiraiya, on the other hand, was grumbling about getting wet and opted to have one of the toads swallow the stuff he didn't want to get damaged by water before he gave the thumbs up to the Taki ninja.

One by one they dove into the water, and Naruto followed the ninja into an underwater cave that traveled a short distance before they emerged inside a cave system that branched off into multiple different directions.

After taking one of the numerous forks in the cave and traveling for several minutes, the cave abruptly halted at a large pool. They were forced to enter the water and swim to another underwater cave before they emerged into another cave system that looked identical to the first one.

Naruto suspected that the Taki-nins were intentionally taking them through the most complicated path to prevent outsiders from memorizing the pattern to enter the village. This pattern continued three more times before Naruto noticed the final pool he dove into became much brighter than all the previous ones. Naruto was awestruck when he emerged from the water to spot a massive tree that towered over everything.

'That tree makes the Hokage monument look small! I never imagined there could be a tree this big.' Naruto thought.

Kurama could only agree with Naruto. He had seen some enormous red trees on the other continent, but this tree dwarfed those trees in length and width. Kurama sensed a highly concentrated amount of chakra running through the tree.

 **"** **We must learn all we can about that tree, if my suspicions are correct, it may provide one of the ingredients we need to obtain."**

Naruto gave Kurama a mental nod as swam with the rest of the group to the outer edge of the lake they emerged from. As he made his way to the shoreline, he studied the village itself. The buildings didn't seem much different than what you would see in Konoha's merchant district, but they were not as many, and they were more scattered with large expanses of untouched forest in between each building.

Once the group emerged from the water, Naruto witnessed something he had not seen done before, the group of Taki-nin simply flared their chakra to dry off. Naruto looked at Jiraiya and saw that he had also managed the same feat, but before he could ask about it, Kurama spoke up.

" **Just create some Katon chakra and flare it through your body instead of creating a jutsu, the heated chakra should dry you."**

 _'Thanks, Kurama that should be really useful.'_ Naruto replied.

Jiraiya had been waiting till after traversing the water paths to teaching Naruto about using raw Katon chakra to dry off, only to turn around and watch Naruto manage the feat by himself.

'It must have been the Kyūbi that taught him... I should have known. It looks like I will have to take a different approach with things or the damn bijū will keep showing me up.' Jiraiya thought sourly.

"I see you figured out how to dry yourself using your chakra, I was about to explain it to you myself," Jiraiya said sheepishly.

"Sorry shishō. I didn't realize. When I saw what you guys were doing, I started running theories through my mind. You know how I am..." Naruto said with a side glance at the Taki-nin, who were waiting.

Jiraiya merely nodded and patted Naruto on the shoulder before gesturing to the Taki-nin to lead the way. As they followed along Jiraiya lectured Naruto on the various ways to use raw chakra in the environment.

"Well besides using Katon to dry off, you can also use Suiton to cool the body down. Fūton chakra can be used to dust yourself off or remove mud from your body." Jiraiya said.

"Hell, with your affinity for Fūton. I wouldn't be surprised if you could actually cut ropes or your own clothing." Jiraiya said with a chuckle before continuing with his lecture.

"Raiton is used as a repellent for bugs or animals, and Doton chakra can be used to make yourself temporarily waterproof, but it requires a lot of chakra if you aren't naturally aligned with it," Jiraiya explained.

"That is how most Iwa-nin start training for using Iwa no Yoroi (Rock Armor) or even Doton: Kengan no Jutsu (Stone Fist). They practice generating a coating of Doton chakra on their body parts before submerging them in water. If that part comes out dry, they move onto the next stage which is converting that Doton chakra into stone." Jiraiya concluded.

"I didn't know all that, shishō, that's really cool," Naruto said sincerely, "So if they use Doton chakra to make armor around their parts, theoretically I could use Suiton or Katon to do the same right?"

"Katon would be tough since you would have to worry about burning yourself if you lose your focus, and while Suiton could work on individual parts it would lack the power or density to repel any significant attacks," Jiraiya said.

"I see. It would be kind of pointless since there are already plenty of defensive jutsu that work well enough," Naruto concluded.

"Correct. The Raikage has already developed Raiton no Yoroi (Lightning Armor), but he keeps the secret to preventing himself from being electrocuted with it close at hand. Many shinobi have died to try to mimic his armor." Jiraiya explained.

"That just means that he is probably surrounding himself with a primary layer to protect himself in some way, if he could do it with Raiton there is definitely a way to do it with Katon and Suiton, but you are right about the dangers. I think, however, that I could make something with Fūton instead." Naruto said.

" **It is likely the blonde gorilla uses Fūton chakra to repel the Raiton chakra in his technique from his body, such control is difficult to maintain as both chakra natures naturally weaken each other. If you could maintain the proper balance, it is possible to create such a thing."** Kurama interjected.

 **"Fūton will be difficult because you would have to create an additional layer of Suiton over your body, followed by Katon to deflect any cuts on your body, then the Fūton at the end,"** Kurama added.

"You might be onto something there but don't worry about creating your own jutsu just yet." Jiraiya shook his head "You need to focus more on shoring up your current skills to establish the foundation you need to reach more advanced skills."

Naruto frowned. It seemed he was always reviewing his basics. He could understand having to review his taijutsu since he needed work on it but everything else?

Jiraiya could only smirk at the look on Naruto's face. "Right now your foundation was established to support Chūnin level skills, which you have obtained. Now we will focus on strengthening your foundation so that learning more advanced techniques and creating your own jutsu will be easier."

Naruto only sighed in resignation. He knew that Jiraiya wasn't going to budge on the issue.

"For now, let's just focus on training up your Suiton. I promise I'll help you concentrate on creating a new jutsu after your second year of training is completed." Jiraiya said in an appeasing tone.

"I understand, shishō. I was just merely running the theory through my head and discovered that it is possible to create such a jutsu, but it requires precise control of multiple chakra natures." Naruto said with a loaded look towards Jiraiya, "Some of those natures I don't have enough control in just yet."

Jiraiya merely nodded. He would have to come up with a system to discuss input from the Kyūbi without being too obvious in front of others.

While Jiraiya didn't like or trust the bijū at all, it would be stupid to disregard any knowledge from centuries old intelligent being. It had come as quite a surprise to Jiraiya to learn that the Kyūbi had knowledge of Fūinjutsu to the extent that Naruto had described to him. Jiraiya was certain that the Kyūbi actually knew a lot more and either Naruto or the Kyūbi were keeping the true extent of that knowledge from him.

Jiraiya knew the only way he could learn just how deep the bond between the two went, was to be open to listening to what the Kyūbi was telling Naruto and not being judgmental because of his distrust or fear. He wanted Naruto to know that he could be a confidant and provide an objective opinion on things.

It Naruto had someone else to lean on; he would be more forthcoming, and Jiraiya would be able to show Naruto there was another way to accomplish things. Jiraiya was confident that was the best way to counter the Kyūbi.

'After the training is done here I will have to take him to the ruined city and give him the other half of Kyūbi's chakra. I hope his body can sustain it completely, but Minato didn't seem concerned with it.' Jiraiya thought.

As they neared the village head's residence, they saw a large mob assembled in front of the stairway leading up to the entrance. Currently, the crowd was being held back by another group of Taki-nin while arguing amongst each other.

The escorting ninja turned to Jiraiya and said. "It seems that a situation had unfolded while we made our way through the caves. Please remain here so I can see what this is all about and if the Village Head still has time to see you."

"We aren't in any rush here so feel free to take your time. You guys are doing us a favor after all." Jiraiya replied cheerfully.

The Taki escort all pushed their way through the crowd to speak with the group of ninja holding back the mob. While that was going on, Naruto and Jiraiya began listening closely as the mob argued amongst itself.

"It doesn't matter what the demon did during the uprising, now that the demon is weak we should strike it down and be free of her." One of the elderly villagers yelled.

"The demon stopped them from stealing the Hero Water. Do you know what kind of damage those rebels would have caused if they had taken it? The beast performed it's duty and should be left to continue its purpose." An elderly woman retorted.

"Nonsense! Shibuki-sama could have handled those upstarts! If anything, the demon merely interfered!" another woman replied.

"Yea! What if the demon was just trying to get the Hero Water for herself to destroy us all." a young man shouted.

The crowd began murmuring amongst each other for a few moments before another person spoke up.

"That is not true. Fū would never do something like that. Fū is loyal to the village and was willing to give her life to protect our most precious treasure." a young girl said.

"Yea! Fū never harmed anyone so stop calling her a demon." another young girl said.

"That is just the demon luring you kids into trusting it before it decides to eat you. Didn't your mothers teach you any better?" The first old man shouted.

"SILENCE!" a man shouted from the top of the stairway.

The entire crowd turned their attention to the man who shouted, and there were a few who were speaking in low voices, but the majority of the crowd fell silent.

"I will hear no more talk that refers to Fū as a demon." The man barked.

The man glared at the gathered crowd, "I have explained this to you countless times and will not bother with foolish superstitions and fear any longer. Fū was chosen as the guardian of our village and has proven herself against the upstarts. Anyone who speaks against her from this day forwards will be cast out of the village." The man said with authority.

"but Shibuki-sama, you can't be serious..." one of the men cried out.

"I have made my decision, and it is final. Fū has proven herself to be a hero, and I will cast out anyone who disparages her." the newly identified Shibuki replied.

The crowd began murmuring amongst each other again before they began to disperse slowly. A few members of the group were trying to convince the rest to protest the decision more, but it seemed most of the crowd was moving on.

Naruto looked on at the disturbance with mixed feelings. He knew right away that this Fū person had to be the jinchūriki and apparently had become injured in a fight to protect the village. It hit much too close to home for Naruto how they spoke of Fū with hatred, suspicion, and fear.

What troubled Naruto the most, however, was that even after risking her life to protect the village she was still seen as a demon and people still wanted to kill her for it. Even though he had sworn off caring what the villagers thought about himself, he couldn't help but wonder if they would still spit on him if he were severely wounded or even killed while defending Konoha. The very thought of it made his blood boil.

Jiraiya had been studying Naruto's face discreetly while the conversation was going on and could see traces of anger on his stoic face.

Jiraiya gripped Naruto's shoulder startling him from the downward spiral his thoughts were taking him in. Naruto looked up at him with an unspoken question.

"Sometimes Naruto, it takes people time to understand the truth and change their beliefs. You saw how that crowd was divided against their jinchūriki right?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto just nodded. Some people did come to the defense of their jinchūriki. He had to admit that no one had ever come to his defense in Konoha. They either hated him or didn't care about him at all.

"I bet that those same people who were defending Fū at one point also hated Fū and called her a demon. While you might think those people are simply hypocrites, the reality is everyone is a hypocrite at some point." Jiraiya gave Naruto a firm pat on the shoulder.

"I know you are a very smart kid Naruto, and this makes it harder for you to accept that other people are slower at coming to the same realization as you. Some people will never be able to connect the dots in the same way that you can." Jiraiya said kindly.

Naruto looked down as he thought over what Jiraiya said.

"I don't believe that shishō, people are presented with evidence all the time, and they just refuse to believe it. If the evidence is right in front of you, how can you deny it?" Naruto murmured.

"Let me tell you something Naruto. I will admit that my intelligence is nowhere near your level. The only reason I know more than you is because of age and experience. I have no doubt with your IQ; you will be able to surpass me in ways that I can't even imagine."

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya in shock, but Jiraiya held his hand up to stop him from interrupting.

"It's true Naruto," Jiraiya said with a nod before looking over at the village. "Orochimaru was a genius, like you, and it used to piss me off how he could just pick something up so damn easily and understand it right away. It would always take me days or weeks to figure out something that took him less than a day." Jiraiya said with a far off look on his face.

"... but shishō, I can't believe that the only reason you are stronger than me is just because of experience." Naruto said in disbelief.

"Do you know how long it took me to successfully use Katon chakra to dry myself off?" Jiraiya asked.

"How long could it have possibly taken? It didn't seem too difficult." Naruto replied with a furrowed brow.

"Three days and a lot of burnt clothing." Jiraiya shook his head. "The sad part about that is Katon is my primary affinity, so it should have been easier."

Jiraiya turned his gaze back to Naruto."Orochimaru learned it just as fast as you did and he doesn't have an affinity to Katon at all."

Naruto looked back over the village as he thought over what Jiraiya said. Before he could delve further into his thoughts, Jiraiya continued.

"Before Orochimaru turned into what he was now, he had always tried to help me understand things faster," Jiraiya said as he adjusted his hand guards."When I couldn't grasp the concepts quickly, he would get angry and frustrated. Sometimes he would even berate me for not understanding what he was teaching."

"It really hurt my feelings and made me wonder if there was something wrong with me, but sensei would convince me to keep trying," Jiraiya said with a soft smile. "Then a few days later it was like someone turned on a light bulb and I would finally understand what they had been trying to teach me."

"So you are saying that the problem lies in the fact that some people's minds just never make the connection, or it takes their mind more time to reach the same conclusion I would," Naruto said in a low tone.

"Exactly." Jiraiya patted Naruto on the back. "You have to remember that intelligence like yours is very rare in this world."

"The ability to identify threats, create strategies and draw conclusions quickly is _not normal_ Naruto, it is an advantage," Jiraiya said finally before squeezing his shoulder. "You need to keep that in mind when dealing with other people."

" **The toad fool is only partially correct in this matter. Most human filth are capable of using logic and reason but merely refuse to."** Kurama said with a snort, **"They use only their base instincts and emotions to drive their thought process."**

 **"Some foolish humans even believe that they are superior when embracing instincts over logic. That is why misplaced hatred is allowed to fester."** Kurama said in disgust.

 _'Maybe it is just like Jiraiya said, though, their mind isn't capable of making that connection, so they rely on something else entirely to solve the problem in front of them."_ Naruto studied Jiraiya from the corner of his eye.

 _'You did say people will fear what they don't understand.'_ Naruto recalled, _"If their brains aren't able to comprehend then what else can they do but fall back on their instincts to provide an answer. Otherwise, they would be like those people who simply shut down altogether when overwhelmed.'_

" **Hmph, all the more reason that humans are so pathetic. Trusting and relying on your instincts is a good thing, but if your logical mind is incapable of overriding those instincts when the situation calls for it, then you might as well not have a mind capable of logic in the first place."** Kurama replied.

 _'Just like what happened to me with Makoto and Root.'_ Naruto looked back at what remained of the crowd. _"I understand what you are saying Kurama, but I also understand what shishō is saying as well."_

The final holdouts who wanted to protest were being ushered away by the Taki-nin. Shibuki was speaking with the last of the group, but Naruto didn't bother to listen in. It seemed that there were some who were still refusing to listen.

 _"I need to give people time to draw the right conclusion, but if they don't, then it doesn't really matter, and we can disregard or eliminate them. He is just telling me that I need to have more patience'_ Naruto determined.

 **"You are quite impatient,"** Kurama agreed, **"If not for your cautious nature it would have been a problem."**

Before Naruto could reply, he noticed Shibuki approaching them and decided to end the conversation.

"Jiraiya-sama, I apologize for the situation, but we have been dealing with internal problems, and things are a bit chaotic at the moment," Shibuki said with a bow.

"What seems to be the problem, Shibuki, if I may ask?" Jiraiya said.

"One week ago there began to be massive protests against keeping our Jinchūriki. While people had not been fond of Fū since the beginning, they had not been so obvious in their displeasure if you catch my meaning. Shibuki said before motioning Jiraiya and the group to follow him up the stairs.

"Sure Fū was mistreated, and we did our best to try and stop that mistreatment when we could, but things never got out of hand until last week," Shibuki said with exasperation.

"Suddenly more people began to speak out against the jinchūriki and wanted to expel her from the village saying she was a threat," Shibuki said as he climbed the steps. "I publicly announced that I would never banish Fū from the village and that Fū had not taken any actions against the village to warrant such treatment and left it at that."

"Two days ago a faction of Taki-nin, who disagreed with my proclamation, started an uprising to overthrow me with the promise of exiling Fu from the village, but we were fortunate that they did not have the charisma or the numbers to topple the loyal members of the village." Shibuki frowned "As they became desperate to defeat us they turned to attempting to raid our supply of Hero Water to use against us." Shibuki opened the door to his residence and led the group up the stairway before he continued with his story.

"Fū was able to fight off the upstarts and protect the Hero Water, but one of the upstarts used some kind of ability on her that has rendered her unresponsive. A witness believed that it might have been fūinjutsu, but no one in our village is familiar with that art." Shibuki said before stopping in front of a doorway.

"I know I already gave you permission to access the village, Jiraiya-sama and that training for your apprentice here would be at the discretion of the other jōnin sensei's, but if you can help discover what is wrong with Fū and help her recover, I will be in your debt. Please help her and I will do anything to accommodate you and your apprentice," Shibuki said before opening the door.

Shibuki, Jiraiya, and Naruto were the only ones to enter the room revealing a green haired girl lying on a bed seemingly unconscious.

Naruto studied his fellow jinchūriki wondering why Kurama hadn't established contact with Chōmei yet. Kurama hadn't said anything yet so he must be trying to figure out what was wrong with Chōmei.

The girl's skin tone was a bit darker than his, leading him to believe that she spent most of her time outside. She was wearing a white sleeveless halter top shirt that stopped just below her small bosom. Underneath she wore a kusari shirt that only covered her upper abs. She wore a white apron skirt with kusari shorts underneath. On her arms were white arm warmers that reached from her biceps to her wrists.

"Just so you know, Shibuki, we will have to check her over for seals. Where is her bijū seal located?" Jiraiya asked.

The girl was showing enough skin that there were ample places that search for a seal without stripping her, but if his suspicions were correct, someone applied a seal over her bijū seal directly to incapacitate her for a different reason.

'It has to be this organization who was responsible for this. To think they are already this close to Konoha.' Jiraiya thought with concern. 'I probably took Naruto away just in time but who knows what kind of rumors these people would spread about him while he is out of the village.'

"Fū's seal is located on her right shoulder blade from what I was told. I've never actually seen it, and I was too young on the night where they sealed the Nanabi away to know any more details about what happened." Shibuki said.

Jiraiya moved towards the girl and rolled her over onto her left side to take a closer look at her seal. After channeling chakra into her shoulder blade a five-pronged Fūnyū (Enclosing) seal was revealed and, from what Jiraiya could tell, it had not been tampered with at all. Jiraiya began checking the rest of Fū's body for seals, starting with her exposed abdomen before moving to examine her arms and legs.

Naruto watched on silently trying to reach out with his senses along with Kurama to see if they could get a response from Chōmei or the girl, but they were drawing blanks on what the problem could be.

 _'Kurama, you had to force Shukaku into a shared mindscape. Do you think we could do that with Chōmei? Even if he is hibernating?'_ Naruto asked.

 **"** **It could be possible, but we would have to be in direct contact with the green haired vixen. It will require using my chakra which could draw the attentions of all those other foolish mortal filth in this village."** Kurama replied.

"I don't know what to tell you, Shibuki; there are no signs of any seals on her body, and there has not been anything to indicate that someone tampered with her seal at all. Are you certain it was a fūinjutsu attack?" Jiraiya asked after several minutes.

"I can't say that it was with any certainty the witness only stated that he believed it was fūinjutsu because he claimed to have seen kanji spreading over her skin when the enemy attacked," Shibuki replied.

"Shishō, I may have a potential solution, but it will require using a vast concentration of chakra which could cause the villagers to panic. If I put up my privacy seal, it will prevent the villagers from sensing the output of chakra, but it could be dangerous for anyone remaining in the room." Naruto interjected.

"I understand, Naruto. What do you say Shibuki? Naruto here is a fūinjutsu prodigy trained in the Uzumaki school, but if he says it is dangerous, then we will have to leave him with Fū alone. Will you allow this?" Jiraiya asked in a cautious tone.

"If it is dangerous won't she be harmed as well?" Shibuki asked worriedly.

"I can create a shield for her but if there are any other chakra signatures the jutsu could fail causing an enormous explosion," Naruto said in a serious tone. "I do not have the capability to shield more than two people from the effects."

Shibuki remained quite for some time before he finally nodded in resignation.

"Please save Fū," He muttered before leaving the room.

"Okay kid. It's your show now. I'll be right outside if you need anything." Jiraiya said.

Jiraiya turned and left the room closing the door behind him. Naruto could hear some muddled conversation going on through the door, but he turned his focus back onto Fū.

Unsealing his fūinjutsu kit he opened his inkwell and tested the contents seeing that his last batch of Gyūki ink was still viable. He removed a pre-cut seal tag and began drawing his modified privacy and security seals to contain Kurama's chakra.

Once he completed drawing the seal, and an idea came to him, he channeled some Katon chakra into his hand and held it above the drying seal tag. Taking care not to let the chakra touch the seal he let the heat from the Katon chakra dry the moisture of the ink.

'At least, I don't have to wait on drying ink anymore. I wonder if I could use a small wind from Fūton chakra instead... Nah that might accidentally smudge the seal which would cause problems.' Naruto thought to himself.

Naruto activated the seal and saw the flash of kanji spread throughout the room and creating the barrier.

Naruto stood up and made his way over to Fū before settling himself down at the foot of the bed.

 _'Ready when you are Kurama.'_ Naruto said before placing his hand on Fū's shin.

 **"** **Draw on my chakra first. Then create a shared mindscape, like you did with Shukaku, but do not try to pull them in. Let me handle that part on my own."** Kurama said.

Naruto nodded before drawing on Kurama's chakra and entering his initial phase without any tails. Next, Naruto followed the pull on his mindscape while imagining a separate chamber added onto his own. Naruto then entered the new chamber he created and patiently for Kurama to appear.

 **With Chōmei and Fū**

* * *

Chōmei and Fū had been wandering around a maze trying to find their way out. Chōmei had determined that they were in a different mindscape, but he didn't know who created this mindscape and how they managed to drag them into it.

Chōmei hadn't sensed any other bijū when the uprising started, but one of those rebels had used some kind of seal to send them into this damn maze, and no matter what he tried to do, he couldn't find a way out.

"Chōmei, how long do you think we have been in here? Do you think the Hero Water is safe? What will happen to us if we can't get out? Do you believe that we are dead?" Fū asked rapidly.

" **I don't know Fū. I hope the Hero Water is safe, and we will find our way out of this place somehow we just need time and luck. We wouldn't be trapped in this place if we were dead Fū."** Chōmei answered in a caring tone.

Fū was currently sitting on top of Chōmei's armored shoulder as they made their way through the labyrinth trying to find a way out. Fū trusted that Chōmei would free them from this creepy place, after all, Chōmei had been her first real friend. Chōmei always protected her and made her feel better when the villagers were mean to her.

Fū still loved her home and everyone in it because she wanted to be friends with everyone. Shibuki said she would be able to befriend everyone with enough hard work, and Chōmei agreed with Shibuki, so Fū knew that it had to be the truth. She had promised never to give up until everyone in the village was her friend.

Chōmei paused when he thought he sensed something familiar. It was just a brief flash of chakra so he couldn't identify it completely, but he had felt it. Fū was quietly humming to herself trusting completely in Chōmei to get them out of this creepy place.

Suddenly the walls around them began to shudder and crack causing Fū to cry out in fear and grip onto the large curved spike rising out of his shoulder.

"Chōmei? What is happening?" Fū shouted.

"Calm down, Fū. I think one of my brethren are trying to free us from this place. Don't be afraid." Chōmei replied.

Chōmei flared his chakra into some of the cracks created in the walls and felt the familiar chakra of someone that he never would expect to help.

 _ **'Kurama? What is he doing here and why is he helping to free me?'**_ Chōmei thought.

Chōmei continued to flare his chakra against the walls until he began to sense an open mindscape nearby. Without another thought, Chōmei reached out to that mindscape and pulled Fū along with him.

 **Naruto's Shared Mindscape**

* * *

Naruto was startled when a large armored looking insect with six wings and a thin tail suddenly appeared in the mindscape he created. Looking up, he spotted the small figure of the green haired girl clinging to one of the spikes on the shoulder of the insect.

" **Who are you human and why have you brought us here?"** Chōmei asked in a curious tone.

"My name is Naruto, and I am the jinchūriki for Kurama. I brought you here because your jinchūriki has been unconscious for two days and the village head Shibuki asked for our help in waking her up." Naruto replied.

"Kurama? Chōmei, who is Kurama? Where are we now? Do you know that boy?" Fū asked while she peered down at Naruto.

"Please, do you expect me to buy that story? Kurama would never associate with a human even if they did manage to seal him away. Humans have never been able to seal Kurama, so you have to be lying. What do you really want human? Answer me!" Chōmei said in a threatening voice.

Naruto started to get worried about being with Chōmei alone. Naruto reached out to try and tug on his bond with Kurama, but he did not have a lot of experience manipulating that bond while in a different mindscape.

He considered leaving to find Kurama in his mindscape, but he didn't know what would happen to Fū or Chōmei if he did that and while Chōmei was threatening him, Naruto didn't want to do something that might kill Chōmei and Fū.

Chōmei began to bend down to try and intimidate Naruto even further. He wouldn't really harm the human, but he didn't trust the boy at all. Naruto scrambled back as Chōmei's towering form began to draw closer to him. He didn't sense anything hostile, but he wanted to maintain some distance from Chōmei in case the bijū was able to mask his emotions from him.

"Chōmei, I think you are scaring him," Fū whispered.

Before Chōmei could reply, however, Kurama entered the mindscape after sensing Naruto's fear and let loose a rumbling growl before placing himself between Chōmei and Naruto. Naruto found himself wrapped up in one of Kurama's tails and could only sit in furry darkness wondering what would happen if Kurama and Chōmei started to fight inside the mindscape.

" **Back away from my kit Chōmei or I will shred your container and hunt you down after you reform and slaughter you again."** Kurama threatened.

Chōmei reared back up and made a strange hissing sound at Kurama, who only growled louder in response.

" **So the high and mighty Kurama was finally sealed. Hah, and you always thought you were so much better than the rest of us. I was just curious about the boy who invited us into this mindscape so stop trying to act all tough."** Chōmei said in an amused tone.

" **Hmph. You should be thanking me. Otherwise, your container would have rotted away without you being any wiser. Someone sent you and your jinchūriki into a false mindscape of some sort using some kind of space time jutsu or seal."** Kurama said with a snort before bringing his tail forward and setting Naruto down next to his paw.

Naruto clung to Kurama's paw as he studied the Kabutomushi (Rhino beetle) that seemed to be more interested in him than listening to Kurama.

" **I can't say for certain what they used on us. Fū was caught off guard by the attack. Can you repeat what you saw for them Fū?"** Chōmei asked as he studied Naruto as closely as he could without drawing Kurama's ire.

Chōmei had always fought with Kurama every time they ran across each other. While they would never go far enough to force each other to reform completely, the fights were still serious enough to have come close to that point. Chōmei had supported Kokuō's efforts to open a dialogue with the humans and get them to understand the truth about the bijū but Kurama had fallen into Son Gokū's group and had taken to retaliation against the humans and their villages whenever one of their kind was sealed.

Chōmei had tried to stop Kurama from annihilating a village on more than one occasion only to be severely injured and forced to watch as Kurama laid waste to a village for trying to seal him. Chōmei couldn't remember how long ago that was, but it was the last time he saw Kurama before he was captured and sealed away by Hashirama. After that, Chōmei was merely transferred from one host to another and never heard much news outside of the village even though he had established friendly relationships with his containers.

So to Chōmei, seeing a human that Kurama had actually been willing to fight for was something noteworthy. If Kurama changed his mind about humanity in general, then he could easily sway Saiken and possibly Isobu into helping the humans.

Fū had been frightened by the snarling growl that Kurama had released when he appeared suddenly and had hidden away behind Chōmei's head. Fū peeked out timidly and looked over at Kurama, who was now sitting with a bored expression on his face.

After a few minutes, Fū began to relay the story of her fight against the group who tried to take the Hero Water and everything she remembered before the attacks. By the time she completed her story Fū was back to her usual cheery self and her attention was drawn to the boy who was currently leaning against the giant foxes paw with a grave expression on his face.

There was a kid just like her who had a bijū inside of him, a really scary one, and she had to wonder if he had a lot of friends or if his village cared for him. Did he have a family? Would he want to be friends with her?

Fū was getting anxious to jump down and speak to the boy so they could play and be friends, but the big fox was scary and sounded mean. The boy didn't seem to be scared of him, but he seemed scared of Chōmei, which was just silly because Chōmei was friendly.

Naruto was listening to Kurama and Chōmei discuss what happened, the possible ways that someone could try to trap Chōmei and Fū in a false mindscape, and for what purpose they would choose that method to subdue a jinchūriki.

Naruto was confident it was fūinjutsu because of what the witness had relayed to them, but he had no idea how someone could mimic the effects of a bijū created space without using a bijū to do so. Chōmei was certain that there were no other bijū or jinchūriki in range of his senses. No matter how much Naruto tried to find a different result, all of his theories brought him back to the same conclusion.

A bijū created the mindscape prison that was accessible with a specific seal. This bijū then gave the seal to a human to trap a jinchūriki and it's bijū inside this prison.

Naruto internally sighed as his mind kept returning to a theory that didn't make sense. All of the bijū hated to be imprisoned because it was detrimental to the natural cycle of chakra so why would they want to imprison one of their own?

What reason would they have to incapacitate Fū in such a sophisticated manner if they were simply after the Hero Water? He had to be missing something important because what he came up with just didn't seem to add up in his mind.


	50. Year 1: Taki and Fū

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edit 4/23/16

 **Chapter 49**

 **Year 1: Taki and Fū**

 **Naruto's Shared Mindscape**

* * *

Naruto was leaning up against Kurama's paw with his stoic expression on his face as he puzzled over Fū's trepidation and fear towards him.

Kurama had already returned to his default relaxed position of lying on the ground with his paws crossed ready to support his head, but was currently outlining the plan to Chōmei and answering the Kabutomushi's questions on how the plan would work and the jutsu that would be used.

So, Naruto eliminated Kurama as the possible cause of her emotions, which only left him as the cause. There should be no reason for her to be afraid of him, if he were a threat, Chōmei would obviously rise to her defense. He hadn't taken any hostile action or had any negative thoughts about her, so if she had some sensing capability like he did those shouldn't be triggering any alarms.

Naruto shot open an eye and glanced over in Fū's direction from the corner of his eye. Fū was staring at him intensely from her place on the ground next to Chōmei and was fidgeting nervously. Naruto had to admit her gaze was unsettling to him, it was almost the same as Makoto's was, but this girl didn't even know him so it couldn't be for the same reasons that Makoto had.

Naruto just closed his eye and tried to tune out his senses while he listened to Chōmei and Kurama talk. It seemed that Chōmei had been quite surprised by Kurama's plan and had his reservations about it like Gyūki. After some reassurance from Kurama, Chōmei lent his support to the project and agreed to provide them with some Hero Water when they left the village.

"...but Chōmei all of the stored Hero Water from the past 300 years is only a liter, there is no way they won't notice some missing," Fū spoke up when she heard Chōmei promise Kurama the Hero Water.

 **"Don't worry about that Fū,"** Chōmei said reassuringly, **" Kurama does not require all of it, only a glass full and** **Shibuki will not notice that much missing if we draw a small amount every day,"**

"Okay, Chōmei. If you think that we should do it, then I'll help. How long are you going to remain here in the village?" Fū asked before turning her gaze back to Naruto.

"Shishō said that we would be here for two months at most before we leave, so there is plenty of time if you need to come up with some way to cover your tracks," Naruto replied.

Fū seemed to tear up a little when she hear Naruto's response and Naruto looked at her with confusion written all over his face.

"I only just met someone like me." Fū said with a pout. "and you are just going to leave so soon? It's not fair! I wanted to be friends!" Fū wailed.

Naruto didn't know how to respond to Fū at the moment. Friends? He barely met the girl how would she even know if they were compatible enough to be friends in the first place? If they did become friends why would it matter if he would leave in two months time?

'This girl is really strange... she is obviously older than me by a few years, at least, but she acts so much younger.' Naruto thought to himself.

" **Fū, don't cry. I'm sure you can prove to Naruto that you can be his friend before he leaves."** Chōmei said in a placating tone.

Kurama snorted in amusement. That girl was far too childish and hyper for his kit to take seriously. He might establish a cordial relationship with the girl but in the end, the girl would likely just annoy him constantly.

Naruto sighed as Fū burst into tears and clung to Chōmei. Why did women crying bother him so damn much? Still, it wouldn't hurt to be at least polite with the girl and give her a chance. She had dealt with the same bullshit he had to in his village.

"Look, Fū. I don't make friends easily. Too many people hated me in my village, and I learned that trying to make friends with people that hated me only caused me pain and trouble so I stopped trying to _make_ friends." Naruto said sternly, "Now the only friends that I have, are people who actively decided to be my friends on their own. That is how I know if they are real friends or not.

When Fū started to tear up more, Naruto sighed. "If you want to try and be my friend, then I won't push you away, but don't expect me to trust you or become your friend right away."

"What about someone who wants to be your friend but is too shy? If you never try to approach them, you could be missing a person who could be your friend." Fū replied with a pout.

"An individual who is too shy to be my friend isn't someone that I would want for a friend. If they can not overcome their fear of rejection then they are not really trying to be my friend because they care about me, they only want to be my friend for selfish reasons." Naruto crossed his arms before he continued, "That is why you always hear about shy people wanting to be friends with the most confident people. In reality, they just want to become more confident themselves not because they actually care for that confident person.

Fū looked like she was going to interrupt, but Naruto continued speaking before she could say anything. "While I can admit it may be possible that a shy person could become a real friend, it is also just as likely that the shy person will gain confidence then abandon their friend once they have obtained what they truly wanted. That is why I won't bother with those types of people. A person that actually cares about who you are will have no problems approaching you _because_ they care." Naruto said with conviction.

Fū remained quiet as she thought over what Naruto had said to her. It was completely unlike what Shibuki and Chōmei had told her. In some ways, what Naruto had said was true but in other ways, Chōmei and Shibuki had been true also.

When other kids had rejected her and called her demon even though she was friendly and kind to them, it had really hurt her, but on the other hand, some people who had not been friends with her before were friendly to her now because she had tried.

She just thought that if she continued to be friendly to everyone, then everyone would eventually become friends with her. Now she wondered what he meant about real friends. Naruto said that his real friends had approached him without him even trying. She had never had anyone approach her to be friends besides Chōmei and Shibuki. Did that mean that the friends she had now were not real friends at all?

" **Fū, don't look so down, there is nothing wrong with going out and making friends at all. Sometimes you can find a real friend by searching them out. You just have to keep trying so that they know you are genuine."** Chōmei said in a comforting tone.

Chōmei was a little irritated that Naruto would say such things to Fū. The hope of gaining friends was the one thing she clung to that stopped her from giving into the hatred and anger surrounding her. The problem was that people saw her as a 16-year-old girl, but mentally Fū was more like a 10-year-old. Her behavior was normal for a 10-year-old, but no one ever looked past her appearance to truly understand her.

Naruto picked up on that flare of anger and decided to elaborate, "I'm not saying any of the friends she has now are genuine or not. All I am saying is that _my_ true friends were the ones that approached me," Naruto said quickly, "I don't know enough about you to say if your friends are real or not."

"I do know that real friends will remain faithful even if you only know them for a short time, and they leave for a long time. I know that even after four years when I return to my village my friends will still be my friends." Naruto let a small smile slip as he thought of Team 7, Shikamaru, and Choji before he let his stoic mask fall back into place, "If that is what you want with me then don't approach me because you just want to increase the number of people you can call "friend." Approach me because you actually want to be a friend who cares about me as a person. That is how I treat my friends, and that is how my true friends treat me." Naruto replied.

Kurama couldn't stop the smirk from crossing his face at Naruto putting Chōmei and Fū in their places. All this foolish nonsense of collecting friends was an idiotic dream. Anyone could claim to have thousands of friends, but how many of those thousands would suffer so you could know peace? How many of those thousands would lay their life down for yours?

While it displeased Kurama that Naruto would be willing to die for his friends, he couldn't fault the kit for his loyalty. It was part of his pure soul and was the reason he was so noble and honest, for the most part. If he had never been sealed inside of Naruto, Kurama was sure that Naruto would never have lied once in his life.

Chōmei was taken aback by what Naruto had said. He had never thought that Fū would not be genuine in making friends, but he realized now that some people could see her as merely collecting friends instead of actually trying to establish true lasting relationships with people. Perhaps his approach to solving the problem of the village hating Fū had been the wrong one.

" **Perhaps I was wrong about you then, Naruto. I had though that Kurama's grouchy nature had naturally inclined you to push others away,"** Kurama let out a huff, but Chōmei ignored him, **"but it seems you have simply adopted a more mature approach to your situation."**

Naruto was about to thank Chōmei for the compliment, but the kabutomushi wasn't finished speaking yet.

 **"While disregarding the emotions of others can also be seen as a selfish way of protecting yourself from hatred, at least it does not give the illusion of being false with your feelings. I believe I will grant you a gift of my chakra after all."** Chōmei said.

Chōmei extended his tail out towards Naruto, who gently grasped the tail and patiently waited for the chakra transfer. When Chōmei's chakra entered his body, it felt thicker than even Matatabi's, and his pathways and tenketsu stretched painfully causing him to suck in a breath before grimacing and exhaling slowly.

Naruto thanked Chōmei once he recovered before looking over at Kurama with a questioning look on his face. While he had learned that he couldn't rely on his senses all the time, he still had to admit they were highly valuable and with Fū's personality Naruto thought it was important for her to receive Kurama's gift.

Kurama knew what Naruto was thinking and was reluctant but after a short stare off Kurama huffed before speaking up.

" **I will offer my chakra as a gift to Fū as well if you believe she is ready to handle the reality that humanity is corrupt and full of greed,"** Kurama said grudgingly.

Fū looked up at Chōmei with curious eyes. "What does he mean Chōmei? Is he going to give me a present?

Chōmei looked down at his innocent jinchūriki and thought over the repercussions of negative emotion sensing on Fū's psyche. It might help her grow up but it would shatter her innocence, or she might be incapable of dealing with it and lose her mind completely. After a few moments, he decided that it would be safer for Fū to accept the gift from Kurama so that she could avoid the people trying to harm her.

" **Go ahead and touch Kurama's paw for your present Fū, but don't be afraid if it hurts, okay?"** Chōmei said tenderly.

Fū frowned when Chōmei mentioned the gift hurting, but she trusted Chōmei, so she stepped forward and hesitantly placed her hand on Kurama's paw. When Kurama's chakra engulfed her, she began screaming at the pain from the rapid expansion of her tenketsu and the fiery nature of Kurama's chakra being fanned by his second affinity.

Fū, unused to that amount of pain, fell unconscious while Kurama's chakra circulated through her system and entered her chakra core.

 **"Hmph. It was probably better for her this way."** Kurama said shortly.

Naruto grimaced, he remembered how much Matatabi's chakra burned when he first accepted her chakra. He was certain that Kurama's was worse since it was Fūton and Katon aligned.

 **Chōmei, you will most likely need to take control of her senses now and slowly introduce the different negative emotions to her until she is capable of understanding them and filtering them out on her own. Do you recognize all the ones you are sensing now?"** Kurama said in a bored tone.

" **Yes. I recognize most of them but perhaps you should explain them all to me so I can be confident that I understand them all."** Chōmei said.

 **"Very well, what you can sense are anger, hatred, lust, greed, deception, manipulation, and fear,** Kurama lectured with a yawn, **"You can also sense emotions that branch from those. Feelings of jealousy are a branch of lust and greed, envy is a branch of anger and greed, lies are a branch from deception and manipulation."**

"It is also better to limit the range on your senses until you get used to them and stretch them out slowly in my opinion." Naruto added, "It was not fun when I got a dose of the large area of emotions, but I was also younger at the time, and I can't say which one of us has a worse reputation in their village."

" **I thank you for your input, "** Chōmei said with a flutter of his wings, **"As for my gift to you, I have granted you the ability to create chakra threads that can block most chakra absorption techniques. This ability will also help you with any shape manipulation jutsu that you use."**

"Thank you, again. Do you think you guys will be able to find your way back to your own mindscape? I know time is much slower in here, but I am sure Shibuki and my shishō might start to get worried, given the situation." Naruto said.

" **I think we should be okay now that you two have broken us out of that strange mindscape, "** Chōmei replied, **"I don't know how long it will take for Fū to wake up after being lost for that many days and the influx of Kurama's chakra.**

Chōmei scooped up Fū with his tail, **"We will return now and hopefully you can help train with Fū while you are here. I think it would be good for her to associate with another jinchūriki who is used to what she had gone through."**

"Well. I am confident that I will see you guys around while I remain here. I am always willing to spar or train with someone new for more experience." Naruto said sincerely.

He was hesitant to spend a lot of time with the boisterous girl but he did make a promise to Hinata and maybe her personality would be tempered once Chōmei began introducing her to negative emotion sensing. He knew how confusing that was to him, so he was willing to help her out in that respect.

Chōmei faded out of the mindscape along with Fū and after a few lazy swishes of his tails, Kurama told Naruto to return to reality and let Jiraiya and Shibuki know that they had been successful before he left the shared mindscape as well.

 **Village Head Residence – Taki**

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes and looked around before setting his gaze on Fū. There didn't appear to be any significant change in her condition, but she was breathing more regularly now, and when Naruto took a quick peek into his mindscape he saw Kurama had already begun to nap like usual, so Naruto took that as a sign that all was well.

Naruto felt tired considering the circumstances, but he couldn't tell how long he had been drawing on Kurama's chakra and when he had stopped. Judging from how his body felt at the moment it couldn't have been much longer than a half hour.

Naruto stood up and stretched before he deactivated his modified privacy seal and picked up the tag before putting it into smaller shoulder pocket of his bag. He would reuse the seal for their room at the inn or wherever they would stay for the duration of his time in Taki.

Naruto made his way to the door and swung it open slowly, revealing Shibuki who looked anxious and Jiraiya who was busy scrawling in his notebook with a small grin on his face. Naruto had a feeling that whatever Jiraiya was writing about would make him uncomfortable, so he merely cleared his throat to get their attention.

"I have managed to locate and remove the seal that was hidden deep inside of her mind so she will recover, but I don't know how long it will take for her to wake up. The attackers essentially forced her mind into a space created by a fūinjutsu seal, and she was wandering around lost for some time." Naruto informed them.

Jiraiya had a look of suspicion on his face as he translated the hidden message Naruto had relayed to him. Jiraiya reminded himself to teach Naruto a standardized code to write and speak in tonight so that they wouldn't have any possible confusion when communicating.

Shibuki didn't seem to relax with the news at all. He moved past Naruto into the room to check on Fū once more before turning back to Naruto.

"Should we try to wake her? Will that help her find the way back?" Shibuki asked.

"You can try if you want, but I honestly don't think it will work," Naruto said with a shake of his head, "Until she makes her way back into her own mindscape she won't wake up.

"It shouldn't take her too long to find her way back," Naruto added when he noticed Shibuki start fretting even more.

"Then we can only wait for now, but forgive me for not thanking you properly. I have just been so concerned since this event happened. Fū is such an innocent and cheerful young woman; it would be a shame if she were harmed." Shibuki said as he brushed Fū's hair out of her face with a fond look in his eye.

"Well, there might be some changes in her personality because of the effects a seal like that could have on her mind. It won't be anything dramatic, but you should not be surprised if she becomes more cautious after what she has been through." Naruto said with a glance at Jiraiya.

Shibuki frowned at the news before replying. "I suppose it can't be helped. Fū was just a genin because of her mentality. She had never gone on any serious missions besides delivering parcels to nearby villages. While she trains hard, like everyone else, she had not experienced any real combat until that day."

" **Good. The mortals will not suspect us when she begins reacting to the negative emotions. Instead, they will view it as first kill syndrome."** Kurama added.

"Still, I thank you for helping her," Shibuki said with a smile, "Besides allowing you to remain in the village for two months time, I will allow you access to all of our various training grounds and grant you copies of two different Suiton jutsu that are known only in Taki."

"That is quite generous of you Shibuki, Thank you very much," Jiraiya said.

"Please, it is the least we could do for helping out Fū," Shibuki said with a strained smile. It was obvious he was still worried for the green haired container. "Now, allow me to show you around the village and provide a brief lesson for your apprentice here."

"I would appreciate any lesson that you gave me Shibuki-sama," Naruto replied with a slight bow.

Shibuki smiled at Naruto's response and led them out of Fū's room. After murmuring a few commands to the Taki-nin standing guard, he led Jiraiya and Naruto out of the residence and into the village center. Naruto summoned Gamakichi as part of his promise and let the toad camp out on his shoulder while Shibuki gave them a tour of the village.

Shibuki told Naruto about the history of Taki and a few of the local legends, most of them revolving around the giant tree in the center of the lake.

Shibuki recited the tale of the giant tree being the first plant placed on the newly created world by the Kami, and that the tree produced the Hero Water to spread chakra throughout the world. Since no one was there to collect the Hero Water, the water spread throughout the lakes, rivers, and waterfalls and throughout the Elemental Nations imbuing chakra into all the plants and animals that drank from the waters of the world.

Shibuki said that while most people disregarded the legend as a simple story, they still had not been able to determine just how the tree produced the Hero Water. The village leaders were reluctant to run tests on the water because the tree only produced a small supply every 100 years, and that the people who have been documented to use the Hero Water all died as soon as the effects wear off.

A person that does drink the Hero Water is reported to have their stamina and chakra levels increase tenfold but after a few hours the effect wears off, and the person who used the water dies a few hours later from a combination of chakra poisoning and chakra exhaustion.

After showing them the pavilion inside of the giant tree where the Hero Water appears from, Shibuki led Naruto and Jiraiya around to other famous locations throughout the village. As they explored the village, the Taki leader told the duo more about the history of the landmarks and some other, lesser known, facts before he was called away to deal with some village business.

After bidding farewell to Shibuki, Jiraiya and Naruto decided to visit a restaurant and get some lunch before checking into an extended stay inn and unpacking some of their gear. Jiraiya then reviewed some common terms used by his contacts when referring to sensitive information and created some specific terms to discuss the Kyūbi in a more covert manner.

Next, Jiraiya gave him a cipher to use when writing messages. Unlike the fūinjutsu cipher Jiraiya first taught to Naruto, this was a lot more complex and didn't rely on an external source for the key. This way they could quickly and discreetly leave messages for each other that were relatively secure.

After establishing a schedule for training in Taki for the next two months and targets for how much Naruto would want to complete before leaving, Jiraiya left to gather some information about the attackers while leaving Naruto alone to practice working on the cipher he had given him.

Naruto and Gamakichi hung out in the room together for a few hours as Naruto practiced writing different phrases to each other before trying to crack them. While this was happening, a few clones were diligently working on his tagless barrier seal and a jutsu absorption seal.

It only took a few hours to play around with the cipher until Naruto felt confident he had it mostly memorized, so he made his way out into the village and tracked down a ramen stand for dinner. After Gamakichi had dispelled to return home, Naruto ended his first day in Taki by heading to bed early, eager to start his Suiton training bright and early.

 **One month later – Carp Training Ground – Taki**

* * *

Naruto knelt in the center of a small pond with his hand on top of the water while he focused on converting his chakra, laced throughout the small pond, into Suiton chakra. As his regular chakra turned into Suiton chakra, he began converting it into pure water slowly.

The water level of the pond began to rise as the Suiton chakra began manifesting as it's pure element, and Naruto began to attempt the next step of his chakra control exercise. To rotate the water around him while leaving the very center, that he was standing, on completely still.

Naruto had been struggling with the level 2 Suiton control exercise for the past month even with the Kage Bunshin. His progress had been hindered mostly due to the lack of available training space, more than a failure on his part to achieve growth. Since most of the genin and chūnin level shinobi needed the still ponds of water to practice their own jutsu, Naruto did not want to impose by hogging them all with an army of clones.

He had attempted to try this exercise on larger bodies of water or pools beneath the waterfalls, but both presented challenges that were beyond his current level of Suiton control.

The large pools of water made it too difficult for Naruto to concentrate his chakra in a focused area, even when he tried to make up for the increase in water volume with an increase of clones. Since Suiton chakra naturally wanted to infuse itself with all of the water, his chakra would spread in an unorganized matter making it impossible for him to perform the exercise. Kurama had likened his attempts to dropping some ink into a bath tub. The ink will naturally extend and spread until it mixes with the entire body of water.

The moving water presented a different problem. Naruto had found some of the lesser waterfalls that dotted the area but even a much smaller pool proved difficult to control the movement. While he could use the natural flow to start moving the water in the direction he wanted as a shortcut, the problem lied in making the portion of the pond he was standing on remain still. It proved more of a challenge to try and keep the center of the pool completely still while spinning the outer portion of the pool since the constant flow of the waterfall forced him to readjust constantly.

Now, Naruto truly understood why Sasuke and Hinata would get so pissed at him when he used his Kage Bunshin to spam a chakra control exercises, and why it took most people years to master level 2 elemental manipulation.

Currently, he only had six other clones working on the training along with him in different locations. He had found ten suitable sites, but four of the clones dispelled as soon as a team appeared to make use of the training grounds.

He had caused quite the stir the first time he sent his clones out scouting for ideal training locations but after the first two weeks, the Taki-nin became familiar to seeing copies of Naruto running around.

Naruto had considered using a Henge for his clones at first, but Jiraiya warned against it, saying it could create more trouble if the Taki-nin kept seeing various strangers running around the village.

Naruto felt the water in the pond begin swirling clockwise while he tried to keep the central part of the pond from moving along with him, but despite his efforts the center started spinning along with the rest of the water forcing Naruto to stop the spin and restart the exercise all over again.

Naruto walked over to the edge and plopped down onto his back in frustration before closing his eyes. He knew he was missing something, but he couldn't figure out how to stop just one part of the water from moving entirely.

A shadow falling over him caused Naruto to pop and eye open, revealing Fū with a huge smile on her face.

'Crap' Naruto thought.

Naruto didn't hate Fū in any way, in fact, he found her unflappable cheeriness to be refreshing, sometimes. When he wanted to focus on something, however, Fū was the ultimate distraction, and he could never concentrate for long when she drilled him with her rapid questions or began singing loudly.

So, when Naruto wanted to focus on something, in particular, he would leave early in the morning and find a secluded training field to practice. Jiraiya, being the caring shishō that he is, would immediately send Fū out to where ever he had hidden away.

Naruto had complained about it the first few times, but Jiraiya waived his complaints off and called it distraction training. He couldn't dispute the fact that he needed to practice tuning out distractions when it came to battle, but most people would typically learn in a quiet environment before dealing with distractions once they have mastered the ability.

"Naruto are you done training? I was looking all over for you, but I only found your copies! Are you still trying to spin the water? Can you turn the water faster now? Is it fun to spin the water fast?" Fū asked rapidly.

"I'm not done quite yet Fū. I am still trying to complete this chakra exercise, but I just can't seem to stop the center from spinning once I get started." Naruto replied before closing his eye and waiting for the next series of questions.

Naruto and Kurama had been quite surprised at how fast Fū had adapted to negative emotion sensing. Chōmei was still mostly in control, but Fū was able to recognize the different emotions Chōmei allowed for her to sense right away.

It seemed that she just didn't care how they felt at all. She would still approach someone who she could sense hatred from and would try to befriend them anyways. She would be down for a little while after being rejected, but would perk right up once distracted with something else or if someone else came along for her to try and befriend.

Fū hummed in thought for a moment before she spoke. "When I spin too much in one direction I usually get dizzy unless I spin in the other direction first. Do you think it works the same for water?

Naruto thought over Fū's question for a moment trying to find a way to respond when suddenly he snapped both of his eyes open and grinned. It suddenly all made sense to him now.

"You know Fū. I think it might just work the same for water. Thank you. You just gave me an idea." Naruto replied before he jumped up and made his way back out to the water. Naruto relayed the new information to his active clones before he started.

Fū merely frowned. She had been hoping to spend more time with Naruto instead of watching him spin water. It was so boring to sit there and spin water. Didn't he want to do something that was more fun? Naruto was a lot of fun to play with when he did agree to play with her, but it was always hard to convince him.

When she could convince the boring blond to play ninja tag or hide and seek, he didn't seem so boring anymore. He always used plenty of clones to hide with, and it was always fun trying to find which rock, stick, bird, or cat he used to disguise himself.

At first, she had been so much better at tag then he was, but she still had fun avoiding his attempts to make her it. Lately, she had actually had to chase him for a while before she could tag him as it, and while he was still slower than she was, he was able to keep up with her more and had would always come up with clever traps to slow her down so he could tag her.

'I should have known that I can't keep water still, water has to flow continuously, or it stagnates or evaporates. The same is true for Suiton chakra. That means I have to spin the center in the opposite direction at a much slower rate.' Naruto thought to himself before he began imbuing the water in the pond with his chakra.

He made a lot more progress in succeeding this time, but he still had trouble maintaining the rotations of the entire pond at a consistent speed. Once the rotation began to build momentum he would start losing control, but he got the gist of it now, he just needed time to master the exercise.

Naruto stopped his chakra flow and looked up at Fū as she pouted at the edge of the pond. Naruto sighed to himself before he made his way over towards her. She did help him figure it out, so the least he could do is "play" with her for the rest of the day.

Naruto had only agreed to play games with her that could assist with his training in some form. It also helped Fū develop her skills, so it was a win-win situation in his book. She seemed to enjoy it as well, so he didn't feel as guilty for essentially manipulating her to only play games he deemed useful.

Naruto had wanted to train with her seriously, but it was impossible to do. She would get so excited about spending time with him as a friend or playing that he could never get a word in edgewise. So the first suggestion Naruto made was to play ninja tag, only to be surprised at just how fast Fū really was.

Fū had been able to manifest partial transformations already, and with Chōmei's wings, her speed was as fast as Rock Lee without some of his weights. Needless to say, once Fū found Naruto he would lose quite quickly.

So, Naruto started to play Ninja tag with Fū for a few hours every day. He would hone his senses while walking on his patrol route, trying to catch sight of her hiding spot and avoiding any traps she had set. Once he discovered Fū, he would have to evade and dodge her attacks to try and avoid being tagged.

When she finally did catch him, it was his turn to play the ninja and practice setting up hidden traps and hiding away. Naruto was not nearly fast enough to catch Fū, so he had to rely on ambush tactics if he hoped to tag her.

While Naruto would never admit it to anyone, he would start getting into the game and enjoying himself. It reminded him of the days when he would play with Shikamaru, Choji, and some of the village kids who didn't know or care about Naruto.

Naruto had not played like this for almost three years. Most shinobi students in the Academy would stop playing entirely after their third year and focus mainly on training in order to graduate. After graduation, there was no time for a genin to play because they needed to train and complete missions to prepare them for the future.

Fū perked up when Naruto approached her and leaped up onto her feet before dancing excitedly.

"Are we going to play more Ninja tag now Naruto? Please? I can't wait to try some of my new traps on you! You'll never catch me this time!" Fū said gleefully.

"If you want to Fū, then I'll play, but you can choose a different game this time if you want," Naruto said with a soft smile on his face.

Fū's eyes sparkled with excitement when she heard Naruto say she could pick any game. She had wanted to play lots of different games, but Naruto only seemed interested in Ninja tag, and she loved ninja tag, so she was satisfied. Now she could introduce him to some other games and maybe he would like to play them even more.

The rest of the day Naruto followed along after Fū on all sorts of meaningless, but enjoyable escapades. They raced each other through the branches of the great tree for about an hour before Fū grew bored of winning and decided she wanted to explore some of the lesser-known caves for hidden treasure.

Besides a few rusty ninja tools and oddly shaped river rocks, their search was mostly fruitless, but Naruto had to admit that he had found it interesting to delve through the caves and see the different types of rocks and minerals formations that had formed.

After their adventures in spelunking, she led Naruto to the outer edge of the village and showed him how to build rafts out of branches. It was a process very similar to basket weaving from what Naruto observed, and while the skill was quaint and unnecessary when one could use chakra to keep themselves afloat, it didn't hurt him to try his hand at it. People still used bamboo weave for furniture and other novelty items to this day.

Next came the challenge to remain balanced on logs floating in a slow moving river without chakra. Since this had a more practical application in honing one's balance and reaction time, Naruto took this challenge a bit more seriously. It had proven to be far more challenging than he imagined and when the logs began to pick up speed as they neared one of the numerous falls around the village, it had been exhilarating to try and make their way back to shore between the different logs before they were carried over.

Once they had rested and had lunch at one of the few restaurants that served Fū without discrimination, she dragged Naruto back to the great tree and introduced him to a Taki style rope swing. The thick knotted rope hung from a huge branch that had to be at least 80 feet in the air. Needless to say, it took Naruto quite some time and a healthy dose of teasing and encouragement from Fū for Naruto to muster the courage to make the jump, but in the end, the rush alone was worth it. The jinchFūriki pair spent the next few hours trading off turns on the swing until they decided to see which one of them could be flung into the deep end of the lake the furthest.

Fū ended the day by teaching Naruto how to skip river rocks across the lake and how to catch fireflies in a jar after sunset. Naruto found the scene to be serene and enchanting as the tranquil lake reflected the night sky and the flickering lights of the beetles sparkled around him. It felt like he had been immersed in a sea of stars.

Kurama had woken up during one of these games earlier in the day and was curious about his actions. Once Naruto explained what he was doing, Kurama had simply huffed in contempt before returning to his nap and telling Naruto to wake him if he decided to do something remarkable.

When Naruto returned to the inn that night, he was surprised to find himself quite exhausted. Apparently goofing off could be quite exerting after all. Usually, he would be annoyed with the fact that he had lost a day of training, but as he ate his dinner and discussed the day with Jiraiya, he couldn't consider the day to be wasteful.

He couldn't remember the last time he had simply spent the day doing nonsensical things while being completely relaxed, and he couldn't deny that it was hard for him to remove the small smile on his face when he thought about everything he had experienced today.

Naruto decided that he wouldn't mind doing things like this in the future and that, in the end, it wouldn't set him back too much if he took a few days like this for himself, once in awhile.

Jiraiya couldn't help the smile on his face as he watched Naruto settle down for the night and for the first time looking like a young teen instead of a young shinobi. It was sad how fast shinobi children had to grow up in this world, and Jiraiya couldn't help but wonder if that was part of the cause of there being so much violence in the world.

Jiraiya had seen most of the world, even having taken a few trips to the other continent for short periods of time, and the children in villages that had no shinobi were still in school worrying about dating and toys at the same age that shinobi children were graduating into espionage and assassination.

It had been quite the eye opener to Jiraiya to see some nations still have their kids studying in school until the age of majority, where shinobi children would be already approaching Jōnin level in experience in that same amount of time.

Jiraiya had been happy to see some of Fū's cheeriness starting to bulldoze its way through Naruto's stoic walls, but he had never seen Naruto unwind completely like he did today. It had been interesting and amusing to watch Fū drag Naruto all over the village, playing like any other child.

Jiraiya's smile faltered when he remembered that his godson not only had the burden of the Kyūbi and being a jinchūriki on his shoulders, but he was also a chūnin who would likely be neck deep in Fourth Shinobi war. What little innocence Naruto had would be long gone before most people in the world considered him an adult.

Jiraiya was, at least, grateful to let Naruto experience being carefree, no matter how brief, and hoped that Naruto would learn to unwind and enjoy himself more often.

 **Mid Morning - Two months later – Entrance to Takigakure**

* * *

Naruto patted the sobbing Fū on the back as he gave her a final hug before departing for the rest of his training trip. Shibuki, Fū and a handful of Taki genin were there to see Naruto and Jiraiya off. Naruto had been comforting Fū with encouraging words, but Fū was proving to be inconsolable.

Naruto had taken a day off every week to simply play with Fū and eventually more of Fū's true friends began to join in on their relaxation days. As the group started to grow closer, Jiraiya had extended their time in Taki for an extra month but even though he would like Naruto to stay longer, his contacts in Tanigakure (Village Hidden in Valleys) were expecting him to arrive soon. They needed to head to Kawa no Kuni (Land of Rivers) soon.

Naruto had made good progress even with taking a day off each week. He had mastered the level 2 Suiton manipulation exercise, mastered Mizu Tatsumaki (Tornado of water) and Suiton: Suishōha (Water Shockwave), and had started to make progress on the Nidaime's first Suiton chakra exercise. During his mindscape training, he managed to complete his work on applying all his current combat focused seals even faster and more efficiently than before. He was also able to create a barrier with a single tag instead of needing multiple tags and completed the jutsu absorption seal which was capable of absorbing up to C rank jutsu right now. Naruto still needed to adjust and tweak the containment and spatial lines to increase the absorption power which shouldn't take too long.

Fū had become more adept at sensing and identifying negative emotions. She was now able to maintain control on her own for short distances. Her cheeriness still proved to be unflappable, but she was able to act more reserved around people who thought negatively of her which seemed to help reduce their animosity towards her.

Fū had also managed to successfully give two tubes of Hero Water, instead of the one that they had planned, without drawing any attention. Naruto had sealed that away in a safe place. The extra tube of Hero Water would ensure that Naruto could make an extra well of specialized ink needed for the seal he would have to create for the plan. Gyūki's ink would not be compatible with the seal he needed to create, and regular run of the mill wouldn't do.

Now he would need to gather some very specific herbs, flowers, and pearls to use in the creation of the ink. Fortunately, most of the ingredients for the ink were also necessary for creating the specific incense he would need to make to calm and subdue the ones that would be trapped inside the barrier and guarding the seal against outside influences.

Naruto managed to calm Fū down enough with the promise of sending her messages as often as he could so she would stop clinging to him and openly sobbing. Fū just sniffled sadly while Naruto said his farewells to the rest of their play group. Naruto and Jiraiya thanked Shibuki for his hospitality before they turned away from the large waterfalls surrounding the village and began making their way to their next destination.

Jiraiya backtracked a little towards Konoha so that they could both use the tree paths to Kawa no Kuni to increase their travel time. After moving at speed through the tree tops for the rest of the day and into the early evening, Jiraiya came to a halt in a suitable clearing to set up camp and moved to gather some firewood and start their campfire.

Naruto was tasked to see if he could track down any game for dinner and was able to find a small boar as well as some wild onions, which was more than suitable for both of them. Jiraiya cleaned the haunches and onions before spearing them with a spit to cook immediately. Then he unsealed a special metal folding rack and set it up over the fire. Naruto and Jiraiya cut up the rest of the boar into small steaks or strips and set them over the fire to smoke along with the haunches.

As dinner was cooking, Jiraiya decided to broach the subject of Kyūbi's Yin chakra to Naruto to test the waters. While Minato had been adamant about Jiraiya giving him all of the Kyūbi's chakra right away, Jiraiya was still hesitant to give the demon more power if it had been already influencing his godson to some degree.

"Naruto I have some very strange and possibly disturbing news to tell you, so please just hear me out before you respond okay?" Jiraiya said.

"Of course, shishō. What seems to be the problem?" Naruto asked curiously.

"During the invasion, Orochimaru used a kinjutsu that sacrifices people or corpses to temporarily resurrect someone from the dead. These constructs have the soul of the resurrected person but are subject to the control of the individual who resurrected them with the use of control tags." Jiraiya said with a grimace.

Naruto simply nodded, he briefly remembered seeing that jutsu on the Scroll of Sealing that Mizuki had tried to frame him with. He also suspected that Jiraiya would bring up Kurama's other chakra now.

"Now, I don't have all the details, but he was able to resurrect your father to face me in battle." Jiraiya studied Naruto, expecting some sort of response but Naruto just patiently waited for him to finish.

"As you probably know, your father sealed the Yin half of the Kyūbi into himself before he was taken into the belly of the Shinigami to be devoured instead of reaching the pure land. Somehow he was able to resist Orochimaru's commands, and he made some comments to me that I want to talk to you about." Jiraiya said in a serious tone.

Naruto and Kurama both didn't like the sound of Jiraiya's voice when he said that. Was it possible his father had been able to see all their plans from the Shinigami stomach?

Kurama's thoughts were racing on the probability that such a thing was possible. He knew that the bastard Yondaime had some presence and could watch their interactions to some extent, but he wasn't certain of how much the man had heard, or if he had been capable of viewing the events in the shared mindscape he created in Nami no Kuni when the plan was revealed. Kurama was quickly trying to formulate a valid response to the Toad Sage if their plans had been revealed. It was too soon for any part of the plan to be revealed to others. Naruto was not strong enough to survive on his own with a village hunting him and now that he was bound to the Toads, they would always be able to track or recall him anyways.

Naruto managed to keep the nervousness he felt off his face completely due to the practice he had in maintaining his stoic facade.

"What kind of comments, shishō?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Naruto. Tell me, what do you think about humanity in general?" Jiraiya asked before adding, "I want you to be completely honest with me. I promise you that you can speak freely with me without any worries because I want you to be able to trust me. Trust that I won't reveal things to the Sandaime or Tsunade if you don't want me to." Jiraiya said sincerely.

Naruto pondered Jiraiya's question for a few moments as he thought about how he actually felt, and if he could trust Jiraiya with his innermost thoughts. He already knew what Kurama's response would be. He wanted to be honest with Jiraiya but at the same time, he didn't want to violate Kurama's trust in him.

" **It is best to keep our thoughts separate when regarding such things. I know you do not agree with me entirely on humanity, but we have spent much time combining our very thoughts. Now you are having difficulty separating your own views from mine.** **If you honestly feel you must open up to the fool, then do so.** Kurama said encouragingly. **"I think you are strong enough to deal with such things without confiding in him,"** Kurama added sincerely **, "As long as you do not reveal the plan to him, I will not consider it a violation of our trust.** **Be wary, though, the fool is quite capable of picking up the subtleties in a person's speech,"** Kurama added as a final warning.

Kurama knew that causing conflict between the two now would only cause problems for both of them down the line. Kurama was confident that Naruto would trust him over all the others, but he couldn't begrudge the kit's inner desires for a family without creating a rift between them. He had to remind himself that Naruto still had the spirit of a human, even if every other aspect of Naruto was entirely different from a human.

"Well, shishō, I can't say much about my experiences with humanity in general. People in the village just hated me because of what other people said. I also can't dispute just how much negativity I can _feel_ in people on a regular basis," Naruto said with a frown, "I know my senses tend to skew my perspective of everyone, but I do think the Kyūbi is right about most people being inherently corrupt. I can't ever relax my senses completely within the village, or I would be overcome by the amount of negativity that exists in Konoha." Naruto said honestly.

"I know there are still some people who are not such greedy bastards out there, but when I can feel these types of emotions, it doesn't tend to give me a lot of faith in people. Then there was the fact that Makoto was able to hide such feelings from me. That made me believe that things are actually worse." Naruto said with a sigh. "I mean, if she had managed to find a way to conceal or twist those emotions so that I couldn't pick them up that can only mean that other people have managed to do the same."

Jiraiya managed to maintain his interested expression but in a small way, Minato's fears were confirmed to him. Without the Kyūbi even speaking to Naruto, his emotion sensing was something that Naruto used to separate himself from humanity. While most people would only be put off by someone's actions or words, Naruto could be put off a person because they were angry or annoyed at something, even if they were actually a good person.

Negative emotions were also generally stronger than positive emotions, so they also weighed more heavily on his mind. While love itself was intense, a lot of the emotion of love was tied in with lust which most people view as a negative emotion. Peace was a subtle feeling when compared to anger or hatred. Happiness was only strong when tied directly to someone or something, which could be easily misconstrued as greed or possessiveness.

"While I may not have the ability to sense emotions like you do, I have become quite good at reading emotions from the way people behave. It is something that I will also share with you, so it will reduce the chance that someone might fool you, but I think I can catch your drift," Jiraiya said with a sigh, "I happen to agree with you to some extent. There is just too much hatred in this world and that hatred is the cause of everyone's suffering especially because hate is so much stronger than every other emotion besides love." Jiraiya said sincerely.

"I believe that hatred leads to all the other things like greed and envy. Hatred is so consuming for a person that it tends to leave you bitter and unhappy. People consumed by hatred will seek out ways to try cure that darkness in their hearts by tending to lash out at others. These actions, in turn, lead to more violence and hatred because more people begin to act the same way and the hatred spreads." Jiraiya said.

"Now, I'll be the first to admit that I am an unabashed pervert. But, in a small way, I think that if everyone was more free with their love, then people would have less hatred in their hearts and could come to understand each other better." Jiraiya looked up at the sky as he gathered his thoughts. "Everyone tends to categorize or focus their love to a degree that they act like love can only be for specific things or people. If everyone gave their love to other people freely then I think hatred couldn't take root and spread in the way that it does."

Jiraiya looked back towards Naruto before clarifying, "Not to say that love requires everyone to give into lust or womanize as most people believe. Honestly, I think everyone should focus more on the beauty around them and enjoy what they love so that they don't succumb to the hate in this world. My personal focus just happens to be the beauty of the female form and all the pleasures of being with a woman," Jiraiya said with a lecherous grin, "I won't complain if every woman wants to show me their love in a more physical way."

Naruto couldn't stop himself from shaking his head and chuckling slightly at Jiraiya's comment.

"Only you could make a profound conversation turn perverted shishō. I understand what you are saying, though. There was a time where I had hope that there were more people like me in the world. I don't mean as a jinchūriki either," Naruto clarified, "I mean as a person who would rather turn away from the hate. I would like nothing more than to be able to reach out with my senses and feel nothing in a manner of speaking."

"I think we all would like that kid. You just need to keep in mind that lesson you learned from that Makoto girl. Don't let your senses cloud your logic and realize that just because you can sense negative emotions from someone, doesn't automatically mean they are a bad person. Sometimes you lie to protect someone who is innocent, at times anger and hatred are justified. When you let those things govern you, that is when it becomes a problem." Jiraiya said calmly.

"Before I resealed your father, to return him to his rest, he sealed away the Yin half of the Kyūbi's chakra into a storage seal that I have with me." Jiraiya said as he studied Naruto's reaction, "Tomorrow we will push on towards an isolated place that I would like to show you before I let you absorb the other half of the Kyūbi's chakra."

Naruto had been rotating the pork haunches over the fire to make sure they cooked evenly before he paused and looked towards Jiraiya.

"We might have to take it slow and let your chakra system balance itself out before you can absorb it completely," Jiraiya warned.

"I know the Kyūbi is looking forward to it. I am just uncertain about what will happen when I do absorb the rest of that chakra, or if I need to do something particular to make sure that I am absorbing it properly." Naruto replied.

"Don't worry about it. I will explain it to you once we begin the process, and you can take as much time as you need so that we can be certain there will be no problems for you." Jiraiya replied.

The rest of the evening Jiraiya explained the subtle facial and body movements that gave away emotions that a person was feeling, with a lot more emphasis on women and positive emotions in particular that made Naruto blush with the thought as Jiraiya had begun to get quite descriptive about the signs of arousal in a woman.

After eating their pork haunches and wild onions, they checked on the extra pieces that were smoking over the fire and sealed some away for tomorrow. Jiraiya then decided he would take first watch and catch up on some writing while Naruto prepared himself for bed.


	51. Year 1: Yin and River

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edit 4/23/16

 **Chapter 50**

 **Year 1: Yin and River**

 **Next Day – Hi no Kuni**

* * *

Early the next morning Jiraiya and Naruto scrubbed all the remaining traces of their camp after eating a quick breakfast of some smoked pork and scrambled eggs. While they weren't actually being pursued by anyone, it was just good practice to cover their tracks efficiently regardless.

Jiraiya led Naruto through the forest for half of the day before the trees began to thin out. It took Naruto a few minutes to realize that they had entered the outskirts of a ruined city. Jiraiya remained strangely silent as he led Naruto threw the ivy and vine covered remnants of an outer wall and into the heart of the ruins.

The sight caused Naruto's breath to catch when he took in the size and scope of the ruined city, and his imagination began to fill in the pieces for him. While most of the buildings had been leveled down to their very foundations, there were still some of the stone buildings standing. The design and structure of these buildings were of a type that Naruto had not ever seen before. Most of the buildings appeared to be circular and built with interlocking stones of various sizes ranging from the size of a fist to dwarfing a two story house. Almost all of the buildings were decorated or supported with rows of pillars and all of the stones were covered with weathered carvings that were indecipherable for the most part. Naruto could make out some leaf, tree, and animal motifs in the sculptures that had survived time and weather and could only imagine how elaborate the buildings must have appeared in their prime.

There were large and small canals running throughout the city, some were dry with plant life growing through the interlocking bricks, and others still contained slow moving water and various aquatic flora and fauna. Naruto wasn't certain if the water was safe to drink, but they could always purify it by boiling it first if necessary.

As they neared the center of the town, the ruined buildings became more elaborate with larger stones and pillars that were scattered or leaning against one another precariously. From the foundations that remained and the semi-intact buildings, Naruto could tell that the ruins had, at one point, been much taller than most of the buildings in Konoha. Possibly as tall as the Hokage monument itself. Naruto had to wonder at how some of the massive stone blocks were moved and stacked by the people who created this city.

Jiraiya led Naruto through the ruins to a large amphitheater type area that was sunken into the ground and ringed with large stone blocks that appeared to act as natural seating. Everything was overgrown with vines, tree roots, and grass that had pushed its way through the small cracks and began breaking down the large stones naturally.

Naruto followed Jiraiya down one of the more intact stone steps that lead down to the center of the amphitheater. He found it odd that Jiraiya had been completely quiet since they entered the ruins. Jiraiya came to a halt in the very center of the floor of the amphitheater before he spoke.

"No one really knows just how old these ruins are exactly, but there have been records about this place since long before the founding of Konoha itself. The earliest records that historians attribute to this city are over 400 years old. Some historians go so far as to believe this is the legendary city of Makimuku." Jiraiya said in a reverent tone, "Have you heard of it?"

"The Academy only briefly touched on the subject but not much about the legends themselves," Naruto replied.

Jiraiya shook his head and mumbled to himself before he continued with his lecture.

"The legends state that this city was founded by a group of tribes that desired to gather together all the tribes of humanity by using peace and understanding as a foundation to forge a better life for all." Jiraiya said in a wistful tone, "In order to accomplish this goal they needed to create a place for all to gather safely. Thus, the village of Makimuku was formed."

"As time passed this place became the center of spiritual and creative growth for humanity. More tribes continued to join, and the collective knowledge of humanity was shared amongst all. The tribes then applied this combined knowledge to make this city a grand and welcoming place to encourage all the other tribes to join." Jiraiya faced back towards Naruto before he continued with his tale, "People were in awe at the magnificent carved buildings of stone, manicured gardens, abundant fields of crops that grew practically year round, and even the working sewage system that kept the city clean without damaging the environment." Jiraiya added.

"Now, I'm sure that you are starting to wonder why I brought you to this place and for what reason I am telling you about all this, right?" Jiraiya said with a grin.

"Actually, I was very interested in what you had to say about this place. Now that you mention it, however, the thought has crossed my mind." Naruto replied.

"Good," Jiraiya said cheerfully, but his face suddenly became serious. "I brought you here to show you what good intentions built and what they destroyed."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that statement but remained quiet so that Jiraiya would elaborate.

"While all the legends have different explanations for how this city fell, they all agree on one thing. This place was destroyed in less than a day because of good intentions." Jiraiya paused for dramatic effect, "This is the city where the idea of creating a jinchūriki was born."

Naruto had been scanning some of the ruins when Jiraiya had mentioned that the city was destroyed in a day. It seemed almost unreal that something like that could happen to a place as grand and large as this. As soon as Jiraiya mentioned jinchūriki, however, his gaze snapped back to Jiraiya.

 _'This sounds like the place you mentioned to me in Nami no Kuni.'_ Naruto thought.

" **Yes. I am curious to see what the humans believe to be the truth, so pay attention."** Kurama replied.

"While the legends all vary on why they sought to create a jinchūriki, they all agree that the allied tribes decided to create the jinchūriki for protection or defense and that it was the Yonbi that killed every man, woman, and child in the village," Jiraiya said grimly.

Jiraiya began to pace as he elaborated further.

"Some legends say they were simply testing the concept and failed, causing the Yonbi to rampage the city. Some claim that they gave the idea to another tribe who had been attacked by the Yonbi, only for that tribe to unleash the jinchūriki on the city in an act of betrayal. Other legends claim that they sealed the Yonbi to defend against a massive invasion force, only for the bijū to break free and kill everyone indiscriminately." Jiraiya said before turning to face Naruto directly.

"I brought you here so that you can see what can happen if you don't fully consider the consequences of your actions." Jiraiya made a sweeping gesture at the ruins, "Everyone in this city died because the leaders did not consider what harm could come from their intent to protect everyone. The leaders failed to question their course of action thoroughly, and this was the result."

"The Sandaime told me once that Hashirama cited this place as his inspiration for Konoha's founding. He would often argue with Tobirama and Madara about basing the formation of a village on legends and stories." Jiraiya said.

"Hashirama told the Sandaime that he often came here to meditate after those arguments because he would start to have doubts about his goal. Was he going to inevitably cause some disaster down the line because he sought the very same path? Was it worth uniting all of the clans in peace if their rivals would ally to destroy them all?" Jiraiya said as he looked down into Naruto's eyes.

"That is the lesson I want you to take from this place. To always question what you are doing, and why," Jiraiya said seriously. "Hashirama had Tobirama, and Madara to bounce his ideas off of and provide him with two different perspectives. Views that he knew he wouldn't agree with, but he still sought them anyways. That was what made Hashirama a great leader."

Kurama snorted at Jiraiya's praising of Hashirama but kept his comments to himself. Naruto already knew what Kurama thought of Hashirama and it usually resulted in a string of curses or an angry rant that could rival one of his Uchiha rants.

Jiraiya then pointed towards Naruto and tapped his chest lightly. "You need to be willing to reach out to others so they can provide you a different outlook on things instead of keeping everything to yourself. The more perspectives you have, the better it is in the long run. You won't be able to see disaster coming unless you have several points of view."

"The people who built this city all shared the same view of things. If they had discussed things with a rival tribe, they might have been dissuaded from such actions or found a different solution to their problems. If they did, then who knows how things might have turned out? We all might have been born here in buildings of stone speaking an entirely different language." Jiraiya said before he patted Naruto on the shoulder and moved off to prepare the sealed roof tile.

" **Hmph. I find it interesting that the legends all claim it was for noble purposes."** Kurama said with a snort, **"Typical human lies. It is quite fitting that this place was destroyed because of their meddling."**

 _'What if they are partially right, though?_ _I know that most legends are not entirely accurate, but there is usually some basis of truth in them."_ Naruto said.

 _"What if Son Gokū was not entirely correct on what occurred back then? Would he have been able to see and hear everything when he was contained inside the first jinchūriki? Would he have been unbiased when he told you that story?'_ Naruto asked.

" **I will admit it might be possible that Son Gokū's account might be biased, but that does not change the effects of their actions. The cause does not matter when the effect is the same."** Kurama said patiently.

 _'I understand. It's not like I don't believe you about it, but there might be cause to study every aspect of our plan. Just to be sure we aren't missing something or making things worse, right?'_ Naruto replied.

 **"There is no question about that kit. Until we get the jutsu in our hands, and the seal is created we will have to re-evaluate everything continually as we proceed. As we gain more knowledge on the jutsu and the seal, more options will be revealed, and we might be able to find a safer way to solve the problem. In the end, however, there is no question that our results will be better for all."** Kurama replied.

" **I would not risk the destruction of our world over petty vengeance against foolish mortals."** Kurama huffed **"That is the kind of things humans would do."**

 _'I have to admit that his words did make me rethink things a little. I want to be certain I am not doing something potentially dangerous to anyone else. I am more than willing to accept the repercussions, but I don't want you or anyone else to suffer because of it.'_ Naruto murmured.

Jiraiya smiled to himself as he eyed Naruto with a blank look on his face. It seemed his words had enough of an effect that Naruto might start questioning the Kyūbi more.

Whenever Jiraiya visited these ruins, he couldn't help but reflect on everything he had been doing in his life. He would often swing by these ruins when he had received strange or confusing intelligence to sort it out and rethink his theories on their meanings.

Looking at Naruto, however, caused him to contemplate the reasons behind creating a jinchūriki in the first place. Something that had merely been viewed as an unfortunate necessity to him in the past. He guessed the saying about the truth hitting close to home was true in this case.

Anyone could tell, just by looking at these ruins, that this tribe had been highly advanced. Most people had to wonder just how much was actually lost when this village was destroyed. So much knowledge and technology just gone in a flash. To create such buildings and maintain a city this vast without impacting the environment had to be from using jutsu. To even be capable of containing a bijū without the use of fūinjutsu was mind boggling, even if it was ultimately a failure.

Jiraiya couldn't see how it had been worth losing it all just to seal the Yonbi away, regardless of the reasoning behind it. He couldn't help but wonder if the world would have been better off if those ancient people left well enough alone.

Jiraiya looked over the roof tile he had unsealed while he waited for Naruto to collect his thoughts or finish his debate with the Kyūbi.

'I hope you are right about this Minato.' Jiraiya thought.

It wasn't long before Naruto walked over and studied the roof tile along with Jiraiya. Naruto couldn't help but be in awe at the seal he was studying. It was truly amazing the kinds of things a fūinjutsu master could accomplish.

Naruto could sense that Kurama was grumbling about him being contained in a petty little clay tile and couldn't help but smile to himself.

"You ready for this kid?" Jiraiya asked.

"Whenever you are, shishō. What exactly do I need to do?" Naruto asked. "This is entirely different than any chakra seal I have seen."

"The process is not too complicated, but it will be slow. You will have to be careful on how you direct the chakra. I will have to open your seal up a bit though so take your shirt off." Jiraiya said before he began to explain the process in detail.

" **You need not worry about directing the chakra, I will take care of it on my own,"** Kurama interjected.

"I understand, shishō," Naruto replied before removing his shirt.

Jiraiya pulled up his gi sleeve to reveal the key. He began opening up Naruto's seal slowly until he reached the same point that he had opened the seal up in Myōbokuzan. Jiraiya then stepped back and prepared a chakra suppression seal in case Naruto lost control of the Kyūbi.

"Go ahead and start when you are ready, if I see you starting to lose control, I'll slap you with this suppression seal to buy your tenant time to settle things down before continuing," Jiraiya said.

Naruto nodded and removed his arm wraps, just in case. Once he received the word from Kurama to begin, he placed his hand on the seal and channeled his chakra into the tile to release the chakra. For a few seconds, the chakra began to rush out of the tile wildly before Kurama began to draw it into himself.

Naruto was surprised that there was not much strain on his chakra system. He could feel the searing hot chakra as it traveled through his body and into the seal directly. It wasn't painful, fortunately, so Naruto just remained still and waited for the transfer process to complete.

Inside the seal, Kurama was grinning as his Yin chakra was rapidly flowing into him and he was finally returning to his right size. His kit was going to be in for quite a shock once he had all of his chakra returned to him.

Kurama studied Naruto's chakra system carefully as he continued to draw on his chakra. He was pleased to see that no problems were occurring at all. His reinforcement of Naruto's body with the perfectly balanced chakra must have strengthened him enough to support the influx of a significant amount of Yin chakra.

Kurama wouldn't let his guard down just yet; the real problems would begin once the seal begins converting and filtering his chakra back into Naruto's system once the Toad fool closed the seal back up.

Naruto, in the meanwhile, was starting to get bored. It seemed like this chakra was endless and he wanted to explore the ruins some more. It kind of surprised him just how easily he got bored now that Fū wasn't around to distract him. He would need to be careful about maintaining his focus and patience even more now. Naruto determined that he would have to start meditating more to try temper that feeling as it would not do to start becoming restless too easily.

The seal was finally empty after 20 minutes, and Naruto didn't seem to have any adverse reactions from absorbing that much chakra. Once Jiraiya closed the seal back up, he had Naruto run through some basic chakra control and a few low powered jutsu with no ill effects observed.

Jiraiya theorized that the seal would automatically convert the chakra into a balanced ratio and that the greater risk would have appeared when the chakra entered his system at the start. So, by his estimates, it should be all smooth sailing from now on. Now it all depended on the actual ratio of Yin to Yang chakra existed in Naruto and how much needed to be converted to maintain balance.

When they sat down for lunch, a side effect of the influx of Yin chakra revealed itself as Naruto began devouring all the smoked pork they had caught the previous night. Even after eating half of the pork and three ration bars he still felt ravenous.

Kurama suspected that his body was naturally trying to generate more Yang chakra by increasing his appetite so his body could balance the massive influx of Yin chakra that had just entered his system.

Jiraiya could only shake his head as he watched Naruto burn through three days worth of food for lunch. It was a good thing that Naruto had brought a hefty amount of ryō with him. If his appetite didn't calm down, he might have to make Naruto pay for his own food until they reached the next major village where he could pull out more funds. He didn't want to stop to hunt more often because people were waiting for him. They were already a month behind because of Taki, but Jiraiya still considered that time well spent.

Jiraiya let Naruto explore the ruins for the rest of the day only eliciting a promise not to enter any of the structures no matter how intact they seemed. Once Naruto set off Jiraiya began composing and sending off various messages to his contacts via toad summons to give them an update on his schedule. Finally, he finished up another chapter of Icha Icha before the sun began setting.

Jiraiya stoked the fire they had created in the amphitheater and was preparing to find Naruto when he showed up with three rabbits and a couple of quail already cleaned for dinner. Naruto polished off two of the rabbits and one of the quail with two cups of ramen as a side before settling down to rest.

Jiraiya felt secure enough to summon a few toads to keep watch for them with promises of some sake before he settled down for the night in his sleeping bag.

 **Inside Naruto's Mindscape**

* * *

Naruto's jaw dropped as soon as he saw Kurama.

Kurama was now almost twice as big as he was before, and his fur went from a reddish orange color to a shade between orange and light orange that made Naruto smile.

Kurama was in his typical resting position with his head on his paws, but he had an eye open to watch Naruto's reaction with a broad grin on his face displaying his amusement.

" **Come to bask in the aura of my magnificence?"** Kurama said in a teasing tone.

Naruto smirked, "Of course! What could be more magnificent than a giant _orange_ fox? Perhaps an even bigger fox that is, _even more, orange._ "I don't think you can complain about my clothes anymore," Naruto crossed his arms and leveled a playfully serious gaze at Kurama, "If you can go around wearing nothing but orange then I should be able to also."

" **Hmph. Don't be foolish. Only those with real power can pull this look off properly. For now, you will just have to settle with that fact."** Kurama said with a haughty swish of his tails, **"Now. Create the clones you plan on using to train and come over here. We have much to discuss now that I am whole."**

Naruto created a group of clones to continue working on different seals before he settled down on his usual spot on Kurama's much larger paw to listen.

 **2 Days Later – Tanigakure**

* * *

Jiraiya and Naruto strolled up the path leading to the small village situated in a small valley between two mountain ranges. Unlike the solid high walls of Konoha, Tanigakure had more rustic log walls created from the trunks of trees that were sharpened at their points.

Small draw bridges and watch towers also constructed of wood allowed the patrols to move along the walls, but it was impossible for anyone to attack the village from the north or west because of the steep solid stone mountainside that served as a natural defense.

Before they had reached the village proper, Jiraiya had told Naruto to conceal his hitai-ate as these villages were likely to have enemy spies from Suna and Iwa present.

While Jiraiya was highly recognizable by friend and foe alike, using a henge would be pointless since most guards had, at least, one decent sensor on gate duty. If they weren't actively wearing the Konoha hitai-ate, it would give the impression that they were off duty and merely on vacation or visiting friends and relatives. It was the main reason why Jiraiya only wore his sannin hitai-ate instead of the Konoha one. It showed other villages that he was not acting on behalf of Konoha at this moment.

After making their way through security and presenting their traveling papers, Jiraiya led Naruto to his favorite Inn and booked a room for them. Once they checked into their room and Naruto had applied his security and privacy seals, Jiraiya began to teach Naruto one of his own jutsu creations the Tōton Jutsu (Transparent Escape).

Naruto frowned when Jiraiya told him what jutsu he was going to learn first.

"You aren't going to make me peek on women are you shishō?" Naruto asked with a frown.

"That's not the main reason I created this jutsu brat," Jiraiya bopped Naruto on the head, "Though it has proven to be quite useful for that as well."

"Instead, you are going to use it to spy on some of the Tani shinobis while they train and see if you can pick up some of their jutsu from observation alone without getting caught. Tani is an ally of Konoha so it shouldn't cause too much trouble if you screw up, and they catch you, but the point is for you not to get caught." Jiraiya emphasized.

"I want you to make several clones and begin practicing until you master the jutsu. We aren't going to receive any help from anyone in this village like we did in Taki, so it's going to be entirely up to you to discover one of Tani's specific jutsu on your own." Jiraiya ordered.

Naruto nodded and created ten Kage Bunshin assigning eight of them to begin practicing the Tōton Jutsu and trying to master it. The remaining clones he set to work on a sleeping seal and the crippling seal he had seen on Gaara.

"I'll be back in a few hours. I know it's going to be boring, but I need you to stay in the room until I return okay?" Jiraiya said.

"I won't leave, shishō. I'll just continue working on my seals if I finish the jutsu before you return," Naruto said as he tried to use the Tōton Jutsu but was unsuccessful.

"It shouldn't take much longer than two hours like I said, if you get hungry during that time then go ahead and order some room service, but try not to clean out the kitchen will ya?" Jiraiya said with a smirk.

Naruto scowled at Jiraiya. "I can't help the fact that my body believes I need a much larger Yang reserve now. All I can do is eat and work out more."

Jiraiya just shook his head and waved before leaving the room to meet his contacts.

By the time Jiraiya had returned, Naruto had gotten much better at the Tōton Jutsu, but his transparency was not very consistent. He still needed to work on maintaining an even layer of chakra around his entire body to ensure that the transparency was consistent. Jiraiya believed he had it down enough to begin his pseudo mission, and told Naruto that it would help him to master the jutsu by keeping it active while moving and evading people.

Jiraiya told Naruto to maintain the jutsu and follow him to one of the inns that had a hot spring and was close to the training grounds that he was familiar with. Jiraiya then sent Naruto off to try and learn a jutsu by watching some of the genin who were training while he got some important research done.

Naruto moved between the three different training grounds observing a few different teams as they trained. The only impressive jutsu that he saw a chūnin trying was the Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist) considering it was a Kiri specific jutsu, not Tani specific. None the less, Naruto took note of the hand seals as the chūnin tried to make the technique work.

Naruto was also interested in figuring out this technique to help him with the Nidaime's first chakra exercise since he was having difficulty dispersing the Suiton chakra into mist from a body of water. Naruto believed that understanding the mechanics of this jutsu would help him learn how to break the water down completely until it was in its molecular components. Once he had that part figured out it would be easy to reverse the process and create water from the humidity or even base molecules in the air.

The second jutsu that caught his interest was what the instructor told his genin was called Suiton: Suiben (Water Whip). Since the Jōnin instructor was teaching the genin for the first time, Naruto was able to pick up all the details he needed regarding the jutsu. While the instructor didn't confirm that it was a Tani exclusive jutsu, Naruto was confident that Jiraiya would accept this for his pseudo mission if he didn't spot anything else of interest during their stay in this village.

Naruto was drawn out of his observations when Jiraiya appeared behind him looking roughed up but with a huge grin on his face.

"Not too bad there, Naruto, took me a minute to spot you once I locked onto your chakra signature. Find anything of interest to copy and learn?" Jiraiya asked.

"I did learn about Suiton: Suiben (Water Whip), but I can't be certain that it would fit the requirements for the mission you gave me. The other jutsu I was interested in was Kirigakure no Jutsu. I saw a chūnin attempting to practice the jutsu and managed to memorize the hand seals, but the mechanics I will have to figure out on my own." Naruto said while he continued to watch the genin team trying to use the water whips jutsu.

"Well. We still have a few more weeks here for you to copy some jutsu down, but you won't be able to practice anything until we hit the road again. We will have a long journey to the next village after this so you will have some time then to practice what you see." Jiraiya said.

"Let's head on back to town for now and find some place to eat. As we eat, I will give you some tips on gathering intelligence from the locals using observation and listening skills." Jiraiya said before he turned and began making his way into the village center.

Naruto followed after Jiraiya until he took Naruto to a small restaurant that most of the village seemed to buy their food to go instead of sitting down to eat. Jiraiya and Naruto went up to the counter to look at the menu posted on the wall before placing their orders.

Naruto got two large sukiyaki bowls with a side of macaroni salad and smoked trout while Jiraiya just settled for a teriyaki chicken bowl and a fruit salad. They sat at a corner table far for the entrance and discussed how to listen and observe people as they relaxed or drank. Jiraiya pointed out that the best sources of learning what was going on around you were often bars, restaurants, and even hot springs as people would talk about their troubles or worries with friends.

Jiraiya explained how it had been especially true of groups of women. While any kunoichi worth her weight in salt wouldn't think of spilling important mission details or secrets, they would still sit and talk with their friends about everything else in their lives as they socialized together.

Groups of housewives from the village were very loose with their tongues but required a lot of filtering through rumors and conjecture. Still, if you listen to enough groups of civilian women, you could discover both the popular and dissenting opinions about anything important.

"The best place to gather info from any men is likely in a bar while they drink, other then that men tend to hang out in very specific places like a friends house or a particular restaurant." Jiraiya lectured between bites, "Women will have discussions practically anywhere but are most likely to stay longer at the hot springs, or small cafes while shopping."

"Now, most women in bars are going to be on the defensive since women have to be concerned about drunks who might cross the line. So, they will be wary of someone who is drinking a lot, or is a stranger to their local place." Jiraiya said with a wave of his chopsticks, "A woman who is highly at ease in a bar is either with a group of friends, a significant other, a kunoichi who likes her drink, a single woman looking for some fun, or a spy."

Jiraiya ate another piece of chicken before continuing, "Most spies will spend an inordinate amount of time in each bar while they gather intelligence and may use tactics to ply interesting targets with laced drinks." Jiraiya pointed his chopsticks at Naruto for emphasis, "Never take a drink from someone's hand, even if you see them open and pour from the bottle directly. Avoid ordering mixed drinks from the bartender, and if you can, only order a full bottle of what you would like instead of any house sake or ale."

"How would you identify male spies easily then? It seems that a kunoichi is more limited in their options, if what you say is true." Naruto asked.

"Not particularly, Naruto." Jiraiya said with a shake of his head, "Most villages prefer to send out kunoichi to gather intelligence because male ninjas are more likely to drink heavily and womanize. This fact gives a kunoichi the perfect opportunity to seduce them and gain information with no one being any wiser."

Jiraiya saw Naruto had stopped eating for the moment and was paying close attention so he couldn't resist teasing him a little.

"Even your lovely little hime had learned the art of seducing and pleasing a man in all sorts of lurid ways," Jiraiya said with a waggle of his eyebrows complimented by his perverted grin.

Naruto blushed and looked away from Jiraiya. "Shishō! Don't say such things!"

"It's true Naruto. All kunoichi are required to learn such things. Don't worry about it. When the time comes, I'll make sure you can show your pretty little hime a thing or two when you return to the village. We can't have her passing you up in those kinds of skill, can we?" Jiraiya said with a chuckle.

Naruto groaned and hit his head against the table. This subject was going to be so very awkward. He didn't want to discuss those kinds of things with Jiraiya. Naruto loudly exhaled when he realized there would be no one else to teach him such things so he would just have to deal with the embarrassment and hope Jiraiya didn't make a fool out of him.

"Now. Where were we again?" Jiraiya thought back to his lesson for a minute, "Ah, yes. We were discussing picking out spies in a bar. Any male sitting in a bar nursing drinks attracts almost as much attention as a female nursing drinks, but the man draws more of the wrong kind of attention if you happen to be a spy."

"Any vigilant spymaster would be keeping an eye on single men. If they are nursing drinks, they are likely troubled, and a troubled man is an easily groomed man. They are either targeted by spies, or an easy target for spies so that means they will have double the eyes on them." Jiraiya said.

"Anyone new in town in guaranteed to be watched to some extent. It is one of the reasons I like to find myself a woman to hang out with when I travel on my own." Jiraiya said seriously, "It brings less suspicion on me if I sit at a bar with a woman on my arm while drinking because everyone will believe my focus is on that woman only."

"So, in general, people who are constantly alone are the most suspicious in terms of watching for spies or gathering intelligence," Naruto stated.

"Correct. The next most common group of people to suspect of spying would be a traveling couple. A shinobi couple being the most suspicious followed by traveling merchants and regular civilians. While your special abilities might prevent you from getting these types of missions, it is common for Jōnin to pretend to be a couple and gather information for a client or the village itself and most of the time the cover is as a regular civilian couple with minor chakra suppression seals applied to fool any sensors." Jiraiya stated.

"What about us, shishō? Wouldn't they want to scrutinize us more thoroughly?" Naruto asked after he finished his second bowl.

"That is just a given when it comes to us, my boy. Whether they believe you are my illegitimate son or apprentice, a lot of attention is going to be drawn to you just because you are with me. Some of our enemies might likely suspect who your parents are." Jiraiya replied calmly.

"I understand, shishō. That is why you have me focusing on more subtlety skills now." Naruto said.

Jiraiya nodded. "This is the safest place for you to hone those kinds of skills without facing severe repercussions. That is why it is imperative that you master everything I teach you here before we leave so don't split your focus too much. We will catch up on any missed training as we travel. Don't expect to move quickly from now on unless we are making our way through Hi no Kuni." Jiraiya said firmly. "We will travel at normal speeds or use transportation when available like regular people."

"Yes, shishō," Naruto replied.

After finishing their lunch, Jiraiya let Naruto loose for a few hours to shop and explore the village with an order to meet up at the most popular bar at sunset. Jiraiya left in a swirl of leaves before telling Naruto which bar he meant, so Naruto assumed it was part of his training to gather intelligence and find the right bar.

" **We can always track the fool using his scent."** Kurama offered.

 _'I won't rule that out as a possibility, but I wouldn't be surprised if he manages to mask his scent in a way to make it harder for us.'_ Naruto replied as they browsed through the various vendor stalls set up.

" **So, we must listen to these foolish mortals as they babble about their worthless and mundane lives. Perhaps I will return to my slumber instead."** Kurama said in a bored tone.

 _'Hey I'm not to keen on the idea either, but you never know what we might see or learn.'_ Naruto replied with an inward smirk.

" **I doubt there is anything of significance in this place as I have not caught any scents that would peak my interest. Except for the mortal filth who thinks to follow you around town."** Kurama said off hand.

 _'I had not noticed who is following me, but I did keep catching the same scent repeatedly. Are you talking about the man who smells of herbs and coffee?'_ Naruto replied as he browsed a stall that was selling scarves.

" **That is the one that I have scented, but I am not certain what the fool who stalks us looks like."** Kurama snarled.

Out of the corner of his eye, he was taking notice of the people around him and identified three suspicious people based on what Jiraiya described over lunch. Naruto then moved on down the street some distance before stopping at a vendor who was selling various wood carvings and items.

As Naruto studied some of the boxes and small carvings he kept an eye out for the three suspicious people he had tagged and observed one man who was wearing a moderate blue kimono with black hakama.

Naruto turned his attention back to the wares he was studying and examined a box that piqued his interest. His fūinjutsu kit was starting to get full from all his scratch notebooks and practice sheets. The box was simple but large enough to fit all his notebooks and free up enough space in his fūinjutsu kit. The box itself was very simply decorated with a series of overlapping hexagons and diamonds burned into the lid.

While the merchant wrapped up his purchase and placed it in a bag, Naruto pondered what he should do about the person following him. He obviously didn't know how skilled the person was or what the man wanted from him, but interrogating the man could cause problems if he was just a part of the regular Tani forces required to observe foreigners.

Naruto decided he would simply try to lose the man before he began to gather information about the most popular bars in the village to track down Jiraiya before sunset. Naruto looked up into the sky and saw that he had four hours, at least, to finish what he needed to. After taking the bag from the merchant and paying for the box, Naruto set his plan into motion.

He walked down the road and saw a small alleyway that would suit his purposes. Strolling casually into the nearest alley to provide himself with some cover, Naruto waited until he was completely around the corner before quickly ducking into a small alcove to form a to form a diversionary clone. Naruto henged himself into a cat and waited in the darkened corner while he studied the layout of the alley so he could find a way up onto the roofs.

The clone continued its casual stroll down the alley and made a right on the next street with instructions to keep walking around the village until it ran out of chakra.

Meanwhile, Naruto began making his way up to the rooftop by leaping from a window sill to a balcony. Naruto made his way across the balcony towards an overhang to jump onto another balcony on the other side of the alley. As he made his way up to the rooftops, Naruto spotted the man he suspected of following him enter the alley and started walking briskly before pausing at the end and looking both ways before making a right.

Naruto leaped over to the balcony before climbing onto another window sill to reach the small stairway that led up to the roof. Once on the roof, Naruto watched the man follow his clone out of sight. After taking a quick look around to take note of any suspicious people, he decided to keep his Henge for now and make his way back towards the restaurants to gather information.

Fortunately, the buildings in the center of the village were all really close together, so it was easy for Naruto to keep to the rooftops and blend in as an ordinary cat. His cover was kept intact by a large amount of strays who also roamed the rooftops, several of which took an interest in him as he made his way around the village. Naruto did his best to avoid them or scare them off with a hiss to avoid drawing attention to himself.

Naruto saw one restaurant that was particularly crowded with a small line and decided this would be the best spot for him to gather info.

Naruto made his way over to the restaurant and found a sunny perch to feign sleep on next door to the restaurant. Once he settled himself down, he extended his hearing and began listening to all the different conversations people were having in the outdoor seating area.

For two hours Naruto sat and listened to the different people who came to eat and talk with their friends. It was tedious work, Naruto had to admit, and he almost fell asleep laid out in the sun as he was. After he heard the Blue River Tavern mentioned by several different people in different groups, Naruto decided that would be the place to find Jiraiya and go scout the place before sunset.

It didn't take Naruto long to locate the bar itself, and it seemed he had made the best choice as there was already a large group of people milling around the bar. Naruto made his way down and sat on the overhang looking over the crowd, curious as to why they were all waiting outside of the bar instead of going in.

Most of the murmuring he could pick up from the crowd seemed to indicate that the tavern only opened at sunset and that today was a day of celebration for the owner who advertised half-priced drinks on fliers that were passed out by the standby station for Jōnin and Chūnin. Once Naruto heard that information, he decided he needed to skip out of there and release his henge. Hopefully, he hadn't drawn any unwanted attention to himself as chances were that one of the shinobis below him had sensor capabilities.

Naruto was cursing in his head for making such a mistake. Dashing down the stairs behind the bar, he sprinted into a nearby alleyway before he reached out with his senses to see if anyone followed him. After several minutes, he released his Henge and began making his way back to the tavern casually.

When Naruto turned the corner, he saw Jiraiya standing in the middle of the street looking at him with a smirk on his face.

'I should have known he would have noticed me.' Naruto thought to himself.

Naruto approached Jiraiya, who merely patted Naruto on the back roughly and made a gesture to follow him. Naruto narrowed his eyes but decided to follow after discreetly sniffing to make sure that someone wasn't posing as Jiraiya instead.

Jiraiya led Naruto into a bar next door and took a seat at the booth with that smirk still firmly on his face. Once Naruto sat across from him, Naruto was about to ask him a question, but Jiraiya shushed him and motioned Naruto to wait a few minutes.

Naruto's frown deepened, but he remained silent as instructed. Not long after they entered the waitress approached them to take their drink orders. Jiraiya ordered two bottles of Hakkaisan sake for their table and once the waitress left Jiraiya spoke.

"So, Naruto, I was quite impressed with how you lost that tail on you today."

"How did you know that shishō?" Naruto asked.

"That's easy. I hired the guy to follow you and report to me what you have been doing. He still hasn't shown up yet." Jiraiya said with a boisterous laugh.

"...but why would you do that shishō?" Naruto didn't understand why Jiraiya would have him followed like that.

"I needed to see just how aware you are of your surroundings. I know back in Konoha you were highly alert because of the circumstances. In Taki however, I saw that you let your guard down quite a bit. I have no problem with you relaxing like you did in Taki, don't get me wrong about that. What you need to realize is that out here you are in more danger than you realize." Jiraiya said with a serious look on his face.

"Well since I am a stranger people don't have any misconceptions about me. I figured that I would have less to worry about unless we ran into someone who knew who I was or is generally up to no good." Naruto replied.

"I hate to burst your bubble, Naruto, but a lot more people know about you than you think. The Chūnin Exam finals have put you on the map. Add to that fact that you are traveling with me and people are going to be very curious about you. At least you noticed the tail and managed a clever trick to losing him if I do say so myself." Jiraiya replied.

The waitress came and set both bottles down on the table along with two masu (wooden box cups) Jiraiya tipped the waitress with a five ryō bill and opened up his bottle and filled both of the masu before sliding one over to Naruto.

"Now then. That cat Henge of yours was pretty solid, but given the way you scampered off once you realized the tavern was primarily the haunting grounds of shinobi must mean you have realized the big flaw with that form. What you are going to work on for the rest of the night is going to help you make up for that weakness, but first we have some sake to finish!" Jiraiya said with a laugh before he filled his masu back up again.

Naruto drank the sake that Jiraiya had poured for him and grimaced slightly when he felt the burn. It was a lot stronger than what Kakashi had bought him the first time, but it didn't taste terrible. Naruto eyed the two bottles before looking at Jiraiya's suspicious grin with a feeling of dread. He had gotten pretty drunk the first time off a bottle 1/3 the size of what Jiraiya was pouring from now, and he had two bottles.

"Umm...shishō, will it be wise for me to drink that much if we are going to do some training for the rest of the day?" Naruto said nervously.

"That's the whole point kid. In order to complete this training successfully, you need to get hammered. Don't worry about it." Jiraiya said with a wave of his hand. "I will be drinking one of these bottles so you won't be completely smashed, but this is necessary, so drink up and make it quick," Jiraiya said before he filled Naruto's masu back up once more.

Naruto took the masu and drained the contents obediently but he had a feeling whatever was coming next was not going to be fun.

 **Next Afternoon – Unknown Location**

* * *

Naruto awoke with a groan of pain. His head was spinning, and his body was sore all over. Naruto tried to sit up but the vertigo was too much for him, and he just plopped back down on the ground.

'Oooh, what the hell happened to me? Why do I feel so sore?' Naruto thought.

" **So you have finally awoken kit. It's about damn time. I've been purging most of this poison from your system all night while you have been running amok like a fool."** Kurama growled.

Naruto winced at Kurama's booming voice in his head. Why did it seem so much louder than usual? Was Kurama really mad at him?

 _'I'm sorry Kurama. I don't know what happened, but how did I get poisoned?'_ Naruto asked.

" **You drank it willingly. First, it was just what the toad fool commanded you to drink for his so called training; later you continued to drink more of that foul stuff because of some foolish display of bravado. Stupid mortals, intentionally poisoning themselves, it's a wonder that your race hasn't died out long ago. Perhaps the world would not be in the state that it is in now if humanity had."** Kurama grumbled.

 _'What? Why the hell would I do something like that? It doesn't make any sense.'_ Naruto thought.

" **Hmph. You are correct about that much. However, you were not in your right mind after you drank more of that sake. Then that Toad fool sent you into another bar to complete some foolish objective to win something called a drinking contest."** Kurama said.

Naruto frowned at what Kurama said. He couldn't remember anything like that. What purpose would Jiraiya have in sending him into a bar to win a drinking contest when he was already drunk?

As Naruto thought back through his hazy memories, he briefly remembered that Jiraiya had said he would need to be hammered to complete his next training mission and that he had to have it mastered that night.

 _'Crap! I can't remember what he taught me at all. What the hell am I going to do now?'_ Naruto thought.

" **That fool did not teach you anything. I was paying attention the whole night and never once did he give you a lesson or jutsu to learn."** Kurama said with a growl.

Naruto sighed. ' _There had to be some purpose to all of this. He wouldn't have just wanted me to get black out drunk for no reason would he?'_

Naruto opened his eyes and was forced to cover his face with his forearm to block out the sun that was shining down on him. Why the hell was he outside? More importantly, where the hell was he?

Naruto moved his forearm and slowly opened his eyes, adjusting them to the sunshine before he began to sit up again, slowly, and take stock of his surroundings. He appeared to be out in the middle of the woods somewhere, and the village was nowhere in sight.

 _'Shit. This can't be good. How the hell did we end up out here Kurama?'_ Naruto asked.

" **We were forced to flee the village after the bar fight to avoid being imprisoned by the village shinobi,"** Kurama replied.

 _'…bar fight?...'_ Naruto started to ask.

Kurama huffed in annoyance **"Yes. The bar fight that began when you won this drinking contest that the Toad fool insisted that you take part in."**

Naruto groaned as he gripped his head in his hands. _'I have a bad feeling about all this.'_

" **I don't know why you bothered with such a useless event. I had to keep purging your body of that poison so you wouldn't lose consciousness."** Kurama grumbled to himself before continuing, **"When you won this contest a group of fools complained and attempted to have you disqualified for being underage. The Toad fool struck the one closest to you before he used** **Shunshin** **to disappear before he was spotted. The rest of the stupid mortals were too inept to realize that he was the one that hit the man and blamed you instead.**

Naruto was at a loss for words. _'Why the hell would shishō do that for?'_

" **Who knows how pea-brained humans think? At least, you are still proving to be above them by failing to comprehend such idiocy. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that the depths of stupidity are boundless."** Kurama huffed.

 **"Continuing on with this tale of utter foolishness,"** Kurama said with a grumble, **"You were forced to defend yourself against the whining fool and his group of clumsy apes. You defeated their group quite easily and several other idiots who attempted to subdue you. Once you had eliminated all those useless weaklings you left the bar to find the Toad fool who had fled long before."** Kurama explained.

 _'I can't believe he would just start that fight and then leave me there like that! What kind of bullshit is that?'_ Naruto thought with a scowl.

 **"That is along the same lines that you thought last night. You went to seek out the Toad fool and take your revenge,"** Kurama answered, **"As you searched out the Toad fool you overheard a conversation between some of the shinobi police and the village head's wife. Apparently a thief had stolen something called 'underwear.' You suspected the Toad fool was guilty of such a thing due to his perverted nature and decided to investigate."**

'I really don't like the direction this story is going.' Naruto thought to himself.

 **"You followed the village head's wife to her home when I reminded you that you were capable of tracking that fool by scent,"** Kurama said with a grumble of annoyance. **"Instead of tracking the Toad fool, however, you followed the trail of the thieves only to discover a group of drunken fools."**

 **"Against my wishes, you decided that you would subdue the thieves and return the stolen items. At least you had the presence of mind to use a disguise even if it was a foolish one."** Kurama said with a huff.

 _'What kind of disguise did I choose.'_ Naruto asked with resignation.

 **"The usual Henge that you always choose. Perhaps those fools will be too humiliated to admit a cat defeated them."** Kurama replied with an amused tone.

Naruto grimaced when he heard that. How was kicking a bunch of people's asses as a cat not going to attract attention?

" **You then gathered the undergarments and were making your way back to the village head's house when you spotted the toad fool passed out on a bench in the park,"** Kurama explained.

 _'I planted all those underwear on shishō, didn't I?"_ Naruto thought.

He hoped he did. If Jiraiya really started all this mayhem for no reason, the asshole deserved it.

" **Correct. It didn't take long for the village police to come and take the toad fool to jail. While this was occurring, however, a few of the ninken the police had with them noticed you and began to give chase. You managed to evade them all by running through a gathering of humans in a large building. You managed to duck under tables of food before making your escape out of a window. The ninken and police were not able to avoid the obstacles so easily as you and were set upon by the humans of the gathering."** Kurama said.

 _'Is that when I fled the village?'_ Naruto thought.

" **No. Instead you wasted your time roaming the village rooftops defeating any tomcat that challenged you for entering their territory. After defeating several of these cats, you then decided to leave the village and explore the woods at night."** Kurama said with a snort.

 _'Okay, so not only did I wreak havoc in a bar, which means that I am wanted by the police to some degree, I framed my shishō for theft of panties and bras, ruined someone's party, then beat up a bunch of cats... I suppose that is less embarrassing then having sex on a park bench where everyone can see you.'_ Naruto grumbled.

Naruto slowly got to his feet and began to stretch himself to reduce some of his stiffness.

 _'Well the first thing I need to do is find the village, then I will need to sneak in somehow without being discovered. After that, I will need to find shishō and get him out of jail if he hasn't gotten out himself.'_ Naruto thought.

Naruto began patting himself down and doing a mental inventory of what he had. He could live without his messenger bag, but he really didn't want to lose all his stuff like that. Hopefully, the police have not figured out which room they were staying in just yet.

 **"We must head west to find the village. From there I would suggest you Henge into a bird and fly over the fence closest to the mountain face. I sensed fewer guards there as we fled the village last night."** Kurama offered.

 _'It's a good thing I decided to learn how to fly when henged as a bird.'_ Naruto replied.

Naruto dashed off to the west to find the village. Once he got close enough, he henged into a sparrow and flew over the walls. Naruto flew towards their inn first and landed on the window to peek into their room.

Naruto saw his bag was still inside the room, and his barrier was not tampered with, so that was a positive sign. After a few minutes of debate, he decided it would be best to take his bag now in case he needed to break Jiraiya out of prison and flee. Naruto peeked around and reached out with his senses to make sure the coast was clear before he henged into a different cat and used chakra enhanced paws to push the window open.

Once in the room, Naruto quickly gathered up everything that belonged to him and Jiraiya, sealing it away into scrolls in his messenger bag. Once Naruto slung the bag over his shoulder, he reactivated his Henge as a bird and flew out the window to scout for the prison.

As Naruto was flying towards the village center, he spotted Jiraiya speaking with a few of the police and landed on a nearby tree branch to listen in.

"Look, I'm sorry about the whole misunderstanding Jiro. I was just following the same method that I used on Minato to teach him how to suppress his chakra. You remember how well that went right?" Jiraiya said.

"I understand Jiraiya, but how the hell did things get so out of hand?" Jiro asked.

"I don't really know, the boy drank almost as much as Gamabunta and just wouldn't pass out at all," Jiraiya said in exasperation, "I started the bar fight so you would have a reason to throw him in jail. I didn't think Naruto would ever fight back against authority figures like that. He must have been more inebriated than I imagined." Jiraiya mumbled the last part.

"When I went to find you and explain everything, Naoko found me in the park and began thrashing me. She said I stole all of her underwear before she knocked me out with a rolling pin. When I woke up, I was covered in her panties and being hauled off to jail." Jiraiya said.

"You are just lucky that those four idiots found in the town square with paralysis tags on them admitted to stealing Naoko's underwear as part of a prank." Jiro grumbled, "Now we have to do another sweep for drug dealers since those idiots claim that a calico cat defeated them with a red ribbon on its ear. Those idiots probably got into some hallucinogens again."

Jiraiya laughed nervously "You never know, maybe it was a summon with a noble streak."

"I hope so, that would be one less thing to worry about in all this mess," Jiro said with a sigh, "Anyway, I won't be able to help you train your apprentice anymore. The River Daimyō is pissed at the police department because a few of our ninken and their handlers trashed the wedding reception of the Daimyō's favorite niece."

Jiraiya grimaced. It was always bad news to piss off a Daimyo like that. To ruin a wedding reception had to be extra bad news since there would be diplomats attending.

"The ninken and the handlers claim that they were chasing a suspect, but none of the people at the wedding reception saw the suspect, so he isn't buying it. Now he is going to be cracking down on us with all kinds of absurd inspections and oversight." Jiro whined.

"I'm sorry, Jiro. What a tough break you got there," Jiraiya said sympathetically.

Suddenly an idea came to Jiraiya. Hopefully, it would smooth everything over, so he didn't have to cut Naruto's training short in town. He really needed Naruto prepared for Yama no Kuni and Tori no Kuni.

"Listen, I got an advanced copy of Icha Icha Violence which I can autograph for you." Jiraiya said as he pulled out a red book from his pocket and held it out for Jiro to take, "I hear the River Daimyō is a big fan, so this should help get him off your back."

"Thanks, Jiraiya. If this works, then I will consider us even. I hope you find your apprentice unharmed after everything that happened last night. I'm sorry that my guys couldn't track him down for you." Jiro replied.

"I'm sure he is fine. Naruto is very resourceful, after all, and quite skilled. With any luck, he has already made his way back to the inn and is resting." Jiraiya said.

After Jiro had left Jiraiya turned towards the tree with a scowl on his face.

"I know you are there Naruto, so you might as well get down here and face the music," Jiraiya said.

Naruto sighed before he dropped his Henge and leaped down from the tree. As he neared Jiraiya, he stood in his stoic pose waiting for the backlash to come. Now he understood what Jiraiya was planning, but Naruto felt he couldn't be held entirely accountable for everything that happened because, frankly, Jiraiya had been the catalyst for most of the events.

Well, the stolen underwear was just a convenient coincidence that he was more than happy to exploit, given the circumstances, but how was he to know that Jiraiya had an ultimate plan in all this?

"You caused me a lot of trouble brat. I still can't believe how much you drank and kept going. What the hell caused you to fight the police like that?" Jiraiya asked sternly.

"Honestly, I don't remember what happened beyond our first bottle. I woke up feeling like crap in the middle of the woods with no memories of what happened to me. It's only because of my "friend" that I even have any idea of what happened last night." Naruto replied before he glared at Jiraiya.

"Why the hell would you even set me up to get arrested anyways?" Naruto snapped.

Jiraiya sighed before answering. "Look Naruto, I used a similar method on your father, but I didn't realize that you would essentially be a bottomless pit when it came to sake. Your father passed out completely after his third bottle, only to wake up in prison with Jiro accusing him of causing all kinds of crimes while he was drunk." Jiraiya snickered at the memory.

"When put into a cell with a supposed serial killer your father was able to suppress his chakra signature completely out of fear. It's not easy to learn how to suppress your signature through ordinary means," Jiraiya explained, "Instead of taking three years he managed to master it in that one night."

"For you, it will be ten times as difficult because of your massive reserves of chakra in your gut," Jiraiya added.

" **Hmph. If the Toad fool wished us to learn such a thing, then he should have simply requested it instead of coming up with some foolish attempt at an elaborate scheme."** Kurama snorted in contempt.

 _'Can you teach me how to suppress my chakra as he says?'_ Naruto asked.

 **"The seal used to contain me makes it almost impossible for you to suppress your signature as he describes,"** Kurama said, **"It might be possible with a seal, but we would need to create one that would siphon your chakra continually."**

 _'Why would it be impossible to do that?'_ Naruto asked.

 **"To mask your chakra signature, you must slow your chakra flow considerably. The seal regularly adds my chakra to your system which will cause a buildup that could rupture your tenketsu or pathways,"** Kurama explained, **"Without a seal, I could help you suppress your chakra, but after a few hours we will need to flare our chakra together to stop any ruptures from forming."**

 _'...and flaring our chakra defeats the whole purpose of masking our signature in the first place.'_ Naruto said with a sigh, _"If only shishō had bothered to tell us that in the first place all this bullshit could have been avoided."_

 _Oh well, at least, I got him back by framing him for the underwear theft.'_ Naruto smirked inwardly.

"Shishō, it is impossible for me to suppress my signature anyways. There is a workaround that I know about but because of the nature of my chakra I can't hold for longer than a few hours, and I would have to flare our chakra after that, or I could damage my chakra system." Naruto stated.

"Well... shit. That is going to be a problem." Jiraiya said with a frown.

'I keep forgetting that there is an extra challenge to consider when training Naruto. Who knows what could have happened while he was blackout drunk, the Kyūbi could have broken loose of the seal or wreaked havoc.' Jiraiya thought.

"Look Naruto, I'm sorry I didn't run it past you first. It's just that the Sandaime taught that method to me and I used it on your father without any problems. Honestly, it slipped my mind completely that there are reasons as to why I have to take a different approach with you." Jiraiya said solemnly.

"Don't expect me to run everything past you first, though. I feel it is more effective to learn when you puzzle things out on your own. It's easy just to copy something but fully understanding it requires you to get your hands dirty. That kind of understanding can only come from real experience." Jiraiya said.

Naruto sighed as he thought over everything Jiraiya said. Naruto could understand where Jiraiya was coming from, and it did make sense, but he had always been able to grasp things quicker when he was in the right mindset.

Now, however, he couldn't rely on having that mindset entirely because people could catch him while he was vulnerable or distracted. He wouldn't always have time to calculate and analyze things before forming a plan. He would need to be able to improvise or plan under pressure which is what Jiraiya was trying to instill in him.

"Okay, shishō. I think framing you for stealing the underwear was punishment enough. I understand what you were trying to do, and I appreciate it." Naruto said with a small smile on his face.

"You're lucky that Jiro is an old friend, brat," Jiraiya said with a growl, "Do you know what kind of problems that would have caused if Jiro had not been my friend? You would have been trapped without any support for at least two years!"

"Well. I was on my way to scout out the prison and possibly break you out if it was necessary." Naruto said sheepishly, "By the way, I have all your stuff from the inn because I was worried we might have to flee the village after what happened last night.

Jiraiya just narrowed his eyes at Naruto making him fidget uncomfortably. If he were in Naruto's sandals, he would have done the same thing, but he wouldn't let him know that. Better to make Naruto sweat a bit or the kid might start to get ideas.

"Are we going to be staying here for much longer?" Naruto asked timidly.

"Yes. We will be staying for at least two more weeks until your infiltration and subterfuge training is complete," Jiraiya grumbled, "It is necessary for when we head to Yama no Kuni (Land of Mountains) and Tori no Kuni (Land of Birds). We will need to be vigilant since both of those places are hostile territory."

"I understand, shishō," Naruto replied.

"Good. Let's drop our stuff back off at the inn and relax for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we will continue with your jutsu analyzing and information gathering.

"I have a chakra suppression seal you can probably use, but most people avoid it because it cuts off, at least, half of your reserves." Jiraiya said before lightly smacking Naruto on the back, "Maybe your "friend" can help you alter it to make it more useful because honestly, you are like a beacon to sensors and experienced shinobi."

"I'm always interested in new seals, shishō. I'm sure we can make it work before we visit those villages, so you don't have to worry about that," Naruto said confidently.

Naruto and Jiraiya made their way back to the inn and unpacked again before they set out to relax at the hot springs and have a leisurely lunch.


	52. Year 1: Mountain, Birds, and Hotsprings

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be graphic depictions of violence in this chapter.

Edit 4/24/16

 **Chapter 51**

 **Year 1: Mountain, Birds, and Hotsprings**

 **Eight weeks later – Yama no Kuni (Land of Mountains)**

* * *

Naruto sat resting under the shade of a large pine tree overlooking a steep cliff. Currently, Naruto was situated in a small mountainside clearing deep inside a small canyon and far from any nearby villages with only a small stream to provide water for drinking and washing.

After completing his training in Tanigakure, Jiraiya had made him stock up on camping provisions and purchase a few thicker articles of clothing and cold weather cloaks before they set out for Yama no Kuni.

Jiraiya had insisted on picking up gloves, a new scarf, and snow boots for Naruto, even though he had mastered cycling Katon chakra through his system to keep his body warm. As Jiraiya explained it, the extremities were the first to suffer from frostbite and become damaged. Even though it snowed in Konoha at the very height of winter, it never got near the sub-zero temperatures that they would experience in Yama and Yuki no Kuni.

Naruto was glad that Jiraiya had double checked his current cold weather gear. His old equipment from Konoha would not have been enough to keep him warm at this high altitude. While there wasn't any snow present, that fact could easily change if a storm decided to roll through. The first night had proven to be much more frigid than Naruto had expected, and he was grateful for his new gear.

So, for now, Naruto wore his sweater full time, complete with a new black and gray scarf, a regular pair of black gloves, and a cheap pair of closed-toe boots with some woolen socks. There weren't a lot of various styles to choose from as Tani's markets were much smaller than Konoha's, so Naruto settled for some of the less expensive gear with plans to purchase more quality clothing from Yuki no Kuni when they made their way there.

He did like the cold weather cloaks he had purchased, however, unlike in Konoha where the standard was white with a red border a few inches about the hemline, the Tani cloaks were dark gray with a medium gray border and a gray border above the hemline. The cloaks were also longer than the standard Konoha ones, reaching down to the ankle instead of below the knee. His cloak was currently hanging from a small branch above him, so he didn't get it sweaty from his workout.

For the past two weeks, Naruto had focused mainly on physical training at the high altitude and starting work on his Doton level 2 manipulation exercise. The physical training was a lot more intense than he expected because of the altitude, and for the first few days, he had to lower his gravity seal to be able to complete half of the physical regimen that Jiraiya laid out for him.

His Doton exercise was not much better, even with the 80 clones he had focused on it there wasn't as much progress as he would have liked. Even with the boost to his Doton affinity he received from Shukaku, it was still difficult for him to use Doton effectively because he had such a high Suiton affinity. Shukaku had only raised his negative Doton capability to a neutral one.

Naruto didn't even want to think how hard it would be to complete his Raiton chakra manipulation exercise given his extremely high affinity for Fūton now. Naruto would have simply written off the exercise as a futile endeavor if Kurama hadn't insisted that he complete the training to increase his overall chakra control. When Kurama pointed out his vulnerability to Doton because of a lack of Raiton jutsu, however, the blond relented and kept the Raiton exercises on his to-do list. He might not ever become truly proficient with the element, but as long as he could master one or two more jutsu to help counter any Doton based attacks, he would be able to mask his severe vulnerability to Doton and Raiton for him enemies.

Naruto looked over to his clones and watched as they progressed through the various stages of the exercise. The clones were able to raise an earthen wall easily but solidifying the wall until it turned into stone was where they were faltering. The dirt wouldn't solidify properly. Instead, the wall would crumble when the clones added more Doton chakra to try and compact the earth to a degree where it would begin transforming into stone. Naruto knew they had the process correct; it was just because of his affinities that it was such a challenge.

Now that Naruto had caught his breath, he got back up and prepared to run through his next set of push ups, sit ups, crunches, kicks, and jumping squats. Naruto cleared his mind and focused on each exercise as a way of meditating to keep his breathing even so he wouldn't tire himself out easier. That was the primary reason that high altitude training was so exhaustive after all. As long as he kept control of his circulation, he would be able to push himself further than normal and increase his stamina and strength even faster.

It took Naruto an hour to finish up the last of his physical exercises. Just as he completed his final set of jumping squats, an ice cold gust of wind blew down from the mountain drying the sweat on his body and causing him to shiver slightly. Knowing that the temperature was only going to get colder as the midday sun became blocked by the mountain peak to the west, Naruto decided it was the best time for him to wash himself and his dirty clothing before it became even colder.

Gathering a fresh set of clothing and his cleaning supplies. The young shinobi made his way to the small watering hole that Jiraiya had created in a small bend in the stream by setting up an impromptu dam of rocks. Naruto stripped down and gingerly made his way into the frigid water.

Rushing his way through his bracing bath, Naruto quickly cleaned up before drying off with a towel and a liberal use of Katon chakra to warm himself. When they had first arrived at this location, Naruto had asked about using Katon chakra to warm the water itself, but Jiraiya forbade him from heating the water as it could shock and kill the young fish that made the stream their home.

Once dressed in his new set of clothing, Naruto set about washing his dirty laundry. It didn't take long to finish cleaning all of his dirty apparel before setting them out to dry, so he went back to camp and took stock of his provisions to decide what he would make for lunch. His ramen stock was low, as were his dried noodles, but he had plenty of rice to use up. With thoughts of simple roasted fish and steamed rice on his mind, Naruto's lunch plans were set, and he followed the stream down the mountainside to where it met a larger river about a quarter mile away from their camp.

Naruto slapped on a chakra suppression seal before Using Tōton Jutsu (Transparent Escape) before he left camp. Modifying the suppression seal had been harder than he had imagined. He would have preferred to put all his focus into making an effective seal first, but Jiraiya had decided not to take him into town in the end. When they first arrived near the town, Jiraiya had scouted ahead and discovered that there had been more movement in Yama no Kuni than he expected. With a larger presence of skilled sensors and spies being active, Jiraiya had altered his plans and made Naruto set camp in a more secluded location to ensure he remained undiscovered while the Sannin gathered intel on why Iwa had increased their presence in this region so suddenly.

Confident that he was safely hidden away as required, Naruto exited the small canyon the camp was tucked away in and picked his way down towards the larger valley below. With Iwa on the move, Naruto was on full alert as he cautiously moved out of the canyon and into the forest of pine and ash trees. While he could technically fish from the stream, all the fish that he had netted with his chakra strings were too small, so he simply tossed them back.

The main river had proven to be laden with larger fish of various types. Even with his terribly made chakra string nets, he had able to catch several large trout and salmon each time he had set up his snares. He still needed to work on the chakra strings more but couldn't use too much chakra in this area. Jiraiya promised that he would get to spend more time with his chakra strings and Jiton (Magnet Release) abilities once they were in the secluded wilderness of Yuki no Kuni.

Naruto scanned the area and reached out with his senses as he neared the larger river. He had run into a group of Iwa-nin resting by the river only one time in their extended stay here in the mountains, but it had been enough to drive Jiraiya's warning home quite firmly. Kurama had estimated that the group of four Iwa-nin were all Jōnin level, something Naruto would not have been comfortable taking on alone.

His sensitive ears picked up the sounds of a skirmish and Naruto debated returning to camp or investigating the disturbance.

" **You should investigate. If these fools report a disruption in the area our hidden rest area may be compromised,"** Kurama said.

 _'What if that draws unnecessary attention to us?'_ Naruto said worriedly.

" **I can sense the ones battling are equal or below your skill, you will not have any difficulty with them if you are detected,"** Kurama said reassuringly.

 _'Okay.'_ Naruto said before he began making his way towards the disturbance he was hearing.

Naruto slowly climbed a large pine tree and crept out onto one of the larger branches to look at the battle occurring less than 15 feet away from him.

The fight was between a team of, what appeared to be, Iwa chūnin and a Taki genin team. One of the Iwa chūnin was already dead at the hands of the Taki Jōnin, who was fighting off two of the Iwa ninja with the help of one of his genin. The remaining Taki genin were paired up against the remaining Iwa chūnin.

The Taki team was fighting bravely, but Naruto could tell the two genin were quickly losing ground against the lone chūnin while the Jōnin was starting to sustain injuries that would soon catch up to him.

 _'What do you think, Kurama. Should we interfere? It seems like Iwa will be the victor in this battle. If they win, maybe it will be less of a threat to us then if they disappear.'_ Naruto said with a pained tone.

He didn't want to watch the Taki-nin die, but he had to be cautious while he was in enemy territory and the Taki team would have known the risks of entering an area allied with Iwa.

" **Hmm. I think perhaps it would be better to make them disappear instead. It might bring down some suspicion to the area, but if they survive they may increase forces in this area knowing that enemy villages are moving through their territory."** Kurama advised.

Naruto merely nodded and began to sync with Kurama as he watched how his opponents were fighting to help craft his plan of attack. He was a little low on chakra due to the supercharged clones working on the Doton exercises, and the suppression seal had cut what remained of his chakra reserves in half to conceal his presence. All of the Iwa-nin seemed to be more focused on ranged attacks, so Naruto planned on ambushing them while they were preoccupied. Using Makoto to eliminate them would keep the amount of chakra flaring to a minimum and hopefully, there were no Iwa reinforcements en route already. From all appearance, it seemed that both sides had already thrown a considerable amount of jutsu out of each other, more than enough to alert a sensor.

When Naruto saw the Iwa kunoichi use Kawarimi to avoid a melee charge from the Jōnin, the blond was presented with his first target.

With a plan of action set into place, Naruto created two clones to fulfill his goals before drawing Makoto and engaging in the battle.

Naruto's first move was to relieve the Jōnin and his genin in case reinforcements arrived. Naruto threw a handful of shuriken towards an Iwa kunoichi who was in the process of using Doton: Doryūsō (Earth Flow Spears) to try and separate the black haired genin who was sticking close to his Jōnin sensei.

The kunoichi canceled her jutsu to leap back and avoid the shuriken while looking in the direction Naruto had thrown the projectiles from. As she scanned the tree line, she pulled a kunai and began deflecting another round of shuriken before running through the hand seals for Doton: Doryūsō once more. A barrage of earthen spikes erupted from the ground, spearing the bush that she suspected was concealing the owner of those shuriken.

Her eyes widened as she sensed a chakra spike from behind her and she whirled around quickly to lash out only to feel a blade sliding through her sternum and into her heart. She coughed up a stream of blood when Naruto twisted Makoto and pulled, letting the Iwa kunoichi fall to the ground in a heap.

The second Iwa chūnin had formed a Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall) to block an attack from the black haired genin before running through several hand seals and using Doton: Doryū Taiga (Great Mud River) to bog down the charging Jōnin.

Once he saw both the jōnin and the genin struggling to get out of his mud, he looked around for his partner only to see a blonde kid pulling his sword out of her chest.

"SHIZUKA! You son of a bitch! I'll kill you!" the Iwa-nin said before he began running through hand seals and calling out Doton: Doryūdan (Earth Dragon Bullet). A giant dragon head rose from the muddy pool the Iwa-nin created and began hurtling muddy bullets towards Naruto, who used Kawarimi with a dirt clod next to the Iwa-nin and swiped at him with Makoto aiming to slice his carotid artery.

The Iwa ninja was able to duck under the high slash and roll away from Naruto's follow up backslash before he pulled several shuriken and threw them at Naruto to create distance between them.

Naruto was able to deflect most of them, but a few managed to slice into his arms and shoulder as he was not as proficient in blocking with Makoto just yet. Naruto saw the Iwa-nin begin to flip through hand seals and knew his charge was too slow to reach the man before he finished his jutsu. Thinking quickly, he formed a half ram seal to use a lower chakra version of Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) to disrupt the man's attack. The Iwa-nin was caught off guard by the sudden gale of wind which lifted him off his feet before he could use chakra to cling to the ground. The wind carried the Iwa-nin back several feet before slamming the man into a nearby boulder with enough force to momentarily daze him. By the time the Iwa chūnin recovered his senses, he felt a sword sliding into his chest and felt it twist, shredding his heart and causing blood to gush out of the wound and clog his throat.

The Iwa-nin merely gurgled his last breath before sliding to the ground when Naruto removed Makoto from his torso. Taking the opportunity to clean Makoto off on the Iwa nin's shirt, Naruto made a mental note to run through his cleaning routine back at camp as he returned Makoto to her home before turning towards the Taki-nin.

With the help of the Jōnin and the black haired genin, the other two genin managed to finish off the last Iwa chūnin and were now tending to each other's injuries. Naruto began rifling through the corpse of the Iwa kunoichi first while he let the Taki-nin gather themselves. Besides some mild distrust, he didn't sense any hostile intent, so he just continued with his task of looting, letting them decide if they wished to approach him or not.

Naruto found nothing of interest on the kunoichi besides the usual ninja tools and some personal effects which he left alone. He moved to the other Iwa-nin that he had killed and began searching his body.

This corpse had a few scrolls that were deemed important enough to secure with blood seals, so Naruto pocketed those to try and break later on. Practice made perfect, after all, and it was rare when he had a justifiable reason to break a blood seal. Naruto also found a package that contained two storage scrolls and a sealed box which looked valuable. Naruto sealed those away for later examination once the Taki-nin had left.

Naruto looked up to find the Taki team eyeing him warily. They didn't seem to have searched the other bodies yet, so Naruto merely raised an eyebrow in question as they stared at him.

One of the more dubious lessons he had learned in the Academy had been to take advantage of the fallen by searching their bodies for supplies and intelligence. Sure it was taught to act with some decorum and leave items of a personal nature to the fallen, but there could be vital documents or supplies that could help you survive after a taxing battle. Naruto thought such lessons would have been taught in Taki as well.

The Jōnin stepped forward to address Naruto.

"I thank you for your help, stranger. Those Iwa-nin ambushed us after we delivered a diplomatic parcel. I fear what would have happened to my genin if you had not intervened." The Jōnin said with a polite bow of his head.

"It's not a problem. I'm not a fan of Iwa anyways, so I was happy to help your team out if it meant less Iwa in the area." Naruto replied with a casual shrug.

The Jōnin looked confused by Naruto's response. "If you are not a fan of Iwa then what are you doing out here on your own? You seem to be the same age as my genin team here."

"Oh. I'm not alone." Naruto said with a chuckle. "My shishō thought to observe how I handled the situation. I will return to him after I search the rest of these bodies before burying them to hide the evidence of their deaths," Naruto said calmly.

The Taki genin looked surprised by Naruto's answer and were murmuring amongst themselves. The boy looked to be the same age or younger than they were, but he was already an apprentice. That was highly unusual for most villages and Yama no Kuni had no shinobi village, so they were curious about the mysteries surrounding this kid.

The Jōnin cleared his throat to silence his genin team before he spoke again.

"Well. Thank you again for your help, all I can offer you is some ryō for your assistance, but I am afraid that we must hurry back to our village as soon as we can."

"It's not necessary for you to reward me." Naruto raised his hand as an indication to stop the man from insisting. "Please, keep your ryō. It would be best if you did move on quickly, however, as there are always Iwa patrols moving through this area, and I should really bury these bodies right away." Naruto said before he moved towards the third Iwa chūnin and began searching the body without giving the team another thought.

"...okay, would you like any help with that at all?" Jōnin asked with a strange tone in his voice.

Naruto inwardly rolled his eyes at the annoyance before replying. "I can handle it, thank you for your concern, though." Naruto concealed the annoyance in his tone by adopting a falsely cheerful tone to send the Taki team off. "Safe travels to you and your team."

The Jōnin, luckily, took the hint and bid Naruto farewell before his genin team took off running after him.

Naruto searched the last corpse and was surprised to find this corpse had as many storage seals as he had. Naruto created a group of clones to use Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu) to pull the other corpses deep underground while one clone carefully applied chakra to the seals on the last body.

Naruto's excitement proved to be premature as the last body didn't have anything special hidden on his person. There were a few storage scrolls with the usual supplies, a substandard fūinjutsu kit with some notes but Naruto could only scoff at some of the Iwa nin's prototypes. The rest revealed provisions, clothing, and camping equipment which were on par or below his current supplies.

Kurama snorted as Naruto rifled through the Iwa nin's notebook. **"The fool is lucky he has not wound up dead by some of these haphazard seal arrays."**

 _'I know right? Oh well. At least, we have a few more interesting puzzles to solve with those sealed scrolls and that box. I wonder if it has some kind of treasure or relic inside.'_ Naruto thought excitedly.

" **Hmph. Focus on the scrolls first before you tamper with the box, kit. You never know if something vile is sealed away inside that box instead of treasure."** Kurama warned.

 _'Good point. First, I need to get rid of this last body and scrub this area down as much as I can, then catch some fish.'_ Naruto thought as his stomach grumbled in hunger.

The last clone pulled the final corpse underground before the group began using Doton chakra to fill in any large gouges. Using a branch to sweep off all the various footprints and other signs of activity, Naruto then piled all the broken branches and logs before burning them with Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) and scattered the ashes for good measure.

Naruto reached out with his senses once more and besides the dissipating trail of the Taki-nin, he couldn't detect anyone else, so he made his way back to the river and began assembling a shoddy string net using Chōmei's gift. With his hopes set on trout over salmon, he cast the rudimentary net into the water and settled down on a branch overlooking the river to wait.

 **Four Hours Later – Yama no Kuni campsite**

* * *

Naruto was stretched out on his stomach next to the campfire as he focused on the box he had taken from the Iwa-nin earlier in the day. He had easily broken through the security on the scrolls, and most of them were easy to decipher. The ciphers used to encrypt the documents were very similar to the one that Jiraiya had taught him in Tani, so it didn't take long for the blond to puzzle out the differences.

The reports weren't of any interest to Naruto, merely troop numbers after the invasion of Konoha, and some mentions of negotiations with Kiri since the civil war was apparently over. Naruto knew that Jiraiya would be all over this stuff, but Naruto couldn't find it in himself to care. Especially when he had such a lucrative box he needed to crack open.

Apparently the box contained some jewelry from the Earth Daimyō's late mother that was very dear to him. The letter with the box had strict instructions to deliver the jewelry to be cleaned and refitted in Yama no Kuni by one of the most famous jewelers in the elemental nations. There was also a hefty sum of ryō to ensure that the jeweler completed his task in time for the Daimyo to gift them to his granddaughter for her coming of age ceremony.

Naruto couldn't help but smirk at the trouble this would cause Iwa in the future. What better way to rub it in their face then giving said jewelry to Tsunade to wear in front of the Tsuchikage. Perhaps there was something in here that Hinata would like as well.

It was odd that the Tsuchikage had given a chūnin team this task, but since the seals on the box were pretty complex. They must have assumed the seals on the box would protect the items and give them enough time to recover the items should the delivery team fail their mission.

Naruto wasn't concerned with that thought. He had already eliminated the tracking seal and a few of the trap seals quite easily. The locking seal, unfortunately, was a little complicated for his skill level at the moment, and he had been running a few theories through his head on how to safely break the seal. It was one of the most challenging and enjoyable puzzles he had encountered in years.

Naruto looked up with a huge grin on his face as he scented Jiraiya approaching the clearing.

Jiraiya took one look at Naruto and couldn't help but smile also. If Naruto had that kind of look on his face, then something magnificent must have happened.

"So, what is with that cat ate the canary grin on your face there?" Jiraiya asked.

"Well. When I went to go fish down by the river for lunch today, I ran into a battle between a Taki genin team and a team of Iwa chūnin." Naruto turned his attention back to his box while continuing his story. "At first, I was just going to hang back and let it play out but I thought that leaving those Iwa-nin to report a Taki group in the area would cause them to start patrolling the area, even more, causing our camp to become compromised, so I intervened." Naruto pulled out the scrolls he had recovered before tossing them over to Jiraiya. "I think you will find these scrolls very interesting shishō."

Jiraiya began scanning the reports eagerly, and his grin only grew larger as he continued to read.

"This is some good intelligence you intercepted here, kid." Jiraiya said proudly "While Iwa might adjust some of their strategies since you caught this report, they won't be able to alter their numbers or movements so easily now. They will be far too concerned about how deeply our spies have infiltrated their forces if they believe we intentionally intercepted this team for that very reason." Jiraiya said gleefully.

"Judging from the rest of the stuff you looted from that team leads me to believe that these aren't fake reports either. Good job Naruto!" Jiraiya cheered before he pulled out a blank scroll and began scrawling a message.

"Have you summoned Gamakichi yet today?" Jiraiya asked as he wrote.

"Yea. We hung out for a bit, but he didn't like how cold it was and left." Naruto replied.

"Alright. I'll just have to use one of the other toads to deliver these to Tsunade-hime." Jiraiya said before summoning a toad.

"Deliver these scrolls to Tsunade right away please," Jiraiya asked the toad.

The toad saluted before taking the scrolls into its mouth and disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Jiraiya then moved over to Naruto and began studying the lock seal on the box over his shoulder.

"That is a pretty complicated seal there, but I have dealt with this kind of seal before. You want me to take care of it or would you prefer to break it on your own?" Jiraiya asked.

"I think you should go ahead and break it," Naruto said after a few minutes of thought, "I don't want to risk the contents, and I would like to see if my theory for breaking it is correct."

"Alright," Jiraiya took the box from Naruto, "Watch my movements closely so you can see how these interruption lines work."

Naruto observed Jiraiya as he applied a few additional lines of kanji around the lock seal before channeling chakra into it. The seal flashed between black and red a few times before fading away.

Naruto was impressed with Jiraiya's method. The approach that he had worked out with Kurama would have been more dangerous to the contents inside.

Kurama merely snorted in contempt at such a thought. The items in that box seemed trivial to him and belonged to an enemy. Destroying them would be a suitable form of revenge.

Jiraiya handed the box over to Naruto to open up. He grinned when he saw Naruto's eyes light up with excitement.

"They're your spoils, kid, so you should get the honors. Let's see what you took from the Daimyō, eh?"

Naruto lifted the hinged lid of the box and whistled at the contents he saw inside of the box. He noticed small scroll attached to the top of the box and opened it up. Inside was a list of items detailing the items within and what materials went into their creation as well as instructions describing the modifications the jeweler was to make to each piece. Naruto set this list aside to compare the descriptions of each item he studied.

The first thing that caught Naruto's eye were a group of necklaces that were dripping with large diamonds. High-quality diamonds and platinum settings from the looks of things. Naruto was no expert, but if a Daimyō prized these items, then they had to be top quality. Reviewing the list only confirmed Naruto's suspicions. Spreading out a sealing scroll on the ground to help him sort through his treasures, Naruto lay each piece out for careful study.

There were six of the platinum necklaces of various designs with diamonds of all sizes. Removing the little wooden shelf revealed several rings with various gemstone and/or diamond settings. He pulled these out one by one and laid them out for Jiraiya to examine, but one particular ring caught his eye, and he studied it carefully.

The ring had a large green stone that seemed to have red veins running through it. Referring to the list, Naruto found a matching description listed under the Plasma Jasper ring. The platinum band with decorated with alternating wires of silver and gold filigree that wrapped around the dark gray band before they coiled over the bottom portion of the Jasper itself, securing it in place while tying it into the main band. The ends of the wire were curled in a small spiral before they flared out over the center of the gem with the golden wire coiling to the left, the platinum wire framing the coiled silver wire that flared towards the right providing a pleasing frame around the bottom of the gem itself.

Naruto had a feeling this ring would be perfect for Tsunade and held it up for Jiraiya to inspect.

"That is a very fancy ring," Jiraiya stated after studying the ring for a second and letting out a low whistle. "What do you want to do with it?" Jiraiya asked.

He could tell Naruto had something particular planned for the ring as the blond had been staring intently at it for several minutes instead of going through the rest of the jewelry. None of the other jewelry had seemed to catch the boy's interest as much as the ring had.

"I think that one should go to oba-chan," Naruto said with a look of contentment. "Do you think she will like it?".

"Are you kidding me?" Jiraiya asked incredulously. "Tsunade-hime will love it! Not only is it her first present from you, but it also happens to be her favorite color. Even with the veins of red in it, I think she will be more than pleased with it." Jiraiya said honestly.

Jiraiya had thought Naruto would want to give it to his little Hyūga hime instead, but he knew a gift like that would floor Tsunade, even if it hadn't come from her precious nephew. The fact that it was loot stolen from a Daimyō would only be icing on the cake to the Slug Sannin. She had never been a fan of the pompous, uptight and greedy lords.

"Should we send it to her or wait until I return to give it to her instead?" Naruto asked, "It might be dangerous to hold onto all this stuff." Naruto added with a frown.

"I think it will be better if you hold onto it for now and give it to her in person. The effect would be much stronger if you did." Jiraiya replied with a thoughtful look on his face. "As for carrying this stuff around I wouldn't be too concerned about it, I do have a few ideas on how to really piss off Iwa with this stuff, but you should take as much of it for yourself as you want before we put any of my plans into action," Jiraiya said.

Jiraiya was confident Naruto wouldn't be too upset about letting some of those items go for low cost or free. Despite his initial upbringing as an orphan, Naruto never exhibited signs of hoarding, greed, or excessive frugality that was common for children that had grown up with very little.

"Okay. Shishō." Naruto replied before he began setting aside the rest of the rings. He sealed away the ring he planned to give to Tsunade into the storage seal on his medallion to keep it safe.

After briefly glimpsing through the remaining rings he studied a silver ring with a moonstone and diamond setting for a moment, thinking it would be suitable for Hinata, but in the end, it just felt wrong for her, so he set it aside and lifted the next wooden divider out of the box.

When Naruto spotted the next section of items, his eye was immediately drawn to, what appeared to be, arm cuffs for the biceps or forearms. Naruto lifted one of the arm cuffs out of the box discovered that the two separate cuffs were actually one piece. Connecting both cuffs was a group of evenly spaced thin golden chains with little gemstone settings laced through them. Naruto looked over the list and saw that this was an armband that was designed to fit above and below the bicep with the chains creating a net-like design of gemstones over the arm. Laying the band over his own covered forearm helped Naruto to fully appreciate the effect of the intended design.

The inch wide golden bands themselves were also ornately decorated with solid squares of mother of pearl held in place by golden cherry blossom shaped settings that sat between each pearly tile. The 14 karat golden chains were about five inches long and ran in straight lines between the top cuff and the smaller bottom cuff. Each chain had alternating gems of red garnet, rose quartz, and white chalcedony.

When Naruto held this item, the image of Sakura came into his mind. It only made sense given the theme of this piece. The gold and gems would compliment her unique shade of hair perfectly. Naruto frowned a bit at the thought. Hinata would be extremely jealous if he were to give something like this to Sakura, but Naruto just had that feeling that this belonged to Sakura. He didn't understand why Hinata was so jealous of Sakura. Hinata had been quite aware of how Sakura treated him in the Academy. It should be obvious to his Hyūga teammate that he wasn't as close to Sakura as he was with Hinata. They had only overcome their animosity towards each other for a few days and were barely beyond acquaintances at that point. To Naruto, it seemed inherently selfish of Hinata to expect him to avoid befriending a woman who had obviously approached him to make up for her errant behavior in the past.

After all that had happened in his life, he had sworn never to turn away someone who approached him with genuine intentions of becoming a friend or comrade.

Jiraiya saw Naruto intensely focused on another item and felt it was an excellent opportunity to tease his young apprentice.

"Ah. Found a good piece for your little hime there?" Jiraiya asked with a smirk.

"No. This item belongs to Sakura, not Hinata-chan." Naruto said in an oddly serious tone.

Naruto sealed the arm cuff away into his medallion before turning his attention to the rest of the bracelets. Hopefully, there was something inside here that would be perfect for Hinata, and she wouldn't get so upset.

Jiraiya frowned. "What do you mean by 'belongs to Sakura'? That stuff all belonged to the Daimyō."

Naruto let out a sigh as he continued studying the bracelets. None of these belonged to Hinata. He would have to find something else instead it seemed.

"I don't know how to explain it but when I pick up certain things I get this feeling that they belong to someone, and I see that person in my head. It doesn't happen all the time, and it has never shown me a stranger before." Naruto paused as he looked at another bracelet but set it aside, "When I picked up that ring I saw oba-chan. When I held that armband, I saw Sakura."

Naruto sighed. "I know Hinata-chan will be upset when I give it to Sakura, but I don't understand why. She was so upset about me enjoying the tea house because Sakura was the one that took me there."

"I brought her there so she could understand why I liked that place so much and to share something I enjoyed so much with her, but all she did paint everything in a negative light," Naruto said as he set aside another bracelet. "It really annoyed me that she was acting that way. She even said bad things about my parent's house when I took her there afterward. I actually started to get upset at her behavior. It was unsettling to me." Naruto finished with an exasperated huff.

"You have to understand that women are just as competitive as men but in different ways." Jiraiya soothed.

The poor kid was going to have to learn just how complicated women could be, and it was only going to get more confusing for him. It was the main reason Jiraiya loved being a ladies man in the absence of a genuine relationship. Figuring out how different women worked was like a puzzle with a very, very sweet reward if you succeeded.

"Tell me, has Hinata ever introduced you to a place that you really liked without some some input from you?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto thought it over as he removed another bracelet and set it aside. He lifted the last of the shelves out of the box and began to dig through the final section looking for something that might fit Hinata.

"Well. She did show me the Omusubi cafe, but Sasuke loves that place more than I do. I enjoy eating there also and make a point of eating there as often as I can because they didn't treat me like dirt, but the old lady at the market by my old apartment still makes hers better." Naruto said with a shrug, "Other than that. I can't say that she has. She does make me food sometimes, and it is always good."

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed when he spotted a very simple necklace. The necklace seemed to be entirely out of place in this jewelry box. Looking over the list, he was surprised to see the necklace mentioned. The necklace had spherical turquoise beads and cube shaped crazy lace agate beads on a steel chain. Naruto felt that this definitely belonged to Jiraiya.

"That's not the same thing kid, and you know it," Jiraiya said while shaking his head, "It's like this. Hinata couldn't help but be jealous because the girl who tried to kill you and was abusive to you during the Academy was able to find something you really enjoy through her own merits while she herself, who has been close to you for much longer I might add, was unable to do the same." Jiraiya stated while studying Naruto's expression.

When no look of comprehension appeared on the blond's face, Jiraiya decided to explain further.

"Let's face it, Naruto. You are not a very open person. If someone is trying to find a way to make you happy, they have to take a guess and hope they are successful." Jiraiya said with a gesture towards the tea Naruto had steeping next to him. "The fact that Sakura was able to introduce you to something new and that you enjoyed it immensely has made Hinata feel like she has lost an opportunity to discover some of your secrets. In some ways, you can say that she feels like she has lost a part of you to Sakura." Jiraiya explained.

"So, you are saying that I won't ever be able to enjoy that place with her because it will remind her of losing? That doesn't make any sense! And it doesn't seem fair honestly." Naruto said with a frown. "There was no way for Sakura to know that I would end up enjoying that place so much and learning about my love for tea when I had no idea about that stuff in the first place."

"Women aren't always fair, kid, you will learn that soon enough," Jiraiya said with a chuckle, "If you just explain everything to her I am sure, with some time, she will be able to enjoy that place with you and not talk so negatively about it. If she doesn't then you might as well kick her to the curb because she is being unreasonably selfish," Jiraiya said succinctly. "A true woman will give you just as much as she takes from you. If either of you seek to skew that balance for too long, your relationship will only go down in flames. Keep that in mind whenever you are involved with a woman and things will turn out just fine."

Naruto nodded before he sat up from his prone position and held out the necklace he was studying to Jiraiya.

The Toad Sannin plucked the simple necklace from his apprentice's hand and studied it briefly. "Huh. This thing certainly seems out of place with all this high class and expensive jewelry." Jiraiya mumbled.

"That's why it's perfect for you, shishō," Naruto said with a smirk.

"What are you trying to say, brat? That I am low class and cheap?" Jiraiya said with a scowl.

"If the geta fits..., seriously, though, that necklace belongs to you," Naruto said firmly.

Jiraiya sighed as he looked over the necklace some more. He had to admit that the feel of the smooth turquoise and blunted edges of the agate felt nice on his fingers, and he couldn't help but feel more confident and secure as he held the necklace in his hand.

"Thanks for this, Naruto. I am glad that you thought of me with this mysterious power of yours." Jiraiya said with a smirk.

His comment may have sounded sarcastic, but by putting the necklace on and tucking it under his gi top right away was a show of his sincerity.

"Your welcome, shishō. I should return the favor after everything you have given me." Naruto said with a soft smile before he turned his attention back to the box and sorted through the rest of the jewelry.

Nothing else seemed to call out to him, so Naruto rearranged everything back the way it was and handed the box to Jiraiya to put his plan into place before settling down to enjoy a nice hot cup of tea.

Jiraiya's plan was to distribute the jewelry to some very high profile geisha and madams making it harder for the Daimyō to recover the items and adding more embarrassment for him.

Plus, Jiraiya would be allowed exclusive access to all the geisha houses and bordellos with the price that some of these jewels went for, but he wouldn't tell Naruto about that part. Unless he sets the boy up to lose his virginity in one, but he would have to decide on that later if Naruto's hormones start getting in the way of his training over the next few years.

 **Six weeks later – Tori no Kuni (Land of Birds)**

* * *

Naruto sat perched on a branch henged as a Sparrowhawk as he watched an Iwa battalion training near a local village on the border of Tsuchi no Kuni and Tori no Kuni. Jiraiya had already scouted this division and determined this would be good practice for Naruto to avoid detection and gather intelligence.

Naruto's job was to collect as much information as he could and compare it with what Jiraiya compiled from observing this group. Plus he was required to learn another jutsu from them just like he had learned the Suiton: Suiben (Water Whip) in Tani.

Naruto was still trying to get the gist of the Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist), but he had not been putting much effort into practicing it recently as his focus was still on Doton level 2, sleep seal, and the crippling seal.

Naruto turned his attention to a chūnin that was being berated by a jōnin. Naruto stretched his hearing out to catch wind of why the jōnin was yelling.

"Masaharu, I don't know how you managed to make chūnin without mastering this technique. This jutsu is a requirement for any loyal Iwa shinobi! How can you expect to take part in the barrage platoon if you can't even provide part of that barrage?" the Jōnin yelled.

"It's not my fault Takeru! I tried to tell my father that I was better off in the blitz division with my Doton: Domu (Iron Skin) and Doton: Kengan no Jutsu (Stone Fist) but he refused to listen. Somehow he reassigned me here instead of in the blitz division. If you can reassign me to that division instead, I would be grateful, and you won't have to go through any more trouble." the chūnin said while fidgeting.

"Oh, just fucking great! I should have known you would be a councilman's son. It's the only way that this kind of oversight could be made." the now identified Takeru sighed before continuing. "Look. I'm sure your quite capable of joining the blitz division, but it will be a lot more trouble for me to get you reassigned. You're just going to have to button up and learn this technique as soon as possible."

The man identified as Masaharu must have had a dejected look on his face since his instructor Takeru seemed to cool off a bit after staring at his student for a minute.

Takeru sighed and rubbed his head in frustration. "Okay. Here is what we'll do to resolve this mess. I'll let the commander know, so he doesn't start riding your ass even more. Your skills will still be useful for our division because we tend to get charged by the enemy anyways, so don't worry about it so much. You'll have plenty of opportunities to kill some tree huggers and cloud heads up close and personal."

"I understand. I will do my best." Masaharu said glumly.

"Listen close I don't want to repeat myself. This technique is the trick to using Doton: Iwadeppō no Jutsu (Rock Gun)..." Takeru then broke down the jutsu in detail while Naruto and Masaharu listened carefully.

'So, that's why I keep failing at the Doton manipulation exercise, I knew I had to create layers and compress them but I must not be making enough layers, or they are too thick.' Naruto thought to himself.

"I think I understand now Takeru. I'm sorry for the trouble that I have caused." Masaharu said apologetically.

"Forget about it Masaharu; it's not your fault. As long as you work hard, I'm sure things will be just fine. I'll speak to the commander about identifying you as our close range support or something along those lines, so the others don't pick on you for not being as efficient at ranged attacks. Now. Let me see you try the jutsu a few times." Takeru said.

Naruto carefully watched Masaharu form the hand seals and try to expel the boulder as instructed. Kurama helped Naruto memorize the hand seals so that he could practice the jutsu later to show Jiraiya that one of his objectives was complete. Naruto realized it would be the first truly offensive Doton jutsu he would have.

After watching the chūnin attempt the jutsu a few more times, Naruto grew bored and turned his full attention to the rest of the group training. Just as he turned his gaze to the others, he caught sight of a small group of chūnin sneaking away from one of their instructors before making their way deeper into the forest surrounding the village.

Naruto took flight and began to circle above the direction that the group of chūnin took. Once Naruto was confident that no one followed the group, he flew off into the forest to find a good spot to observe them.

It took Naruto a little while to locate the group, and when he did, he nearly fell out of his perch. From the distance he was spying from he couldn't tell that the entire group he followed were all kunoichi. The kunoichi had apparently discovered a natural hot spring which they were all bathing in now.

Naruto debated leaving them to it and keeping watch on the rest of the training group, but he remembered what Jiraiya said about how women will talk about everything while sitting in hot springs. Resigned to his fate of emulating his shishō the undercover hawk pressed forward in his task. Hopping up to a higher branch to get a better view, he shimmied his way closer to enter hearing range and keep an embarrassed eye on the kunoichi as they bathed.

Usually, Naruto would have just averted his gaze, but Jiraiya had drilled it into him that not keeping your eye on the target in some manner would cause you to miss valuable information since spies always acted contrary to how they spoke. If you weren't watching the target, you might miss a document exchange or a signal that indicated that the targets were aware of your presence.

Jiraiya's lessons managed to hold truth to them as the conversation evolved from common gossip to a more detailed discussion about the army itself. Naruto learned the name of the battalion that was training currently, which division they were a part of, and how many other battalions were barrage focused within the division these kunoichi were assigned to join. Naruto took a mental note of all that the kunoichi were talking about since it sounded like something important to keep track of for further study.

Once the conversation started to drift into areas that seemed unimportant to him, Naruto made his way back towards the main camp and perched in a tree overlooking the central campfire. Naruto knew better than to get much closer to the main tent as the commander would be highly likely to sense him.

After a few hours of listening to the rest of the battalion, Naruto flew off towards camp to meet up with Jiraiya and relay what he had managed to learn.

Naruto relayed everything he had learned over dinner and was happy to hear that he had satisfied Jiraiya's requirements for completing his training mission. Jiraiya was disappointed that Naruto had not paid more attention to the women bathing in the hot springs, but Naruto just disregarded his lecture as being part of his usual ribbing on him. All of the reasons Jiraiya advocated for studying the women's bodies as they bathed were shallow at best.

Naruto spent the next few days working on mastering Doton: Iwadeppō no Jutsu while his clones continued working on Doton level 2. With the new information he had received from overhearing the Iwa jōnin and chūnin, he was able to help his clones get further along, but they still had quite some way to go before he could master the exercise.

On the other hand, it didn't take him very long to master Doton: Iwadeppō no Jutsu based on comparing his attack with the practicing Iwa-nins. He was satisfied that he had a good attack to use against a Suiton based opponent. All that remained was strengthening his Raiton, and he could be considered well rounded.

Once Naruto had finished mastering his new jutsu, Jiraiya ordered him to pack up camp and summon Gamatatsu for a reverse summons to Myōbokuzan. Once they arrived there, Gamakichi would then reverse summon the duo to Yu no Kuni so that it didn't take them a month of travel to get to their next destination. Yuki no Kuni (Land of Snow)

A few hours later Naruto and Jiraiya disappeared in a cloud of smoke leaving no evidence behind of their presence.

 **Three weeks later – Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Water)**

* * *

Naruto sat in a private hot spring that Jiraiya rented out for Naruto's 14th birthday. Jiraiya was probably out spying on some women for "research" while letting Naruto relax for the rest of the evening.

Besides having a massive feast and receiving a gift of some jutsu scrolls and sake, Naruto had opted not to do much else for his birthday. He wasn't used to celebrating the event, and there wasn't much else to do in Yu no Kuni besides shopping, drinking, or relaxing in a hot spring.

As he sat back and let the hot mineral water soothe his muscles, the content teen closed his eyes and began to reminisce over everything that happened to him the past year.

His training for the chūnin exams. Everything that happened from when Orochimaru marked him up to his disastrous reunion with Makoto. Even the more recent events of his training trip and how he felt about his progress so far.

After Nami no Kuni had had grown so much closer to Team 7 and had inadvertently let them in past his guard. Much more than he had planned. He couldn't deny that he had bonded with them strongly, and was surprised to discover that he wasn't unhappy about that fact like he might have been just two years ago.

Kakashi had shown Naruto the real value of deception and perceptiveness when it came to combat. Before, Naruto could only be convinced to perform any type of deception with a heavy dose of coaxing from Kurama. With Kakashi's training methods, however, deception had subtly worked its way into Naruto's plans just by example. Kakashi also brought out his teasing nature which gave rise to the back and forth arguments he would have with Sasuke, much to Hinata's chagrin.

Sasuke was someone he could grow stronger with and rely on entirely. His attitude was similar to Naruto's own approach, but Sasuke had proven to have a different perspective on how he viewed things which helped Naruto look at things in a different light. Before Team 7, Naruto had a very narrow-minded view of things. With Sasuke's influence, he had slowly begun to understand that there were shades of gray in between the black and the white.

Hinata was the reason Naruto began to open himself up to more of the emotions he tried to suppress within himself. Naruto had developed a healthy fear of the base emotions because of Kurama's lectures, but Hinata had slowly made her way past his defenses and began coaxing these feelings out of him against his will. Naruto found it strange that neither himself or Kurama held resentment towards her for it. Instead, he found himself curious about exploring these feelings but reluctant about embracing them because of nervousness and a little fear. Kurama had simply told him to exercise caution so that he wouldn't lose control of himself.

Then the Chūnin exams came, and Naruto had been feeling very confident in himself and his teammates. In some ways, he had been overconfident because of his growing control over Kurama's chakra. That fact became painfully obvious when Orochimaru showed up and shattered that overconfidence with a healthy dose of humility.

His internal battle with Orochimaru had awakened a darkness inside of him that he didn't admit to anyone. Naruto had been hesitant to kill people unless they were morally bereft and obviously committing serious crimes.

Bandits, thugs, assassins were all targets that Naruto could kill with impunity, but spies, saboteurs, and traitors with a cause were a gray area that would give Naruto pause (unless they were trying to kill him of course). Now, he no longer felt that way.

This darkness only became more prevalent after the events of the invasion. Before, Naruto would have tried to gain help for Makoto like he did with Sakura, but his darker side demanded that he kill her for her treachery.

At that moment, he had no regrets, but when he analyzed what happened, he became deeply unsettled. It had been far too easy for him to embrace and kiss her tenderly while he drove a kunai into her heart.

Then he had killed scores of Root members without a trace of any remorse. He actually took _pleasure_ in killing them. At the time, he was willing to accept the fact that it was simply the synchronization with Kurama that allowed him to kill mercilessly. Now he was not so certain that was the primary cause.

Over the next few days after the invasion, Naruto had feared that he had been more corrupted by Orochimaru's influence then he realized. He had clung to the guilt he had felt for Makoto's death as a way of confirming to himself that he had not become something despicable. Even with the aftermath of his assault looming over him he tried to embrace the fault of what occurred entirely while convincing everyone else that he had begun to recover and no longer felt guilty about it.

Naruto could never hide such things from Kurama but aside from a some encouraging comments, Kurama was content to let Naruto sort these feelings out on his own.

It wasn't until he had his date with Hinata, and tea with Sakura that he had been able to let everything go completely. Naruto realized that not having remorse over killing threats or even people on the wrong side of things had not fundamentally changed him. He was not in danger of becoming a mindless killer who reveled in taking lives regardless if they were innocent or not.

Instead, he was leaving behind his childlike tendencies. He was moving forward into his adult life with a better understanding of reality. A shinobi didn't need to justify the death of his targets to try and shield himself from the fear of consequences. Instead, he would accept what would come and try to prepare accordingly. That was the best way to ensure that he and everyone he cared for came out of a conflict whole.

Naruto had approached his training trip with a determination to remain primarily focused on achieving his goals and become stronger. Nothing else would distract him or come between advancing the plan or gaining the strength to complete it. Taking time out for trivial matters would only slow him down, or sidetrack him, so he had no intention of stopping to smell the roses, so to speak.

Yet, that belief was squashed before it even managed to mature when Naruto met Fū.

Fū's inherent cheeriness and unrelenting determination to befriend everyone and enjoy her life regardless of her circumstances had affected him more than he would like to admit. When coupled with the lecture about the ruined city of Makimuku, the lessons in espionage, and the drunken mishap that occurred in Tanigakure, Naruto realized that the path he had been determined to follow would have made him the emotionless weapon that Danzo had always wanted.

Stopping and taking in one's surroundings was essential to gaining the ability to "adapt on the fly" as Jiraiya had called it. Familiarizing himself on normal human behavior allowed him to gain a better understanding of how people would react or adapt to certain situations. He had never had that opportunity in Konoha because people altered their behavior around him because of Kurama. Taking the time to enjoy his surroundings also helped him keep things in perspective and question his actions to ensure what he was doing was the right choice.

It had been a very long time since he had questioned Kurama's motives on anything. He couldn't even remember when he had last disagreed with Kurama on something completely. Jiraiya had pointed out just how dangerous that belief could be.

Naruto trusted Kurama more than anyone else, and he would never doubt Kurama's intentions or motives, that was a given. Yet, he couldn't dispute that Kurama had only one perspective to work with and had been essentially sequestered from the world for a long time before he awoke in Naruto on the night of the attack.

Naruto needed to provide a different point of view for Kurama to consider. To do so, he would need to take other people's opinions into account as well. Then they would both be able to come up with a plan that worked best for everyone. Naruto still felt Kurama's original plan _was_ the best way for them to fix the problem right now, but perhaps as they gained more knowledge and information about the ancient jutsu, they would be able to find a way that was equally beneficial to everyone.

For Naruto, the risk to himself wasn't even a consideration. When it came to solving the problem, any cost was acceptable. Making an experimental and potentially dangerous jutsu, even more, dangerous was not even a minor concern for him.

How could it be when his father had been willing to pay the ultimate price to save a village? Naruto would not take that option off the table when it came down to saving the entire world.

Perhaps then humanity would not have to pay a steep price, even if they were the primary cause of the problem.


	53. Year 1: Into the Frosty Forest

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edit 4/25/16

 **Chapter 52**

 **Year 1: Into the Frosty Forest**

 **Two days later – Yuki no Kuni (Land of Snow)**

* * *

Naruto and Jiraiya disembarked the airship after it had landed in the capital Hyōga city. The sun had just begun to rise over the city, making Naruto believe it was still early in the morning, but when he saw a clock, he was surprised that it was already 8 am. It was strange to see the sun rise so late. It would be harder for him to gauge the time using the sun in this country.

After displaying their travel papers to the customs samurai, they were allowed to enter the city after being warned about staying within the city limits or traveling only by railroad if they wanted to visit other areas of the country.

Naruto had been excited to ride on the airship. He had spent most of the first day of the flight staring out the windows and watching the land and ocean pass by beneath them, and looking out at the clouds. The rest of that day he was allowed to tour the rest of the ship after Jiraiya slipped the captain an autographed Icha Icha Paradise book.

Watching the engines and pistons as they powered the ship's propellers reminded Naruto about needing to practice his Jiton abilities more. He had spent some time practicing the ability, but he was far from mastering it, based on what Shukaku had mentioned to him.

His chakra string ability was even worse. Granted he had not been able to practice using the chakra strings, beyond creating constructed fishing nets of questionable quality. Naruto believed that he should be more proficient at using the strings effectively. They were a form of advanced shape manipulation of chakra, and he had mastered the Rasengan, which was supposed to be the pinnacle of shape manipulation.

Naruto had difficulty trying to find a situation where the chakra strings would be useful to him in combat, however. The strings could be cut just like any other rope, and they could only reflect chakra draining jutsu. He would have to speak with Jiraiya about their potential use. Kurama had already deemed them useless in his book, but Naruto suspected that he was slightly biased.

After settling down in a diner for a quick breakfast of eggs and bacon, Jiraiya let Naruto loose do some shopping in the city while he picked up provisions and other items. Jiraiya gave Naruto a list of gear he needed to pick up and encouraged Naruto to stock up on any clothing or other items he would need while he was here. Since anything he bought in Hyōga city would be of much higher quality and more advanced than anything he could find in the Elemental Nations it was best to purchase any long term supplies he needed here.

Naruto spent a few hours checking out the various stores and buying a few souvenirs that caught his interest. Amongst those purchases were a model airship, and an object called a snow globe that had a snowy forest inside a globe of water that had sparkly snowflakes that would stir up and drift downwards when you channeled chakra into the base.

Naruto also saw mini clocks called watches that fit in your pocket, wrist, or as an armband and decided to buy one so he could gauge the time more accurately.

At first, he thought to buy one that would go on his wrist or arm, but he realized that it wouldn't take long for the watch to get destroyed in combat and sealing it away would kind of defeat the purpose of having a strap for the wrist in the first place. Instead, Naruto picked one of the pocket watches that had the most interesting design on it.

The bronze pocket watch had a cover that flipped open when you pressed the top, and the timepiece was powered entirely by chakra. Engraved on the cover was a motif of stars of various sizes ringed by crescent moons around the edges. The face of the clock was dark blue, like the sky just before dawn, with bronze notches and arms to signify the hours and minutes. Now he would just have to remember to channel chakra into the watch every night to keep it accurate.

Naruto also picked up a few woolen beanies to keep his head warm, a few pairs of sunglasses to protect against snow blindness or glare, a few egg shaped containers of lip balm to prevent chapping, and some waterproof storage bags to keep all his storage scrolls safe from inclement weather. He would wait to purchase the thermal underwear and scarves when he found a clothing store that he liked.

Naruto was jubilant to see that orange clothing seemed to be highly popular in Yuki no Kuni as there were all kinds of outfits, jackets, and accessories in various shades of orange with different degrees of brightness and made out of materials and cloth the likes of which he had never seen before.

One of the merchants explained that brilliant or vivacious colors were always popular since the country was always covered in snow completely. Flowers were almost impossible to come by, and people longed for bright and festive colors all the time. This particular year orange was in season but next year it would probably change again.

Naruto took his time to browse the different stores. With so many wondrous and different possibilities to choose from he could afford to peruse the various stores at his leisure. Especially since his final choice would need the Kurama stamp of approval. If Kurama complained for several minutes, the outfit was a no go, if he just huffed and told Naruto to do what he wanted then he had a winner.

Finally, Naruto spotted a shirt that passed the Kurama test with ease, and he was satisfied with the choice because the cloth had a unique color that drew him in.

The thick cotton shirt was a very dark gray color with an almost blue tinge to it and sleeves that stopped just above his elbow. The shirt had ¾ inch mandarin orange ovals that ran from the collar to the shoulders on the top, from his upper bicep to the hem of the sleeves, and a wishbone shaped stripe that ran from under his armpit to framing his abs and back. He would miss having the turtle neck of his old shirts, but he could always just have his sweaters or scarves on him if it became cold enough.

There were two different types of matching pants to choose from and after some debate with Kurama; Naruto chose the ¾ length pants instead of the full-length pants because they had a lot more pockets. The cargo pockets on the side had two additional pockets that were similar to a kunai holster that rested over a larger pocket like his old pants.

The pattern of mandarin orange stripes on the pants he decided to choose were in an upside down wishbone pattern with the tip resting on the outer edge of his knee, and the lines curving over his thigh and ending on his waistband directly below the belt loops closest to the zipper.

Naruto was very excited about his new outfit until he checked out the price tag and saw that they were very expensive which dampened his mood quite a bit. Deciding to get one more set in a much larger size so he could still use the same outfit for his future growth, Naruto was surprised to find that every single shirt and pants on the rack were the same size. He spotted a store clerk restocking some clothing racks with new items from a box and approached her with his chosen outfit.

"Excuse me. I was looking for some larger sizes for this outfit. Do you have some in the back?" Naruto asked politely.

The lady looked at Naruto and smiled. "You must be new to Enclosed sweetie. You see, all Enclosed brands utilize proprietary fūinjutsu seals that adjust the size of clothing to fit you automatically."

Naruto was shocked when he heard that. Even after all his studies in fūinjutsu he never even considered making a seal that was able capable of modifying things to that degree.

"Really? I didn't know seals were capable of doing that." Naruto replied.

"No other brand can claim the same." The woman stated with pride. "Enclosed has patented the sealing method that was passed down generations ago from the founder. He had hired one of the Uzumaki clan to create a seal that would keep clothing intact after numerous washes and general aging so that people could enjoy using organic materials instead of synthetic materials which are not as vulnerable to wear and tear. The final result, however, was a much more sophisticated seal that not only allowed the clothing to adjust its size automatically, but to restore itself from wear and tear as well." As the woman was performing her sales pitch, she stretched out a loose knit wool scarf she was wearing before channeling her chakra to demonstrate the seal in action. The scarf immediately returned to its original shape.

"That is why Enclosed brands charge a premium because we can guarantee that the clothing will last longer than your interest in it will, or you will get your money back. So go ahead and pick out anything you like, once you purchase the items, I will have to key them to your body size using a secret method but after that no matter how much you grow or shrink the clothing will always fit." The lady said cheerfully.

"Allow me to provide a further demonstration of how durable and reliable Enclosed brand clothing is so you can make your purchases with confidence." The lady said before she picked up one of the shirts on the rack in front of her and sliced it with a box cutter down the middle.

"As you can see this shirt is completely ruined, but with just a little bit of chakra, it will be as good as new. As you saw with my scarf earlier, it works the same way if the shirt stretches or shrinks due to laundering or wear. Just channel your chakra and it will re-size itself to fit you properly once we key it to your body." The lady said before she channeled chakra into the shirt.

The shirt lit up with tiny complex kanji that spread rapidly throughout the entire shirt before the kanji disappeared and the cut was complete gone. The lady handed the shirt to Naruto to study, and he was amazed that there was no sign that the shirt had damaged at all. The cloth was entirely intact without any blemishes or breaks in the weaving.

"Wow! That was pretty cool ** _!_** Thank you for showing me this. I'm going to pick out a few more selections then. I'll be right back." Naruto said before he turned and went back towards the clothing rack.

Naruto picked up five sets of shirts and pants and made his way over to the accessories to see if he could find the matching arm and leg wraps. While the black wraps he currently had might be suitable enough, he did have to replace them often because of battle damage and regular wear.

As he began browsing through the accessories section, his mind was was running through the technical aspect of a seal that was capable of manipulating cloth in that manner and what other applications it might have.

" **It looked like a very complicated space-time seal that uses focus points applied to the body. Those points would dictate where the cloth should cover and make sure that the dimensions of the shirt match to the designated area. Not unlike the** **Hiraishin** **but for clothing."** Kurama mused.

 _'I still haven't gotten close to understanding that kind of seal, but I think I get the gist of what you are saying. The point is like an area that the shirt needs to be in contact with at all times. If that area moves then technically, the shirt will move with it when the seal is active.'_ Naruto thought.

" **That is correct. I am curious if the cloth has a restriction on how far it can stretch between the default position and the anchor point before it rips. That would be an interesting experiment. You should pick up an extra for us to disassemble and try to figure out how the seal functions."** Kurama added.

 _'At least, I can buy a bunch of these and not worry about replacing them if they get damaged"_ Naruto chirped, _"I guess that is one of the first clues that it had to be space-time based since the only way I could see cloth "repairing" itself.'_

 _'I wonder just how much damage it would take for the seal to falter and if there is any danger of backlash should the seal itself falter, that could be problematic.'_ Naruto thought with a frown, _'I doubt the shopkeeper knows that much but seeing as this section was labeled for shinobi this must have been taken into consideration.'_

" **With the jutsu absorption seal that you learned, we can avoid the most common form of damage you would encounter. That would only leave normal wear and tear or physical damage from weapons and projectiles."** Kurama said.

 _'True. It would be like protecting an investment so to speak.'_ Naruto replied.

Naruto saw some wraps that would be suitable, but Kurama pointed out some arm warmers that looked interesting. Naruto took off one of his arm wraps to try them on and found that he liked the feel of them more than his wraps. These arm warmers covered his hands leaving his fingers exposed with a special hole for his thumb. The arm warmers stretched up to cover his biceps, just like his arm wraps, and it didn't take him several minutes to put them on, which was a bonus.

Initially, Naruto had shied away from arm warmers because they were usually loose and made of flimsy cloth unlike the thick cotton wraps most shinobi preferred. These were much thicker than the wraps and had elastic properties which added compression. His arm already felt warmer, and Kurama commented that his blood and chakra were circulating easier through that arm, which would help him with fatigue and chakra channeling.

Naruto was a little disappointed that there weren't any arm warmers that matched the outfit he picked, but he settled for the black set that had a matching orange oval pattern on the outer edge of his forearm that went from his elbow to the middle of his forearm.

After some more debate, Naruto decided to bite the kunai, and five pairs of the matching leg warmers were thrown into his cart as well. He could imagine how cool the orange oval would look on the side of his calves, and he could always salvage the storage seals from his old leg wraps by cutting them out and sewing them onto his messenger bag somewhere.

He looked over the gear pouches and kunai holsters, but they were lower quality than the bags he had seen in the other stores. There was also a sign stating that no seals were used to protect the holsters or bags, so it seemed pointless to buy any from this store.

The next section Naruto looked over was for jackets and sweaters. After looking at all his options, Naruto decided that all of their selections were not suitable for his combat outfit. None of the jackets or sweaters had ¾ length sleeves so they would block access to his seals. Considering the weather this country was known for, he was not surprised that most of the clothing had full sleeves or no sleeves at all so that they could be used as layers to provide more warmth.

Naruto did find a light jacket that reminded him of his old orange jacket in the Academy, which caused Kurama to growl in annoyance. Instead of having blue shoulders and a thick white collar, this jacket had black shoulders with a bar of black that ran down the center where the zipper was. The collar was still thick wool but sat tight against the neck instead of loose like his old jacket.

Without a moment of hesitation, Naruto picked one up and added it to his collection along with a matching pair of black pants to placate Kurama's growing complaints. This coat would be part of his casual wear once he added all the necessary patches to it.

The next item that he had to pick up were the thermal shirts and pants that Jiraiya wanted him to purchase for when they were out in the countryside. Jiraiya had warned him that his regular clothing and cloak would not be enough to train in the frigid conditions out on the tundra, so he picked out a few pairs of each.

Naruto checked over his cart once more before heading to the sales register to ring up all his purchases. After tallying his selections, the cost came to just shy of 75,000 ryō, which was a majority of the Root money he had stolen from Danzō. It was a lot of money, but Naruto was satisfied with his new choices. All he needed now were some new shoes and his most important purchases were complete.

The lady gathered all but one set of Naruto's clothing and motioned for him to follow her to the back of the store. The shopkeeper showed him to a dressing room and left to get what she needed to adjust the clothing seals while he changed into his outfit. Once Naruto finished dressing, he exited the dressing room and watched as the lady began the process of keying the clothing to him.

"I have to ask you before we start. Are you satisfied with how the clothes are sitting on you right now? If you want the sleeves to be shorter or longer, or any other adjustments, let me know now. Once I key the items, it is not possible to make modifications to them." the lady said.

Naruto thought it over for a minute as he studied himself carefully. "The only changes I would like would be to make the shirt longer at the bottom a bit. Everything else is fine."

"Okay. I'll start the process now," she replied with a smile.

First, she took out a blue colored sealing tag and pressed it directly over the back of his neck where the collar sat before channeling her chakra into it. She repeated the process on the sides and front of his neck before pressing the tag on the very edge of his shoulder before switching to a green tag.

With the green tag, she pressed it at the top of his shoulder, then where the sleeve ended at his elbow, repeating the process on the other side before she asked him to lift his arm. She pressed the tag into his arm pit and pulled the sleeve tautly and pressed the tag where the sleeve ended underneath his elbow.

Next, she used a white tag and pulled the bottom of the shirt, so it sat a few inches below his waist instead of directly on his waist. She repeated the process on each hip and the back before channeling chakra into the shirt. The shirt adjusted to the correct length in less than a minute.

For the pants, she repeated the process with the blue tag marking his waistband, the green tag marking his inseam, which made Naruto blush, and his outer leg measurements. The white tag marked the bottom hem on each pant leg where it sat against his upper calves.

Finally, the woman marked the arm and leg warmers with a gray colored tag marking the outer, inner, top and bottom points of his wrists, elbow, and biceps for the arms. Then she marked the leg warmers, tagging them in the same manner on the ankles, the center of his calves, and just below the knee.

The woman instructed Naruto to change back into his normal clothes as she laid out the matching pairs he had chosen on a table near the dressing room. When he came out, he handed her the clothing he had tried on and watched as she set the marked items directly over each set of unmarked items and used a yellow tag to mark all the locations.

After completing her tagging job, she folded and bagged all the items he had bought before pulling out a small pamphlet from her apron pocket and stuffing it into the bag. She explained how the booklet provided more details on how the seals worked, and the proper care for his new clothing as well as an address to send any returns or defective items for a refund or a new item of his choice if he wasn't able to return the to the store directly for some reason.

The lady thanked Naruto for shopping at the store as he departed with a smile on her face. Naruto had given her quite the commission for the day. It was very rare to see a young boy shopping on his own, and she liked the style the boy picked out for himself.

Kurama was studying the areas that were marked on Naruto's body to create the focus points for his clothing and was not surprised to find micro-seals on his body. The seals were protected from all chakra and applied to bone or deep in the flesh if there was no bone in that area.

Kurama began running tests against these seals and was satisfied that there would be no catastrophic damage or chance of failure from them. He even flooded one directly with a concentrated burst of his chakra and was impressed that the seal was able to withstand the assault of bijū chakra directly. Somehow the seals had taken on the ever-increasing resilience to his chakra from Naruto's muscle and bone tissue. After deeming the seals as no threat to his kit, he began reviewing Naruto's memories of the lady tagging the clothing for adjustment to see if he could determine how the seal worked.

Kurama would still need Naruto to test out using his initial jinchūriki stage on the clothing, but he was confident that the seals would hold up since the anchor seals were capable of withstanding his chakra. It would only make sense for the linked seals to function in the same manner.

Naruto browsed a couple of shoe stores but was disappointed to find no shinobi boots or sandals. Once again the perpetual winter environment worked against his favor since he liked some of the styles they had. He understood the advantages of closed toe boots, but it was much easier to channel chakra to your foot with sandals.

That was the reason why the vast majority of shinobi used open toed shoes despite the threat to their toes. While closed toe shoes had been created with chakra conductive materials, they were still not as durable as most combat sandals and were twice as expensive. Only the Daimyō's guards and samurai tended to lean towards such footwear.

Eventually, Naruto found a pair of black closed-toe combat boots with chakra conductive wires embedded into the thick rubber soles. Some brief testing revealed that while not as good as regular combat sandals when it came to chakra conductivity, the boots were better than any of the other shoes available for purchase and far better than the boots he had bought in Tani for use in snowy weather.

After his footwear was purchased all that remained of his shopping spree were the acquisition of several scarves that were black, black and dark gray, and dark gray with small orange stripes. He also picked up a larger black leather shuriken pouch. Naruto liked the pouch since it had a divider in the middle to separate tools from shuriken. The larger bag sat across his entire lower back and was almost three times the size of his regular hip pouch. Finally, he picked up a new kunai holster to match.

Naruto sealed all his shopping bags away into a storage scroll that he placed into his messenger bag. He had done enough shopping for the day, and anything else that he would buy would be better left off purchasing before he returned to Konoha. Maybe he could convince Jiraiya to come back here right before they return so he could see some of the newer stuff they have.

Naruto met up with Jiraiya at the inn and was about to unpack, but Jiraiya halted him.

"Don't bother unpacking. We are heading out into the backcountry where I have a cabin prepared for our training. For the next few months we are going to focus on your basics when the weather is clear, and fūinjutsu when we are snowed in. This schedule will lay a good foundation for moving into the advanced levels of your taijutsu styles and ensure that your bukijutsu remains up to snuff." Jiraiya said.

"I'm ready when you are, shishō," Naruto said.

"Good, I want you to leave a Kage Bunshin here with a good amount of chakra. Your clone should be instructed to simply follow mine and dispel once mine dispels. Once that is set up, we are going to leave the room using henges and make our way out of the city on foot. If we move fast enough, we should be able to throw off the samurai who are guarding the city right now." Jiraiya said.

Naruto nodded and created a supercharged Kage Bunshin, who promptly moved over towards a chair to sit down to wait. The clone decided to pick up the information guide provided with the room and read up on the country. Jiraiya's Kage Bunshin made its way over to the bed and promptly laid out on it with a scowl on its face.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Jiraiya's sullen clone but after a minute, he realized that the clone was probably upset that it would have to remain in the room until tomorrow. Jiraiya tossed a notebook onto the bed where the clone laid before speaking.

"Don't leave to do any research, but you can start working on the next few chapters. Just remember to summon a toad and give them the notebook before you leave for the train station tomorrow." Jiraiya said.

Naruto huffed when he saw the clone perk up before snatching up the notebook and began writing enthusiastically with a perverted grin on its face. After that, Naruto and Jiraiya used Henge to leave the hotel and make their way towards the outskirts of the city.

As they neared the city exit, they ducked into an alley and used Tōton Jutsu (Transparent Escape) to bypass the gates without the samurai noticing their departure. Jiraiya led Naruto down the road for half a mile before they reached a frozen river.

Jiraiya left the road and began trekking up the frozen river for a few hours until they neared a small group of snow covered buildings. Naruto could smell a lot of dogs and a few people ahead which piqued his curiosity.

Jiraiya made his way towards the smaller house and rapped on the door a few times. Not long afterward, the door swung open to reveal a tall young man with dark brown hair and light brown eyes wearing a thick fur-lined black parka and dark green pants tucked into fur lined black boots.

"Ah Jiraiya, so you did show up this time when you didn't come last month I thought you were going to flake out on me again." The man stated.

"I'm sorry about that, Souta, but my apprentice Naruto was learning some valuable lessons during his stay in one of the villages, so I decided to extend our stay longer instead. Naruto, this is Souta. He will be taking us to my remote cabin using his dog sled." Jiraiya said.

Souta began to speak again, but Jiraiya interrupted him. "Don't worry, I know it is more of a pain for you and the dogs to head out to the cabin this time of year, but I've brought along double of what you would usually request for a trip like this," Jiraiya said.

"Alright Jiraiya, let's see what you have brought. If it is enough to keep my dogs safe for the trip, then I'll take you, otherwise you will have to wait for the partial thaw come spring." Souta said with a frown before turning his attention to Naruto. "It's nice to meet you, Naruto,"

"Nice to meet you as well, Souta," Naruto added politely.

The man named Souta stepped aside and let Naruto and Jiraiya enter his small home. The home was a small studio, without any dividers or walls for the small dining area/kitchen, or the bed where the man slept. Naruto guessed that the only other door led to the bathroom for the house since there wasn't room for much else.

Jiraiya removed the giant scroll off his back, that looked like the Toad Summoning contract, only to reveal that it was one big giant sealing scroll. Inside he activated two arrays to reveal two large sealing scrolls and handed them over to Souta.

Souta took one of the large sealing scrolls and rolled it out on his bed before he placed his hand over the seal and spent a few minutes concentrating heavily until the seal finally revealed all kinds of strange items Naruto had not seen before.

 _'That sure took him a long time to activate. I wonder if something was wrong with the scroll?'_ Naruto thought.

" **No. That mortal is like those filthy civilians of your village. He had very little chakra to begin with, and it took him a good 1/3 of his chakra to activate the scroll."** Kurama said.

 _'I guess that is why it took him so long to channel his chakra then. I'm surprised that he even learned at all. Perhaps shishō is the one that taught him?'_ Naruto replied as he watched the man study the items he revealed with interest.

"I like what I see so far, Jiraiya, if you throw in another empty sealing scroll of this size, then you have yourself a deal. I know it is dangerous for me to use too many of them, but it really makes things easier on my dogs when I have to resupply. Considering the situation in the country right now, I would rather take the risk and be able to have several months of supplies." Souta said.

"Sure thing, Souta. I knew you would like those dog jackets and booties, so I even threw in a few extras for each of your team. You shouldn't have to replace them for some time. Plus, there are at least several large tubs of those special dog biscuits you asked for." Jiraiya said.

Souta looked out the window for a moment to gauge the time, but it was difficult for him since some clouds had started to roll in.

"I'll get the dogs outfitted and harnessed as fast as I can, but it looks like there might be a storm moving in soon. I might have to stay a few days by the looks of it." Souta said before gathered a large portion of the gear he had unsealed.

"You might as well start getting acclimated with the dogs since it will be a few days journey. While they are well trained, it doesn't hurt to get them used to your smell." Souta said before he moved towards the door.

Jiraiya jumped ahead to open the door for him since he was laden down with dog equipment. Naruto saw Jiraiya make a subtle motion with his head and followed out after the two men as they left the house and made their way to the larger building. Once Souta opened the door to the larger building, Naruto could immediately hear all the dogs yipping and growling sensing newcomers.

"Oi! Hibiki, help me with this gear would ya? I need to make a north ridge run. Who do you think is ready?" Souta asked.

Another man stuck his head up from one of the dog kennels and looked over at the group. This man was an elderly man with graying hair and dark skin that was wrinkled from age and sun exposure.

"A north ridge run you say? I think there is enough for a group to run that route if you don't mind taking the pups. I have finished the vaccinations for the most part, but half the kennel needs their vitamins still. If you can make do with a 12 dog set instead of 16, then the young ones should be ready to go. You should take Daisuke and Hiro as the lead with that group, though, to keep them in line." The man named Hibiki said as he came over and took some of Souta's burden off his arms.

"This will be as good a time as any to take the young ones out. It should be a good experience." Souta said.

Souta and Hibiki set out the dog jackets and booties in a line before Souta went back over towards Jiraiya and Hibiki picked up some leashes and walked further down the line of kennels.

"Hibiki will bring the dogs out. The main thing you should remember is to stand tall and proud; these are mostly young males, so it is good to establish dominance over them by showing a proud and fearless posture. The dogs are well trained, so you won't have to worry about them biting you entirely, but they might snap at you or try and snatch some of your food while you are distracted out on the trail if you don't present yourself as being above them." Souta explained.

 _'Great. It's like dealing with Kiba in the Academy all over again. I wonder if I will have to kick any of their asses or flare your chakra to put them in line.'_ Naruto thought glumly.

Kurama huffed in amusement, **"I bet these animals submit to you right away since they have more intelligence than that dog breath."**

 _'Still, it will be interesting to ride on an actual dog sled.'_ Naruto replied.

Hibiki came back with six dogs on leashes and ordered them to sit one at a time. The dogs seemed to be familiar with the routine for the most part, and all sat down behind the jacket and booties laid out on the ground.

Souta and Hibiki began placing a harness on each dog followed by the jackets and booties that Jiraiya had bought.

All of the dogs were quite large with pointed ears and very fluffy coats complete with tails that curled to touch their backs. A few of them looked to be almost twice the size of the others and far more muscular. Naruto was able to pet a few of the dogs while they were waiting to be dressed up for the sled and they all seemed quite friendly.

"Naruto, if you aren't wearing your thermals you will want to change into those and make sure you have the scarves, gloves, and hat close at hand for once we are on the sled," Jiraiya said.

Naruto nodded before he removed the sealing scroll he had and laid it out on a nearby table to reveal his shopping bags. He had kept the thermals he had purchased after they were marked by the saleswoman since he had felt the icy gusts of wind when they first landed, even with his Tani cloak.

Naruto set aside a hat, the sunglasses, gloves, and a thick black and gray scarf before putting them all on. He also took the time to remove one of the waterproof bags out before he sealed all the shopping bags back into the scroll. After that was done, he put all of his storage scrolls into the waterproof bag and stuffed it back into his messenger bag.

Once Naruto was finished stowing away his gear, he noticed Hibiki and Souta were gearing up six more dogs. After 15 minutes they finished preparing the dogs to be hitched to the sled and guided them outside. Naruto decided to follow and watch them set up the sled out of curiosity. Jiraiya was merely leaning back against the wall of the kennel while scribbling in his notebook.

Naruto saw the long sled was tied to a few ropes that were staked into the ground. As Hibiki was attaching the harnessed dogs to the tow line, Souta was explaining the layout to Naruto and how individual dogs had different roles to play based on their position in the line.

"These dogs seem different from most of the dogs I have seen," Naruto commented.

"That is because these dogs are all from the other continent where I first learned about sled dogs." Souta said proudly, "While there are some dogs here in the Elemental Nations that are capable of pulling sleds like this, the reason you do not see them so often is because those breeds are not able to work well in large groups. These dogs are used to remaining in large packs and working together." Souta explained.

Naruto noticed that the dogs started to get louder with their barking. They were even jumping and pulling on the sled. Their tails were all wagging, and some were even starting to howl in excitement.

"The dogs seem excited to go. Do they really enjoy pulling the sled so much?" Naruto asked.

"Yes." the musher said with confidence. "For hundreds of years, these dog's ancestors were used for this very purpose on the other continent by ancient tribes. The dogs I purchased are descendants of one of the most ancient lines of dogs available. The ancient tribes relied on dogs to track down and carry the large bears or whales that they hunted for food and help them haul their catches back to their villages. It was not uncommon for those ancient tribes to have to travel hundreds of miles to track the bears or reach the sea to hunt the whales. These dogs could make that journey in just a day." Souta replied.

" **Hmph. It seems that humanity has been active on the other continent longer than I suspected. It makes me wonder how the mortal filth had even managed to spread that far."** Kurama grumbled.

"Wow. That is pretty far. They would have to move pretty fast and all while carrying a lot of weight I imagine." Naruto said thoughtfully.

"Yea. They can carry almost 800 lbs if it were necessary, but it would slow down the distance they could travel because they would need breaks more often." Souta replied.

Naruto nodded, it only made sense if they had to carry more weight they would need to rest more.

"Could you help me seal up the needed food and treats to take on our trip? Souta asked.

Naruto nodded. He saw how long it took Souta to unseal an item; he could only imagine how long it would take him seal up a lot of items.

"Thank you. Those buckets of biscuits that Jiraiya brought should do nicely." Souta pointed to the bags of food that Hibiki was stacking next to the buckets, "These dogs require a lot of calories to pull the sled, and it is easier to cover more distance and keep them healthy if we take enough quick breaks with high-calorie treats." Souta explained

"It's no problem," Naruto said before heading over and sealing up all the dog food and treats into the large storage scroll Jiraiya had given Souta.

Soon the sled was loaded down with all the necessary storage scrolls, cushions, and blankets needed for the journey and Souta instructed Jiraiya to sit first while Naruto sat in front of him with a bucket of treats in front of him. Souta then made them put on their hats, glasses, and pull the hoods of their cloaks up before he swaddled them with the blankets.

After that, Souta prepared himself for the journey in a similar faction before taking his position at the rear of the sled. Once Souta tugged one of the lines loose, Naruto could feel the sled lurch slightly, and the dogs began baying louder. Souta stepped into position and let the final line free, and the sled started to move forwards suddenly as all the dogs leaped into action and began pulling the sled energetically.

Naruto was glad Jiraiya had made him purchase more scarves and the glasses once they hit the open tundra, there was not enough cloud cover to block the sun, and the glare of the sun off the snow and ice was very bright.

Naruto had to pull his scarf up over his face and pull the cloak hood tighter down over his eyes to keep the chilly wind off of his face.

The dogs were pulling the sled fairly quickly and seemed more than willing to continue on even when Souta called for the first rest three hours later. Naruto helped Souta give two biscuits each to the dogs while they rested and some frozen chunks of fish and meat to serve as a source of fluid and protein. Souta had explained that the dogs would not drink water in freezing temperatures, instead getting hydrated off of the fluids in the frozen meat and fish provided.

The group traveled in much of the same fashion for the rest of the day and a few hours after nightfall before they reached a cave that was suitable for setting up camp. The cave was too small to establish a fire safely, so Naruto was resigned to eat a few ration bars for dinner washed down with some snow melted via Katon chakra. Jiraiya opted to take watch the whole night and rest during the trip tomorrow, so Naruto settled down in his sleeping bag next to Souta with the dogs surrounding them for warmth.

Souta roused everyone early in the morning and set out once more to keep ahead of the incoming storm. By mid-afternoon, they had left the vast empty tundra like terrain behind and entered a forest of black pine, white pine, and large gnarled oak trees. The dogs picked their way carefully through the forest until they reached the foot of a large mountain range.

Naruto was intrigued by the steam filled canyon that they were approaching. The sled pulled to a stop at the entrance allowing Naruto to disembark and peer into the shrouded canyon. He was able to make out the outline of a moderate sized cabin that sat on stilts over part of a large hot spring. Naruto used a quick Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) to blow the steam away and find a path through the hot springs.

There was a small path, barely visible, on the side of the canyon that led towards the cabin.

The cabin itself was a simple log cabin without any windows, with two small capped pipes emerging from the snow covered roof to serve as a chimney. Next to the cabin was a small covered deck with large stacks of firewood underneath and a small stairway that led directly into the hot spring itself.

Naruto turned around when Jiraiya called out to him. Jiraiya motioned towards him to help unload the large storage scrolls so that Souta could unhitch the dogs. As Naruto moved back towards the sled, the wind began to pick up suddenly.

"Look's like the storm is hot on our heels. We better hurry and get the fire started, and the dogs settled." Jiraiya said.

"It won't take me too much longer to unhitch the dogs but are we gonna settle them inside or on the deck?" Souta asked.

"You tell me, Souta. Will it be safe enough outside for them? We can get the fire pit going outside also but who knows how it will hold up in a storm. It might be suitable if we move some of the firewood to act as a temporary buffer." Jiraiya replied.

"If you are willing to wet some of your firewood to build a buffer, then they should be okay. I'll just have to check on them a few times during the night and make sure they don't get buried." Souta said.

"Alright. Naruto, go ahead and take those scrolls to the cabin. Start piling up the firewood around the edges of the deck to make a small wall around four feet high. There should be enough clearance around the fire pit to start a fire there for the dogs once you have the walls piled up." Jiraiya instructed.

Naruto nodded and set off towards the cabin with the large storage scrolls. After setting the scrolls down on the stoop, Naruto created ten Kage Bunshin to start piling the wood along the edges of the deck. Once that was completed, he stacked a good amount of very thick logs into the fire pit. Using a low powered Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) to ignite the wood and warm the area up for the dogs to settle in.

Soon Souta led the dogs into their temporary shelter and nodded his approval. Once all the dogs were situated and fed, the entrance way was sealed up with logs, and the sled was covered with a tarp next to the side of the cabin.

Jiraiya opened the door to let everyone in, and Naruto studied the interior as the two men moved around unloading supplies and making the cabin ready for inhabitance. There was a good sized kitchen with a wood burning stove. There was a small dining table with some cushions laid out next to it, and the living room was primarily furniture free with only a few rugs laid out around a smaller wood burning stove that doubled as a heater.

Naruto looked down the hall to see a small bathroom and two rooms.

"Shishō, how does this place have running water?" Naruto asked with some surprise.

"Through the wonders of fūinjutsu of course!" Jiraiya said with one of his usual Kabuki poses and a grin. "There is a large lake not far above us that feeds the underground rivers around here. I just placed a storage seal on a large rock and threw it into the lake. That seal is linked with the seals on the faucets and toilet here so that the lake water will pour in once they are activated. The hardest thing was redirecting all the drains so that they led away from the hot springs here and into the underground river beneath the other side of this canyon here." Jiraiya said proudly.

"That is pretty cool, shishō. I bet with a little more effort; we could make some seals that store Raiton chakra to use as electricity." Naruto said eagerly, as he pondered the possibilities.

"That would be pretty tough to do if you don't have a Raiton affinity. Most appliances require a precise and steady voltage, so they don't become damaged. That is the main reason I didn't even bother to attempt it when I built this place." Jiraiya said.

Jiraiya got the fires started in both of the wood burning stoves to start heating up the cabin while Naruto began unpacking their food provisions. Naruto grimaced as he stored away all the dried, canned, and pickled meats and vegetables. At least, Jiraiya had the sense to stock up on a generous amount of instant miso, chicken, and shrimp broth to add more flavor to their meals. It also appeared that Jiraiya had stockpiled a good amount of various flavored green teas so they wouldn't be stuck drinking just water during their stay.

Once the pantry and living room was set up, Naruto decided to unpack his clothing and toiletries in the smaller room since Jiraiya had planned to remain in Yuki for at least six months. Naruto was eager to wear his new clothes and test out the seals, but Kurama convinced him to wear out his older gear first. It wouldn't be long before he began to outgrow what he had now.

By the time Naruto returned to the living room both of the fires were burning steadily and the living room of the cabin began to warm. Jiraiya had already set a large pot of rice to cook while he prepared a canned chicken and some canned vegetables in a roasting pan to bake.

The group settled down to wait for their dinner to cook with some quiet conversation about Yuki no Kuni itself and the royal family.

 **Three Days Later**

* * *

Naruto was outside with Souta, helping him dig out the sled from beside the cabin. The storm that swept through had been very violent. While the cabin had been spared from the worst of the winds because of the high canyon walls surrounding them, the snowfall had been unusually heavy for the past few days.

The temperature had dropped enough that the dogs had to be let inside on the second day to prevent them from freezing overnight. It had been an interesting experience for Naruto when he had to lead the dogs away from the cabin to answer the call of nature the next morning. It was the first time Naruto had experienced white-out conditions, but his senses were able to prevent him from becoming lost.

Now the storm had settled completely, and Souta was ready to leave once the sled was free of its snowy tomb. After an hour of clearing out the snow, the sled was freed, and Souta wasted no time in hitching up the dogs and preparing to set out.

"During this time of year, the storms will roll in every few days without warning. It's best that I head out now before the break in the weather changes." Souta explained.

After a half hour, the dogs were hitched, and farewells were made before Naruto and Jiraiya watched Souta disappear into the small forest surrounding the canyon. Jiraiya told Naruto to gather all his kunai and shuriken to practice his accuracy for the rest of the day.

Leading his apprentice away from the cabin and to a small clearing in the forest, Jiraiya moved to set the training ground up as Naruto took in his surroundings. There were numerous weather-beaten stumps and wooden targets tied to various posts and nearby trees. The targets surrounded the clearing at various heights, sizes, and distances. Jiraiya moved about covering all the wooden targets with colored paper targets. The paper targets had a red circle as the bulls eye, surrounded by a blue circle which was surrounded by a larger yellow circle. Finished in his task, the Sannin made his way back towards the center of the clearing before sweeping some of the snow off of a nearby fallen log and settling down.

"I want you to start with shuriken first. Focus on grouping clusters of three volleys on each target without hitting the same target twice. When I call out a direction like back, right, or left, you will throw your shuriken at an unused target in that direction. If your shuriken lands outside of the blue circle at all, you will have start over again." Jiraiya said.

Naruto looked around the clearing to study all the targets before responding. "That doesn't seem to be too difficult, shishō."

"You're getting ahead of yourself there, brat. I will also time how long it takes you to successfully hit all targets without missing. Every time you complete this exercise, you will need to beat your previous time, or you will have to start over again." Jiraiya said with a smirk.

"I understand, shishō," Naruto said with a slight frown.

Naruto knew he could hit all the targets from the center of the clearing, but keeping his shuriken in tight clusters would be a problem if he was forced to rush. Truthfully, Naruto didn't see the real value of this exercise.

Most shinobi avoided tight clusters of shuriken easily. Scattering a larger area with projectiles would throw them off guard, and lead them in a direction. While shuriken could be deadly, there were only a few very small vital points that you had to hit in order to achieve the kill shot. Most of the time they were used as a distraction or to prevent someone from finishing their hand seals. Still, there must be a reason that Jiraiya was making him practice this type of skill, so he didn't mention his doubts. Instead, he opted to contemplate on ways that this exercise could be beneficial to him in a real fight.

"Okay, time starts now!" Jiraiya shouted out.

Naruto sent the first volley of shuriken towards the furthest target in front of him before spinning to the right at Jiraiya's order to throw another cluster. Immediately after he threw the second volley, Jiraiya called out for a target behind Naruto.

Naruto spun around and sent his next wave of shuriken to the nearest target behind him, following up with another cluster to his left. Naruto cursed under his breath as one of the shurikens landed outside of the blue circle. Naruto moved to gather his shuriken before settling back in the throwing area and waited to begin the exercise once more.

It took Naruto almost a dozen attempts before he managed to complete the training to Jiraiya's satisfaction with a time of 15 minutes and 25 seconds. Jiraiya had him complete the exercise twice more successfully before he would allow Naruto to move onto the kunai exercise which was more difficult. In the end, Naruto was forced to do the exercise, at least, six more times before he was able to beat his previous time twice more.

The kunai practice was similar to the shuriken one except for the fact that Jiraiya required all of the kunai to hit the bulls eye directly. This exercise turned out to be much easier for Naruto to complete as he was more proficient with throwing kunai consistently. Throwing tight clusters of shuriken had always been more of a challenge for him. In the end, Naruto was required to repeat the exercise five times to get faster times consecutively for successful completions.

"Not too shabby there, Naruto, but you should know that you will need to complete this exercise in under 8 minutes three times for the Jōnin exam," Jiraiya informed him.

Naruto just nodded as he caught his breath. He was surprised that he had gotten winded by spinning around and throwing kunai. After his high altitude training in Yama no Kuni with an increase to his gravity seal, nothing had seemed to affect his stamina anymore. Perhaps he should dedicate some time in his workout to include bukijutsu going forward. If displaying this type of skill with projectiles was required for the Jōnin test, then he would have to keep that skill sharp.

Naruto wondered if he could get away with using his Jiton Release (Magnet) on the bukijutsu tests. The small amount of training he had done after first meeting with Shukaku had helped him gain some proficiency with altering the course of his thrown weapons, but he wouldn't consider it mastered just yet. Naruto wouldn't consider the ability mastered until he was able to manipulate magnetic fields around non-magnetic items without needing to focus heavily on the task. Naruto watched as Jiraiya put new paper targets up over the old ones. When Naruto spotted the faint seal arrays on these new targets, he decided to use Jiton for this exercise to see how Jiraiya would react.

"Okay. We will start with the shuriken again. The exercise will remain the same, however, this time, one of the targets may become a friendly target instead. If you see a target turn green, you better not hit it at all. If you do hit a friendly target, not only will I decrease your time of completion by 15 seconds, but you will have to do 50 push-ups with me on your back before you start the next attempt." Jiraiya said cheerfully.

"I understand, shishō," Naruto said glumly. This round was going to suck even if Jiraiya allowed the use of Jiton.

Using Jiton on the exercise now would only make it more difficult since the projectiles would be moving at a much faster rate. He could veer the shuriken off target, but then he would have to run around collecting them in the forest and might lose a lot of them in the snow. Still, he really should practice it under some pressure before he has to rely on it in a combat situation.

Naruto took a deep breath and drew on the Jiton chakra inside of him, causing his eyes to become lined with a black outline similar to Gaara's eyes. He looked over to Jiraiya and nodded before he took a ready stance and patiently waited for the start of the exercise.

'So he is finally going to use the gift from the Ichibi. This should be exciting to watch.' Jiraiya thought.

Jiraiya prepared to form different hand seals to activate the seals on the individual targets. Each target had a different sequence of one or two hand seals to activate the light seal stored on them.

With the first series prepared, he called out for Naruto to start before activating a seal at random.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and charged all the shuriken in his pouch with Jiton chakra while waiting for the first target to light up. As soon as the furthest target turned green, Naruto launched the cluster of shuriken towards the second furthest target and focused on maintaining a tight formation while they flew. Before that group could hit the target, Jiraiya was already calling out the next direction.

Naruto turned and flung the next group of shuriken out towards an unlit target. Naruto could feel the first group hit the target successfully, so he turned his focus to the second group, using the Jiton chakra to speed up their flight and keep the cluster compact during the trip.

Jiraiya called out the next direction at the same time as he lit up the next target. He continued this pattern a few more times before grinning slightly and delaying lighting up the target, while calling out the next direction faster than the previous one.

As Jiraiya called out each direction faster, and faster, Naruto was having trouble maintaining his concentration on the shuriken in flight that were being controlled by his magnetic fields. It was harder for him to keep the tight formation, and increase the speed of the projectiles while maintaining accuracy at the same time.

When Jiraiya called out the next direction, Naruto immediately sent out the next group of shuriken out of reflex since his focus was still on speeding up the last group of shuriken with his Jiton chakra. Jiraiya smirked and lit up the target he was aiming at to see how Naruto would react.

'Shit!' Naruto thought before he focused on swerving the cluster of shuriken away from the target. His reaction time was too slow, and he forgot to slow the shuriken down, unfortunately, so one of the shurikens hit the target dead on while it's partners hit off to the side of the target.

"Awww. How unfortunate. It looks like your little hime might have just taken a shuriken to her throat. Yep. That one would definitely be fatal." Jiraiya crowed in amusement as he studied the target Naruto hit.

Naruto just scowled before he dropped to the ground and set himself into a push-up position. Jiraiya barked out a laugh before he casually strolled over and sat heavily on Naruto's back. Naruto groaned at the added weight but managed to keep himself off of the ground.

"Let's go, brat. Count them out and make it quick. Your next round has to be completed in 11 minutes and 27 seconds now.

'This is going to suck. He is obviously planning on making my arms tired, throwing off my speed and accuracy even more.' Naruto thought.

" **Hmph. Do you want to sync with me to increase your reaction time? I can help you manage the Jiton chakra more effectively."** Kurama offered.

 _'Oh! I didn't realize you had awoken, Kurama. Since he didn't say anything about me using my Jiton for the exercise, I might as well.'_ Naruto replied with disguised glee. With Kurama's help, he would definitely succeed, and Jiraiya wouldn't be able to get his kicks of hazing him.

Naruto continued to struggle through the push ups with Jiraiya on his back while he drew on his bond with Kurama and connected with him as much as possible. The usual transformation took place, with his eyes became darker blue with slit pupils, his whisker marks darkened, and his canines grew larger than normal. Naruto began pushing through the rest of his push ups at a much faster rate which caused Jiraiya to become suspicious.

When Naruto finished the last push up, Jiraiya told him to collect his shuriken before starting the next attempt. Jiraiya watched Naruto carefully as he went to each target and pulled out his shuriken before moving back to the throwing area. As Naruto walked back towards Jiraiya, he noticed the changes in Naruto's face and eyes.

'So he synchronized with the Kyūbi now. I don't like the fact that he is doing this but I know trying to stop him from using it will only cause conflict. I don't want him to rely on this sync, but at the same time, I am curious about how much he will improve.' Jiraiya thought.

Naruto got set in his ready stance and nodded to Jiraiya that he was ready before turning his focus back to the targets. Charging his shuriken with Jiton chakra, he tensed in preparation for the command to start.

Jiraiya called out to start and began calling out directions much faster than before. He continued the previous pattern of lighting up a target at the same time that he called out a new direction, before suddenly delaying the target light by a few seconds.

Naruto made the same mistake as the first attempt but this time, he was able to redirect the shuriken in flight to hit a different target. While he was able to maintain the grouping, one of the shuriken went wide missing the center by a small margin.

As the exercise continued, Naruto found it much easier to manipulate multiple groups of shuriken with Jiton chakra in flight, while still focusing on target switching and avoiding friendly targets. Soon the force driving his shuriken became strong enough to almost drive the shuriken through the posts and trees holding the targets in place.

Naruto still had trouble preventing himself from jumping the gun when Jiraiya called out a direction, and there was no friendly target lit up. With each attempt, Kurama's infinite patience began to set in, and Naruto began to hold back his reflex when he didn't see a flash of green as he turned to face the new targets.

Finally, the last target was impaled with his shuriken and Naruto turned to see what Jiraiya's verdict was. Naruto felt like he had completed the exercise much faster than before, and he hadn't triggered any of the conditions to require another restart.

Jiraiya merely hummed as he studied some of the targets, leaving Naruto in suspense.

'Damn some of those shuriken will not be recovered. They are driven far too deep into the post to be fished out. I suppose he could dig them out with a kunai, but it would be a wasted effort. His concentration and accuracy became much sharper when he synced with the Kyubi but is it worth the change in personality?' Jiraiya thought before turning to face Naruto.

"Nice job, Naruto. You almost shaved a whole minute off your previous time. It looks like some of your shuriken are a loss now." Jiraiya said.

"Thank you, shishō. I was trying to focus on speeding up the flight time of my shuriken with Jiton. These are all my older shuriken, so I don't care about losing them that much and I have a scroll filled with extras." Naruto said with a soft smile before suddenly he frowned, "Is it a problem for me to do that?"

"No. No. It's not an issue at all, Naruto. As long as you have plenty of replacements, then I am fine with it. You will just have to saw new targets from one of these logs here since the old ones will become useless soon." Jiraiya said with a smirk.

"Very well, shall we continue with this exercise now or should I replace the targets first?" Naruto asked with a frown.

He wasn't looking forward to having to split logs again.

"I don't think you need to replace them just yet. Besides, you have a new time to beat so let's get to it." Jiraiya said with clap of his hands.

Naruto collected all the shuriken he was able to recover before heading back to the throwing area and unsealing more shuriken from a storage scroll. Sending a nod to Jiraiya, Naruto waited for the signal to start the next round.

As he began his second attempt at this new exercise, he finally understood the real purpose behind it. First: Identifying and attacking targets in a quick and efficient manner was important in a life or death situation. Second: Remaining calm and focused even when the pressure is on.

Being able to turn quickly and distract an attacking opponent with a quick volley of shuriken was more than enough to throw them off of their rhythm even if they could deflect the projectiles easily. If his opponent lost their rhythm, they would reveal openings in their defenses for him to exploit.

It was also important to hone your reflexes to react quickly, but not at the cost of being jumpy around allies, so when the pressure was on it was important to quickly identify the threats and attack if necessary.

Naruto was able to complete the exercise two more times without failing thanks to his sync with Kurama. Before they could begin on the kunai training, however, the sun began to set, and Jiraiya called off practice in favor of returning to the cabin and having a nice soak in the hot springs before the sun set completely and it became too cold.


	54. Year 1: White Revolution

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be depictions of violence in this chapter.

Edit 4/25/16

 **Chapter 53**

 **Year 1: White Revolution**

 **Two weeks later – Oak and Pine Forest - Yuki no Kuni**

* * *

Koyuki Kazahana sprinted through the forest with three squads of Yukigakure's loyal shinobi following her. They had been searching the backcountry of her home country trying to find the reclusive Toad Sage Jiraiya ever since their spies in Hyōga city sent word of Jiraiya and his apprentice disembarking from an airship.

Koyuki had set out for Hyōga city from the rebel camp in hopes of swaying Jiraiya to aid the rebel forces and free her country from Dotō's clutches. When she arrived, however, the spies informed her that Jiraiya and his apprentice had taken the train to the resort town of Kuromatsu all the way on the Eastern coast.

After two days of searching Kuromatsu, Koyuki realized that she had been sent on a wild goose chase and was absolutely furious. Koyuki quickly returned to the rebel camp and strong-armed the leaders into assigning her three squads, complete with two of their best sensors. Now, Koyuki was going to force that bastard into assisting the resistance by any means necessary for making a fool out of her.

Koyuki was not a spoiled woman by any means. Instead of being raised as a hime, like any other daughter of a Daimyō, she begged her father to join Yukigakure as a kunoichi and earned her rank with hard work and her own talent.

Koyuki had to prove herself twice as much as any other kunoichi because the stigma of being a "pampered noble" stayed with her even as she advanced up the ranks to make Jōnin. This caused Koyuki to develop a strict and serious demeanor that was dwarfed only by her pride in her successes. People who were not serious and professional in their behavior always drew her ire and the best way to force her to lose her temper was to attack her pride by making her look like a fool, or call her weak.

Add to that fact that her entire family and country had fallen to her treacherous uncle in less than three weeks and you have the now highly determined and desperate Koyuki making the hasty decision of taking on one of the legendary Sannin. Their last intelligence reports that the rebel scouts had been able to read before they were expelled from the village had mentioned that some bear hunters had run into Jiraiya in the old Oak forests at the base of the Teshio Mountain range. The mountain range Koyuki and her team had been searching for the past two weeks.

Koyuki sighed to herself as she heard the heavy breathing of the squads following her. She was very tired as well but was hesitant to stop and rest, even though she knew that it was the best thing for them to do at the moment. Her temper had cooled a bit while they searched the various cave and canyon systems throughout the region, but she was still angry that Jiraiya had blatantly ignored the stay put order, and then created a false trail to throw her off.

Koyuki raised her hand to signal her group to stop.

"We will rest for one hour before moving out again. We still have time to search before making camp." Koyuki said sternly.

Koyuki moved towards a fallen log that a few Yuki-nin had cleared of snow to sit on. Pulling down the hood of her white, calf long snow cloak, she adjusted her gray woolen hat that served as the Yuki nin's hitai-ate. She reached up to the hole where her long black hair stuck out of the cap and tightened the leather strap used to secure her hair in a high ponytail. Her chin length side swept bangs could be seen peeking out over the built in ear muffs that were part of the standard issue cap, to ensure that a shinobi's ears didn't suffer frostbite from moving around in the cold terrain at high speeds.

Koyuki opened her cloak to reach into her large travel pouch that sat on her lower back, revealing a high collared ice blue jōnin vest with dark teal trim on the neck, shoulder, and waist. Instead of having a zipper in the center of the vest, There were buttons that ran up the left side of the vest before crossing over the heart up to the collar just below the throat. The buttons were covered by a thin dark teal placket, held in place by hook and eye fasteners.

Underneath the jōnin vest, she wore the standard issue thick black chunky knitted wool body suit, with a teal knee length apron skirt that had matching dark teal trim. On her feet, she had teal calf length snow boots. After peeling the wrapper off the ration bar she retrieved from her pouch, she stuck it into her mouth before tightening her ice blue gloves as she chewed the bland ration bar as fast as possible.

After the hour elapsed, Koyuki ordered everyone back up to continue the search. She knew it would be better for them to split up, but none of them had any summons to remain in contact with each other, and the rebellion couldn't spare any of their trained messenger hawks.

The group of fifteen Yuki ninjas set out once more to find Jiraiya and his apprentice, or a cave to hole up in before nightfall came and the temperatures plummeted to twenty below zero.

 **With Naruto and Jiraiya**

* * *

Naruto reflected another group of shuriken and kunai away from him using Jiton chakra as he charged at Jiraiya to close the distance and engage in a taijutsu battle. He needed a bit more time to use the Shunshin to close the distance, and he had just used Kawarimi with a clone to try and land an unsuccessful Rasengan.

That just left him with the old fashioned way of closing the distance of charging in and keeping his attention focused entirely on the charge and hopefully off of his clones preparing his next set up.

Jiraiya had been sparring with him relentlessly for the past eight days with restrictions on ninjutsu, synchronizing with Kurama, and using Makoto. He was allowed to use Jiton and the chakra strings from Chōmei.

Naruto had done his due diligence in finding useful strategies for using the chakra strings, but they were limited in their usefulness besides for defensive measures. He currently had twenty clones practicing with them to try and increase the speed at which he could manifest them with one group given the task to develop any kind of offensive use for them, but Naruto didn't think there would be much use for them outside of repelling chakra draining attacks.

Jiraiya had suggested that Naruto should try to manipulate then like his mother's chakra chains since they had some stickiness to them, but they weren't sticky enough to entangle someone unless he used a vast amount of strings. Hopefully, after he received the memories from his clones, he would find a better way to use them.

Jiraiya easily parried his rapid jab, cross, hook combination before retaliating with his own thrust kick, side kick combination. Naruto was able to parry the sidekick and tried to catch Jiraiya with a shot to the ribs with a cross while his back was exposed, but Jiraiya was able to drop his elbow in time to block his ribs before he pivoted and sent a spinning back kick into Naruto's abdomen.

Naruto was able to block the attack in time but was still sent flying a few feet back from the force of the kick. Jiraiya took advantage of the distance to throw a volley of shuriken before charging up a Rasengan and dashing in towards Naruto.

Naruto was ready with his Shunshin by that time and avoided the attack by appearing behind Jiraiya's charge. Naruto threw his own volley of shuriken before giving the mental command to his clones to start the attack pattern.

Jiraiya canceled his Rasengan to deflect the shuriken with his kunai before he charged at Naruto again. Sensing a chakra flare behind him, he managed to duck and pivot to avoid one of the clone's Rasengan from behind him. Dispelling the clone with a quick stab into his solar plexus, Jiraiya spun around to block another volley of shuriken sent from Naruto before moving to charge in again.

Naruto narrowed his black ringed eyes as he focused on the kunai in Jiraiya's hand. Feeling the kunai react to the magnetic field created by his Jiton chakra, Naruto pushed his hand out sending the kunai flying back with as much force as he could muster. While this was happening, his last two clones were moving into position for the last attack.

Jiraiya stumbled a bit as his arm suddenly flew back towards his face. He managed to move his head to the side and avoid being punched by his own fist that was wielding the kunai before a grin spread across his face as he realized what Naruto had done.

"Clever move there, brat, but you will have to do better than that to stop me," Jiraiya said before he threw the kunai at Naruto and followed up with another volley of shuriken.

Naruto merely smirked before he halted the flight of the kunai, and caught the shuriken in the same magnetic field before sending them back at Jiraiya at a higher rate of speed.

Jiraiya was waiting for this and used a quick Shunshin to appear behind Naruto before charging a small Rasengan and driving it into his back. "Naruto" disappeared in a cloud of smoke revealing that it was a clone instead of the real one that Jiraiya had hit.

'Damn he must have switched out with a clone when I took my eyes off him to avoid that kunai hitting me in the face. Unless I miss my guess, the brat will try to Shunshin in and hit me with a clone any minute now.' Jiraiya thought as he looked around and reached out with his senses.

Jiraiya spun around and prepared to attack when he sensed the first chakra flare behind him, but the sensation of two more chakra flares on his flanks immediately afterward forced Jiraiya to quickly use Kawarimi and replace himself with a nearby log to avoid being overwhelmed. He was glad he followed his gut instinct when he saw the log obliterated by a Rasengan sandwich Naruto tried to feed him.

'Damn, that one was serious. Naruto must be really pissed that he hasn't hit me yet.' Jiraiya thought before looking around for the real Naruto.

Jiraiya heard the whistle of a kunai heading towards him and rolled forward to avoid the attack before drawing a kunai and spinning around to face the direction the kunai was thrown from. Seeing a few more shuriken flying towards him from the cover of the trees above him, he quickly deflected them before deciding to taunt Naruto out of cover.

"Aww, are you going to hide from me now? You were doing so well too. Don't tell me that you have given up already!" Jiraiya called out.

Suddenly, Jiraiya sensed another chakra flare behind him and turned to face the threat only to find more shuriken flying at him. While he was deflecting that group of shuriken, he sensed another chakra flare behind him again. He ducked out of instinct before rolling to avoid another volley of shuriken.

'I could have sworn that was another Shunshin, but there is no way he can use it that rapidly yet.' Jiraiya thought.

Once again he sensed a chakra flare behind him and spun only to see more shuriken flying at him again. This time, however, two more chakra flares went off behind him causing Jiraiya to roll to the side out of reflex and spin around. That was when Naruto struck.

If it weren't for Jiraiya's years of experience, Naruto's Rasengan would have tagged him directly in the back. Jiraiya sensed the build up of chakra at the last minute and was able to dive to the side to avoid the attack. The Rasengan barely clipped his arm while he was in the air, forcing him into a spin as he flew forwards a few extra feet than planned, and landed in a heap.

"Damn! I thought I had you for sure that time, shishō." Naruto said in frustration.

When Jiraiya didn't respond, Naruto became concerned and began moving towards him slowly. It wouldn't be the first time Jiraiya played possum only to leap up and hit him solidly.

"You okay there, shishō?" Naruto said.

"Yea, Yea. I'm alright Naruto." Jiraiya said as he got back to his feet and looked at him sternly, causing the young teen to fidget until a big grin spread across the elder's face.

"That was damn brilliant, Naruto. You really had me fooled there." Jiraiya said before smacking Naruto on the back fondly. "How did you manage to fake those chakra flares behind me repeatedly," Jiraiya asked as he dusted the snow off his clothing.

"When I noticed there were a lot of scattered shuriken and kunai around the field, I got the idea to use my Jiton to expel the chakra from the scattered metal. At first, I was just trying to raise groups of them to throw them at you as a distraction, but then I noticed that you would turn and deflect them before they were fully in flight. That is when I realized why I could never simply Shunshin behind you and attack you. You were sensing the chakra flare and reacting to it." Naruto explained.

"Like I said, it was a brilliant tactic. Using Shunshin is the biggest flaw in your modified version of the Hurricane fist, to be honest. Kawarimi is much more efficient since all experienced shinobi will sense the chakra flare from a Shunshin. Don't worry, though; most shinobi won't be able to react in time unless they are sensors or highly experienced shinobi. Once you become more efficient with the Shunshin, however, it won't be an issue." Jiraiya said before he patted Naruto on his shoulder roughly one more. Naruto had him completely fooled during the fight and only his years of experience had saved his hide.

"What do you mean, shishō?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I've always found it funny how they teach the Kawarimi to academy students, but the Shunshin usually isn't taught until you are close to Jōnin. It never made sense to me since the Kawarimi was derived from the Shunshin." Jiraiya said with a shake of his head before getting to the meat of his explanation. "The truth is that you are using too much chakra to speed up your body internally and move to the next location rapidly. That is why your chakra flares are noticeable. What you need to do is work on reducing the overall chakra usage and try to redirect that chakra flare elsewhere." Jiraiya said.

"How would I do that, shishō?" Naruto looked up at Jiraiya. "I've practiced it with Kage Bunshin to the point that I can't do it any faster or reduce the chakra usage. Kakashi-sensei made it clear that if we excluded one of our vital organs or muscles on accident, it could be fatal."

"Yet you can use the Kawarimi with much less chakra and still move just as fast," Jiraiya replied with a smirk.

"Are you saying that I should be only be using Kawarimi all the time with smaller objects?" Naruto said with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Sort of. You will never get it down to the point where a sensor will not detect the chakra. What you need to worry about more is the speed at which you remove that shell of chakra so you can begin to attack. Reducing the overall shell itself helps increase this speed. Redirecting the chakra shell into something else, like a jutsu, will reduce the flare up of chakra." Jiraiya explained.

"So, if I convert it to wind chakra and use it on Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) or Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) will make it harder for them to detect me when I Shunshin behind them. I see." Naruto said with a nod.

"Correct. Since you can use both of those jutsu without hand seals now it will be an instant attack that people can't really avoid. You can still reduce the amount of chakra you use on Shunshin though. You just need to finish all your chakra control exercises." Jiraiya said with a smirk.

Naruto sighed at the thought. It was like he had to keep at least fifty clones on chakra control constantly to keep up with his growing chakra reserves.

"Well, besides the Nidaime's chakra control exercise, which I am nowhere near completing the second step I might add, the only ones I haven't finished are Raiton 2. I could use more work on Doton I suppose, to speed up how quickly I can turn the mud into rock. Other then that I have no other exercises to do." Naruto said with a frown.

"Well, there are the typical genjutsu specialist exercises and iryō-nin exercises. If you think Doton is hard, wait till you try some of those." Jiraiya said with a boisterous laugh.

Kurama snorted. **"I can help you with any of those exercises since they are not tied to an element. It has been over 2000 years since I have bothered using Doton or Raiton chakra, so you are on your own with those.**

 _'Do you know of a way I could reduce the chakra flare from the Shunshin, Kurama?'_

 **"The toad sage is correct in his instructions. However, there is another route to take besides always redirecting the chakra into a jutsu. Instead, you can redirect the chakra into the seal with my help. We can store up a small amount of this chakra to expel into a jutsu at a later time giving it more power."** Kurama replied.

 _'Small amount? How many Shunshins do you think we could do that with before we had to expel the chakra?'_

Kurama let out a low volume growl, which he sometimes used while thinking before he replied. **"With the current amount of chakra you use for that technique, I would estimate ten at the most before we get some negative backlash from the seal itself."**

 _'Ten is more than enough, but what do you mean by negative backlash from the seal?'_ Naruto replied.

" **The seal is designed to convert my chakra before directing the flow into yours. While our bonding has tied our systems closer together, the seal is not intended to take your chakra into itself to prevent me from killing you simply by draining your chakra into myself. It will accept bijū chakra as it is different from your own and not keyed to your blood."** Kurama explained.

 _'That makes sense I suppose. Still this will be useful for our next spar. In the end, I can always rely on using Jiton to create false chakra flares from scattered kunai and shuriken.'_ Naruto replied.

Kurama snorted in amusement, **"True. Most foolish human filth will not be intelligent enough to deduce that fact during a battle. The fact that you almost landed an assassination technique on the Toad Sage speaks volumes of its success. It won't be long before you can start fighting the Toad Sage at his most powerful level."**

"You having an interesting conversation with the Kyūbi there?" Jiraiya asked with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya quickly before scratching his head sheepishly.

"Sorry about that shishō, what you told me about the Shunshin gave Kyūbi an idea. We were just trying to work out the details around this theory." Naruto grinned, "If it works, I might be able to reduce the chakra flare completely." Naruto said.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto with a deadpan look. 'Damn, that Kyūbi is going to make Naruto a powerhouse with his ideas. Still, once Naruto gets the Hiraishin down it won't matter anymore.'

"Well, that should come in handy for now if it works out. Of course, once you get your fūinjutsu skill up to get the Hiraishin down, then it won't matter since you can simply use that. The Hiraishin is too fast for even sensors to detect until it is too late. That reminds me, you might want to start thinking about how you want your jutsu-shiki to look like." Jiraiya said.

"What do you mean, shishō?" Naruto tilted head in confusion, "Couldn't I just use any type of formula for the technique?"

"No. Your father once told me that the Hiraishin will only work for someone who clearly identifies with the most important words of their soul. When I asked him to be more specific all he told me was that the Nidaime liked to recite a specific poem before each battle he had." Jiraiya said with a shrug, "What I can tell you is that your father's jutsu-shiki simply had the characters for Endure or Conceal, Love, and the Sword. I imagine it will take some time to find the right one for you to use, so I figured I would pass along what your father told me. Who knows? It might help you cut down on the time it takes for you to learn the Hiraishin once you reach the right level in fūinjutsu." Jiraiya said before standing up suddenly.

Naruto looked up as he caught the scent of a large group of people approaching their location rapidly. Too quickly to be simple civilians, and he guessed from their misdirection in the capital, that some people would not be pleased with their presence.

"...Shishō-"

"I know Naruto. Stay near me and don't say a word." Jiraiya said in a stern tone.

Naruto stood up and began to run a mental check over what he had on him. He was low on shuriken as he had not gathered up all the ones from their last spar yet. If he had to, he could call on his Jiton again and manipulate them from the ground while Jiraiya kept them distracted, but if Jiraiya was forced to engage them directly, Naruto feared he might hit him accidentally.

Fortunately, he had not used too many kunai in the spar, so he had plenty of those.

His chakra levels were down by 1/2 by his estimate. Not as much as he would like for a potentially hostile situation, but it should be enough to even the odds with Kage Bunshin. Jiraiya had told Naruto to avoid using Kurama's chakra at all costs while in a foreign country to prevent an incident. Naruto was reluctant to agree, especially since Kurama had brought up a good argument. If everyone was dead, they wouldn't raise a fuss. Still, he would avoid it unless they were both going to die, he would just take his punishment afterward.

Soon they found themselves surrounded by fifteen Yuki shinobi with stern expressions on their faces.

" **Most have similar chakra levels to jōnin level shinobi from your village, but there are some that I guess would be around your same level,"** Kurama warned.

 _'Do you think they will sense it if I prepare my Jiton?'_ Naruto asked.

" **Do not risk it for now. In a group that large, there are bound to be sensors. Let us avoid stirring up this refuse for now."** Kurama replied.

"What seems to be the problem here?" Jiraiya called out in a casual tone.

One of the Yuki-nin stepped forwards and stared Jiraiya down before responding.

"I am Koyuki Kazahana, Jōnin of Yukigakure and Hime of Yuki no Kuni. I've been looking for you Jiraiya of the Sannin, and you had better cooperate or we are authorized to use force." The woman stated in a stern tone laced with rudeness.

"Now hold on a minute. What purpose do you have in approaching me?" Jiraiya said calmly.

"You were told to remain in the capital, but you intentionally left and misdirected agents of the Daimyō. You are trespassing in our country and must now submit yourself to our judgment." Koyuki said tilting her head up in an arrogant manner.

Naruto scowled at the woman but remained silent as instructed. He could sense the anger and manipulation in this woman towards Jiraiya. Didn't she know about the Sannin and the rights of free travel granted to them by the Daimyō's themselves? What kind of Hime didn't know that rule? Naruto would think she was lying if he didn't sense that she believed in what she was saying.

"Actually, it is not possible for me to be detained for trespassing. I am a Sannin after all. Your father has granted me a free pass to travel through this country at any time. This right was not given strictly by your father but under the seal of the Daimyō of Yuki no Kuni. Unless he or another Daimyō revokes that right, I can not be detained solely for trespassing." Jiraiya said in an amused tone before unsealing the pass and displaying the seal to Koyuki.

Koyuki scowled when she heard him mention his pass. She had not been aware of the pass since she had always preferred to focus on her kunoichi training instead of her politics classes. She studied the verbiage in the pass and found a potential loophole. A smirk crossed her face as she turned her gaze to Naruto.

"You may be correct about that pass, but there is nothing about your little apprentice being included. If you do not wish to cooperate then, I will simply arrest him instead." Koyuki said snidely.

Naruto tensed up as Koyuki made her statement. The last thing he wanted was to become a hostage. It was obvious this woman wanted Jiraiya to do something for her and was willing to go to any length to get what she desired.

"Trust me, arresting him would be the last mistake you ever made." Jiraiya snapped before leaking his killing intent towards the group.

The Yuki-nin tensed up, some of them shaking under the power of Jiraiya's killing intent. Everyone knew the power of the Sannin and even though they had numbers, they knew that most of them would not survive the battle if the Sannin were pushed.

One of the Yuki-nin approached Koyuki and began whispering in her ear. Naruto was still able to pick up their conversation with his advanced hearing.

"Koyuki. I know you are upset about him making you look like a fool but think about this. Being cruel to him and holding his apprentice as a hostage will only drive him to help Dotō instead. Don't be foolish, appeal to his good nature instead." the Yuki-nin whispered.

Koyuki scowled at the man before whispering back. "Word has it that Jiraiya would never get involved in a matter like this unless he was forced to. If we try to appeal to his, so called, good nature he will just leave us high and dry. I will not let my people suffer because of some lazy pervert. Besides, the apprentice is just a young boy, as soon as we have him in our grasp he will submit."

"This is foolish Koyuki, even if we capture the boy what then? Will we risk Konoha's wrath for what we have done? What of the other Daimyō when they hear that you have overstepped their authority by detaining a Sannin without due cause?"

"Do not question my orders. We will do this my way." Koyuki whispered back before dismissing the ninja with a snort.

"This is your final warning Jiraiya, submit to my authority or your apprentice will be detained until you gain some sense," Koyuki said before getting into a fighting stance.

"You are making a big mistake. I am giving you a chance to back down now. If you test me by coming after my apprentice, you will regret it." Jiraiya said in a deadly tone.

Jiraiya gave a slight signal with his left hand warning Naruto to prepare himself for combat and to focus on the group behind them.

Naruto wasted no time drawing on his bond with Kurama, and his Jiton abilities before he got into a fighting stance as well. His mind already began calculating potential strategies against the seven Yuki-nin behind him.

"Try not to kill any of them, Naruto. I think this is just some misguided hotshot Jōnin trying to make a name for herself and prove that she isn't a fragile wallflower," Jiraiya said with a smirk.

Koyuki scowled at Jiraiya's comment. "Don't look down on me, asshole. I earned my rank! Bring the boy to me!" Koyuki shouted before charging in with the rest of the Yuki-nin.

 **Naruto vs. Yuki-nins**

* * *

Naruto immediately spun around and created 30 clones to attack the group of seven behind him. The Yuki-nin practically halted in their tracks when they saw a large number of clones before they began throwing a flurry of kunai and shuriken towards Naruto to try and disable him.

Two Naruto clones used Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) to scatter the incoming wave before joining the rest of the clones who were forcing the Yuki-nin back with their own waves of projectiles enhanced with Jiton and Fūton: Daitoppa.

The seven ninjas in the back of the group were forced to scatter and take cover while two were forced to Kawarimi to avoid being hit.

Naruto had used Shunshin to move out of the battle during the chaos and was currently hidden up in a tree observing and directing the clones. He decided that scaring the group with some massive combination attacks should give them pause. Spotting a group of four that were still hidden in cover behind a few of the trees, Naruto decided to redirect some of his clones towards them in a show of power to try and give the other groups pause.

Three clones began flipping through the seals for Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) while the rest kept the Yuki-nin at bay using Shuriken Kage Bunshin (Shuriken Shadow Clone). Soon three giant blue fireballs shot out towards the forest before a large gale of wind courtesy of Fūton: Daitoppa sped their advance and fanned the flames intensity, turning them as white as the surrounding snow.

The fireballs hit the ground causing a massive explosion and shaking the ground for a few seconds. The heat from the fireballs was so intense that most of the snow was converted into steam revealing the permafrost underneath.

Naruto could hear the curses of the four ninjas that were hiding, but his focus was on the other three who had charged in and were dispelling his clones at a rate faster than he would like. Their taijutsu was much better than his was, and they were much quicker than he was as well.

The group of three had already destroyed ten clones, leaving him with 20 who were trying to drive the three back out of range with shuriken. Seeing one of the ninja tied up in a battle of strength, Naruto charged up a Rasengan and prepared to Shunshin in and eliminate one of them.

When Naruto saw his opening, him and one of the other clones used Shunshin to appear on either side of a shinobi and Naruto quickly planted the Rasengan into Yuki-nin's back. He canceled the jutsu just before it could begin tearing into his flesh in an attempt to spare the man's life. The shinobi flew into a tree, breaking several ribs before he slumped to the ground unconscious. He would probably live if someone healed him soon.

Naruto drew Makoto and had to deflect several shuriken thrown by the other two Yuki-nin, who had been fighting with his clones. One of them began flipping through hand seals which caused Naruto start his own.

The Yuki-nin called out Hyōken no Jutsu (Ice Sword) and sent several ice swords flying towards Naruto. Naruto managed to finish his hand seals in time and used Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu) to send fireballs towards each spike of ice flying towards him.

 _'Shit! That was a lucky guess on my part. If it had been something larger, I might have been in trouble.'_ Naruto thought.

" **You could have gotten the** **Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall)** **in time, don't second guess yourself because it is one of your weaker natures,"** Kurama replied.

The second Yuki-nin had closed the distance and engaged Naruto with a kunai, hoping to slash Naruto's arms and stop him from using more jutsu. Naruto managed to raise Makoto in time to deflect the strikes but was losing ground quickly against the man's quick slashes and stabs. Sensing a clone was ready with another Rasengan, Naruto used Kawarimi with the clone and caught his breath, but was disappointed when the Yuki-nin managed to avoid the Rasengan with an elaborate dodge and dispel the clone.

Naruto got the memories from three more clones that were dispelled leaving him with 14 clones left. Even with the number advantage, the clones were still losing ground as they held off the other 4 Yuki-nin. It was only due to clones heavy usage of Doton: Doryūheki and Fūton: Daitoppa that had prevented the Yuki-nin from attacking Naruto directly. Judging from the vast array of various Hyōton jutsu that they were throwing at his clones, Naruto knew that he wouldn't last long against that onslaught.

At least one more Yuki-nin would be out of commission soon. One of the clones had managed to plant a chakra draining and gravity seal on her. Naruto summoned another ten clones and began assigning them to send out more combination jutsu.

Five of the clones started the hand seals for Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu, the other five clones and Naruto were on standby to use Fūton: Daitoppa to enhance the fireballs. Naruto sent a mental command to the 8 remaining clones to fall back into the line of fire and add to the big combination attack.

Soon the five clones began spitting fireballs towards the pursuing Yuki-nin, catching some of them off guard. The wind powered white fireballs blended in with the snow making them hard to dodge. One Yuki-nin created a defensive wall of ice, but the wind enhanced fireballs blew through the defense causing second-degree burns and rendering him unconscious. Most of the advancing Yuki-nin evaded the fireballs successfully while a few were struck with glancing blows which didn't take them out of the fight entirely.

The four remaining Yuki-nin regrouped and appeared to be forming a plan. One of them began flipping through hand seals, and Naruto instructed four clones to prepare Doton: Doryūheki. Naruto began preparing a Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu with another clone to try and reduce whatever attack they were preparing.

Suddenly the sky was filled with bird shaped ice needles which rained down on his clones. The birds were even able to dodge around the mud walls created by the clones for defense and take out some of the ones who were huddled behind them for refuge. The attack destroyed all but 6 of his remaining clones. Only by releasing their combination attack did they prevent themselves from being struck by the flock of ice birds.

Naruto and another clone sent their Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu while two clones bolstered the attack by adding Fūton: Daitoppa. The massive fireballs sped towards the group of three causing them to scatter and stop the hand seals they were forming. Naruto, not wasting any time, reached out with his Jiton and began sending the scattered kunai and shuriken after the retreating Yuki-nin in waves.

Two of the clones charged in to try and plant some seals with their remaining chakra and try to misdirect the scattered group to keep them from discovering Naruto's real location. The remaining clones fell back to support Naruto in directing the waves of kunai with Jiton and act as the last line of defense.

Naruto was starting to get a little nervous. He had summoned over twice the number of clones to match his opponents, but they were tearing through them quickly. While he had managed to disable three out of seven of his targets, making more clones would leave him dangerously low on chakra, and he still had four enemies to deal with before he was safe. Naruto inwardly cursed himself out for leaving his chakra storage seals behind. He wouldn't make that mistake ever again.

He sensed his two suicide clones dispel and saw that they had only managed to plant a gravity seal on one of the Yuki-nin. Reaching out with his senses, he tried to keep track of where the remaining ninja were. He detected four heading towards him from the front and sides and one more that wanted to flank him.

'Shit, that one must have got past shishō somehow. I'm low on chakra, and I only have four more clones left to take out five people. Damn it! This doesn't look good.' Naruto thought as he looked around and tried to come up with a way out of this mess.

Running might be an option, he had a reverse gravity seal, but in his condition, it would last less than a minute and leave him drained. Separating from Jiraiya would probably only make things worse for him anyways, so that wasn't an option. He could sense Jiraiya engaged in a battle with two Yuki-nin, which meant he had taken out five already. He just had to hold on a bit longer, and Jiraiya would support him.

" **First things first, you must rid yourself of the flanker. Lay a trap for him,"** Kurama advised.

Drawing up a hasty plan, the desperate blond sent a clone underground in the path of the approaching ninja to use Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu). Next, he ordered a clone to unseal the spare weapon scroll on his arm and dish out 200 shurikens to the other clones. He sent two clones out to lay a few ambush seals in the path of the approaching ninja, then pretend to act like they were scouting to throw off the sensors. It would help him set up more traps if they thought he didn't have any sensing capabilities.

" **You are doing good, kit, remain focused and calm. Stay at range at all costs. Plant more trap seals around you, then when they draw near use** **Shunshin to the far side of the clearing with the remaining clones. It will be worth the loss of chakra to delay them longer."** Kurama encouraged.

Naruto turned his gaze towards the ninja approaching from the front. One of them had to be a sensor since they were hemming him in quite effectively. The ones on his left and right were slowly making their way into a flanking position while the two in front of him were keeping a safe distance from each other to avoid being hit by a broad scale combination jutsu. The two in front of him must have been jōnin rank since the partner was keeping pace with the one that had been hit with the gravity seal.

The single ninja approaching from behind was nearing his buried clone, so Naruto dashed over to provide a distraction. He couldn't risk the chance that the ninja was a sensor and could feel the hidden clone. Using the last of his shuriken, he sent a small volley out and followed it with a few kunai. Using his Jiton, he increased the speed of the projectiles towards the flanker.

The Yuki-nin moved to deflect them with his kunai, but Naruto created a magnetic field around his kunai quickly and began to push it towards the Yuki-nin's body to throw off his movements. The Yuki-nin was stunned just long enough for the shuriken to bury themselves into his arms and shoulder. Reacting quickly the Yuki-nin released his hold on the kunai Naruto was pushing and ducked to avoid the rest of the thrown weapons that were flying towards him.

"Damn brat, I am going to make you suffer for hurting my friends. You have no more clones to hide behind you little coward." The Yuki-nin spat.

The Yuki-nin threw another handful of shuriken and charged at Naruto while drawing out a pair of kunai. He kept the one in his right hand hidden while bringing his left kunai forwards to try and bait Naruto into messing with his off hand, giving him time to strike with his main hand.

Naruto had to redirect his concentration to deflect the shuriken with a magnetic field, he attempted to trip up the charging ninja by sending his gripped kunai towards his face again, but the Yuki-nin was already in range and slashing out at him with his right hand. Naruto leaped backward to avoid being cut across his abdomen, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid the slash entirely and took a deep cut across his bicep. Naruto hissed in pain before gripping the wound out of reflex.

The Yuki-nin pressed the attack seeing Naruto off balance but was caught off guard when the underground clone pulled him into the dirt and snow. Naruto quickly cuffed the Yuki-nin with the handle of a kunai to knock him out before pulling him out of the ground and tying him up quickly. Normally he would leave the man underground but after looking at his practically blue skinned clone, he banished that thought. His clone had almost dispelled from freezing to death so the man would definitely die if he left him buried.

" **Tch. This fight would have been a lot simpler if we could have just killed these fools. I think you would have had less trouble."** Kurama said with a huff.

 _'Perhaps, but even with all the clones I had, they tore through them easily.'_ Naruto said as he pulled his arm wraps tighter over the cut to act as an impromptu bandage.

Naruto knew that Kurama wouldn't accelerate his healing just yet, they needed to conserve their chakra for surviving. He kicked himself mentally once more for not bringing a chakra seal with him, especially since he was actively using up his chakra on mastering the chakra strings and Jiton earlier. Once he completed his battlefield dressing, he turned his focus back to the remaining four ninjas that were closing the distance.

The two ninja who had moved to flank him were almost in range of the trap fields his clones had set up. He would leave the clones to act as a lure for those two; the other two were drawing closer to him directly, and he couldn't risk extending himself and getting caught.

Naruto and his frozen clone moved back towards the last unassigned clone and set out a few more ambush seals filled with the remaining shuriken and kunai the underground clone had remaining. The underground clone he would leave as bait while the other clone would follow him when they used Shunshin to get away.

Naruto stopped drawing on his Jiton chakra to free up his chakra pool for the Shunshin and possibly using another jutsu or two. Naruto and his clones were staring down the two nin slowly creeping towards him.

"Give it up now, brat. We have you surrounded. If you turn yourself in now, we will be lenient towards you and your shishō." the woman on his left called out.

"You put up quite the fight, but you can't win against all of us. Surrender and we might forgive all the harm you caused our friends. You almost killed Toshiro with that flashy jutsu you used earlier. You are in serious trouble for that already, don't make things harder for yourself." the man on his right added.

Naruto remained silent, waiting for them to step into range of the ambush seal so he could activate them. They halted their advance when they heard one of their companions cry out to the left. Naruto smirked since he knew that one of the ninjas had fallen into the trap set by his clones. If he were lucky, the one on the right would be falling into a similar trap very soon if his senses were accurate.

The Yuki-nin must have realized what happened as well because they both turned to him and scowled.

"This is your last chance. Surrender. NOW!" the man yelled.

Naruto didn't respond. Just a few more steps and they would be in range of the ambush seals. Naruto tensed as they began moving forwards once more, right before they reached the ambush spot; however, the person that was moving towards the trap on his right suddenly appeared much closer to him and called out Hyōton: Tsubame Fubuki (Swallow Snow Storm).

Naruto was forced to waste his Shunshin early since he didn't have time to use a defensive jutsu and he wanted to save his chakra for Kawarimi for an emergency. The underground clone bought him some time by using the last of his chakra to use Fūton: Daitoppa so that he could vanish along with his last clone.

The wind managed to deflect most of the sharp ice birds from killing the clone, but the clone was not quick enough to trigger the ambush seals before he was dispelled by a kunai thrown by the man who had yelled at Naruto earlier.

Naruto appeared across the clearing with his clone but was forced to draw Makoto immediately and block a kunai strike. Apparently the kunoichi was one of the sensors because she had matched his Shunshin with her own practically at the same time.

The woman pressed into Naruto's guard before throwing out a jab with her left hand towards Naruto's face. Naruto threw the woman's balance off by using his left hand to strike at her right elbow, weakening the pressure she was applying with her kunai. The woman was forced to turn her body to prevent her elbow from breaking.

Naruto's clone took advantage of the woman exposing her back to him by latching on and quickly applying the chakra draining and gravity seals onto the kunoichi, before gripping her in a headlock to slowly choke her out.

The kunoichi was stronger than they expected, however, for she was still able to lash out with a thrust kick to Naruto's chest and send him flying back into a tree. The kunoichi then gripped the clone's arms and dropped her stance further before striking back with a head butt. The force of being dragged down by the woman's lowered center of gravity increased the impact of the woman's small head butt and caused the clone to dispel.

Naruto coughed as he stood back up and brought Makoto back up in front of him. That woman kicked harder than a mule, and she had a gravity seal applied on her which should have made it much harder for her to even lift her leg. He could tell the seal was successful as the kunoichi was breathing heavily already and advancing slowly towards him with an enraged look on her face.

"I don't know what you did to me, brat, but this ends now." she said before she began flipping through hand seals.

Naruto threw out a Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) to disrupt her hand seals out of desperation before charging in and slashing at the woman with Makoto. She managed to parry a few of Naruto's strikes before Naruto gained the upper hand by ducking under one of her counter strikes and landing a hook directly to her diaphragm, knocking her breath out of her and causing her to collapse to the ground. The kunoichi tried to struggle back to her feet, but Naruto brought the hilt of Makoto down onto her head and knocked her out.

Naruto felt another chakra flare next to him, thanks to the combat sync and managed to duck the ice enhanced fist that came towards his head. He pivoted and lashed out with a strike to the enemy's stomach with Makoto but was stunned when he saw the enemy simply grab the blade with an ice-encased fist.

The man was much stronger than Naruto, easily ripping Makoto out of his hand and tossing it aside before kneeing Naruto in the face and sending him flying backward. The force of the strike caused Naruto to see sparks in his vision, and he barely managed to roll to the side and avoid the ax kick that came down where he fell.

The large Yuki-nin stepped towards him and kicked Naruto in the ribs, causing him to cry out in pain as he felt a few of them crack from the force. Naruto gripped the man's leg before he could pull it back for another kick and used the last of his chakra to apply a paralysis seal. The man fell to the ground once Naruto released his foot.

Naruto slowly got up and clutched at his fractured ribs. He looked up and scowled when he saw another ninja finishing hand seals and calling out Hyōton: Jisarenhyō (Earthen Consecutive Chains of Ice). Naruto rushed to prepare a Kawarimi with a nearby rock but too slow to avoid the attack. Ice rapidly began to form on his limbs, rendering him unable to move and slowly freezing him to death. Kurama began to leak some of his own Katon chakra through Naruto's system to try and melt the ice, but as soon as the ice began to loosen, more ice would begin to build up.

"Finally got you, fucking brat. You have been a real pain in the ass you know. Pray that Jiraiya comes to his senses soon or you might freeze to death in a few moments. If you aren't already cycling Katon chakra through your body, you might as well start now, or you won't last long. I hope you know how to do that." The Yuki-nin said with a sinister laugh.

Naruto could only scowl at the ninja while he tried to think of a way to escape. He knew that he could break this easily if he went into his initial stage, but Jiraiya had been adamant about him not using Kurama's chakra in a foreign land. Naruto was relieved when he heard Jiraiya's voice behind him.

"If you don't want your little Hime here to die then I suggest you let him go now. Trust me if any harm comes to him, I won't rest until I level your pathetic little village to the fucking ground."

"Let Koyuki go now or your apprentice dies." the Yuki-nin said bringing a kunai up to Naruto's throat.

"I don't think so. If you kill him, I promise you that not only will you die, but Konoha and Kumo will sweep over this land sacking everything before we annihilate your village." Jiraiya replied in a deadly tone.

"You're bluffing. Everyone knows that Kumo and Konoha don't get along." the Yuki-nin replied.

"Not at all, I guess you haven't heard of the mutual aggression clause that we signed with Kumo a few months ago. I promise you, Konoha will invade if any harm comes to him and Kumo will be right behind us, but none of that matters right now." Jiraiya said before yanking Koyuki's head back and pressing the edge of his kunai into her throat to draw a small trickle of blood. "What is important right now is me slitting this stupid Hime's neck. I wonder how your Daimyō will react knowing that you killed some lowly brat and let his only daughter die."

"Let the brat go, Honda, we've lost," Koyuki said dejectedly.

Once again her foolish pride had come back and bit her in the ass. Jiraiya had toyed with her and all the other Jōnin she had brought along with her.

It had only taken Jiraiya two moves to remove four of her companions from the battle decisively. Her own skills were easily blocked or disregarded by his fire jutsu which made her absolutely useless. She had then tried to engage him in taijutsu only to be taken out by a single kick to her stomach which almost knocked her out completely.

The rest of her group had fallen to a shower of super sharp hair needles. She could only watch in vain as all her followers remained bogged down in the giant swamp Jiraiya had formed with multiple second-degree burns on their bodies or writhed on the ground in pain from dozens of needles impaling their bodies.

She swung her gaze around and saw that only three out of the eight in the flanking group were still active, and two of them looked like they had seen better days. Even that little brat had put them all to shame apparently.

Koyuki closed her eyes to try and hide the tears that were forming. She had probably ruined their only chance to break the coup. If she died here, Yuki no Kuni would die a slow and painful death, and her people would suffer. She had sworn to protect them and failed miserably.

As soon as Naruto was freed from the ice prison, he clutched at his ribs again. The pain wasn't as severe because he was freezing, but his shivering was only exacerbating his injury.

Jiraiya dumped Koyuki to the ground unceremoniously and rushed over to Naruto.

"Naruto are you alright?" Jiraiya asked as began channeling more Katon chakra into Naruto to try and warm him up.

"I-I'll b-be o-ok-ay, shi-sh-ou. I-I'm s-s-sorry I di-di-dn't do bet-ter." Naruto replied with chattering teeth.

Naruto knew that he was outnumbered and outmatched, but it was still a bitter pill for him to swallow. Sure he could kill bandits easily, and there were even fights against a few shinobi that he had handled well, but since the chūnin exam, it seemed like everyone was so much stronger than he was.

If he ambushed them or caught them by surprise, then he did well, but he had to face someone in a direct conflict, he seemed to be completely useless. It was demoralizing to him that only his fight against Samui had gone well in a heads up match.

Jiraiya bopped Naruto on the head dragging him out of his self-flagellation.

"None of those thoughts, Naruto. I know what you are thinking, and you are wrong. For now, we need to deal with our extremely rude guests." Jiraiya said.

Naruto only nodded but was unconvinced.

Kurama growled at him. **"Enough of these foolish thoughts. Yes, you were outmatched and outnumbered, but they were rested and fully prepared for battle. You were not even at full strength and had just completed fighting the Toad Fool. So banish these foolish thoughts."**

 _'...but I can't expect to be prepared for every battle. I know that I wasn't at full strength, but those last two opponents still managed to get the jump on me and hurt me so easily. If they weren't trying to capture me, I would be dead right now.'_ Naruto replied.

" **Tch. While it may be true that they caught you off guard, let me remind you that you had already dealt with a group of enemies beforehand, quite effectively I might add. You have foolish delusions of grandeur if you expect to be capable of handling several enemies of equal or greater strength. Even with your mastery of** **Kage Bunshin , that is simply not feasible." **Kurama snapped.

Kurama then released a huff before continuing his lecture in a softer tone of voice. **"I know you have a fear of pain since those filthy mortals laid their hands on you, it was not unreasonable for you to feel that way in your youth. Now, you must overcome this fear and accept the fact that you will take damage during a battle before this fear becomes _our_ undoing. You can not avoid pain entirely, kit, no matter how hard you try."**

 _'I understand Kurama. I will try harder. I promise.'_ Naruto replied.

Naruto looked over to where Jiraiya was having a heated conversation with Koyuki and decided to hobble over and see what the stupid bitch wanted in the first place.


	55. Year 1: White Revolution Part 2

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be depictions of violence in this chapter.

Edit 4/25/16

 **Chapter 54**

 **Year 1: White Revolution Part 2**

 **Outside of Jiraiya's cabin - Yuki no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto was sitting in one of the hottest springs, soaking his aching ribs with a scowl on his face. Kurama had already healed the cut on his arm and his fractured nose. Naruto had been unaware of that particular injury until he sank into the springs and his core body temperature returned to normal. The fact that his ribs were protesting the kicks he had received much louder also served to distract him from the pain in his face.

Naruto had opted to soak in the hot springs instead of dealing with the glares from the Yuki-nin, who were currently in talks with Jiraiya inside the cabin. It was like they believed he had no right to defend himself against being captured. Idiots.

Naruto was pretty angry with Jiraiya right now. He couldn't believe that after those bastards attacked them without provocation, that Jiraiya would agree to help them. Naruto had held his tongue instead of protesting Jiraiya's decision. He wouldn't disrespect Jiraiya by arguing with him in front of a group of strangers like that and undermine his authority.

If Naruto had his way, most of those bastards would have been dead. It could just be the sync with Kurama talking at the moment, but he couldn't help his resentment.

Even after hearing Koyuki's sob story about the state of the country after her uncle had seized the position of Daimyō by murdering her father, Naruto had no sympathy for the stuck up bitch. Naruto knew he was being petty, but he couldn't stop himself from thinking that the country would be better off with a murdering tyrant as a leader instead of a stupid, arrogant, and stuck up bitch who thought it was a good idea to antagonize and attack potential allies.

It was not their problem that she was too much of an idiot to realize that she had been following a false trail. Sure he could understand being pissed off about it, but if you needed the help of someone that pissed you off, you bite your damn tongue and deal with it. If you were not capable of doing that, you move on and find someone else to help you instead.

How did a Daimyō's daughter ever think the approach she took was a wise choice? Hinata was a clan heiress and would never do something that stupid. If Naruto had acted so foolishly, then Sakura would probably be dead right now, and his life would be so much worse.

Naruto looked up from his brooding when he heard the door to the cabin open up. The Yuki-nin filed out of the cabin with Jiraiya following behind them. Naruto put his stoic expression on his face and looked away from them.

"Oi. Naruto, get over here. We need to talk." Jiraiya called out.

Naruto reluctantly left the spring and wrapped his cloak around him before dashing into the cabin as fast as he could. He stood in front of Jiraiya and looked up at him without saying a word.

Jiraiya could tell that Naruto was pissed at him by the look on his face. It was probably going to get worse when Naruto heard what the plan was.

"Why don't you get changed and I'll explain exactly why we aren't kicking those bastards out of here. Okay?" Jiraiya said.

Naruto nodded before turning on his heel and making his way into his room. Once inside he shut the door and quickly stripped out of his clothing, dropping them into a pile next to the door so he would remember to hang them out in the bathroom to dry. Naruto quickly dried himself off with a towel before he pulled on a clean set of his black outfit, Naruto frowned at how the pants and shirt were starting to feel a little tight on him. He must be outgrowing his old clothing finally.

After a short debate, he opted to continue to use the arm wraps instead of the arm warmers he had purchased in the capital. Naruto attached his larger shuriken pouch onto his back instead of his old, smaller pouch.

Naruto finished dressing quickly before going through his wet clothing and ensuring he transferred all of the sealed items over. After he was certain he had checked all of his storage seals, he focused on restocking all of his combat supplies. He vowed never to be caught without a full load out again.

Naruto reconsidered his thoughts on using smoke bombs. He had never stocked up on smoke bombs since his Kage Bunshin created just as much smoke, if not more. While he could have used the Tajū Kage Bunshin (Multiple Shadow Clone) to overwhelm the Yuki-nin, Naruto wasn't confident that would have changed the outcome of the fight. It would have left him with a much lower reserve of chakra. While he might have received some of that chakra back when his clones were destroyed quickly, most of his clones had to use up their chakra simply to survive long enough to be effective.

Kakashi had once told him that he should be willing to swamp the enemy with an overwhelming amount of clones. Naruto had to admit he was still trying to be chakra efficient in the last fight. He wasn't certain if he had made the right decision, though. He would have to discuss it with Jiraiya.

Naruto nodded to himself once he completed his mental check of supplies. Naruto picked up a clean cloak to wear and slung it over his shoulders before leaving the room. Naruto's gaze was so focused on securing the buttons on his cloak that he was unprepared for the crushing one armed hug he received for Jiraiya. Naruto looked up at Jiraiya in confusion only to see a huge grin on Jiraiya's face.

"Damn, Naruto. You really kicked some ass out there. You know that? To think my little apprentice took out two chūnin and two jōnin all by himself. I'm proud of you Naruto." Jiraiya said cheerfully.

"...but shishō, they still captured me in the end. What if they had wanted to kill me instead? They would have succeeded." Naruto argued.

"Nonsense." Jiraiya waved off Naruto's objections, "You weren't aiming to kill either so that excuse won't fly with me."

The grin on his face grew even larger. "You really scared the shit out of them with your Katon jutsu. You should have seen how embarrassed they were that they were taken out by a rookie in his second year." Jiraiya said with a boisterous laugh.

"There is a reason you made chūnin on your first attempt, Naruto. Don't let the fact that they managed to catch you bring you down. Everyone gets caught eventually no matter how good they are." Jiraiya lightly smacked Naruto on the chest before letting him go.

"Now help me seal up all of these provisions for travel while you tell me what is bothering you," Jiraiya called out over his shoulder as he moved back towards the kitchen and continued to lay out the provisions near the large storage scrolls he had rolled out on the floor.

"I don't know shishō. I find myself questioning the choices I made. Kakashi-sensei said-" Naruto said before he was cut off.

"Everyone always questions what they did after the battle Naruto, which is normal," Jiraiya said with a nonchalant wave of his hand. Jiraiya turned his gaze back towards Naruto and gestured for him to sit down next to him,

Naruto moved over to where Jiraiya had situated himself and sat down obediently.

"Why don't you give me the breakdown of what you did, and what you think was wrong about the choices you made." Jiraiya offered.

Naruto relayed the details of his battle and the outcome. He mentioned all the mistakes that he felt he made and even what Kurama had said about his fear of pain. Finally, he explained his internal debate between conserving his chakra instead of using the Tajū Kage Bunshin to overwhelm the enemy with pure numbers.

Jiraiya just nodded while Naruto explained the entire fight. Once his explanation was complete, Jiraiya hummed in thought for a moment before responding.

"You can't beat yourself up for not having the right supplies on you at the time. You know that it is impossible to avoid being caught off guard completely." Jiraiya said dismissively.

"As for your fear of pain don't worry about that. I know that once you get done with your training in Tetsu no Kuni you won't have that problem anymore." Jiraiya said with a smirk.

"As for choosing between the Tajū Kage Bunshin or saving your chakra, I think you made the right decision in this situation," Jiraiya said with a nod, "If you had used the Tajū Kage Bunshin you would have ended up killing some misguided people on accident."

Jiraiya saw the look of disbelief and held up his hand to stop the protest that he knew Naruto was about to make.

"They were misguided, Naruto, trust me on that. The only one in that group that really deserved to get beaten up or killed was Koyuki, but we will get to that later." Jiraiya said.

"You just need to accept the fact that you were overwhelmed because the enemy had you outnumbered and in some cases overpowered. You should be happy that you survived against those odds as long as you did." Jiraiya concluded.

"Okay, shishō," Naruto said with a resigned sigh. "I thought that my experience with bandits and thugs would still apply to some degree, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I just don't have enough experience dealing with coordinated groups of shinobi." Naruto muttered softly.

Jiraiya patted Naruto on the back again. "That is normal for someone at your current level. Hell, you have more experience than usual because of the invasion." Jiraiya said with a chuckle before his face suddenly turned serious, "However, we have a bigger problem on our hands. The reason that uptight bitch tried to flaunt her muscle towards us is because she is really desperate. You heard her story, right?"

Naruto scowled, "I don't really give a damn. I think the country would be better off without her stupid ass leading it. Why should we help her after what she did to us? It takes a special kind of idiocy to attack potential allies first then beg for forgiveness later. We should just leave her to deal with the problem herself if she thinks she is so much better than us."

"I know, kid, I know. There is a bigger problem with the situation that you aren't aware of. Usually, I don't like to get myself involved in these kinds of messes. It would only bring trouble back to the village, and I avoid that at all costs, but in this case, I think I have to get involved." Jiraiya ran his hand through his hair. "That means that you will be dragged into this mess as well. If I could leave you here to train on your own safely and deal with this by myself, I would. Unfortunately, that is not possible in this situation." Jiraiya said with resignation.

"What do you mean, shishō?" Naruto asked.

He had a sinking feeling in his gut when he saw the grim expression on Jiraiya's face.

"It's like this. There is a group of S ranked criminals who have been stirring up trouble all over the damn place. They have been inciting violence and trying to trigger civil wars in every village that they can. Not much is known about this group because they cover their tracks very well. Even my spy network hasn't been able to gather much intel on this group. The only thing that people have found out about this group is they are very interested in jinchūriki." Jiraiya said with a sideways glance at Naruto.

"What do they want with the jinchūriki?" Naruto asked with concern lacing his voice.

"Nobody knows." Jiraiya shrugged, "That's the real problem. I had hoped to keep you from worrying about this, but if half of what Koyuki told me is true, we might end up running into some of these guys." Jiraiya said with a frown. "I won't lie to you Naruto, I am very concerned about this. Dealing with one S ranked criminal is dangerous but two or more? That would be a problem even for me." Jiraiya said before turning his gaze to Naruto.

"All reports that I have received point to this group being highly coordinated. They have been able to eliminate all traces of their activities and remain anonymous despite multiple operations inside _major_ villages." Jiraiya said before gripping Naruto on the shoulder and looking him directly in the eyes.

"If we run into these guys and things start to look bad, I want you to reverse summon yourself out of there, Got it?" Jiraiya said sternly.

"What? That's absurd! You can't just expect me to leave you behind to die!" Naruto shouted.

"That is exactly what I expect you to do. Whatever these guys want can't be good, and I don't want you to find out the hard way." Jiraiya said sternly. "Don't question me on this!" he shook Naruto for emphasis.

Naruto gritted his teeth and reluctantly nodded before looking away. He knew that Jiraiya had ordered him to abandon him like a coward. He hated it, but he would do it out of respect for him.

"Look, Naruto. I don't want to force this on you, but you have to understand that this is a responsibility of anyone who is called shishō by their student. It is my duty to protect you from harm and provide you with the experience you need to survive what lies ahead." Jiraiya gently shook Naruto's shoulder again to redirect the blond's gaze back onto him.

"It tore me apart to see you trapped and injured. It was my failure that led to your capture because I wanted to teach that bitch a lesson and I apologize for that." Jiraiya said sadly. "I should have made sure you were safe above all else."

Naruto looked like he was going to argue again but Jiraiya didn't give him a chance to speak.

"I know you are just like your father in many ways but don't you ever think about sacrificing yourself for me damn it!" Jiraiya shook Naruto once more. "It's my job to protect you with my life Naruto, not the other way around. You are the last family that I have in this world."

Naruto nodded but remained silent.

"Promise me that if things go badly, you will run away," Jiraiya said seriously. "If you can't promise me as my apprentice, then promise me as my godson."

"I promise. If things go badly, I will run," Naruto said grudgingly, "but please don't tell me not to fight. I can't just sit by while you are facing death when I can help." Naruto pleaded.

Jiraiya sighed once more before he relented, "Fine, but you stay at max range at all times. You only attack with Kage Bunshin, and if they so much as look at you, I want you to out of there. Those are my conditions if you can't agree with them, I will take you back to the village right now."

"I promise, shishō. I know I have no chance against them. I know that the only reason Sasuke, Hinata, and I even survived against Orochimaru is because of our teamwork and because he wasn't serious in the beginning." Naruto said firmly.

"I hope to Kami I don't regret this," Jiraiya grumbled, "What we are going to do now is make our way to the rebel camp and help them begin countering the influence that Dotō has been building up. You will stick with me most of the time unless I need to perform some deep cover reconnaissance."

"Hopefully, We won't have to get too involved. If things go smoothly, I can set them up with successful strategy and they can do most of the work for themselves." Jiraiya said with a frown. "The rebellion is severely undersupplied and outnumbered, though. Most of the shinobi force refused to get involved in what they consider an internal family dispute. It just so happens that the family dispute is the ruling family, of course."

"So, this Dotō guy has more people backing him than Koyuki does?" Naruto asked.

"Yes and No. Dotō has the stronger muscle since the S ranked guys I warned you about are helping him along with a good portion of the shinobi who don't care who the Daimyō is. In actuality, Dotō has given more support to Yukigakure since he has taken control. They might have the incentive to work against us because of that." Jiraiya said before handing Naruto a sealing scroll and pointing to a bag of rice nearby.

Naruto got the message and began sealing items away as Jiraiya continued speaking.

"Most of the previous Daimyō's samurai are against Dotō, but unlike the Daimyō's samurai in most countries, the samurai here are outnumbered by a three to one margin. Koyuki's rebel group is only 30% of the entire shinobi force, at most. Add to that the S ranked criminals, and a large mercenary force and the situation is quite grim for the rebellion." Jiraiya said before sealing away a stack of canned vegetables.

"At least, you have a unique opportunity to learn how to use guerrilla tactics against an occupying force with superior strength and numbers. I haven't had to worry about such tactics in over 35 years." Jiraiya said with a grimace.

'I really am getting old, damn it.' Jiraiya thought glumly.

"I guess that explains why we never learned any details about guerrilla tactics in the Academy. Iruka-sensei only talked about them for an hour one day." Naruto mused before asking. "What else would we do besides ambushing supply lines and gathering information?"

"Is that all they told you?" Jiraiya said incredulously, "Man, the Academy has really gone down hill. I'm going to have to write myself a reminder to bug Tsunade-hime about that when we get back to the village." Jiraiya said in exasperation. "Guerrilla tactics are more about demoralizing and sabotaging the enemy force to the point that they lose the will to occupy the territory," Jiraiya explained. "You also have to focus on gaining the public on your side so that the occupying force is caught between a rock and a hard place."

Naruto let out short hum acknowledgment to indicate he was carefully listening to the impromptu lesson as he continued sealing away more provisions.

"Right now the populace is complacent or unaware of the situation. That is the first thing that needs to change." Jiraiya said before sealing another stack of cans. "The occupying force can only do so much to the civilian populace before losing face and turning the tide against themselves. Cracking down on protests or making life difficult for the people will only help the rebellion grow. That is the last thing any occupying force wants to contend with."

"What are we going to do first then, shishō?" Naruto said.

Naruto was a little excited about taking part in this rebellion. He could care less about Koyuki's cause and still thought the country would be better off without her as it's leader, but maybe someone else could take over and do a better job. He was mostly excited about getting to use more of his complicated ambush seals and developing strategies and tactics to use against the enemy forces.

With Team 7 he had deferred leadership and strategy development to Sasuke in the beginning to prevent conflict. Over time, that role had not changed. Even though Sasuke discussed his plans with Naruto and Hinata, the Uchiha was always the one to develop the plan first, then modify it after input.

Knowing how Jiraiya liked to work, it was highly likely he would be creating and developing his own strategies to use against the enemy. The only opportunity he ever really had to do such a thing was against Shikamaru and Shikaku when playing Go or Shogi. Plus he would have the opportunity to see tactics and strategy uncommon to Konoha.

"Pack up all your stuff since this is likely going to take awhile. We will be leaving with the rebel group and staying with them until all of this is over. I will start packing up the rest of our provisions to take with us. After that, we will review the rebel's intelligence network and try to fill in any gaps they are missing. Once that is done, then the real fun can begin." Jiraiya said with a grin.

Naruto made his way back to his room and began sealing away all his unpacked clothing and gear. Once all his storage scrolls were sealed away or stowed in his bag, he double checked the room for anything he might have overlooked before heading back towards the living room to help pack up the remaining provisions.

While he was helping Jiraiya seal away all their consumables, he was discussing the situation with Kurama, who was not pleased.

" **I still think this is foolish and a waste of time. Such things are none of our concern; we should just leave this place and grow stronger elsewhere in peace. Filthy humans. They are aAlways stirring up trouble with their selfish greed."** Kurama huffed.

 _'I know, but shishō agreed to help them because of that S ranked group that he told us about. It seems odd to me that a group would be starting wars all over the place and be interested in the jinchūriki. What is the point of that?'_ Naruto asked.

" **Same thing that all filth want. Power, Wealth, Control. I expect they wish to use us as weapons like any other group seeking to control the world."** Kurama growled, **"Stirring up trouble like humans always do since the stupid mortals seem to revel in chaos and destruction."**

 _'What do they gain if a country like this goes to war? Wouldn't they be targeting areas like Kumo or Konoha instead since we are there?'_ Naruto internally shook his head. " _I wonder if this is some sort of ruse to throw everyone off their real goal. They might have learned that someone has gathered intelligence on them, so they want to protect their actual goals using misdirection.'_

" **Tch. As if mortals could create such a large scale conspiracy in that manner. The greed and foolishness of humans would prevent such a thing from remaining unspoken."** Kurama said with a huff, **"I bet that Toad fool gathered his knowledge by paying some greedy underling off. That sort of thing is common with mortals since many will eagerly toss aside their loyalty, family, or comrades for a mere handful of ryō."**

 _'That's not true for everyone.'_ Naruto argued _'Sure there are corrupt people in the world, but I still believe there are individuals who aren't corrupt like me. There still have to be people who wouldn't trade away such things so easily.'_

" **Hmph. Everyone is willing to do something for a price. It is the price that determines if the person is filth or not. Even you are willing to betray your village for a price, kit. You and I both know that to be true. At least, your betrayal will be for a greater cause."**

Naruto frowned as he tried to come up with a retort, but fell short. Kurama was right. He was willing to betray Konoha if it meant the plan was successful. Was he already corrupted like everyone else or was everything Kurama had said about humanity true? Naruto didn't want to believe Kurama was right about humans in that way. Kurama had said he was born pure, so that meant there had to be other humans who had also been pure.

 _'I might be corrupt like the rest but I still believe there are those who are not._ ' Naruto said sourly.

Kurama swished his tails in agitation. This conversation took a turn for the worse that he didn't expect. His kit had never behaved in this way towards him before, and it was disconcerting to him. Kurama knew that Naruto would start to question him ever since he absorbed his Yin half and that Toad fool started planting the seeds of doubt into his impressionable young mind.

Kurama saw these as seeds of corruption meant to taint Naruto like the rest of humanity and lead him off the path. He wouldn't let those seeds take root and ruin all their plans. Naruto had to remain pure or else everything would fall apart. The more that Naruto associated with filthy mortals, the more he began to succumb to those emotions. He had to create a separation of sorts to protect him from that influence. It would require a subtle paw lest the Toad fool and the old monkey goat catch onto this change in Naruto and work harder to counter it.

" **You misunderstand my reasoning. I am not saying you are corrupted like the rest of humanity. You are far from corrupt like the rest of that filth to the point that I have doubts that you are human in the first place. Your soul is pure, too pure to be human by my belief."** Kurama said firmly.

Naruto was so startled by Kurama's reasoning that he stopped sealing away objects for a few seconds. He managed to recover from his shock and continue sealing away the next box of tea while trying to think of a reasonable response.

" **Your father is a perfect example of having a price. He sacrificed his soul to seal me away into you just to protect the village. A lesser man might have refused to pay such a price, or even be ignoble enough to resist sacrificing his only child to do so choosing another to bear such a burden."** Kurama added.

Naruto's frown lessened, but now he had a massive tangle of questions in his mind, so many questions that it was hard for him to reorganize his thoughts. The things Kurama was telling him were confusing. While Kurama had said such things in the past, he had never outright stated that he wasn't human. Naruto didn't even know what to think about that, so he pushed it aside and focused on his previous argument.

 _'You said that my soul is pure but everyone else has corruption in theirs. That means that it is possible for others to have a pure soul as well.'_ Naruto said stubbornly.

" **Of course, there is the possibility. Almost anything is possible,"** Kurama soothed, **"but I am confident that your soul was created to restore the balance. While your spirit houses the same corruption that every other human has, your soul does not. That is what sets you apart from all the others."**

" _I thought everyone's soul would be different. Isn't that why people act so differently from one another?"_ Naruto asked.

" **No. Mito and Kushina's souls were very similar a mix of good and evil deeds from past lives. Your soul had none. It was completely pure."** Kurama said in a strange tone. **"To this day when you slumber your body appears here, and your soul reaches out towards me. Every time this occurs I feel part of that hatred in me diminish."**

Naruto had never heard Kurama speak in that tone of voice before. It almost seemed as if Kurama was in awe of him. In some way, it made Naruto feel a little bit better since he was fulfilling his childhood declaration in a small way.

 _'but you still really, really hate humans. If that is what my soul is doing shouldn't you have less hatred then?'_ Naruto replied.

" **The humans early attempts at sealing all of us were painful at best, and the humans continually tried to seal us away for hundreds of years"** Kurama snarled, **"Being trapped in a barren landscape with little to no interaction with the outside world only let my emotions fester.** **I will never lose my hatred for humanity completely."**

Naruto could sense Kurama's agitation and decided to remain silent. Kurama would only get angrier if he tried to offer platitudes. Plus he didn't like the fact that he was arguing with Kurama like this.

" **Yet every night that you sleep, your soul continues to reach out to mine, and I find that hatred diminishing to the point where I can even accept some of your companions,"** Kurama admitted grudgingly.

" **I spoke with Shukaku and Matatabi about what I have seen, and they have never encountered this type of thing before. Both of the have been sealed dozens of times. Gyuki had also admitted that he has never seen such a thing before, and he intentionally bonds with his jinchūriki."** Kurama snorted as he thought of B.

" **That is why I do not consider you to be human anymore, and your actions have proven as such. Do not put yourself in the same category as that filth."**

To Naruto, that was the biggest question he had always had trouble with since he had met with the other jinchūriki.

Were Jinchūriki really human anymore? They were all intricately tied to their bijū to the point that losing their bijū would result in their deaths.

Everyone else treated jinchūriki as something different, and while he understood that he merely had a bijū sealed inside of him, he couldn't help but think that he had been fundamentally changed because of it.

All jinchūriki, whether they are on good terms or not, gain abilities from their bijū. All jinchūriki also adapted some physical change in their appearance because of a bijū being sealed in them.

From what Kurama and Gyūki had explained it was usually eye or hair color changes, but Naruto had his whisker marks which were actually sensitive. Naruto also could see the physical changes in his mindscape where his chakra coils were so closely entwined with Kurama's now.

Was his mind different as well? Sometimes he wondered if he had similar issues as a person with multiple personality disorders, and had read up on the issue after his encounter with Sakura.

While some might consider his personality change to be similar to dissociation, it was not to the same degree as someone with that disorder. In fact, his personality had simply changed completely with only traces of his original personality remaining but hidden. There was no switching between his old personality and his new personality. It was just one personality hidden behind emotional barriers.

Also, he had the capability to communicate telepathically with any bijū or jinchūriki he had encountered. Did chakra and their seals power this ability or was it a change to his mind itself? The Yamanaka clan had such jutsu, but only their clan members were capable of using it. He also remembered that Inoichi had made a comment that entering Naruto's mind had behaved differently because of Kurama's presence.

That led Naruto to conclude that his mind was also inherently different because of Kurama as well.

If his mind, body, and soul were all different from everyone else, could he be considered human anymore? Perhaps that is the reason that people called them jinchūriki in the first place. Their humanity had been sacrificed to create a new being that housed the bijū inside of them. A new being formed to allow the bijū to bond with them where others would be poisoned or killed by the corrosive chakra.

Jiraiya's hand on his shoulder drew Naruto out of his thoughts. Naruto was secretly relieved because he didn't want to face the realization his mind was leading him toward.

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya with a questioning look on his face.

"What's wrong Naruto? You look like you just took a shot to the gut." Jiraiya asked.

"It's nothing, shishō. Just too many things on my mind about those guys you mentioned and what they want with us jinchūriki." Naruto replied before turning his attention back to sealing away the last of the provisions.

Jiraiya frowned as Naruto's response. The Sandaime had given Jiraiya a rundown of Naruto's mannerisms. If his eyes drifted away from yours before he turned his head, he was embarrassed or hiding something. If his eyes drifted down he was hiding something, if they moved to the side then he was embarrassed.

"Hey, don't worry about that right now." Jiraiya patted Naruto on the shoulder a few times, "The only reason we are getting involved with this whole rebellion mess is so that we can figure out what that group wants. I could care less about who is the Daimyō for this country." Jiraiya scoffed, "I've always hated politics, it is just as deceptive as spying with none of the perks. Everyone you deal with are stuck up assholes who are just waiting to stab you in the back. You constantly have to wear stuffy formal wear and attend dinners that cost three times more than usual for a meal that should be considered an afternoon snack."

Naruto couldn't stop the snort of amusement that escaped him.

"Looks like we got everything sorted out here. Did you make sure you picked up everything from your room? I would prefer to get the hell out of this land as soon as this whole mess is over. It's a damn shame that they discovered my refuge here. I will probably never get any peace out here again." Jiraiya grumbled.

"I have double checked everything, shishō. I am ready to go." Naruto replied.

"Alright, let's get this mess sorted out and return to what really matters. Making you the biggest badass in the elemental nations." Jiraiya said with a smirk.

Naruto and Jiraiya exited the cabin to see the Yuki-nin standing around one of the hot springs to keep warm. While Jiraiya reapplied his security seals, Naruto studied the group in front of him. He could sense that most of them still had animosity towards him and let his frown deepen.

" **I believe the mortal saying goes 'Just like home.'"** Kurama snorted.

 _'Yea right. I had almost forgotten that feeling. Oh well, how much you want to bet that those same people will be kissing our ass after we free their damn country.'_ Naruto replied.

" **Hmph. At least, the Toad Sage has the right idea about all of this. Deal with these fools as quickly as we can and move on to what is important."** Kurama replied.

Jiraiya stepped up to Naruto and patted him on the shoulder before making his way towards the group. The Yuki-nin then began making their way back to their camp while Koyuki filled Jiraiya in on their intelligence network and the agents they had infiltrating Dotō's ranks.

 **Two Months Later – Outskirts of Yukigakure**

* * *

Naruto sat perched on a snowy branch Henged as an owl. His anticipation was so intense that he couldn't stop himself from ruffling his feathers as he watched the series of traps laid out for the Dotō loyalists.

Jiraiya and Naruto had learned quite a bit about the country in the past two months, and Naruto reluctantly agreed that Koyuki had been right about Dotō being a tyrant. Most of the Yuki-nin had started to warm up to the duo from Konoha, but while Jiraiya was at his charismatic best, Naruto maintained his stoic facade and behaved cordially when necessary. He wasn't looking for friends out here; he just wanted to get this whole mess over with so he could move on and start gathering what he needed.

It probably didn't help that his initial excitement had been jaded by the reality of guerrilla warfare. While less "bloody" overall it was just as depraved and violent. It was also very underhanded and distasteful, just like Dotō was.

From what Jiraiya had gathered, Dotō had tried to seize control by force, but Sōsetsu Kazahana had defeated him in one on one combat. Dotō fled with what remained of his loyal guard to a small village near the castle.

This action had turned out to be a ruse, however, as Dotō used his own son and daughter to lure Sōsetsu into a trap created by the S ranked missing that Jiraiya had been trying to learn about from the get go. Dotō had boasted about hiring Akatsuki to kill Sōsetsu and Koyuki so he could control Yuki no Kuni and use their advanced technologies to dominate the rest of the world.

Once Sōsetsu was eliminated, Dotō used the Akatsuki as the scapegoats for his assassination so he could enact wartime mandates to prevent the civilian and shinobi councils from halting any of his proclamations. Anyone who had been loyal to Dotō got the prime government jobs and promotions while his detractors either disappeared or were disgraced publicly.

Dotō then cracked down on the wealthy merchant groups who actively spoke out against him for his bloody takeover. By seizing all imports and exports used by those groups for manufacturing and farming, he began to gain control of all the major businesses and food production. Any exports were taxed heavily while imported goods were only available for purchase from merchants who toed the line and supported Dotō.

Next, Dotō began to slowly reduce welfare and social projects for the poor with the intent to further increase unemployment while offering lucrative recruiting benefits and pay for his military forces. This plan began to lure all of the poor and jobless to join the samurai, shinobi, or mercenary forces making more of the populace dependent on Dotō for their livelihood.

As his military forces swelled, Dotō was obliged to increase taxes on the rest of the populace causing unrest with the remainder of the civilian populace. With a bloated and bored mercenary force that was encouraged, with bonuses, to root out rebels or detractors at any cost, there was a constant stream of "traitors" to punish and ryō to pay out.

The mercenaries would not hesitate to turn in entire families just to receive a bonus, regardless if the people were innocent or not. Now, the people were too afraid to speak out since the mercenaries were looking for any excuse to pad their pockets with more ryō or to extort goods and services knowing that the civilians were at their mercy.

Dotō's temper had always been volatile, and if you coupled that temper with his ruthlessness, it was easy for Jiraiya to come up with a strategy to take Dotō apart using his weaknesses. In retaliation for his greedy and corrupt mercenary force hauling in and executing innocent civilians, Jiraiya began planting evidence of treason, plots of assassination, and conspiracies with the most corrupt senior officers who were naturally skimming off more than they should and hiding it from Dotō.

Dotō didn't even question the evidence at all and began executing his loyal men just to be on the safe side. Dotō never trusted anyone but himself, and he had always viewed people as expendable, so it worked in the rebels favor by thinning out all the competent officers.

To keep Dotō paranoid, Jiraiya and Naruto began setting ambush traps in restaurants, bars, and other popular places that Dotō like to visit. The traps were intentionally designed to fail, for the most part, but they were still fatal enough to take out his loyal guards and cause convincing collateral damage.

These "attacks", in turn, caused Dotō to begin cracking down on the populace and his own men as his temper was strained and his paranoia grew.

Next came the more high-profile attacks on merchants, bureaucrats, and even security patrols in the capital, Kazahana Castle, and Yukigakure to establish fear and uncertainty in the rest of the populace. Supporters of Dotō or people who were merely complacent because they felt the matter was none of their concern since their lives were not directly affected were the primary targets, ensuring that their lives began to become just as unsettled as the besieged masses that were being crushed under Dotō's heel.

The public began to fear to associate with or be near any of Dotō's loyal supporters because they would get caught in the crossfire. While the loyalists blamed the rebels, they couldn't dispute the arguments that Dotō had failed to keep the population safe. A Daimyō that couldn't get rid of a threat and protect their people was a failure. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The general public blamed Dotō for this failure, and unrest began to grow. They had paid more taxes than ever to support a security force that couldn't even keep them safe, a security force that was full of corrupt extortionists, rapists, and even murderers.

Stores opened later and closed earlier, large gatherings at theaters, concerts, and festivals began dwindling as people were too afraid of the next attack. The complacent villagers began to realize that they couldn't simply ignore the problem since going out in the village, or the city was dangerous. They could die just because they happened to be eating lunch next to one of Dotō's supporters one day.

While the rebels always tried to ensure that no civilians were caught in their attacks, it was impossible to avoid harming the non-combatants 100% of the time. The rebels made it a point to provide generous compensation to the victim's families when they could, but how could you put a price on someone's mother, son, or brother? What amount of ryō or gold made up for that loss?

The fact that the rebels were using his ambush seals on what Jiraiya labeled as "soft targets" didn't sit well with Naruto at all. He could understand not facing a superior force by catching them off guard with ambushes. Targeting places like public gatherings and restaurants seemed depraved to him.

To Naruto, the rebellion was just as bad as Dotō. The innocent people were just caught in between the battle between two stuck up nobles. The Bitch named Koyuki and the asshole named Dotō. It was no surprise to him that the two were related. When he first learned the truth about the attacks in the city, Naruto wanted Jiraiya to force the rebellion to stop using them in that manner.

Jiraiya had been supportive of his decision but had asked Naruto to hear out his argument fully. If Naruto still felt the same way, then Jiraiya would put his foot down and honor his request.

The first thing Jiraiya pointed was how the civilians were ignoring all the atrocities committed by the mercenary armies. The civilians were selfishly ignoring the suffering of others because they were not personally affected. Causing visible attacks within the city prevented those selfish people from ignoring the truth.

Naruto could not deny that fact, he had witnessed people ignoring a child being beaten by two mercenaries for stealing an apple. There were groups of people who just looked the other way while the attack was occurring. The child would have died if Naruto did not intervene and kill those mercs.

The second argument that Jiraiya emphasized was that by allowing Dotō to secure his power, more innocent people would end up dying in the long run. Naruto could see how much damage Dotō had caused to the country. More and more people were joining the mercenary army to take advantage of others or to save themselves from the trouble. That was the major sticking point for Naruto. He could believe that it was only a matter of time before all the truly innocent people would have no security when all the selfish and corrupt bastards joined the mercenary force.

So, Naruto reluctantly agreed to continue supplying the seals, but he turned his focus to making his seals more controlled and customizable so he could reduce unnecessary casualties. With this focus, he was able to increase his fūinjutsu skill tremendously.

With groups of clones being tasked to create, link, reverse, and modify so many different combinations of seals, it was to be expected that he would gain proficiency just because of the sheer amount of possible combinations possible. Naruto really did enjoy creating new variant seals for the rebellion. The rebel leaders were often requesting strange combinations of seals that he would not have considered on his own.

Sure he was also getting experience in subterfuge, sabotage, and information gathering, but after experiencing them first hand, he found that he agreed with Kurama that these actions were distasteful.

The most exciting thing to come out of his time in Yuki no Kuni, so far, was the creation of his first advanced level space-time seal. Naruto was able to create summoning scroll for people without a summoning contract. Naruto used a small amount of chakra combined with the Toad symbol (油) and gave the scroll to a Yuki rebel to test.

Gamatatsu had been quite surprised when a stranger summoned him instead of Jiraiya or Naruto. It had cost Naruto the last of his chocolates from the capital, but he was too excited about creating a summoning scroll to be upset by that fact.

Once that test was successful, Naruto was introduced to the Bear, Owl, and Penguin bosses to gain permission to create scrolls for their clans.

After agreeing to restrict all summons to Yuki no Kuni, and a promise not to reveal the summoning symbols to anyone else, the penguin, owl, and bear leaders agreed to teach Naruto their clan symbols. With the stipulation that he did his best to conceal said symbols on his seals of course.

Naruto began creating more scrolls for the rebel group after that. His scrolls ensuring that each rebel group was able to call on penguin messengers, owl scouts, and combat bears which helped solve their coordination problems substantially and allowed them to increase attacks on troops and supply lines efficiently and withdraw before the main force arrived to eliminate them.

While the penguin clan couldn't offer much in the form of jutsu or combat support, they were surprisingly efficient for delivering messages. All penguins had a unique ability that functioned like the Kawarimi. The penguin would simply switch with one of its relatives at base camp right away. It made them far superior to messenger hawks since they could deliver a message instantly and return a response immediately. In addition to their ability to remain submerged underwater for extended periods of time they were fast and agile swimmers and could chase down and catch entire schools of fish with ease to help with provisions.

The owls were excellent at scouting with their capability to fly and hawk-like vision that could detect the finest detail, even on a moonless night. Their talons were razor sharp, and they had a powerful grip, able hunt down and carry off medium sized deer and fast enough to swoop on fleeing snow rabbits. The owls also provided Fūton support in combat for combinations and deflecting incoming jutsu.

The bears were powerful combatants when they had the proper support, able to take more damage than most summon animals before dispelling, and their crushing jaws and bone shattering paws were nothing to laugh about. Bears were also deceptively quick on their feet even though their frames are bulky and lumbering. Most of the bears also provided Doton or, surprisingly, Suiton support jutsu.

The dwindling rebel forces had almost doubled in under two months time. Flush from recruitment due to a combination of Dotō's volatile crackdown on the growing number of rebel sympathizers, evidence of crimes committed by people on Dotō's payroll being made public, redistributing confiscated items that Dotō seized to supply his loyal guards. Not to mention the continued ambushes, attacks on supply lines, and executions by Dotō himself had driven the populace to their breaking point, and the mood in the country was that Dotō was to blame for everything.

As for the Akatsuki themselves, no one had seen or heard from them since the assassination.

Jiraiya did learn from an informant that there were already several sleeper agents hidden in the rebel forces. With the information provided, Naruto was able to find all the sleeper agents with needles in their brains using his Jiton ability. Unfortunately, none of the rebels survived the extraction process.

Most of the information on the Akatsuki came from a serving maid who had witnessed the attack on Sōsetsu at the very start of the coup.

From the information the woman provided, Jiraiya was able to identify the Akatsuki members using a Bingo book. The woman confirmed the members as Sasori of the Red Sand, and Deidara of Iwa's Explosion Corps.

Jiraiya was familiar with Sasori's reputation from the Third Shinobi War as being a very talented and ruthless Kugutsu (puppet) wielder. His talent in poisons and controlling large amounts of lethal puppets was legendary across the world.

Deidara was unknown to Jiraiya. Besides the information from the serving maid, the bingo book only listed him as having Doton, Raiton, and Bakuton (Explosion Release) and claimed he was a student of Ōnoki himself.

Jiraiya had not had a lot of experience dealing with Iwa's Explosive Corps, but he had gathered some intelligence that mentioned they were primarily ranged fighters who relied on a supply of clay or another medium to use their Bakuton. If this supply was used up it was normal for them to flee.

Naruto spotted movement inside the village and inched a little closer on the branch as he waited for the Dotō loyalists to enter his ambush zone. While he had been involved in a good deal of setting up the ambush seals and traps in and around the cities, Jiraiya had not allowed Naruto to engage anyone directly.

Naruto was always in a Henge of some sort and was only allowed to use five clones at a time. Four to guard and one to engage. It was kind of annoying that Jiraiya wouldn't let him even use combination jutsu as things would go a lot quicker if he could, but Jiraiya had told him that Naruto's attacks were much too flashy and would attract more attention than they needed.

He had to agree with Jiraiya on that point since his Katon-Fūton combinations were incredibly powerful and _loud_. Naruto created supercharged clones instead to appease himself. Jiraiya had never been able to tell the difference and he could, at least, amuse himself by directing the clone for much longer before they ran out of chakra.

Naruto hooted out the signal that their targets were approaching for the rest of the rebel forces in hiding. Reaching out with his senses once more, he took note of the scents and sounds he was picking up around himself. So far everything was going according to plan.

Soon a group of 20 Yuki shinobi and 20 samurai exited the village and began marching towards Kazahana Castle to reinforce the guard around Dotō. The rebellion had been able to pick off most of the mercenary force stationed there when they fooled Dotō with a feint that they had seized the docks for occupation.

Dotō believed that the Rebellion against him was beginning the final stage of an assault on the castle directly and sent out most of his mercenary force thinking to wipe them all out. Instead, the rebellion had riddled the passageway with ambush seals and had perched themselves on the mountain ridge overlooking the mountain path.

The mercenary force was almost entirely obliterated by a rain of Hyōton, Fūton, and Doton jutsu. Only 25 – 30 of the mercenaries survived out of 100 while the rebel forces only lost six fighters.

Naruto waited until the group was directly in the center before he signaled his clone to trigger the seals. There was a bright flash of light and the shinobi immediately began trying to Shunshin or Kawarimi out of the ambush zone.

Dotō's forces were so jumpy from constantly being ambushed by seals that even regular flash tags or flare tags could spook entire groups of them. Nothing was more amusing to the rebels than to see the mercenary force trying to look professional in formation only to start running in panic when someone set off a flash tag.

Only six of the shinobi and a three of the samurai, who were outside of the ambush zone, avoided the large barrier that sprung up trapping a majority of the army inside.

The group inside were obliterated when the jutsu storage seals released four Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) from each corner followed by four Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) to fan the flames. While the barrier successful suppressed the sound of the explosion, the ground still shook from the force of the powered fireballs impacting into each other and filling the entire barrier with swirling light blue cyclones of fire.

Naruto watched as the Rebel leader called out the charge and the group of fifteen rebels rushed forward to attack the group. Naruto ordered his clone into the fight and had two of his henged clones move closer in case the first clone was dispersed early.

The clone bolstered the large group of flying ice swords that were sent towards the enemy with his Fūton: Daitoppa before flashing through the hand seals for Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall) to block the incoming projectiles and ice birds flying towards him and three of the ranged rebels.

The wall of mud rose up just in time to block most of the projectiles while the two ranged rebels formed ice shields to prevent the ice birds from flying around the barrier and hitting them from the flank.

Once the rain of attacks stopped, the clone dropped the mud wall and sent out a cluster of Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Blade Jutsu) towards the two Yuki shinobi who had attacked them. The two rebels by his side sent out some more ice swords before drawing out kunai as two of the shinobi charged towards them with their fists encased in ice.

The clone threw out another Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu towards the charging ninja to slow them down before jumping back and flipping through the hand seals for another Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu

The two Yuki rebels charged the enemy on the right leaving the enemy who had blocked most of the wind blades with his ice fists to Naruto.

The clone sent the giant blue fireball towards the man and quickly charged up a Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) with his left hand to fan the fireball a little so it wouldn't make a deafening explosion. As the fireball sped towards the ninja, he managed to Shunshin behind the clone and threw a jab cross combination towards him.

Naruto sent a mental command to one of the backup clones to charge a Rasengan and prepare to Kawarimi with the clone engaged in a taijutsu battle. Once that command was set up, he turned his gaze back towards the rest of the fight.

The samurai were down quickly, and three Yuki ninjas were fighting off the remainder of the rebel forces. Two of the rebel samurai were down, possibly dead, he couldn't tell from here. The rebel shinobi only appeared to lose one of their group which wasn't too bad.

Naruto took another quick count of their targets and realized that one of the enemy shinobi was missing from the battlefield. He scanned the battlefield once more to look for a corpse but didn't see one. Cursing to himself, he took flight and began trying to pick up a scent with three of his henged clones following after him as swallows.

If one of the enemies got away, they might be able to track them down before the rebels erased all their tracks. Their base would be compromised again which was a real pain in the ass.

Naruto picked up the scent trail not too far from the main battle but was instantly suspicious when he saw the Yuki-nin running away from the village instead of towards it. The village was much closer than the castle so why would the Yuki-nin try to run further for reinforcements?

The Yuki-nin sent up a red flare before collapsing from their injuries. Naruto began to turn back towards the rebel group to send out a warning, but he spotted something strange flying towards him.

It was a gigantic white owl, and it was moving very, very fast. Far more quickly than he could fly, that was for certain.

Naruto banked hard and began flying back as fast as he could. Hopefully, whoever was on that owl wasn't a sensor because he didn't have a chakra suppression seal on.

Naruto started climbing further up in the sky while his sparrow clones dove down low. If he was lucky, the enemy hadn't detected him, and he could stay at a higher altitude while they flew past him.

He had already sent the command to the two clones engaged in the battle to send out the signal to retreat, but he didn't know if they would be able to run fast enough to escape the owl that was heading towards them.

Naruto peeked behind him quickly and saw that the large owl had gained a lot of ground and cursing his luck, they were climbing directly after him. He spotted the black cloaks with the red clouds and cursed his luck again. Somehow those guys noticed him, and now he had two S ranked missing-nin after him.

He sent a mental command to the retreating clones to use a penguin scroll and inform Jiraiya that the Akatsuki were chasing him. Naruto continued to climb, but he banked hard to the right to lure them away from the rest of the rebel forces. There was a chance that these guys wanted him alive, but they would definitely wipe out that small rebel force if he tried to use them as reinforcements.

Naruto began drawing on his bond with Kurama to sync for battle and began calculating his odds of surviving long enough for Jiraiya to reverse summon him. Receiving the memories of one of his swallow clones, Naruto started to dive immediately narrowly avoiding several senbon and some white explosives that were thrown at him. Keeping his wings closed he dove as fast as possible he peeked back to see them hot on his tail and closing fast.

 _'Fuck. They are just too damn fast. No choice then but to try something I haven't practiced before. I need to fall faster.'_ Naruto thought.

" **Hmph. The penguin should be relaying the message already. You won't have to wait much longer, but you can gain more distance if you use a wind jutsu when they send more attacks your way. Wait for them to get a little closer first."**

 _'Right. That might work with my plan also.'_ Naruto said before he looked back again.

Sending a mental command to his clones, he dropped his Henge and turned to face the Akatsuki members while he fell. When he saw the one Jiraiya identified as Deidara send several white birds towards him, he used Fūton: Daitoppa to blow them off course and send him hurtling towards the ground faster.

The giant owl was staggered by the force of the winds, but the Akatsuki members seem prepared for the attack as they gripped onto the bird easily. The explosive birds scattered but began to regroup and fly towards him once again before they suddenly stopped. The giant owl then started to dive towards him faster.

Naruto sensed he was nearing the range of his swallow clones to enact his plan. He looked down at the ground and saw it rapidly approaching. He was still at least 80 yards from the ground so he could wait until they are closer to enact his escape plan. His sensitive hearing picked up on the conversation the Akatsuki members were having, even with the wind whistling through his ears.

"What a drag. hm. I was going to make beautiful art with him. Are you sure he's the Kyūbi jinchūriki Sasori? What is he even doing out here?" Naruto heard Deidara say.

"Of course, you idiot. I am the spymaster after all. If the kid dies, Leader-sama is going to kill us, painfully. Hurry up and catch him." Sasori replied.

Naruto looked back to the ground 40 yards and closing fast; he was starting to near the tops of the taller pine trees in the area. Particularly the one his clone was currently standing on top of and preparing his attack. When he turned his focus back onto the Akatsuki, his eyes widened when he saw that Deidara was less than six feet away from him.

 _'Fuck. No more time. I hope this works Kurama are we are so screwed.'_ Naruto thought before using Kawarimi with the clone standing at the top of the pine tree.

Deidara was surprised to see the boy disappear just as he was about to grab him, only to suddenly reappear with a glowing ball of chakra in his hand.

The clone thrust the Rasengan towards Deidara, who ordered the Owl to bank right, trying to dodge the attack. The owl didn't move sharp enough to avoid the attack, and the Rasengan slammed into his body near his left shoulder, twisting the muscles and tendons of his pectorals and arm before sending him flying back off of the owl.

Deidara cried out at the pain of feeling his arm and chest getting mangled by the drilling ball of chakra, but he managed to direct his owl to speed towards him and dive down to catch him.

While that was happening, Naruto continued to fall towards the ground from where he replaced himself with the leaping clone. He was still 20 yards from the ground, so Naruto waited just a little bit longer before he used Fūton: Daitoppa to try and slow his fall while his final clone used a low powered Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) at him, trying to slow his rate of descent. Once both wind attacks began to die out, Naruto and his clone shot out several chakra strings to try and create a makeshift safety net but they ran out of time. In a last ditch effort, Naruto simply wrapped some lines around his torso and attached them to a tree branch.

Naruto received a little whiplash when his body pulled at the strings with the momentum of his fall. His body stretched the strings out partially before they began to re-constrict sending him swinging upwards and to the side. Soon gravity took hold once more and he began to fall again. The chakra strings were not reinforced enough to handle the extra strain and began snapping one at a time, sending Naruto tumbling to the ground at an unexpected angle.

Naruto cried out in pain as his ribs and lower back struck a smaller icy branch as he fell, breaking through the smaller branch and landing in a heap at the base of the tree. He was winded from the force of the impact, his neck was killing him, and he probably just broke a few ribs, at least. Naruto lay dazed on the ground and in a lot of pain, but he was alive. He needed to get moving and fast.

Naruto gingerly picked himself up off the ground. He could feel Kurama using some chakra on his wounds to try and heal them. Naruto created a splint with chakra strings on his ribs and a brace for his neck so that he could at least move, but it would be painful. Very painful. As he prepared to move out, he received the memories from the clone who hit Deidara. It was not a pretty memory to receive. Deidara was very pissed right now.

Deactivating his gravity seals he quickly pulled out a reverse gravity seal and applied it before taking off as fast as he could. He had to create as much distance as he could and with his current chakra reserves, he would only last about three minutes before the seal drained him completely.

His remaining clone tried to follow him at first, but Naruto ordered it to re-henge itself to spy on the Akatsuki members and dispel if they stopped trying to follow him. The clone would never have been able to keep up with him, and he could use it to see if they were still chasing him.

Naruto barely avoided the trees and boulders as he ran, the speed of the reverse gravity seal being almost too much for him to handle. If not for testing the seal on his clones so much and his sync with Kurama, he wouldn't have been able to react before crashing into trees or boulders.

It didn't seem like that much time had passed when he began to feel his energy drain and he started stumbling. Naruto used a small chakra seal so he could, at least, keep moving and continued to run but the pain was beginning to get to him and he was only moving at half his usual speed. With no memories incoming from his clone yet he pressed onward even harder.

 _'That was intense Kurama. At least, we know now that the strings need to be much thicker to support our fall from such a height. I am also lucky I didn't face plant us into a tree or boulder after using that reverse gravity seal. I could barely see anything.'_ Naruto said as he continued to run.

" **I don't sense them following us, but it doesn't hurt to keep moving. They might simply be out of range."** Kurama said.

 _'Hell no! I am not stopping for at least an hour, or I collapse. I don't even know where we are anyways, so it doesn't matter right now. Only shishō reverse summoning us will get us out of this mess.'_ Naruto replied.

Naruto's heart was racing not just from exertion but from the combination of fear and adrenaline. His hands were shaky, and he was breathing heavily.

" **I am pleased that you didn't screw that up and severely damage yourself. Next time you should wait till you are closer to the ground to use your jutsu, though. If not for the added wind from your clone, you would have been unable to move after such a fall."** Kurama replied.

 _'Fuck that. There won't be a next time at all, not if I can help it. Shishō is going to kill me if he finds out. Should I try to make up a story or just lay it on him and take my punishment?'_ Naruto asked.

" **Hmph. I would be amused to see the Toad Fools face when you did tell him. However, you will have to deal with the consequences so do as you will."**

Naruto slid to a stop when he began to feel the pull of the reverse summons.

When the cloud of smoke disappeared he was greeted by a Jiraiya on the verge of panic. Naruto opened his mouth to try and reassure Jiraiya, but his exhaustion caught up with him and he fell unconscious before he could even get a word out.

 **Two days later – Rebel camp – Yuki no Kuni Wilderness**

* * *

Naruto began to stir as consciousness returned to him. Slowly he began to open his eyes, revealing a dull gray tent ceiling above him. Naruto blinked a few times to clear his vision before he tried to sit up, only to find he could barely move at all.

Naruto looked down to find himself bound tighter than a sushi roll. His body was wrapped in several blankets and stuffed into his sleeping bag. The air seemed even colder than usual, but Naruto could tell it was still daytime from the brightness of the tent.

 _'Where are we?'_ Naruto asked Kurama.

A grumbling huff was the only answer he received indicating that Kurama was likely still resting from healing all his injuries or didn't deign to answer him at the moment. Most likely the former since he had hit that branch and the ground pretty hard, and probably exacerbated his injuries by proceeding to haul ass as fast as possible out of fear.

Naruto shifted in his wrappings for a moment but halted when some ice cold air penetrated his warm roll. A slight shiver worked its way through his body giving him some comfort that he hadn't been permanently damaged by his daredevil stunt.

The bracing draft of air made Naruto rethink leaving his warm bed, but the answering call of nature became too strong, plus Jiraiya was probably going ballistic wondering what exactly happened to him that he appeared so injured.

Wrestling with his blankets some more, he managed to free his arms and unzip his sleeping bag so he could get up. Naruto slowly sat up and looked around, spotting one of his sweaters and his cloak on a nearby folding chair.

Naruto leaned over and snapped up both items before throwing them on quickly. It was really really cold in this tent. Much colder than their previous campsite, so Naruto wasn't certain if he had been unconscious for an extended period of time, or if the rebels were forced to relocate their camp away from the cluster of hot springs they had been camping at before his run in with the Akatsuki.

Now bundled up in his cloak, he prepared to brave the icy air and find out where he could relieve himself. Looking around the tent, he saw his messenger bag and his arm wraps laid out on the small camp table. Naruto stood up slowly and made his way over to the table to unseal some fresh clothing to change into.

Naruto quickly threw on some pants, socks, and boots before heading out of the tent.

It was mid afternoon, by his estimation, Naruto didn't know where his pocket watch was or if was broken during his fall. Looking around, Naruto noticed that there were not many of the rebel fighters milling around the campsite.

'They must be out on a mission.' Naruto thought to himself before he finally spotted the temporary outhouse and made his way over.

Once his business was finished, he hurried back to his tent and changed into one of his dark gray outfits, complete with his arm and leg warmers, a black and gray scarf, a gray knit cap, and his cloak.

He found his pocket watch inside one of the small pockets of his messenger bag and was glad to see it was still intact. It was low on chakra, however, so he sent a burst through it quickly to keep it running with a mental reminder to add another chakra storage seal on it later.

After a small debate, he geared himself out to be ready to take another mission, just in case. Naruto didn't believe Jiraiya would let him do anything serious for quite some time yet, but he would rather be prepared.

Naruto stepped out of the tent once he was ready. After walking around for a few minutes, he finally spotted the command tent situated under a small cluster of trees. Ducking through the entrance, he saw Jiraiya, Koyuki, and a handful of the rebel leadership discussing a mission in low tones while they poured over a map of Kazahana Castle.

When the sunlight peeked through the tent opening as Naruto entered, Jiraiya looked up to see who had opened the tent door and smiled before rushing Naruto as quick as lightning.

"Naruto! Thank Kami you're awake! Are you feeling alright? Should you be out of bed yet?" Jiraiya said as he looked Naruto over with concern.

"I'm all right, shishō. I'm sorry I worried you." Naruto replied softly before a small smile appeared on his face, "I'm all healed up and ready to go _ **!**_ "

"Already healed? Are you shitting me? You had several fractures in your ribs and hip. I don't know how you are even awake let alone standing right now." One of the Yuki rebels said incredulously.

Naruto shot Jiraiya a sheepish glance. Uncertain of how he could explain his odd healing power without revealing too much information he looked to Jiraiya for help. Who knows what story Jiraiya had come up with while he was unconscious.

Jiraiya laid his arm across Naruto's shoulder tenderly before replying to the Yuki rebel for him.

"Hah. You think I would just accept any apprentice? No, way. Only the best for the Legendary Toad Sannin." Jiraiya said proudly, "This kid here is an Uzumaki through and through. Surely you have heard about the Uzumaki clan's accelerated healing and massive chakra reserves?"

The Yuki rebels all murmured amongst each other, and there were some nods of acknowledgment and even some stares of awe sent towards Naruto, causing him to fidget awkwardly.

"That actually makes a lot of sense now. No wonder he is so proficient in fūinjutsu." The Yuki rebel said quietly.

"I am glad that you are recovered, but we need you to tell us exactly what happened. None of the rebels from your squad knew why you signaled the retreat early, and none of them encountered any of these Akatsuki members you mentioned in your message." Koyuki said coldly.

Naruto shot Koyuki a glare before crossing his arms and putting on his stoic face. He didn't have to reveal anything to that bitch if he didn't want to.

Jiraiya was just as angry at Koyuki's insinuation and was, frankly, quite tired of her petty sniping of Naruto. He leaked a good amount of killing intent directly at her before he decided to put the bitch in her place once again.

"Are you questioning my apprentice, Koyuki? Need I remind you that we are not under any obligation here? We could leave right this moment and none of you would be capable of stopping us." Jiraiya said in a deadly tone.

"O-of course Jiraiya-sama. We are grateful for your help! Please don't listen to her, she is just upset for her people." One of the Yuki rebels said in a placating tone.

The rest of the rebel group shot glares at Koyuki forcing her to back down. It was bad enough that they gave that brat more credit for aiding the rebellion then her. Her pride couldn't take another blow of being publicly scolded in front of him.

Koyuki wouldn't admit it, but she was still angry that Naruto had thwarted her group when they tried to capture him. She had lost a lot of respect and leadership privileges for that debacle. Koyuki was also jealous that the rebel leaders had started to give Naruto more Jōnin level tasks than she had ever been given. She still couldn't believe that Naruto had made it to Chūnin in his rookie year during an invasion no less. She had not been able to pass the Chūnin exams until her fourth year out of the Academy.

Then add the fact that Naruto still refused to respect her or treat her as a superior in any way. She was still a Jōnin, and he was still a Chūnin fresh from the Academy. He should be deferring to her judgment.

She tried to placate herself by passing it off as blind favoritism towards Jiraiya, but deep down even she knew it was her inflated sense of pride that stopped the leaders from trusting her in a leadership role.

One of the leaders even had the gall to threaten her with a demotion because of her attitude.

Jiraiya dropped his killing intent and turned back to Naruto with a serious expression.

'Guess it's time to face the music.' Naruto thought to himself.

"We do need to hear all the details of what occurred that day. Please run through everything that went down on that mission." Jiraiya asked.

Naruto relayed how the ambush went off relatively smoothly, leaving only 9 out of 40 enemies alive after the initial trap. He detailed every action he took up to the moment that Akatsuki began to chase him, and how he led the missing-nin away from the rebel group before he managed to lose them with his final stunt.

The command tent fell silent, and Naruto started to feel the dread build in him at the look on Jiraiya's face. His eye was twitching, and his face was starting to turn red in anger. It didn't take long for him to burst.

"DAMN IT BRAT!" Jiraiya roared before grabbing Naruto's shoulders and shaking him vigorously. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING PULLING A STUNT LIKE THAT!"

"I'm sorry, shishō, but they were just too damn quick! I couldn't think of any other way to escape." Naruto said as he cowered.

Jiraiya merely glared at him for a minute before throwing his hands up in exasperation.

"Gah! You are lucky I like you, brat. Otherwise, I would be kicking your ass right now." Jiraiya took a few breaths to regain his composure.

He turned back to Naruto with a stern look.

"From now on you are sticking with me at all times. You will use the chakra suppression seal whenever we go out, and all actions in hostile territory will be done by your clones instead of yourself, "Jiraiya poked Naruto's chest for emphasis, "This is not negotiable, do you understand?"

Naruto frowned but nodded his agreement. He had already felt frustrated that he couldn't attack at all, but now he would have to willingly reduce his chakra pool and be even more restricted.

It was probably for the best in the end. Those guys had honed in on him immediately. Who knew what this "Leader-sama" planned for him once he was captured? At least, he would always have an opportunity to escape since they wanted him alive for some reason.

Jiraiya then slung his arm around Naruto's shoulders again and gripped him in a firm one armed hug.

"I'm glad you are alright, Naruto, but seeing you broken like that really had me worried," Jiraiya murmured, "I don't think you are incapable. I just want to keep you close, so those bastards don't get their hands on you alright?"

"I understand, shishō. I knew that I couldn't stand up to those guys, and they were definitely focused on me more than anyone. I'm just frustrated that I couldn't do more." Naruto said with a grimace.

"You have done more than enough, Naruto." Jiraiya patted him on the back, "Your ambush seals and summoning scrolls have been more than sufficient, everything else was just a bonus."

Jiraiya turned his attention back to the rebel leaders and gestured for them to continue with their planning. The group gathered around the map once more and began planning out the next few assaults around Kazahana Castle while Naruto stood at Jiraiya's side and listened intently.


	56. Year 2: White Revolution Part 3

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be graphic depictions of violence in this chapter.

Edit 4/25/16

 **Chapter 55**

 **Year 2: White Revolution Part 3**

 **Two Months Later – Fubuki Village – Yuki no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto stood watch on one of the small watchtowers constructed over the sleepy little village that the rebellion had taken just over a week ago. Soon this little village would become a bloodstained battlefield that would determine the fate of this small but proud country.

Naruto gripped his hood as a strong gust of icy wind threatened to dislodge it from his head. The wind had been blowing steadily for the past two hours with random gusts of increasing strength driving the approaching storm towards him even faster.

Naruto eyed the clouds with a frown. The approaching storm was going to be strong enough to cause complications for everyone tomorrow. Judging from the clouds and the wind, the storm would provide blizzard-like conditions by mid-morning at the latest.

Naruto had been given a crash course in the weather patterns of Yuki by nature and some of the veterans. On the tundra, where the rebels hid, it was normal to only have a few days of clear skies each week before a storm of some sort blew in. Most of the storms would only last a day or two before moving on, but they were always dangerous to anyone caught unaware.

Once Naruto had started to scout ahead or direct ambush squads, the rebel leaders had some of the veteran shinobi give him lessons on how to gauge an approaching storm so he could adequately warn people to bunker down if a heavy blizzard or ice storm was approaching.

Naruto pondered heading back to the command center to provide a warning, but he wasn't the most experienced tracker on watch at the moment. For now, he would enjoy looking up at the clear night sky and all the much brighter stars while his clones patrolled the perimeter.

Naruto had never gone beyond glimpsing at then night sky back in Konoha. While it was possible to do so, the view was not nearly as magnificent as it was here in Yuki no Kuni. Naruto could understand why people mentioned star gazing as a pastime now that he was staring up at the multitude of glittering lights.

He had been quite surprised that the new year had already started last month. Being hunkered down with the rebel forces as they moved from campsite to campsite while whittling down Dotō's forces had made Naruto lose track of time, but he didn't think that much time had passed.

He couldn't help but let his thoughts drift to those he cared about. From what Sasuke had told him, he would probably be trudging through some thick forest looking for one of the giant Mongoose that the Snake clan wanted him to hunt down. Naruto wondered how large the Mongooses were and if they knew any dangerous jutsu.

Hinata was probably dealing with her clan business as usual and training with her father still. A small part of him hoped that Hinata was still training with Tsunade as well, but he didn't think it was likely. Tsunade would always warn him not to trust Hinata, and Hinata's usual smile always strained a little whenever Naruto mentioned Tsunade. He didn't know why they both disliked each other so much.

Naruto hoped that would learn to get along in the future at some point. He cared for both of them deeply and didn't want to be caught between the two of them in a fight. It would be painful both emotionally and physically.

He also thought about Sakura, surprisingly. He knew that Tsunade would keep her word and train Sakura. Hopefully, Sakura was doing well with her training and Tsunade hadn't given up on her already. If Sakura did well enough, she could become a fixture at the hospital. Naruto knew that medics and doctors made a lot of ryō. With the extra income, she would be able to ditch her abusive mother and continue on her path of recovery.

The Sandaime was probably spending time with his son and grandson when he wasn't dealing with council business for Tsunade. Naruto was glad that the old man would get to relax finally. He deserved a break, after all he had done for the village. Naruto would say he deserved a reward for living as long as he did. The number of shinobi that fought and survived both the 2nd and 3rd Shinobi wars had to be less than a dozen at most.

Kakashi was probably still reading his perverted books or camping out by the memorial stone. Maybe he was going on missions with Hinata and the others or was preparing to take a new genin team. Naruto hoped Kakashi wasn't too lonely; he knew how much it hurt to be alone all the time, even if you wanted to be.

With all of the villages on the verge of war the chūnin exams had not taken place while he was gone. Jiraiya had gotten word that Tsunade was in talks with the Raikage about hosting their own exams in lieu of battlefield promotions, but those talks were still up in the air with the last letter they received.

Naruto hoped Tsunade wasn't inundated with too many things. Sure she had the Sandaime to help, but the world was essentially on the brink of another war and tensions were high. Naruto was certain that Tsunade would have to read double the reports he had seen the old man reading when he would hang out in his office on occasion.

Tomorrow would be the first time in two months that he would be able to remove his chakra suppression seal, and both him and Kurama couldn't wait. It had been disconcerting to have his chakra sealed away to such a degree, but it had been a wise choice.

Over the past two months, there had been several run-ins with the Akatsuki members, because they had started to actively seek him out for capture. If it weren't for the suppression seal, he would have been caught in a dangerous situation quite a few times. Jiraiya had traded blows with them both over a handful of occasions, and Kurama would complain for hours when Naruto hid at a distance and used his clones to send out a few opportunistic jutsu.

Naruto knew it wouldn't be pretty if they did manage to get their hands on him. They had captured at least two dozen clones at this point, and his memories from those clones had been both hilarious and worrisome at the same time. Deidara and Sasori were pissed at him beyond belief and often spewed hateful rants at his clone before dispelling it, knowing they had been tricked once again.

Naruto had learned to throw them off his trail by creating super-powered clones before applying the chakra suppression seal to himself. This method, in turn, made his clones much more noticeable than he was. Naruto was glad that neither of the two had sensor skills, or that little trick wouldn't have worked on them.

The Akatsuki had also started their own attempts at infiltration with Sasori creating more sleeper agents with his implanted needles. Naruto had to run sweeps of the returning rebel forces using his Jiton to seek out any needles in their brains. It was an unfortunate business since they had been unable to figure out how to extract those needles without causing total memory loss or death.

At least, there were not many cases of rebel fighters being caught. Most of the rebels either escaped successfully or managed to kill themselves before they were captured. They all knew that they would likely die anyways if caught, so they all chose to die on their own terms.

Sasori had hoped to turn public opinion against the rebellion and Naruto by leaking his status as a jinchūriki. Naruto had almost panicked when he started hearing those rumors spreading. Jiraiya managed to calm Naruto down by allowing him to join on a few excursions into town to listen to the mood of the people. Naruto was relieved to see that most people just disregarded the rumors as propaganda to try and discredit the rebellion. In fact, a good majority of the populace were more inclined to believe that demons were simply myths used to explain the oddities of bloodlines or behavior that was beyond the comprehension of their primitive ancestors.

Most of the negative propaganda failed to take root since the citizens had elevated Naruto to heroic proportions for some strange reason. Ever since Jiraiya had told the leaders that Naruto was an Uzumaki, rumors began to spread through the rebellion and soon the citizens of Yuki themselves.

Naruto did not know what to make of the strange stories the people were circulating about him. He had been certain that the underhanded and distasteful tactics would have earned him the same scorn as he faced in Konoha, but instead, the stories that the people shared put him in a heroic and noble light. The people of Yuki had even granted him his own title. Shiro Hi no Naruto (Naruto of the White Fire) because of his constant use of wind augmented fire attacks.

Naruto couldn't understand why the people had chosen to fixate on him as their hero. There was numerous high profile Yuki citizens and shinobi at the very forefront of the rebellion while he had been mostly in the shadows as of late. While it was true that he had been involved in several of their early victories and that he was responsible for creating all of their seals, Naruto still felt that the level of praise he was receiving didn't match up with his contributions.

Little did Naruto know that it was due to Jiraiya that his popularity had reached epic proportions. Jiraiya had been facilitating the spread of Naruto's fame as a means of retaliation against Koyuki for dragging them into this whole mess. Jiraiya knew that the only thing Koyuki hated more than people not acknowledging her efforts were people who complimented or praised Naruto for his involvement. So, Jiraiya made a point of telling lavish tales about Naruto's prowess in battle and mastery of fūinjutsu whenever there was a group of rebel supporters in sight. Jiraiya could never keep the smirk off of his face whenever he watched Koyuki storm off in a temper after hearing someone repeat one of the stories he had invented about Naruto.

Due to the rebellions efforts and growing support amongst the populace, Dotō's paranoia was at an all-time high now. The rebellion was steadily eliminating his troops faster than he could recruit and train more. Many of his forces were deserting out of fear or anger when they learned that Dotō had deliberately tanked the economy to drive people into his security forces.

Even with the help of Deidara and Sasori, the rebellion had still managed to take control of Hyōga city and most of the other villages surrounding Yukigakure and Kazahana Castle.

The village they were in currently was the closest to Kazahana Castle, and the rebel leaders knew that Dotō was gathering his forces to bring the fight directly to them in hopes of pushing them back. There had been several attempts to assassinate Koyuki as well, which had her more on edge. It was a well-known secret that there would be open warfare in the country for the first time in 120 years starting tomorrow.

Naruto was a bit nervous about being dragged into large scale battle. His first experience had been in Nami no Kuni, and he had lost control of himself because of the raging emotions surrounding him. There was also the fact that he would be facing shinobi and samurai instead of just groups of bandits or thugs like he was used to. While he had encountered scores of shinobi in the Root base, the situation had been more in his favor. The narrow hallways had provided the bottlenecks necessary for him to utilize his strongest skills in combat. Combination jutsu.

While had held off the Yuki-nin for a decent amount of time when they attacked him and Jiraiya, he had ultimately failed to keep them at bay by being captured in the end. Even with Jiraiya's assurances that he had proven to be more than capable in that situation, he was still uneasy with the thought of being overwhelmed again. Then there was also the fact that he couldn't fall back on his combination jutsu for fear of hitting his allies in the process. If he was careless, he might take out some of the rebels by mistake.

Finally, there were the Akatsuki themselves. Naruto knew they would be gunning for him right off the bat. Without the chakra suppression seal to hide him, Naruto could count on them making a beeline towards him. Naruto had been working with Jiraiya on some possible delay tactics to keep him free of capture, but in the chaos of a large-scale battle, anything was possible.

Jiraiya was convinced that Sasori was the greater threat and needed to be taken out first, but Naruto didn't think leaving Deidara with free reign to drop bombs on them was a smart idea. In the end, Naruto deferred to Jiraiya's judgment since he didn't have any warfare experience. All he could do is let his opinion be known and follow orders after that point. There could be things he was overlooking because of his inexperience, after all.

Naruto's musing was brought to a halt when he sensed Koyuki approaching him. He reigned in his sigh of annoyance and prepared himself for another verbal assault by Hime Bitch.

"Do you need something, Koyuki?" Naruto asked as she drew closer.

"Not from you, brat." Koyuki snapped before she stepped up to the village wall and looked out towards her former home.

Naruto just continued studying the stars, waiting for Koyuki's argumentative side to rear its ugly head and break the terse silence between them. He knew it wouldn't be long since Koyuki never stayed near him for any length of time without trying to stir up some kind of trouble.

"Shouldn't you be keeping watch instead of star gazing?" Koyuki said snidely.

"Nothing that my clones can't handle. Don't you have anything better to do than to try to soothe the bruise to your overinflated ego by trying to win a petty argument against me?" Naruto asked in a bored tone.

"Watch your tone, brat. If everything goes well tomorrow, then I will be the Daimyō." Koyuki said arrogantly.

"I feel sorry for your people then. I still can't decide which of you would be worse for leading this country, you or Dotō." Naruto replied coldly.

Koyuki let out a gasp of outrage before glaring at Naruto. She was about to raise her hand and slap Naruto for his insolence, but the telltale click of a sword being flicked loose of its sheath gave her pause. The little bastard may still be nothing but a useless brat but he was good enough with that sword to give her trouble.

"Go ahead and give me a reason, bitch. I think I would be doing your country a favor by removing your fucking head." Naruto said with a snarl.

"How dare you! How dare you compare me to that asshole. He killed my father!" Koyuki shouted.

"I would say that you and Dotō are very much alike. Both of you are stuck up assholes who think that you can treat people like shit because of some misguided belief that you are special or better than everyone else." Naruto was in a ready stance with Makoto half drawn while he stared down Koyuki. "What makes you think you are so fucking special? You claim to despise being treated like a prissy hime but you certainly go out of your fucking way to act like one."

"Shut the hell up brat! You have no idea how hard I have worked to show people that I am not some useless little wallflower." Koyuki shouted as her eyes began to water. "I joined Yukigakure to prove I was strong enough to make my own way in the world. I had people like you constantly looking down on me because of who my father was. I deserve respect! I demand respect!"

"You can't demand respect, you fucking moron. Respect has to be earned!" Naruto said with a sneer, "...and you wonder why people look down on you?" Naruto shook his head in disbelief, "You'll never be strong in anyone's eyes because only pathetic, weak, little morons like yourself think they can demand respect."

"You better watch who you are speaking to with that tone you little shit!" Koyuki shouted. "When Dotō dies, I will be the Daimyō! I could have you executed for such insolence."

Naruto started laughing at Koyuki, which only made her anger rise.

"What the fuck is so funny you little bastard? You think I won't do it?" Koyuki growled.

"I'm laughing because I am certain you would do something so petty," Naruto said as his laughter died down. "You just proved to me that you are nothing but a pathetic lowlife. You are _exactly_ like Dotō!" Naruto said with a sneer. "I wouldn't be surprised if you started executing every villager that disagrees with you before starting a war because you executed a foreign dignitary because they made demands of you."

Koyuki remained silent, but the scowl on her face grew even more fierce.

"You can't even manage to deny those accusations because deep down, even you know that you are nothing but a pompous, self-centered, petty little bitch who is quite capable of becoming a tyrant." Naruto started laughing again before shaking his head. "Kami help this fucking country because now, I am convinced that you are even worse than Dotō could ever be. Dotō maybe an ambitious asshole, but, at least, he didn't intentionally execute innocent people because of his misguided pride."

Koyuki clenched her fists as her anger began to grow. She wanted nothing more than to lash out at this little bastard and his condescending tone but she knew that even if she managed to beat the little bastard down, there would be hell to pay with Jiraiya. In truth, she knew a battle between her and Naruto wouldn't likely end in her favor either. The little bastard was very strong for his age.

Naruto scoffed at Koyuki. "Quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if you started executing children if they made a joke about you."

"You know nothing!" Koyuki snarled as her anger got the better of her, "I'll never do those kinds of things. I am not some power hungry tyrant! I never wanted any of this!"

Naruto only shook his head before re-sheathing Makoto and turning his gaze back to the stars.

"So you choose to lash out at everyone else like a spoiled child because you have an obligation to do something that you don't like. You are even more of a selfish bitch than I thought." Naruto said with a snort of contempt, "To think that some people actually believe you are doing all of this for a noble cause. Instead, you plan to sit back and make everyone else around you suffer because the poor little hime had to do her fucking _duty_."

Naruto turned his gaze back towards Koyuki and matched her glare with his own.

"Get over your fucking self," Naruto said coldly. "You want to be treated like you are special, but you don't want to put in any of the fucking work. If it bothers you so much, then let someone that actually cares about making this country better take over instead. Then you can _play_ kunoichi all you like."

"Proves how much you know!" Koyuki said indignantly, "The Kazahana family founded this country. We built this country in a land that everyone thought was impossible to survive in. For hundreds of years, the Kazahana family has guided this country through all its trials and tribulations." Koyuki shook her head, "...and you call me the idiot. Do you think that I could just throw all of that away on a mere whim?"

Naruto just sighed in exasperation. "Once again, there is that fucking pride of yours. I wonder what your father would think if he could see you now."

Naruto jabbed his finger into Koyuki's chest. "If you want to keep your fucking pride then quit your crying and do your fucking duty. If you want to be treated like everyone else, then give up your role as hime and let someone more qualified takeover. You can't have it both ways."

Koyuki merely smacked Naruto's hand away from her as she gritted her teeth in rage. She was tempted to slap the little shit across the face but from the tensing of his muscles and the cold expression on his face, she could tell he was just waiting for her to give him an excuse to lash out at her. She really hated this little bastard. What the fuck did he know about anything? He was barely over half her age to begin with and tried to act all smart. She was about to retort when Naruto spoke again.

"A real leader needs to make sacrifices regardless of their desires. My father understood that when he gave his life to protect my village on the night of my birth," Naruto turned his back on Koyuki dismissively before continuing. "If you aren't prepared to do the same thing then you will only bring more disgrace to your family name. Since that is the only fucking thing you seem to care about."

Koyuki was still seething, but she couldn't formulate a response, so she merely huffed and stormed away.

It stung her pride that she couldn't think of a rebuke to that little bastard's argument. She had fought tooth and nail against becoming the heir of this nation because she wanted to be in control of her life. It seemed that everyone, even the fucking Kami, was against her.

Koyuki would be lying to herself if she denied being tempted to simply let it all go and follow her desires. It was only her pride in being a Kazahana that prevented her from doing so. She did not want to go down in history as the disgrace of her family by throwing away everything they had worked hard to accomplish.

Her father had always taught her that pride was important. Being a Kazahana meant that you had to be head and shoulders above the rest since you were expected to lead. Her mother had always tried to temper her father's soft-handed approach by providing more strict discipline to reign in Koyuki's fiery temper and stubbornness. When her mother died while she was still young, her father couldn't bring himself to punish her in the same manner as her mother had, and the nannies would not risk the Daimyō's wrath by punishing Koyuki harshly.

Koyuki hated to admit to the fact that she had been spoiled rotten, but it was undeniable. Her father never remarried and she had no siblings so it was only logical that she would be the heir. Yet, her father was always encouraging of her dreams, despite the obvious fact that she was the only logical choice to take his place. Koyuki had stubbornly refused to accept her role simply on the principal that it wasn't her idea in the first place. Instead, she had pushed forward with her demand to join the Shinobi Academy and become a kunoichi.

Her first entrance test had been an absolute disaster. She was completely out of shape from the lack of physical exercise, had no training or skills, and had mediocre chakra levels, at best. The fact that she had the lowest score of all the other applicants was a slap in her face. For the first time in her life, however, her father put his foot down. He ignored all her crying, screaming, and tantrums stating that if she were not capable of passing the test, he would not use his influence to send her to an early grave.

Koyuki refused to back down. Her pride couldn't handle the fact that she was deemed inferior to anyone else. The next year, Koyuki was prepared and managed to pass the entrance exam to gain admittance into the shinobi academy. It rankled her pride that she was only considered average amongst the other applicants, but that only served to fuel her stubborn determination.

For the next four years, Koyuki worked hard, trained hard, and studied hard to prove her worth. Only managing to obtain an above average rank amongst her peers. Even with all of her hard work, however, the other students never gave her the respect that she deserved. Koyuki demanded that they treat her with deference and respect because of her pride, but the other students refused to bow to her whims. She was a Kazahana damn it! They all bowed before her father so they should feel grateful to bow before her as well. Her genin team would only treat her as an equal or below them since both of them were more skilled, and her Jōnin sensei was constantly degrading her and humiliating her in front of her teammates to "put her in her place". Since he was above her in rank, she had no recourse against him, so Koyuki was determined to advance in rank since that would force everyone beneath her to treat her with the proper respect.

It took her team two years to even qualify for the Chūnin exams. She also barely managed to advance past the preliminaries to the final round because she faced an opponent from Kiri, who only used Suiton jutsu, giving her the advantage. In the finals, she was soundly defeated by someone from Konoha, who was capable of using Katon and Doton, rendering her jutsu completely useless. She had tried to close the gap and win in taijutsu, but that proved to be an even bigger mistake as her opponent broke her guard like rice paper and knocked her out quickly.

Still, she had managed to impress the judges and receive a promotion, but she still didn't gain the respect she deserved. If anything, her teammates and Jōnin sensei were more than happy to admit that they were glad to be rid of her. Koyuki was stung by that revelation, but she blew it off as the lesser folk being jealous of her superiority. Koyuki pressed on to meet the Jōnin requirements as fast as she could so she could put her former teammates in their places. If it weren't for the mission completion requirements for the rank, she would have skipped going on missions with others entirely. She certainly didn't need the money, and since no one treated her with the respect she deserved, she was cold and callous to everyone who refused to recognize her properly.

It was another sore spot for her to admit that she still needed three years of constant training to meet the requirements for the Jōnin exam. Since all Yuki-nin used Hyōton, they had to show proficiency in one other form of elemental jutsu to make Jōnin.

Koyuki had struggled to get her feeble affinity to Doton up to par in order to pass the exam. It was also difficult for her to complete the leadership challenges since she had effectively alienated all of the Chūnin around her age because of her abrasive personality, but Koyuki felt it was the only way to enforce her will on people so they would finally respect her authority.

Needless to say, when a 14-year-old brat waltzes in and gains more respect and admiration from her colleagues in under a year, it infuriated her. It didn't matter to her that the brat was more skilled than her at all, he was just a chūnin! She had to force people to respect her because of her rank while this little bastard, who doesn't seem to give a damn about anything, gets all the respect instead.

Koyuki refused to back down or admit she was wrong to anyone, so she always turned back to her usual defense mechanism, her pride. No one could take away her name from her. She was a Kazahana! A hime of that prestigious line that had broke away and founded its own nation in the harshest of climates. A nation that had risen to become one of the more technologically advanced countries in the known world.

None of the big five shinobi villages have ever dared to go against Yuki no Kuni because of their economic power and advanced technology. All of the major countries had pandered on bended knee to her family just to secure the lucrative trade rights because of their advances in electronics, manufacturing, and even regular goods like clothing.

In her time with the rebellion, all she had managed to do was lose more respect. It was to the point where people no longer feared chastising her or insulting her directly. Her position had gone from one of the de-facto leaders to just one of the grunts as soon as Jiraiya and Naruto "joined" the cause.

People used to worship the Kazahana family and would always speak respectfully to any member of her family, even the children. Koyuki had assumed that everyone would simply hold Dotō responsible for his actions and still view her family name with respect and awe, but now it seemed that even the peasants no longer held respect for her family name anymore.

Now, Koyuki had to wonder if she had also contributed to the stain on her family name. Hearing Naruto accuse her of such vicious things had been deeply wounding. Koyuki had to wonder if her own people were whispering such things about her in the dark where she couldn't hear them.

Koyuki wasn't as stupid as people made her out to be, she might be rash, but she was no idiot. She had heard the rebel ninjas talking about how she was a selfish idiot, but she was used to that kind of talk and had written it off as petty jealousy or spite in the past.

Lately, she had begun hearing more people admitting they would rather flee the country than deal with her as a Daimyō, and those rumors not only hurt her pride but her feelings as well. Had people always thought these kinds of things about her and she just didn't notice?

Koyuki entered her room at the local inn and plopped down on her bed. That little bastard had given her a lot to think about for the future. She would like to push these kinds of thoughts to the side as she usually would, but she could no longer afford to take such actions.

With the fate of her country possibly falling into her hands tomorrow, she would need to settle this mess now. Her pride was worth nothing if her country fell apart in her hands, and all of it's brightest citizens fled because of her.

She would not be the one to ruin everything her family had built.

Meanwhile, Naruto was in a discussion with Kurama as he continued his starlight vigil.

" **You seem to attract such wonderful vixens, kit,"** Kurama said with amusement.

 _'Whatever. It's not my fault she is a spoiled bitch. Even with everything I have managed to learn and do these past few months, I still wish we had never met that bitch.'_ Naruto thought with a scowl, _' I can just imagine that bitch making her way to the capital just to make me miserable whenever I set foot in the capital. It's a shame since the things they sell here are of much higher quality than Konoha.'_

" **Hmph. You might want to keep your eye on the white-eyed vixen when you return. She might have hidden her bitchiness from you."** Kurama said with a snort.

 _'Yea right. Like Hinata-chan could ever be like that. I never thought someone could have more pride than a Hyūga. At least, the Hyūga are all about maintaining an image. Koyuki just doesn't seem capable of comprehending such a thing.'_ Naruto replied.

Naruto let out a sigh as his gaze moved down from the sky and traveled over towards Kazahana Castle.

 **"I can sense your nervousness."** Kurama muttered **"Don't be** **worried about tomorrow. The battle plan we have created with the Toad Fool will succeed, and that Akatsuki filth will not know what hit them."**

 _'I've just never done something like this on such a large scale, what if I am not strong enough to maintain it? The whole battle could be lost if I fail."_ Naruto looked down towards the ground.

" **Don't be foolish. You will be more than capable. If you are so concerned about the battle, then fill a few extra chakra scrolls before you rest tonight."** Kurama said. **"Don't forget that I am whole now. Your initial cloak will be much stronger and faster than it was before."**

 _'No offense but I hope it doesn't come to that.'_ Naruto checked his watch before channeling more chakra into it. _'I think things will be dire if I need to expose your chakra to everyone here'_ Naruto put his watch away and looked out across the field where the battle would take place, _'Shishō said using your chakra should only be a last resort.'_

" **Tch. Who cares what these fools think, they would probably praise you if you annihilated the enemy army."** Kurama said with a snort. " **You will leave this place afterward so their little pebble brains will not remember such things for long anyways."**

 _'I bet Koyuki would. Spite seems to be an excellent motivator for remembering things. Besides, I think it would be better if we don't reveal anything to those Akatsuki guys if we can help it. If we manage to kill them both, then that would be great.'_ Naruto replied.

" **I do not completely agree with that reasoning. If you are forced to face one of them, do not aim to capture as the toad fool wishes, do whatever is necessary to destroy that meddling filth."** Kurama said with a growl.

 _'I won't hold back. I can't afford to, but if everything works out then, we might not have to show our hand completely.'_ Naruto said seriously.

" **Hmph. Perhaps showing our true strength will dissuade them from pursuing us in the future."** Kurama grumbled.

Naruto smiled to himself. _'I know you are excited about getting out and crushing some humans, but I thought you wanted to wait until we completed our training with Gyūki and B before we tried any transformations.'_

" **We can still crush those fools without a transformation using my chakra cloak. You should be able to go into version 2 form easily now, without losing control, even partial transformations will be safe. It is only the full transformation that we should wait on."** Kurama said.

 _'Yea... somehow I don't think people are stupid enough to forget seeing something like that. Not all humans are complete idiots.'_ Naruto said with an inward smirk.

" **Tch. You might not be. All you would need is a convincing argument for the rest of this filth, and they would be foolish enough to believe anything."** Kurama said with a huff. **"The fools will worship anything vile and destructive if it is attributed to bloodlines, yet they fear and despise the jinchūriki they created."**

 _'This country does seem isolated enough to fall for that sort of thing. That is probably the only reason half of them didn't freak out when Sasori leaked that I was a jinchūriki in the first place.'_ Naruto replied.

Naruto picked up Jiraiya's scent when the wind changed. Naruto frowned when he realized that Jiraiya had probably been there for some time, and he failed to notice because Koyuki had wound him up so much.

'Just how long has shishō been standing there I wonder?' Naruto thought with some annoyance. Now he could see why Kurama was bothered by how Jiraiya could escape his detection at times. Unlike Kurama though, Naruto knew he still had much to learn about catching the spymaster when he didn't want to be found.

" **Probably through your conversation with that stuck up bitch,"** Kurama said with a growl.

"Were you following Koyuki, shishō? Or were you only watching to make sure I didn't actually kill her?" Naruto called out.

"Actually, I was wondering how long it was going to take for you to notice me." Jiraiya dropped his Tōton Jutsu (Transparent Escape) to reveal a fake grin on his face.

Naruto's frown grew when he saw Jiraiya's face before he sighed and turned away.

"I won't apologize to that bitch. No matter what trouble it might bring us. I don't think she would ever let us back into this country even if I did nothing but kiss her ass. She is just that petty and spiteful." Naruto said lowly.

"It's not that kid. It's the fact that several people heard you yelling at her. Quite loudly I might add." Jiraiya grumbled the last part.

"Please. She was the one that attracted all the attention with her yelling." Naruto scoffed. "I'll admit I lost my cool towards the end there, but after she threatened me, I couldn't help it.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow in disbelief but didn't reply. Naruto had more than lost his cool with Koyuki in his opinion. He had never seen Naruto yell at someone before. The kid had barely yelled at him after he framed him for starting a bar fight in Tani.

"If she is willing to execute me because of a misplaced grudge, then what other kinds of atrocities will she commit because she a fucking selfish bitch," Naruto said.

Jiraiya sighed, "Look. I know how you feel about her, and I don't dispute anything you are saying about her." Jiraiya stated in a placating tone, "If the people don't want to deal with her shit after this whole mess then they will take care of her. It won't be our problem at that point."

"Why? If we are already here stirring everything up then why don't we just do a clean sweep and save them the trouble?" Naruto asked.

"That isn't our purpose here." Jiraiya answered quickly "The only reason we got involved was to learn about Akatsuki. We were just helping the rebels along with their goals. For now, their only legitimate claim is Koyuki."

Naruto huffed but remained silent.

"If we eliminate her than we can be held accountable for anything that happens to this country down the line. That is why I was adamant about us not being involved in the final fight against Dotō. Our only objective is to capture or kill those Akatsuki bastards so we can figure out what they are doing." Jiraiya explained.

"You're right, shishō." Naruto said with a sigh, "I guess I got so caught up with everything we were doing, that I lost sight of the real objective. I am glad that this bullshit is almost over, though. I don't ever want to be involved in this kind of warfare again." Naruto said lowly.

"I can imagine guerrilla warfare wouldn't have sat well with your moral compass, but such is life Naruto. War is ugly no matter how you look at it." Jiraiya said grimly. "With the possibility of a full-scale war breaking out soon, at least you will be better prepared for the kinds of attacks Konoha will expect from all of Iwa and Suna's allies."

"Is that why you convinced me to continue when I complained about our attacks on soft targets?" Naruto asked as he turned to study Jiraiya's face.

"That is part of it." Jiraiya confirmed, "Sadly; it is always the smaller countries that end up as the major battlefields during the great wars. All those countries can do to try and keep themselves alive is to resort to the very same tactics we used against Dotō here, but on a larger scale."

"Do you really think war is going to break out?" Naruto asked with his head tilted in curiosity. "Shouldn't the war have basically started once we were invaded?"

"I don't know how much my sensei taught you about the Daimyō, but they always like to take their sweet time doing anything," Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "The Daimyō only meet once every two years, and their last meeting took place just before the invasion. I don't think they will meet up and get the war started until at least two years from now." Jiraiya said with certainty.

"That doesn't make any sense! Why even bother to wait that long in the first place?" Naruto said incredulously.

"That is because they are the Daimyō, to them all of this is like an inconvenient Shogi game," Jiraiya said with a shrug. "Plus, you have to remember that not only will Suna and Iwa be stalling to recover from their losses, but Konoha will also be trying to buy time to bolster our defenses as well as Kumo."

Naruto's scowl was back in full force again.

 _'So it's not enough for them to have hundreds dying, they have to wait until they have thousands or more putting their lives on the line while they just sit back and gorge themselves.'_ Naruto thought with disgust.

" **Now you see why I despise humanity so much. Even the Toad Sage accepts such things as normal behavior."** Kurama said with a huff, **"At least you are still repelled by such conduct. After all the despicable acts you had to commit in this place I had started to grow concerned you might become tainted by this filth that surrounds you."** Kurama said seriously.

 _'I know you disagreed with me about those high-risk modifications to my seals, Kurama, but they were necessary. I never would condone attacking public places like that of my own volition. It was the only reason I worked so hard on those seals so that I could try and prevent the innocent bystanders from being caught in the crossfire.'_ Naruto replied.

" **I know your mind, kit, but such taint is nefarious and subtle. You won't realize that such actions are corrupting you until it is too late. You must remain wary."** Kurama replied.

 _'That is why I am grateful to have you here to remind me, Kurama.'_ Naruto said with an inward smile, _'I always take your warnings seriously, and I promise you that I won't ever use these kinds of tactics unless it is necessary for our survival.'_ Naruto replied with determination.

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya when he felt his hand rest on his shoulder.

"I know it's not an ideal situation, Naruto. Hell, I would be the first to admit that it is a terrible situation, and it only fosters that cycle of hatred that we spoke of in the ruins." Jiraiya said sadly, "Unfortunately, that is how the world works right now, and the cycle of hatred will continue because of it."

Jiraiya looked up towards the stars and spoke in a wistful tone. "Someday, perhaps, there will be someone with the strength to change it all for the better and end that cycle." Jiraiya looked at Naruto with a sideways glance, "If we are very lucky, we might be able to see such a thing before we die. For now, we have to live with the world as it is until someone decides to make that stand and make a difference for things to get better."

"I hope you are right, shishō," Naruto replied.

'I know you are hoping that I would be the one to end that cycle for you, shishō, but someone else will have to carry your will for that.' Naruto thought to himself. 'I have something more important to worry about.'

Jiraiya merely patted Naruto's shoulder a few more times in response before he turned to leave.

"I've already prepared the field for where we will face the Akatsuki tomorrow, so don't worry about that. Once your watch is over make sure you lay the groundwork for the rebels before you go to bed." Jiraiya called out over his shoulder before disappearing in a Shunshin.

Naruto looked back across the snowy field towards Kazahana Castle again. His clones had already made then necessary preparations. It wouldn't take him long to riddle the area with traps and jutsu seals. With the storm rolling in, he couldn't wait until last minute intelligence to come in, so he would need to prep the entire field and give a rough map to the leadership.

Less than an hour later another rebel ninja appeared to relieve Naruto from his shift. Naruto set to work laying down various types of traps and ambush seals using explosive tag clusters, jutsu storage seals, and the usual shuriken and kunai traps to reduce Dotō's forces.

After a few hours of preparing the battlefield, Naruto made his way back into the village and collapsed onto his futon exhausted and almost out of chakra.

 **Next Afternoon –** **Fubuki Village**

* * *

Naruto and Jiraiya stood on the village walls looking over the rebel forces as they waited for the arrival of Dotō's troops. Naruto shook himself slightly to reduce the buildup of snow that had begun to pile up on his cloak.

It was a futile effort, as the snowfall was heavy enough that he would be just as covered in snow after a few minutes, but it annoyed him to feel that cold weight pressing down on his body.

At least, the heavy winds had disappeared overnight, so they only had to deal with the heavy rate of snow falling over the battle. The snow was light and powdery, but it was falling in enough abundance to reduce visibility significantly.

Over 2000 Yuki shinobi and 2000 samurai and 1000 mercenary forces milled about in the massive snow storm waiting for the enemy force to become visible through the dense snowfall. Naruto could already sense Dotō's forces, but they were still outside of his visible range.

In some way, it was a good thing that the rebels couldn't view Dotō's forces; otherwise, they might have lost morale. Naruto could sense the rebellion was still outnumbered by quite a large margin.

The rebel leaders couldn't have picked a better spot for fighting a larger force. The valley they currently occupied was situated between impassible mountains and served as the only secure supply route for Kazahana Castle. Dotō had no choice but to confront the rebels on their terms or his army would be starving within the week.

The advanced scouts estimated that Dotō still had 4000 Shinobi 5000 mercenary and 500 samurai at his command but were unable to tally the exact amount of forces marching on the village because of the storm. The rebel leaders were certain the entire mercenary strength and, at least, half of the shinobi force would be used while the samurai were kept in reserve. There was no sign of the Akatsuki approaching with the army, however, which had served to settle Naruto's nerves considerably.

With the Akatsuki apparently opting out of the battle, Jiraiya had been adamant that Naruto and himself would not involve themselves beyond triggering any traps and maintaining the defensive barrier around the village. Jiraiya had to reiterate to the rebel leaders that their primary focus had always been on the Akatsuki's presence and actions in Yuki no Kuni's coup. If the Akatsuki took the field, then Naruto and Jiraiya would lure them away so that the rebel forces could deal with Dotō and his troops.

The rebels weren't too pleased with the situation, but they understood Jiraiya's logic behind his refusal. Besides Naruto's seals, all of the other support that Jiraiya and Naruto provided was clandestine in nature, giving them plausible deniability. Since Jiraiya had tightly controlled Naruto's seal production, all of the seals the rebel forces had utilized could be accounted for. After the battle today, there would be no physical evidence that could be used to link them with the rebellion. Therefore, the only real "evidence" that other countries might be able to gather would only be the stories or anecdotes provided by the rebels or the citizens of Yuki no Kuni. This setup would make it impossible for an enemy village or country to dispute Jiraiya's assertion that their presence was only due to the Akatsuki and not a result of Konoha supporting a coup.

So, Naruto and Jiraiya were going to sit back and watch the "show" until Deidara and Sasori showed up. Once those two were out of the picture, they would remain in the village and wait to see what the outcome of the rebellion was.

If Dotō won, then they would take a quick trip to Myōbokuzan via reverse summon and leave Yuki to its fate.

If the rebellion succeeded, they would probably end up sticking around for the celebration before moving onto Tetsu no Kuni for the next portion of their training trip. Jiraiya had already received word from Mifune that they would be allowed entry to the neutral country for 60 days after arrival.

Naruto narrowed his eyes when he saw a few flares fire off in the distance. The flares were barely visible through the snow, but they seemed to have done the job as the rebel forces began forming up and preparing for the battle.

Naruto wasn't certain how he would feel about watching these two armies collide without being involved to some extent. On one hand he was glad that he wouldn't have to worry about facing overwhelming odds again. On the contrary, he wanted to be able to support the rebels in their struggle against Dotō. He had fought alongside many of these rebels during their ambush attacks, and most of them were good people in his opinion. While he wasn't particularly close to any of them, they were still fighting for a noble cause. At the very least he would be able to even the odds a little by triggering the traps and ambush seals before watching them fight for their lives. It was unsettling and confusing to him, but he had to follow his shishō's orders.

At least, he knew Kurama would be entertained until the Akatsuki arrived.

"So it begins." Jiraiya murmured next to him a stern expression on his face.

Naruto just hummed in affirmation and prepared to fly through the hand seals for each section of traps. Naruto began to see Dotō's forces emerge from the powdery cloud of dense snow. Naruto was about to trigger the first round of traps, but Jiraiya stopped him.

"Wait for it," Jiraiya muttered as he watched Dotō's forces moving forwards slowly.

'Of course, he put the mercenaries on the front line. Poor bastards.' Jiraiya and Naruto both thought as the first wave became visible through the veil of snow.

Naruto looked over at Jiraiya in a silent question, but Jiraiya shook his head. "Almost time, just wait a little bit longer."

Naruto turned his focus back to the advancing army with his stoic look in place. If it were up to him, he would have already triggered the first round of traps by now to slow their advance. Then he would have begun to trigger the next group of seals selectively once they began to move again. In his mind, this would have made the enemy hesitant and skittish before engaging the rebel forces. Naruto was confident that would have caused a good portion of the mercenary forces to break and flee the battle out of fear.

"Alright, that should be more than enough." Jiraiya said after a few minutes, "Go ahead and trigger lines 1, 2, and 3,"

Naruto flipped through the triggering seals and activated the trap lines that Jiraiya called out.

There were screams of pain and alarm in the air as the front lines of Dotō's forces were hit with the explosive blasts of level 5 explosive tags. The ground shook violently, and the concussive blasts of all the explosive tags blowing up in a line caused a dense cloud of snow to kick up temporarily blocking the army from view. Once the cloud cleared, however, the destruction was evident.

There were pieces of the advancing line of mercenaries strewn throughout the area, some mercenaries who had managed to survive the initial blast were on the ground screaming in pain with missing arms or legs.

The remaining mercenaries had scattered with some attempting to run, only to be cut down by the shinobi force behind them for trying to desert the battle, while others dragged some of the injured back or quietly ended their lives to stop their suffering.

Naruto could see now why Jiraiya wanted him to wait. Instead of only taking out a quarter of the first wave, he had probably taken out a third instead, and he still had all of the hidden jutsu traps waiting on the sides of the field.

The rebel forces were taking full advantage of the opening salvo, taunting and teasing Dotō's forces to lure them into the killing field, shouting curses and insults to try and drive them into charging recklessly.

The mercenaries managed to reform once more and began advancing more hesitantly this time. Naruto could see the shinobi behind them driving them forward with weapons drawn and could only scowl.

If those shinobi had half a brain, they would tear up the battlefield with jutsu and try to trigger all his traps instead of using the mercenaries as human shields. Naruto might have felt a sliver of pity or guilt about blowing them up if it weren't for the fact that most of the mercenaries had proven they were scumbags. The shinobi probably felt the same way, unless they were just idiots or assholes.

Most of the survivors from the first wave of mercenaries appeared to be wielding Yumi (Longbows) primarily. Once they were within range, they began setting up a firing line. Naruto waited for them to form up and start their first draws before he triggered the final line of explosive tags to take out as many of the bowmen as he could.

Only half of the bowman line was taken out of commission by that line of explosive tags causing many of them to scatter back towards the main army in fear.

Naruto frowned seeing that his estimates on where the enemy would set up had been slightly off, but he had already whittled a good chunk of the force down on his own so he shouldn't be complaining.

Jiraiya let out a low whistle. "No wonder you were so tired last night. You set out that many explosive tags on top of all those ambush seals."

"There isn't much left for them to run into actually." Naruto replied, "When I cleaned out the rest of the seal surplus there were only a dozen of the ambush jutsu seals left. The rest were the explosive tags, kunai, and shuriken traps. I used them all up covering the field."

"Good. We don't want to leave any of that stuff behind if we can help it." Jiraiya said with approval. "They will have enough problems clearing the route between Yukigakure and Kazahana Castle as it is."

Some distant explosions rang out, and the ground shook once more, and both armies stirred quietly for a moment before settling down. It seemed that the rebel leaders had accurately guessed where Dotō would send a flanking force. The trap-laden field they had stepped into would either take them all out or keep them from advancing long enough for a portion of the rebel force to break off and deal with them if necessary.

The second wave of mercenaries was compelled by their shinobi overlords to push into the field, picking their way through the fallen and dying mercenaries that lead the charge before them. Once they cleared the scattered injured and dead mercenaries in the first wave, they began to pick up speed and confidence in their charge.

There weren't many bowmen in this wave, so most of the group continued advancing towards the rebels while the remaining cluster of archers began setting up their firing line again.

Naruto guessed this wave was probably around 1500 strong, unlike the first wave. If the rebels were lucky, Naruto would reduce this group by half at most with the remaining traps on the field. After that, they were on their own.

The rebel mercenaries and samurai had already prepared their own Yumi and began sending out their first volley of arrows towards the advancing mercenaries while hidden behind wooden tate (barricades) that the samurai and mercenaries had set up. Both forces began preparing their summoning allies to enter the fray, with bears and owls appearing on the rebel side while Dotō's forces began summoning wolves and eagles.

The birds of prey immediately set upon each other as soon as they appeared, drawing Naruto's attention from the clumsy battle on the ground to the sophisticated and deadly aerial battle taking place in the skies. The owls and eagles performed complicated dives, twists, flips, and banking turns at high speeds as they sought to rend or tear into their long time rivals.

The charging mercenaries began falling to arrows, or by triggering the remaining shuriken and kunai traps set out in the field. Under 1000 mercenaries remained by the time they clashed with the rebel mercenaries and samurai in melee combat. The rebel forces were making short work of the mercenaries, but Dotō's army was now confident that the field was cleared of traps and the rest of the mercenaries began to charge in for the attack.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he saw the enemy shinobi start creeping forward to enter jutsu range. This moment was what Naruto had been saving all his ambush jutsu for. Once the enemy shinobi were in range to start launching their first long range jutsu, Naruto triggered the clusters of ambush traps around them.

Approximately 250 shinobi were now blockaded by a group of barriers before the combination of Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) and Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) seals activated, incinerating all who were trapped within..

Some of the mercenaries who had charged ahead were whittled down by the remaining kunai and shuriken traps scattered throughout the field. Naruto set off the last of his jutsu ambush seals and watched as a few groups of mercenaries were cut apart by Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Blade Jutsu) before they were in range to clash with the rebel samurai.

'That is all I can do for them now.' Naruto thought to himself.

"I would say that you evened the odds for them quite nicely, Naruto. It's in their hands if they succeed now or not." Jiraiya said solemnly as he watched the battle rage below him.

"Is Dotō even out there right now?" Naruto asked, "I doubt the bastard would be judging by how he used those mercenaries to clear the field of traps."

"I'm sure that bastard is standing quite proudly at the very back of the army," Jiraiya said with a sneer before glancing over at Naruto.

"You aren't thinking of getting involved are you?" Jiraiya said in a warning tone.

"It's kind of hard just to sit back and watch all of this go down, but I won't get involved, shishō," Naruto replied.

Jiraiya merely grunted before looking back at the battle.

The rebel samurai had cut down a good portion of the mercenaries and were still holding their own, but the rebel mercenaries were not doing so well. Most of them had fallen back wounded if they weren't dead already, victims of the swift and coordinated wolf packs that swarmed the field. More would have been lost to their vicious fangs if it wasn't for the stalwart bears and their devastating paws and jaws. The wolves were slowly being driven back by the ferocity of the ursine guardians, giving the samurai and remaining mercs some breathing room in the fight.

Dotō's shinobi had moved into range and were now in a long range jutsu exchange with the rebel shinobi. Jiraiya quickly activated a barrier around the village now that the shinobi battle had started.

There were shards, swords, and birds of ice flying between the two forces with walls of earth rising and falling on either side, as each force traded off between attacking and defending against each other.

Several large dragons of ice collided overhead causing a large explosion of ice shards to rain down over the mercenary and samurai who were still fighting with sword and spears up close. There were also the occasional fireballs and boulders of earth that went flying between the two armies, with the random lightning bolt or two striking shinobi on either side.

After several waves of jutsu had been sent between the two forces, the close range shinobi began to charge at each other under the cover of shuriken and kunai. Soon, both shinobi forces joined the remaining samurai and mercenaries clashing in the middle of the field using kunai or sword to battle while waves of ice, fire, and lighting flew above and around them.

Naruto noticed that all organization and coordination in the armies devolved at that point. The battle was now strictly small-scale or individual battles scattered throughout the battlefield. There were still groups of shinobi who were attacking in sync with each other, but for the most part, there was no longer any overall strategy or goal besides to kill the person in front of you.

"Is this normal, shishō?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at Naruto, "What do you mean?"

"Is it normal for everyone to just start... I don't know... brawling like this?" Naruto gestured at the field. "I thought the battle would remain focused and organized as it was in the beginning."

Jiraiya let out a chuckle before answering, "I'm sure it looks like they are just randomly brawling, but there is some order to all this chaos before us."

"The close range fighters are keeping the long range fighters free to use their jutsu and provide support," Jiraiya said as he pointed to the middle line. "The only reason that line doesn't get obliterated by jutsu is because the long range and support fighters are canceling each others jutsu out before they can break that line."

"I see," Naruto muttered, "So a jutsu specialist like myself would be more focused on taking down incoming jutsu instead of actually hitting someone in this situation?"

"Either that or taking advantage of the distraction of war and taking out their own ranged line." Jiraiya replied, "If that ranged line falls, then the close range fighters lose all their support and will lose either way."

From what Naruto could tell, the battle seemed to be going in favor of the rebels at this moment. Most of Dotō's mercenaries were dead or down in the field. The rebel samurai had taken some heavy losses, however, since the Yuki shinobi had no qualms about sending jutsu into the mercenary ranks.

What samurai remained were turning the tide against the close range fighters with their chakra powered attacks. Naruto saw more than one samurai send out a blade of enhanced chakra that cut through walls of earth, or ice armor before the target's body or head slid to the ground in pieces. He had to admit that he would have underestimated the samurai if he had not been able to witness those attacks from afar.

There were less jutsu flying through the air as both sides began running out of chakra. It wouldn't be long before everyone began to fight in the middle. Seeing the samurai in action lead Naruto to believe that if the rebels could keep their samurai alive, they would have the advantage in the middle. He could tell that the samurai lost none of their potency in battle once they were low on chakra, unlike most shinobi were. He had to admit that he would be very hard pressed to fight one of them up close without any chakra.

" **I sense those fools who seek to capture you approaching us rapidly from the south,"** Kurama warned.

Naruto stiffened and looked towards Jiraiya with a grim expression on his face. It seemed like the Akatsuki decided to get involved with the battle after all.

"Shishō, they are coming," Naruto said.

"You know what to do, Naruto," Jiraiya replied before leaping off to get into position.

Naruto turned his attention away from the battle and faced towards the South before taking a deep breath and preparing himself for the fight of his life.


	57. Year 2: White Revolution Part 4

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be depictions of violence in this chapter.

Edit 4/25/16

 **Chapter 56**

 **Year 2: White Revolution Part 4**

 **With Naruto**

* * *

It didn't take very long for Deidara and Sasori to appear on the horizon, riding on the back of the large white owl they were always spotted riding. Naruto took a calming breath before scanning the area with his senses. Besides the raging battle between Dotō and the rebel forces, he could not smell or hear anyone left in the evacuated village.

Naruto synced with Kurama and deactivated all of his gravity seals while he waited for the feathered harbinger to draw closer. As the owl neared the village, Naruto flared his chakra briefly and dashed off towards the area Jiraiya had prepared for their fight. Naruto didn't even bother to look back as he knew the Akatsuki would be hot on his trail.

As Naruto dashed across the icy valley, he slipped a few chakra storage seals under his arm warmers for ease of access during the battle. Given the amount of jutsu and clones he would be using to spring Jiraiya's trap, he knew he would be pushing the limits of his reserves in this upcoming battle. There was no way he would have the time to use a chakra scroll if any of the previous skirmishes were an indicator.

Once Naruto entered the narrow canyon, he immediately pushed as much of his chakra reserves as he could into 50 clones. Naruto ordered the clones deeper into the winding canyon to set up the designated traps and barriers before using a chakra storage scroll to refill his chakra as much as possible.

With his chakra restored almost to full, Naruto made his way over to Jiraiya and gave him a quick nod. Naruto took a deep breath to steady his emotions and prepare for a difficult battle. He was a mixed bag of nervousness and excitement at the prospect of finally standing and facing those who were hunting him after two months of simply running or evading the duo. He had no illusions that the fight would be easy, but he was already tired of running. His clones were in position, and everything was set to confront the Akatsuki duo once and for all.

Deidara and Sasori slowed down as they neared the canyon they saw Naruto disappear into a few moments earlier. Being S ranked ninja made them smart enough to know they were essentially walking into an ambush of some sort. It wouldn't be the first time Jiraiya had used Naruto to lure them into a trap in the past two months.

Deidara circled the canyon from above and snarled when he saw that his flying attacks would be limited at best. The walls of the canyon were jagged and angular to such a degree that the top of the canyon was significantly narrower than the lower portion. Usually, this would make his job easier since it would be simple matter to bury the fools with his beautiful art, but the jinchūriki would most likely die, and the Leader would kill him, painfully.

Deidara moved the owl down to try and enter the canyon from above, but he was forced to bank to the left and gain altitude when several white fireballs flew out of the canyon towards them.

"Tch, annoying little brat. It looks like we will have to play their game after all. How ungraceful, hmm." Deidara said.

"Just don't rush your way into that canyon. You know the brat has probably filled that place with traps." Sasori said with a growl.

Deidara scoffed at Sasori for stating the obvious before directing the owl back to the very entrance of the canyon. Both Akatsuki members kept their eyes peeled as they entered the narrow canyon. They had witnessed and escaped plenty of ambush and trap seals set by the Kyūbi brat during their pursuit of him, and both felt confident that they were familiar with what the kid could do at this point.

Sasori was tense as he studied the canyon wall on his left and the ground beneath them. He had already lost his armored Hiruko puppet and two of the most promising Hyōton puppets he had made from fallen Yuki-nin during his stay in this Kami forsaken country. Sasori would have preferred never to set foot back into this place but for some reason, the Leader wanted Dotō to remain in power.

Sasori and Deidara had both been glad to leave that cursed ice ball behind after completing their mission to put Dotō in power. All had seemed to be going well for the first month until suddenly all of his sleeper agents went silent and the rebellion went from an unorganized rabble to a significant threat less than three months after Dotō took control.

Needless to say, the Leader was quite pissed off about Sasori and Deidara's failure and sent them back to eliminate all of the rebel forces and ensure that Dotō's position was secure this time. Sasori knew he was in hot water for failing to track down and capture Orochimaru after his defection, so he was determined not to fail again and risk facing the leader's wrath once again.

When he discovered Jiraiya and the Kyūbi jinchūriki were present, he felt that he would be able to restore his status in the organization by capturing the brat as a surprise for the Leader. Sasori didn't know why the Akatsuki was so interested in the jinchūriki, but since the group provided him with a steady supply of materials and security from Suna, he didn't ask questions. Since he was successful in his task of driving the Yonbi and the Gobi out of Iwa at the Leader's behest, Sasori figured that capturing the Kyūbi ahead of schedule would raise his status in the Akatsuki even further and secure his safety.

All he needed to do now was secure the boy, finish off the rebel army, and report in once all of that was completed to show the Leader that he was capable and trustworthy enough to be elevated to a higher position like Kakuzu and Kisame. Sasori was certain that the Leader would be pleasantly surprised to save money and resources when they presented the jinchūriki ahead of schedule.

Deidara became more nervous as they continued down the canyon. He had been watching the sky and the right wall as they moved forward and he still hadn't seen or triggered any traps so far. Deidara knew the brat was smarter than this; the canyon was too perfect for an ambush. Normally they would have had to avoid numerous projectile and jutsu seals by this point. If they hadn't run into anything by now, that meant the brat had something new up his sleeve which could be a real problem in a narrow space like this.

Suddenly multiple seal arrays lit up the canyon walls around and above the owl attempting to trap the duo in a barrier before the usual wind enhanced fireballs flooded the containment area. The owl began to glow before the explosive clay detonated because of the heat.

Deidara and Sasori had been fast enough to escape the barrier using a quick Kawarimi with some rocks on the canyon floor, but when they saw the owl light up they both swore out loud before shielding themselves from the blast. Deidara dove underground using Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Hiding Mole) while Sasori used a group of his least favorite puppets to shield himself from the falling debris.

Even though the barrier was still intact, the canyon walls shook violently from the blast and a few rock slides were triggered by the concussive force of the explosion. Large boulders and piles of dirt fell into the canyon, blocking off the entrance and cluttering the area around them with scattered piles of debris.

Deidara rose up from the ground once the shaking subsided and looked around. Sasori had been fortunate enough to avoid any of the larger debris, only being covered by a small amount of dirt and sand instead of rocks.

Deidara scowled at the flickering barrier above their heads. "How pathetic. That they would contain the beauty of my art in a foul barrier and restrict its graceful movements. True art should never be suppressed in such a matter!"

"Enough, I can sense the brat is just ahead with Jiraiya, but they apparently wanted to force us both to the ground. Let's make things harder for them instead of playing to their whims." Sasori growled out, "Fly up near the top and await my signal. I will draw their attention from the ground and give you an opening to use your concussive bombs to knock them out."

Deidara sighed before pulling out his hawk sculpture from one of his side pouches and channeled some regular chakra into it before tossing it up into the air. The hawk sculpture was engulfed in a cloud of smoke briefly before a large white hawk appeared in its place. Deidara quickly leaped onto the back of the hawk and began to fly out of the canyon.

'This brat has been nothing but trouble. To be forced to use such substandard explosions instead of reveling in the beauty of real art with the rebel army is such a disgrace.' Deidara fumed.

The hawk flew up and moved slowly along with Sasori as he advanced forward on the ground. Sasori's suspicions were confirmed as the hawk was forced to dodge several fireballs and a few shuriken traps, but it wasn't too difficult for him to manage. Plus, he was probably drawing attention away from Sasori, which would only help with their two-pronged attack.

Deidara kept his focus on the canyon while both of his hands were busy chewing on large lumps of clay to prepare several low yield dragonfly explosives designed to stun and knockout a target. It took him much longer than usual to create the proper balance of chakra in his clay since he hadn't created these sculptures since his early academy days.

The bomber was forced to pull back as more wind enhanced fireballs flew in his direction. Deidara ordered the hawk to climb a little higher so he could focus on sculpting the dragonflies for his attack. It wouldn't be much longer for Sasori to reach where he could see the brat and Jiraiya standing.

Deidara took note of the fork in the canyon that they were standing in front of in an almost leisurely manner. The left branch had a waterfall with a large pool of icy water that appeared to be draining into an underground river, so that side was a dead end. The right branch led to, what seemed to be, a large cavern.

It was very suspicious that they didn't take the right branch and use the cavern as cover against his explosives. Deidara was certain that Jiraiya knew they planned to capture the brat instead of killing him, so it would have made more sense for them to eliminate his advantage by forcing him to the ground. The narrow canyon also prevented Jiraiya from using most of the larger toad summons that they had to deal with in the past. Deidara couldn't figure out what their angle was in all this mess.

Deidara decided that once Sasori engaged the Sannin, he would collapse the cavern and prevent their escape route before peppering them all with his dragonfly sculptures. Sasori wouldn't be bothered by them in any of his puppet forms and without the toads as cover, the brat, and the Sannin would be helpless. Once Deidara saw Sasori bring out his Third Kazekage puppet he knew that it was time to make his move.

Deidara swooped overhead while dodging the fireballs and shuriken flying at him before releasing a few of his larger owl explosives towards the cavern entrance to seal it off. Deidara watched as his owls flew with giddiness until his excitement was dashed when a barrier sprung up and his owls exploded against the barrier instead. The unexpected obstacle had thrown his calculations for the blast radius off and forced Deidara to climb higher into the sky while gripping to the back of the hawk to avoid being knocked off his mount. Deidara scowled at the group of clones holding up the barrier. He sent out a few smaller explosives to test the boundaries to confirm his suspicion. The little brat had sealed him off from Sasori completely.

Deidara continued to pummel the barrier with his remaining higher yield explosives in random patterns in an attempt to weaken the barrier by draining all of the clone's chakra, but the barrier continued to hold firm once his pre-made sculptures ran out. Deidara quickly stuffed his hands into his clay pouches to create something with even more explosive power. At least now he could make some truly beautiful art without too much risk. The barriers would absorb most of the impact and would prevent the canyon from collapsing entirely. Then the brat would be vulnerable to his lower yield bombs.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya and Sasori were staring each other down waiting for each other to make the first move.

Naruto studied the strange puppet that seemed to float above Sasori's back like a specter. The puppet had shaggy black hair with the back tied up in a topknot and wore a long tattered dark brown robe with a thick furry brown collar. Naruto couldn't see any weapons at the moment, but he had learned the hard way that Sasori's puppets were usually armed to the teeth in some very surprising ways.

"You have been quite the thorn in my side, Jiraiya. Today, however, you will meet your end at the hands of my most favored puppet in my collection." Sasori said coldly.

"If you say so," Jiraiya replied with a smirk. "I heard that the last three times we've met and you haven't managed to kill me yet."

"Hmph. If I had bothered to be serious in any of our previous battles, then you would realize it was futile to face me. Though, how anyone could take a clown like you seriously is beyond me." Sasori replied cooly.

"Come on then." Jiraiya gestured towards Sasori, "Show me what that little toy of yours can do, kid. I'll smash it just like all the other ones you tried to use against me."

Sasori responded by sending the puppet flying towards Jiraiya at a surprisingly fast rate of speed. As the humanoid kugutsu flew towards Jiraiya, claws appeared from the right arm and attempted to swipe at Jiraiya who dodged and ducked the swiping claws before kicking the puppet in the chest and sending it flying backward. Jiraiya began to flip through hand seals while the puppet flew back.

The puppet didn't fly too far before it began to advance towards Jiraiya again. The puppet charged in again and would have struck Jiraiya before his hand seals were completed but Naruto sent the shrouded figure flying back with Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough).

Jiraiya finished his hand seals and used Doton: Yomi Numa (Swamp of the Underworld) to bog Sasori down and make him vulnerable to combination jutsu from Naruto's clones henged around the canyon.

Sasori tried to leap out of range of the sticky chakra laced mud, but Jiraiya pumped more chakra into the attack, and Sasori was caught on the very edge. Sasori managed to keep his puppet in the air even as he began to sink deeper into the mud.

"Hit him now, Naruto!" Jiraiya called out before preparing his jutsu.

Naruto sent the mental command to six different clones to start their attack sequence, four of the clones began flipping through various hand seals while two waited for the perfect opportunity to enhance the attacks with Fūton: Daitoppa. The pairs of clones finished their hand seals and called out Doton: Iwadeppō no Jutsu (Rock Gun) and Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) while the final group enhanced the now fiery boulders with the rushing cone of wind towards the apparently helpless Sasori.

Naruto also used Fūton: Daitoppa to enhance Jiraiya's Katon: Endan (Flame Bullet) adding one more white hot fireball and fanning the flames of his clone's attacks even further.

The combined flaming boulders exploded causing the ground to shake for several minutes and forcing Jiraiya to throw up another barrier to shield Naruto and himself from the flaming chunks of debris that flew back from the impact zone. The canyon walls also took damage causing more rock slides to fall onto the combatants, burying Sasori and creating piles of rock and dirt around Jiraiya and Naruto.

Naruto sniffed the air carefully before he sneezed because of the dust in the air. He didn't catch the scent of burning flesh in the attack, so he was certain that Sasori had managed to evade the attack somehow. When the dust finally settled his jaw almost dropped at what he saw.

Sasori and his puppet were cocooned in a ball of, what appeared to be, puppet hands. Some of the puppet hands were gripping the sides of the canyon while the rest were sheltering Sasori from the combination attack. Naruto could tell that a good amount of the wooden hands had been destroyed by the powerful attack judging from the numerous flaming wooden pieces that were scattered along the swampy canyon floor.

The hands began to unwrap themselves to reveal an undamaged Sasori that was being held above the marshy ground by numerous puppet hands that were anchored into the sides of the canyon, or were acting as stilts to keep Sasori above the sticky mud.

The puppet hands began to wave around Sasori menacingly before several started launching towards Jiraiya and Naruto at blinding speeds. The group of Naruto's clones barely managed to send off a few Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) to try and knock the arms off course, but the arms were too quick and too numerous to be halted by the lower level wind attack. The striking puppet arms dispelled all of the clones before advancing towards Naruto and Jiraiya.

Jiraiya managed to pull off a quick Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu (Dragon Flame jutsu) just before the arms reached him. The small group of puppet arms began to crumble to ash while the fire traveled along the arms and began to spread to the larger cluster of wooden parts closer to Sasori's body.

Sasori was forced to split the grouping of arms into several smaller groups to prevent the rest of them from catching on fire due to proximity to the flame wreathed parts he was attempting to discard rapidly. While this move would require more of his concentration to control with chakra strings, it shouldn't be a problem for him as long as the toad summoners remained hesitant to charge at him.

Sasori sent the different waves back towards Jiraiya and Naruto from multiple different angles to make it more difficult for the duo to block successfully.

Naruto had been preparing for the next wave of arms to approach him and signaled his clones to prepare for his counter-attack while he began flipping through his own hand seals to use the water technique he learned in Taki. Jiraiya kept the faster puppet hands off of Naruto and himself with Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu, forcing Sasori to pull back and redirect the puppet arms to try and strike at the group.

Naruto finished his hand seals with only a few seconds to spare and called out Mizu Tatsumaki (Tornado of water) drawing on the water from the pool behind him and spinning the water around him as a shield to repel the gripping puppet arms and set up his next attack. Naruto held the bird seal, and once he was certain the annoying clusters of wooden arms were either entangled in the spinning vortex of water or withdrawn by the puppet wielder himself, he focused the tornado of water forward towards Sasori. Several of Naruto's clones moved forwards and began using Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder) to charge the tornado with lightning chakra, or increase the speed of the water spout by using Fūton: Reppūshō to drive the attack forwards.

Sasori cursed to himself as he was forced to sever his chakra strings to most of his puppet arms to prevent the lightning chakra from traveling directly to him. He had already lost almost half of his summoned arms just repelling the first combination attack, and now he was losing even more because of Jiraiya's fire and Naruto's various combination attacks.

'Looks like I will have to use that ability after all.' Sasori thought before he activated the puppet's Jiton chakra and quickly released the Iron Sand stored inside of the puppet's mouth.

Naruto felt a strange flare of chakra coming from Sasori, but he was too focused on maintaining the water tornado to try and puzzle out what he felt. His chakra sensing had never manifested in a consistent manner since his exposure to the perfectly balanced chakra in Myōbokuzan. When synced with Kurama, he could detect chakra from people around him, but he still relied heavily on Kurama to decipher what he was sensing.

Naruto almost lost his concentration completely when a giant black wall of sand appeared in front of his lighting infused water tornado. Naruto let the attacks collide for a minute before dropping the water spout and leaping back to avoid the electrified, and probably now poisonous, water to splash down around him.

Suddenly the wall of black sand became a wall of black senbon that flew towards them at a high rate of speed. Jiraiya barely managed to use Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall) to block the flying needles, but the wall was beginning to crumble fast due to the overwhelming amount of needles impacting against the wall.

Naruto's clones began supplementing the wall with their own Doton chakra to try and stop the attack, but Sasori had upped the stakes of the game by changing some of the needles into dense balls and cylinders to act as battering rams against the earthen wall.

"Damn. I've never seen anything like this before." Jiraiya said with gritted teeth as he pumped more chakra into the wall.

 **"Kit, this is similar to your own Jiton chakra. You can use that ability to counter his attacks."** Kurama prompted.

 _'Right. I won't be able to control it as effectively as he is but maybe with the help of a few clones, we can turn the attacks against him.'_ Naruto replied before he drew on the Jiton chakra inside of him.

"Naruto, I need you to take over this wall so I can counterattack," Jiraiya said.

"Hang on, shishō. I think I can use Jiton to turn his moves against him, but I need a minute to create the magnetic fields," Naruto replied.

"Alright, but hurry it up. This wall won't last much longer under this onslaught." Jiraiya said in a strained voice.

Naruto and two of his clones gained the thick black lines around their eyes as they activated their Jiton chakra and began reaching out and wrapping the iron sand with their own magnetic fields. Naruto and his clones struggled to overpower the magnetized metal with their magnetic fields and were unsuccessful at first. Thinking back to the book on magnetism that he read an idea came to him suddenly. Naruto quickly reversed the polarity of his magnetic field to halt or repel the iron sand by switching between positive and negative to counter the polarity used by Sasori to control the sand.

Sasori frowned as the Iron sand suddenly halted in its advance and disobeyed his commands. He had practiced with this technique for years and had never run into this kind of problem before. Did the lightning-laced water chakra cause some difficulties with the magnet in the puppet? It didn't seem possible. Sasori directed more of his chakra reserve through his chakra strings to boost the power of the puppet's Jiton ability.

Naruto was struggling with the increase of force from Sasori's puppet. Sasori's puppet had better control over magnetic fields than he did. If it weren't for his clones helping, he would be overpowered. Suddenly, Naruto came up with a possible idea to disable the puppet's control entirely. Jumping over the wall, he dashed forward to get into range. As soon as he got close enough, Naruto wrapped the puppet in a magnetic field with an opposing polarity, causing Sasori to lose complete control of the iron sand.

With the help of his clones, Naruto sent the Iron sand flying back at Sasori and his puppet. The magnetic field Naruto layered over the puppet was now attracting the iron sand instead of repelling it at Sasori's command. The force of the magnetic attraction adding to the speed and momentum of the black spheres, cylinders, and senbon, indirectly drawing all the iron sand to the most vulnerable part of the puppet.

Sasori's saw the Kyūbi brat rushing towards him before he stretched out his empty hand towards him, causing the puppet master to become confused by the boy's actions. Sasori didn't have long to ponder this odd gesture because as soon as the kid made that gesture, the Iron Sand shapes flew at his puppet faster than he could react.

Sasori watched on in shock and anger as the large balls, cylinders, and senbon shaped iron shattered his beloved puppet into small pieces.

'How the hell did I lose control like that?' Sasori thought before turning his gaze back to Naruto.

Sasori's eyes narrowed as he saw the dark black outline around the boy's eyes. 'Impossible! How can that brat have the Jiton bloodline! Only the Kazekage's family had that bloodline!'

"Good job, Naruto!" Jiraiya said cheerily before cracking his knuckles, "Now it's time to finish this guy off."

"Oh? You think it was going to be that easy?" Sasori said with a chuckle, "Then let me show you why I am a true master of Kugutsu!" Sasori shouted before ripping his Akatsuki cloak off to reveal his puppet body.

Naruto was so shocked at seeing a puppet in Sasori's place that he lost his grip on the iron sand. His mind racing at the revelation and the possible repercussions.

'Sasori' was not wearing any shirt and Naruto could see the joints and hinges on his arms, chest, and neck. Instead of abdominal muscles, there was a coil of thick metallic cabling. From the back of the puppet, two large metal poles emerged revealing five sharp, wing-like, blades per pole. Both the cables and the blades were dripping with poison. The puppet was wearing a white sash and black pants with white stirrups over black sandals.

'Have we been fighting a puppet the whole time?' Naruto thought with trepidation.

" **I sense no one else around us besides that clay fool. The chakra flowing through this body is too large to be controlled remotely beyond my sensing range,"** Kurama paused in thought for a moment, **"That strange container on his chest is where all his chakra is concentrated."**

Naruto studied the strange puppet body closely and took notice of what Kurama pointed out. There was what appeared to be a cylinder with the kanji for 'Sasori' embedded into the left side of the puppet's chest. He could barely make out the outline of a hidden compartment or hatch on the right side of the chest and made a mental note to watch out for whatever weapon or surprise to emerge from that side.

"Shishō, _something_ tells me that we will need to destroy that strange cylinder on the right side of his chest to defeat this...guy completely," Naruto whispered lowly to Jiraiya.

Jiraiya gave a short nod before he began flipping through hand seals rapidly. Jiraiya slammed both of his hands on the ground. Once the cloud of smoke dispersed, Shima and Fukasaku were revealed.

"Sennin Bāchan! Sennin Jichan!" Naruto exclaimed in excitement.

If Jiraiya was summoning both of them, he knew that meant that Jiraiya would be using Sage Mode soon. Naruto couldn't wait to see sage mode in action. Everyone always talked about the immense power and advantages one would gain from being harmonized with natural chakra. Plus his experience with Sennin Bāchan during the invasion showed him that the toad elders were quite powerful in their own right.

When Naruto and Shima were ambushed outside of Konoha by a group of Kusa-nins, Shima had fried the entire group with a massive stream of fire before Naruto could react. Naruto almost face planted when he saw the gargantuan stream of fire emerge from her tiny little toad body. He swore to himself that he would never underestimate small things ever again.

" **What is going on Jiraiya-chan, Naruto-chan?"** Fukasaku asked.

"Ma, Pa, this guy here is part of a group that is after Naruto's burden. I have a feeling that I will need your help to take out the last of his toys." Jiraiya said seriously.

Shima and Fukasaku studied the irate Sasori for a moment before they leaped onto Jiraiya's shoulders.

"We won't stand by while someone tries to capture our Naruto-chan," Shima said indignantly.

Shima and Fukasaku called out Senpō: Ryōsei no Jutsu (Sage Art: Amphibian Jutsu) as they fused into Jiraiya's shoulders and began to gather Natural chakra for him so he could enter sage mode.

"Consider yourselves fortunate. No one has ever pushed me to use my own body in a fight for a very long time." Sasori replied before the strange cord in his gut sprung out and stabbed into the ground. Sasori stepped onto this metallic rope and began to raise himself up into the air, giving himself a better angle of attack and making it harder for Jiraiya and Naruto to try and close the distance against him.

"Usually, I would reward people that impress me with a quick death, but since you have destroyed two of my favorites I will make you suffer before I bring the Kyūbi brat to Leader-sama," Sasori called out before he flung both of his arms forward.

Some strange tubes emerged from his hands and began to shoot highly concentrated blasts of fire towards Naruto and Jiraiya.

Naruto quickly ran through the hand seals for Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Formation Wall) to ward off the fire, but the stream of fire didn't falter as it contacted the wall of water. Naruto began to get nervous as more of his water wall began to disperse into steam instead. Naruto pumped more chakra into the water wall to try and overwhelm the attack, but the stream of fire was still breaking through his defense.

At the last minute, Naruto was forced to Kawarimi with a rock further down the canyon where his clones were still blocking Deidara out.

Naruto panted in exertion as he tried to think of a way to counter that crazy, intense stream of fire. He had used up a good amount of his remaining chakra trying to block that fire. Suiton was his second affinity, but the blast of flames that Sasori was launching at them seemed to be so much stronger than usual. It could probably overpower his wind-enhanced fire attacks if it were capable of burning through water.

Sasori turned his focus onto Jiraiya and directed both streams of fire towards him to try and overpower the toad sages' defensive attacks.

Jiraiya and Shima had both been countering the stream of fire with their own matching fire attacks, augmented by Fukasaku's wind blast. While Shima and Fukasaku were capable of maintaining their attacks for a long time, Jiraiya was beginning to get low on chakra from trying to keep up the flames for such a long duration.

Naruto saw Jiraiya straining to match the stream of fire coming from Sasori's hands and came up with an unorthodox idea. Sending a mental command to some of his reserve clones, Naruto began flipping through hand seals with two other clones to use Doton: Iwadeppō no Jutsu.

While Doton wasn't particularly strong or weak against Katon, Naruto was counting on the mass and density of the boulders to survive against the onslaught much longer. Soon, Naruto and his clones were launching groups of large rocks towards Sasori's location.

Sasori blasted at the boulders with his stream of fire to try and repel them, but the molten rocks continued to fly in his direction, forcing him to leap backward off of his makeshift stand.

Sasori frowned as he saw more boulders being sent his way by the Kyūbi brat and his clones. The puppet master quickly dispersed the Katon scroll that fed his hand launchers and activated the Suiton scroll before rotating both of his hands to narrow the hand nozzles and force the water into a highly pressurized thin stream.

Sasori raised his arms again to launch a high-powered stream of water towards the incoming boulders. Naruto cursed to himself when he saw the high-pressure water stream slice through the stones in the air with ease. Just like Sasori's fire attack, his water attack seemed to ignore the elemental weakness and decimate the boulders easily.

Naruto and his clones flipped through the hand seals for a quick Doton: Doryūheki to block off Sasori completely. Naruto hoped that three mud walls would give Jiraiya enough time to enter sage mode and attack Sasori directly. Naruto quickly activated a few of his chakra seals under his arm wraps to regain some of his chakra reserves while the earth wall held back the stream of water.

Naruto felt two more of his barrier clones dispel from lack of chakra and knew that it wouldn't be very long before Deidara broke through and joined the battle. Naruto was starting to sweat from nervousness and exertion as he took mental stock of his remaining clones while trying to keep his mud wall solid.

Only ten clones were remaining to block out Deidara by funneling more chakra into the seal's barrier, making it stronger. Naruto had believed that assigning 30 clones would have been enough to keep Deidara out much longer, but he had clearly underestimated the strength of his explosions. The feedback he had received from the dispelled clones showed that Deidara could have easily leveled this entire canyon if he decided to get serious.

He had also lost over half of his reserve clones against Sasori so far, and Naruto knew that the puppet master still had more tricks up his sleeve. Naruto gritted his teeth as he felt one of his earth walls disperse because his clone ran out of chakra. The second clone supporting him wouldn't last much longer at this rate. Naruto glanced over to Jiraiya quickly to try and gauge how much more time he needed, but there was no outward indicator that he was ready.

A flare of resentment rushed through him. If they hadn't been dragged into this mess by Koyuki, he would be so much stronger right now. With the knowledge that there were more of these types of bastards out there hunting him down he couldn't afford to waste time like this. Sure he had gained some skills, but Naruto was confident that none of the skills he had learned during this rebellion fiasco would work against an S-ranked shinobi.

" **At least, we are now aware of the threat and can gauge how far we need to go. Do not forget that you have been restricted in your actions."** Kurama said reassuringly.

Naruto took a deep breath to calm himself down and focus on maintaining the wall that was starting to weaken from Sasori's water. Naruto had a feeling his second clone would disperse any second now.

 _'These attacks are pretty strong, Kurama. I don't know if I could have closed the gap against him even with the initial chakra cloak active.'_ Naruto replied.

" **You would have been able to use fewer clones against the clay fool which would have given you more options against this puppet trash."** Kurama replied before he huffed in annoyance, **"If the toad fool had allowed us to go all out we could have destroyed this puppet trash using taijutsu and our speed with four tails active. The clay fool would have been more of a challenge because of his explosives."**

 _'Still, I could have been much stronger by now if we didn't waste all this time just to put a spoiled bitch on the throne.'_ Naruto thought with disdain.

Kurama merely snorted in amusement. He couldn't rebuke that statement because it was true. While the kit had gained some experience in sealing and combat, he was certain that Naruto would have advanced further if his training had not been interrupted.

"Shishō, my walls won't hold up much longer. Should I create more, so you have enough time?" Naruto called out.

"It's over for him now, Naruto. Just sit tight and worry about keeping Deidara out of our way." Jiraiya replied calmly.

Suddenly, Naruto could feel the power radiating from Jiraiya, and it almost caused him to drop his wall. The feeling of balanced chakra emanating from the Sannin caught him by surprise. Naruto could feel the trace amounts of balanced chakra remaining in his system resonate with the chakra that was flowing through Jiraiya's body, but it seemed slightly _off_ when compared with his memories of removing the curse mark.

For some reason, Naruto felt like Jiraiya was not giving himself fully to the chakra, so the balance was not entirely perfect, but very close. Naruto wondered if the toad-like features on Jiraiya's face and hands were a result of this perceived imbalance that he sensed.

Jiraiya's thick legs pushed off of the ground to leap over the earth wall Naruto created, leaving an impressive crater behind him. Naruto's mouth was slightly agape at the force and speed that Jiraiya had just moved. He had felt the ground buckle from Jiraiya's jump and the wind that was displaced when the Sannin had leaped over the wall.

Naruto waited a few moments before dropping his earth wall to watch the fight. By the time the wall collapsed out of view, all Naruto saw was puppet parts flying in different directions from Jiraiya's outstretched fist. Naruto scanned all the pieces, but he couldn't see that strange object that Kurama mentioned.

When the canyon began to grow darker, Naruto snapped his gaze upwards before gasping in surprise. Sasori was suspended several feet in the air by chakra strings attached to the sides of the canyons, and a massive cloud of smoke was clearing revealing hundreds of puppets with all different types of weapons. Naruto looked around wildly to try and gauge which puppet would be a bigger threat, but there were too many to single any particular one out.

Naruto had a sinking feeling in his gut when he realized that they had lost their bottleneck advantage and were now surrounded on all sides. Naruto inched his way over to Jiraiya, slowly to try and guard each other's flanks. All the while his eyes darted between each puppet as he sought to formulate a plan to deal with such overwhelming odds. He only had a handful of clones hidden away, but they might not survive the initial barrage if any of these puppets were ranged based. The scarlet cloaks concealed all but the largest weapons, so it was impossible for him to determine just what kind of weapons most of the puppets were wielding.

"That you trash have managed to push me to this, how embarrassing," Sasori said with a shake of his head, "If I didn't need the brat alive I would make you suffer for destroying my favorites."

Sasori raised his hands and with subtle but sophisticated gestures, many of the puppets began to reveal a vast array of weapons. Some of which Naruto had never even seen before.

"Now, however, you will witness just how I was able to take down a country on my own," Sasori shouted out before he flung his arms forwards and the puppets began their assault.

"Focus on taking them down one at a time! Whatever you do, don't stop moving and don't let yourself get cornered!" Jiraiya shouted before he was forced to duck under a sword before he smashed that puppet with an uppercut.

Naruto shouted a quick affirmation as he drew Makoto and began channeling Fūton chakra through the blade.

He barely managed to parry two different strikes before being caught in a battle of strength against an axe-wielding puppet. Naruto managed to kick the puppet back before slicing the arms off. With a quick, pivot he managed to slice through a torso and block a second incoming strike before he was forced to duck an incoming thrust from another puppet.

Naruto channeled more chakra into his blade and lashed out with a rising spinning slash to cleave through several puppet arms and legs before he was forced to use Kawarimi to avoid several lunging thrusts towards his body from his flanks. Sending a mental command to one of his clones, Naruto dashed along the canyon wall towards where his henged clone was setting up a combination attack. If this were to work, he would need to lure the puppets into clustering together instead of keeping him surrounded. Hopefully, this would draw all of the puppets away from Jiraiya's back and eliminate a large chunk of them at the same time. Naruto was relieved when he saw that his plan was successfully drawing the puppets away from Jiraiya and clustering them together as they pursued him further into the canyon.

As soon as Naruto reached his clone, he spun about and was forced to parry a few blades and counter attack while his clone completed hand seals. The clone called out Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu) and began spitting out a wide spread of fireballs which Naruto enhanced with Fūton: Daitoppa. The cluster of puppets were knocked back or to the ground. The fireballs impacted against the cluttered puppets with series of rumbling explosions, setting them on fire and causing charred puppet pieces to come raining down on Naruto and his clone.

The clone managed to evade all the pieces while he completed another set of hand seals for Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu, which Naruto augmented with another Fūton: Daitoppa. The giant fireball rushed towards the flanking puppets and incinerated a large group that were unable to evade due to the cramped confines of the canyon. Naruto charged forwards through the charred puppets and began attacking the group of puppets with Makoto while his clone covered any aerial assaults using Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu prevent any puppets from attacking Naruto from above.

Naruto caught a quick peek at Jiraiya, who had just taken out a large chunk of the puppet forces using Katon: Gamayu Endan (Toad Oil Flame Bullet) with Shima and Fukasaku. Spotting a group of puppets swooping down to attack Jiraiya's flank, Naruto quickly Shunshined over to Jiraiya and pushed them back with Fūton: Reppūsho. Jiraiya leapfrogged over Naruto and began smashing the rest of the puppets with taijutsu, allowing Naruto to back off and prepare another combination attack with one of his clones.

'I need to get more of them clustered together, but Sasori might not fall for that again.' Naruto thought as he eyed the puppets waiting in reserve several feet in the air.

When Naruto saw Jiraiya dash directly towards Sasori to close the gap, Naruto decided to risk repeating his previous luring method with a slight modification. It might work as long as Sasori remained completely focused on Jiraiya.

Naruto began to dash up the canyon wall as high as he could before pushing off and backflipping towards the center of the canyon, where the largest concentration of puppets were. Several puppets lashed out and managed to cut into his legs and back as he vaulted over them, but they soon were forced to the ground when Naruto used Fūton: Daitoppa to push the large group into the ground. Two clones finished them off with a wind enhanced fireball. One of the clones dispelled completely while the second used its last chakra seal and waited for another command.

More puppets rushed in towards Naruto to catch him while he fell, but he was able to Kawarimi with a rock and avoid being impaled by several weapons. Naruto panted heavily as the puppets began rushing towards him again. He had been cut pretty deeply and even though Kurama was already starting to close all his wounds and purge the volatile poison that was attacking his system, he was nearing his limit.

"Naruto, use your Doton jutsu to flood the skies with boulders and bring them all down!" Jiraiya shouted as he shattered a puppet with a chakra enhanced jab.

Naruto sent out a command to his remaining clones to drive all the puppets down by flooding the skies with Doton: Iwadeppō no Jutsu. Naruto grimaced in pain as a few of his cuts reopened when he stood and dashed over to his clones to stop the group of puppets Sasori had sent after them.

Naruto was able to fire off one more Fūton: Reppūshō and smash the small group of puppets into the wall before he was forced to use his last chakra seal. He would only be able to get off one more jutsu before he risked chakra exhaustion. Naruto began blocking and cutting down more puppets before he heard Jiraiya call out a warning and managed to dive roll to the side, avoiding Sasori's slicing blades as he took out Naruto's remaining clones.

Sasori came around and launched himself towards Naruto with his wing like blades spinning and several puppets covering his advance. Naruto was still rising to his feet when he saw Sasori charging towards him, and used the last of his chakra to leap back and use Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Blade Jutsu). Sasori was able to evade the incoming wind blades by dodging or using some of his puppets to absorb the attack while he rushed towards Naruto.

Naruto brought Makoto up and gritted his teeth as he realized he wouldn't be able to evade Sasori in time. Naruto braced himself for the pain, but Jiraiya managed to jump in and rock Sasori backward with a fierce right hook, sending the kugutsu master flying back down the canyon with such force that all of his puppets were jerked backward causing the puppets to cluster together as Sasori flew backward.

Not wasting any time, Jiraiya called out to Shima and Fukasaku to use their ultimate attack and the trio rapidly flipped through hand seals before they called out "Senpō: Goemon (Sage Art: Bath of Boiling Oil)." Naruto watched on in awe as the combination attack created a massive wave of wind enhanced flaming oil that almost filled the entire canyon, scorching everything in front of Jiraiya.

As the attack died down and the oil began to burn up, a large cloud of steam and smoke flooded the canyon making Naruto tense since he could no longer see Jiraiya or Sasori. He couldn't smell much beyond burning wood, oil, and rock. Naruto strained his hearing to see if he could pick up any strange sounds, but it was oddly quiet. He couldn't hear any of that wooden clacking noises that he associated with Sasori's puppets through all the sizzling sounds the rocks were making as they cooled.

Naruto cautiously let off a low powered Fūton: Reppūshō to clean out the smoke and steam so he could see clearly and couldn't help but let out a low whistle when he saw the state of the canyon from Jiraiya's attack. The molten wave had incinerated everything in its path, causing the walls and floor of the canyon to become smoothed out by the reshaping heat.

"And that is the end of Akasuna no Sasori," Jiraiya mumbled before turning his gaze up towards the sky.

"Are you sure he's dead, shishō? Naruto asked hesitantly. "What if he was controlling that puppet remotely?"

Even with Kurama's reassurance earlier, Naruto was still somewhat skeptical that someone could essentially remove all of their flesh and organs to become a full puppet. Naruto couldn't help but feel like Sasori was hiding out somewhere else waiting to ambush them or fleeing to attack another day.

"He is definitely dead, Naruto. Sage mode grants very precise chakra sensing capabilities, and I am certain that was him." Jiraiya replied in a distracted tone. "I don't know how he managed to turn himself into a puppet, but that is not important right now."

Naruto also turned his attention to the skies wondering what Deidara was doing now that his partner was dead. During Jiraiya's attack on Sasori, Deidara had stopped raining down explosives on his barrier clones. Only two clones were remaining so it wouldn't have taken much effort for Deidara to breakthrough if he tried.

"I don't know what he is planning, but you might want to send all your remaining clones to reinforce the barrier. Just in case." Jiraiya said.

Naruto just nodded while keeping his eyes on the sky above him. The last of his clones moved towards the barrier seals to provide extra chakra to keep them active if necessary. Naruto knew he was at his limit and wouldn't be much help against Deidara at the moment since he had used up all of his chakra seals and was low on chakra at the moment. Any rest he could gain now would only be a benefit.

Deidara had stopped his bombardment long enough to witness Sasori's destruction. Seeing the toad sage eliminate Sasori with the aid of the Kyūbi brat was making him rethink this whole situation. If those two managed to take Sasori down, then he didn't think he would be able to capture the boy and escape without significant risk to his life. If only he could just turn both of those bastards into beautiful art, there wouldn't be a problem. Now he was stuck between a rock and a hard place with a very slim chance of survival. Deciding to cut his losses, Deidara fled and directed his hawk to fly away from this forsaken country.

As he flew off, Deidara began trying to find a way to prevent the Leader from laying the blame at his feet. Deidara knew that the Leader would punish him for failing to keep Dotō in power, but he could pawn off all the blame onto Sasori now that he was dead. All he could hope now it to provide as much info on the Kyūbi jinchūriki and hope he gained some forgiveness for his failure.

Deidara's heart started to race when the Leader contacted him only a few minutes later using Gentōshin no Jutsu (Astral Projection). Deidara looked around before perching his eagle at the very top of a nearby mountain range. He was confident that the Toad Sannin and the jinchūriki would not be able to reach him here if they bothered to pursue him at all.

Forming the necessary hand seal, he channeled chakra into his Akatsuki ring and waited for the draw on his consciousness that would project his mind to the meeting location by the Leader. Deidara's vision faded from the overcast and snowy skies of Yuki no Kuni to a dark cavern as the jutsu took hold.

"Deidara, why do I no longer sense Sasori's chakra through his ring?" the shadow figure asked in a no nonsense tone.

Deidara gulped nervously before answering, "I'm sorry Leader-sama but Sasori has been eliminated."

A feminine voice spoke out. "How did Sasori get eliminated by a small rebellion when he was capable of taking down a larger country by himself?" The voice asked with skepticism.

"The rebellion managed to recruit the Kyūbi jinchūriki and the Toad Sannin to their side. It was because of their efforts that Dotō began to lose control of the country, and the rebellion has gained strength. Hmm." Deidara replied.

"Why didn't either of you mention that you had contact with the Kyūbi container? This sort of news should have been brought to my attention immediately." the Leader said in a deadly tone.

"Forgive me, Leader-sama, but Sasori was adamant that we turn our focus to capturing the Kyūbi jinchūriki before he grew stronger under the Toad Sage's training," Deidara said shakily.

The leader's eyes narrowed dangerously causing Deidara to swallow nervously again.

"At the last meeting, I made it clear that no one was to engage any of the jinchūriki in combat unless specifically instructed otherwise." The Leader hissed, "Now you have drawn unnecessary attention on to our organization and may have sabotaged all our plans to drive the Kyūbi jinchūriki out of Konoha."

"I tried to convince Sasori to focus only on the rebellion, but he was determined to capture the jinchūriki instead. Hmm." Deidara replied slyly.

"What is the status of the rebellion currently?" The Leader asked.

Deidara took a deep breath before replying. "The rebellion has taken most of the country and currently the final battle is being waged between Dotō and the rebel forces as we speak. While Dotō has an advantage with troop numbers, the rebellion has proven to be quite efficient in reducing the advantage Dotō has by using ambush tactics."

The Leader was silent for a few minutes making Deidara's nervousness grow.

"So, the rebellion will likely succeed at this rate." The Leader said in a bland tone, "We can only consider your mission as a failure given the report that you have provided. I want you to return to the base immediately. We have things to...discuss."

"Yes, Leader-sama. I should be able to return in under two weeks time." Deidara replied.

"If you do not return in that time, Deidara, I will be most displeased." The Leader replied coldly before canceling the jutsu.

Deidara took a deep breath and commanded his hawk to head back to base at full speed. Usually, Deidara liked to travel at a leisurely pace, but he was already in hot water as it is. It might just be wishful thinking on his part, but if he arrived earlier then maybe the Leader would be more forgiving of this mistake.

 **With Jiraiya and Naruto**

* * *

Jiraiya and Naruto had remained tense for several minutes after Deidara appeared to have flown off before they relaxed their guard.

Inwardly, Jiraiya was cursing at the situation. The last thing he wanted was for Deidara to flee and provide information on Naruto's skills or location to the Akatsuki. He did not expect the arrogant bomber to flee once Sasori was dead since he had proven to be such a hot head in their previous battles. Sasori was always the one that had forced Deidara to peel off of a fight in the past.

Jiraiya had seen Deidara get worked up whenever he used a barrier to contain his explosions in the past and thought it was more likely for Deidara to continue the fight after all of his attacks were rendered useless. His strategy had called for Naruto's clones to taunt Deidara with the barrier so he would be pissed enough to continue the attack once Sasori was out of the way. Apparently, the bomber did know the meaning of restraint.

Naruto, on the other hand, wasn't certain what to think about Deidara running away. One part of him felt relief that the battle was over considering his chakra reserves, but the other part of him was angry that the bastard escaped to attack him at a later date. He knew that Deidara was only one of an unknown number of enemies that were apparently after him, for some unknown reason, but it still would have been less weight on his shoulders if they had managed to eliminate both members today.

Now the enemy would have information about his abilities while he was mainly in the dark. That thought did not sit well with him or Kurama. Naruto dispelled his remaining clones and grimaced as the chakra returned to his body. Judging from the amount of chakra returned to his chakra pool, he wouldn't have held off Deidara for much longer. Perhaps it was a good thing the bastard ran away when he did.

Jiraiya's hearty slap on his back drew Naruto out of his thoughts.

"You did well, Naruto." Jiraiya said with a nod before he sighed, "Unfortunately, we couldn't gain any more intelligence about this organization."

"...and now he is going to go back and tell them all about me," Naruto muttered.

"Don't worry about that. That kind of information was going to get out eventually" Jiraiya said with a shrug.

Naruto nodded before asking, "What do we do now, shishō?"

"Now we go back to watching the battle to see if we need to flee the country or stick around for the celebration," Jiraiya said with a boisterous laugh.

" **If that is all then I would like to head back home and out of this cold,"** Fukasaku said with a shiver.

Jiraiya turned his focus to the toad elders on his shoulders "Thanks for your help Ma, Pa. I think we can handle things from here on out."

" **Anytime, Jiraiya-chan,"** Shima replied before turning her gaze to Naruto. **"You fought well, Naruto-chan. I can already tell you are going to be a very powerful summoner in the future."**

Fukasaku nodded **"Indeed. You have a lot of potential from what I saw during the fight."**

"Thank you, I will work hard to get stronger and make you both proud," Naruto said with a small smile on his face.

" **We will look forward to seeing all that you can do then,"** Fukasaku said before both of the toad elders disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

With the senior toads gone, Jiraiya and Naruto made their way out of the canyon back towards the village. With any luck, the rebellion would have finished the battle and were now storming the castle. While they would not get involved in the conflict at all, that wouldn't stop them from enjoying the show, so to speak.


	58. Year 2: White Revolution Finale

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edit 4/26/16

 **Chapter 57**

 **Year 2: White Revolution Finale**

 **One Week Later – Kazahana Castle**

* * *

Naruto sat amongst a group of drunken rebel fighters as they celebrated the liberation of their country. Even with his attempts to moderate his drinking, he was already starting to feel a little drunk because of the numerous drinks the rebels kept foisting on him for his contributions in overthrowing Dotō.

The castle courtyard was heavily crowded and the mood jubilant as an impromptu festival broke out when Dotō's capture was announced to the public three days ago. Citizens from all over the country converged on the crowded castle to celebrate the downfall of Dotō and party until well after Koyuki's inauguration next week.

The courtyards were packed with citizens and shinobi alike happily drinking and making merry while street musicians were playing on almost every corner. Bar and restaurant owners hastily erected food and drink stands while some of the most intrepid merchants had quickly rolled out merchandise embroidered or engraved with the date of Dotō's capture or Koyuki's inauguration to commemorate the momentous occasion, and to make a quick ryō too.

Naruto's messenger bag was already stuffed with storage scrolls full gifts he had received from the grateful populace. He had all the food he could want and dozens of bottles of sake and wine. He had received scarves, hats, gloves, cups, travel kits, and even a few tantō's. Some of these items even had his moniker, Shiro Hi no Naruto (Naruto of the White Fire) or simply Shiro Hi (White Fire), engraved or embroidered on them, much to his chagrin.

Due to his lack of presence during the final battle, Naruto didn't feel that he deserved such gifts or recognition from the populace, but he remembered Hinata's advice in Nami no Kuni and politely thanked the people for their kind gifts to avoid insulting anyone inadvertently.

By the time Jiraiya and Naruto had finished their battle with Sasori and caught up with the rebel forces, Dotō's forces had been routed, and the rebellion had already started storming Kazahana Castle. Naruto and Jiraiya arrived just in time to see the rebel forces escorting Dotō and his supporters from one of the train tunnels into the castle dungeons.

From what the rebel leaders had told Naruto, Dotō and his followers didn't even put up much of a fight as the vast majority of Dotō's troops were fielded at the battle of Fubuki village. The token guard force was quickly overwhelmed without any casualties as the mercenaries either surrendered or attempted to flee.

Once word of his army's defeat was received, Dotō and his supporters had planned to board a train to the nearest port city and flee the country. The rebel leaders had already planned for this contingency, however, and the loyal spies and guards embedded in the castle seized control of all the trains to prevent his escape.

After a short battle with the remaining mercenary guards, Dotō agreed to surrender if the rebels promised to spare his children from execution. The rebel leaders quickly accepted the surrender since they weren't planning on executing his children anyway. In truth, most of the trouble at the castle was preventing the civilians from rioting and looting the castle once word began to spread that Dotō was now in the custody of the rebellion.

Now the populace was continuing the celebration while awaiting Dotō's execution that was due to take place in a few hours. Naruto opted to join a group of the fighters in finding an excellent spot to watch the execution instead of going with Jiraiya to the meeting with Koyuki and her advisers.

Naruto snorted at the thought. It was not like Koyuki would listen to anything he had to say. That was if he had any interest in helping the bitch out at all, which he didn't. He would rather get drunk and make a fool of himself than deal with that stuck up bitch any longer. Hopefully, for Yuki no Kuni, Jiraiya could talk some sense into her advisers in limiting her power to some degree. It wouldn't be too uncommon since some countries had Daimyō's constrained by a council of some sort, usually when a tyrannical Daimyō had to be forced from power, as was the case here.

Naruto saw Jiraiya up on the podium, where Dotō would be beheaded, seemingly scanning the crowd to locate him. After a quick conversation with the group of men he had been drinking with, he stood up and began gingerly picking his way through the crowd towards Jiraiya.

It only took Jiraiya a few minutes to spot Naruto before he jumped down from the podium and pushed his way through the line of guards to meet Naruto half way.

"What's going on, shishō?" Naruto half slurred half shouted due to the crowd.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at Naruto before replying. "Damn, brat, hitting the sake already? It's barely even noon!"

"Oi! It's not my fault everyone keeps handing me sake then acting like I'm a jerk if I refuse to drink with them!" Naruto said indignantly, "I've been trying to avoid it as much as possible, but I already have two scrolls filled with bottles of sake and plum wine already!"

Jiraiya just laughed before slinging his arm around Naruto shoulder and leading him towards the castle. It would be interesting to see Naruto receive rewards from a recalcitrant Koyuki while he was borderline drunk.

'Damn brat is going to be an alcoholic at this rate.' Jiraiya thought to himself before a spread across his face. 'I should start turning his focus to women instead.'

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his grinning master in suspicion. "What are you planning now, shishō?"

"You're going to be turning 15 this year. It's about time you start learning about the finer points in life. Particularly women." Jiraiya said with a chuckle.

"...I already had the 'talk' with Shizune-nee." Naruto said with a frown.

"That is not what I am talking about, brat," Jiraiya said with a shake of his head, "I am talking about admiring the beauty that is the female form."

Naruto pursed his lips for a moment as his mind processed what Jiraiya said before he began to blush.

"You don't mean...while they are n-n-naked, right?" Naruto sputtered.

"Are you kidding me? That is the best time to watch a woman." Jiraiya said with a laugh "Especially in the bath house with all that water running down their bod-"

"No way! Oba-chan told me she would kill me if I did that!" Naruto shook his head vehemently to try and hide his blush and banish the images in his head.

Jiraiya wasn't fooled for a minute.

"Bah. Don't listen to what Tsunade-hime says. Some women find it flattering when a man wants to see them nude." Jiraiya said.

"I pretty sure all the times I saw women chasing you, it wasn't because they were trying to thank you for the compliment," Naruto replied with a flat look on his face.

Jiraiya held up his hand with only his index finger extended and shook it from side to side.

"Sure, some of them will get really pissed off, but you failed to notice all the women who blushed because I was watching them," Jiraiya said with a giggle.

"I don't believe that, and I don't want to peek on women in the bath house," Naruto said with a huff.

"We'll talk about this later. Right now, you need to accept your reward from Koyuki." Jiraiya replied.

Naruto groaned at the thought of having to deal with Koyuki. No wonder Jiraiya was riling him up with talk of naked women. Naruto looked up to see they were approaching the main audience chamber where a line of rebel leaders were waiting for entrance. Naruto began looking around for an escape route before Jiraiya patted him on the back.

"Now, play nice, Naruto. All you have to do is listen to her little speech, pick out your reward from the treasure room, and thank her with a bow. Then we won't have to deal with her ever again." Jiraiya said encouragingly.

"I hope you are right about that, shishō. I would be surprised if she managed to complete three sentences without some kind of veiled insult or attempt to start an argument." Naruto muttered.

Naruto and Jiraiya waited in line for half an hour while the rebel leaders were called in one at a time to receive their rewards and commendations for their contribution for overthrowing Dotō. Naruto had prepared himself to deal with Koyuki's prickly behavior by setting his stoic mask firmly in place.

Jiraiya and Naruto approached Koyuki on her throne and bowed before waiting for her acknowledgment. After a brief discussion with two of the men standing next to Koyuki, she turned her focus back to Naruto and spoke.

"For your services to the Kazahana family and Yuki no Kuni, the _people_ would like to reward you for aiding us in their time of need," Koyuki said in a bland tone before gesturing to her right.

A man stepped forwards holding a tray that contained a three-inch long blue crystal hanging from a red ribbon with gold trim in an ornate wooden box lined with purple silk.

"The _people_ of Yuki no Kuni grant you the Tsurara (Icicle) medal for your efforts in aiding the rebellion against the tyrant Dotō." Koyuki made another gesture with her hand and directed the man to close the box and give it to Naruto with a bow.

Naruto accepted the box and bowed to Koyuki stiffly, before he could thank her directly, however, she continued speaking.

"In recognition of your significant contribution to the rebellion, you will also be granted free travel privileges across Yuki no Kuni and will be allowed to take one item from the Kazahana family vault. The _people_ thank you for your services and Yuki no Kuni will always be grateful to you for your assistance." Koyuki said before gesturing once more towards her right.

Naruto was surprised she managed to keep the scowl off her face, but Naruto could see her lips attempting to frown. He wasn't surprised the stupid bitch was petty enough to refuse to thank him personally in her speech. Naruto inwardly smirked as he formed a proper response.

Another man stepped forwards with a scroll, which Naruto assumed was the travel pass. He picked up the pass and bowed before replying to Koyuki.

"It was an honor and my pleasure to aid the _people_ of Yuki no Kuni in their time of need. I am grateful for _their_ recognition of my efforts and hope that all the _humble_ _people_ of Yuki no Kuni experience nothing but happiness and prosperity." Naruto bowed low to hide his smirk at Koyuki's twitching brow.

Koyuki put on her best fake smile before she spoke "Guards, please escort our honored guest to the vault so he may select his prize and return to the festivities outside as soon as possible."

Naruto and Jiraiya bowed once more before following a samurai down the hallway to the left side of the audience chamber. Naruto couldn't hide his smirk when he heard Koyuki start to argue in low tones with, what Naruto assumed, were some of her advisers for being rude to him.

Naruto knew it was wrong of him to be pleased that Koyuki would suffer a job she had tried to avoid her whole life, but he couldn't find it in himself to feel bad for her at all. She had been nothing but a pain in his ass from the very start and was unrepentant for trying to capture him and dragging them into this whole mess.

The samurai led Naruto up a stairway and down another hall before he stopped in front of a heavy set of metal doors that was guarded by four samurai. After a brief conversation with the guards, two of the samurai revealed keys to unlock the door before pushing them open.

"Only Naruto-sama may enter the vault, Jiraiya-sama, so I must ask you to wait outside." the samurai said.

Jiraiya just nodded and stepped back before leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest.

"You are allowed as much time as you wish to make your selection, Naruto-sama, but we ask that you do not touch any items unless you have decided to take that item as your reward. You can, however, open any boxes or reliquaries to examine the item inside, but you can not remove the item from the container unless you select that item." the samurai instructed.

"I understand," Naruto replied before stepping into the vault and looking around.

Considering how long the Kazahana family had ruled Yuki no Kuni, Naruto had expected the room to be much larger. Instead, the vault was only an 8 x 10 foot long room with shelves running along the walls and a narrow shelf that ran down the middle of the room.

The vault was tidy and well organized, with the shelves full of ornate and expensive-looking jewels, statues, paintings, tapestries, weapons, and lots of fancy wood, gold, or silver containers that were studded with gems or embellished with silver or gold filigree. Most of the containers had labels near them identifying the items inside in some detail.

Naruto peeked into the few unlabeled boxes to find them either filled with gems, gold bars, or jutsu scrolls. All of the jutsu scrolls he saw were high-level Hyōton jutsu, so he ignored those, and he also ignored several summoning scrolls since he didn't want to break his contract with the Toads. Picking one out now only to find that Gamabunta didn't approve of that summoning race would only turn out to be a big waste after all. For all the trouble he had to deal with throughout this mess, he wanted to make sure the item he chose was worth all his efforts.

The weapons he studied looked to be primarily ornamental instead of functional so he skipped over those and made his way towards the back. There were a few nice sets of armored gauntlets and shin guards that looked useful, and Naruto briefly considered taking for his own use. Making a mental note of their location, he continued browsing the rest of the vault to make sure he didn't miss anything important.

Naruto spotted a large lotus shaped container made of jade that was two feet wide and two feet tall. The container was crafted with such skill, that Naruto was about to overlook it as a simple jade carving before Kurama told him to stop and examine the item closer. When Naruto studied the jade lotus closely, he saw a carved groove in the top portion of the lotus that was just big enough for a person's fingertips and lifted it up carefully removing the top half of the lotus to reveal the item inside.

Sitting on a fancy dark blue and silver embroidered silk cushion was a large light blue orb that looked like a globe of solid water. The sphere and pillow that supported it was resting on a silver and gold wire stand that was shaped to represent a stormy sea, similar to the embroidery pattern on the cushion the orb rested on.

Naruto was in awe at how the center of the orb seemed to be in constant motion like a lake or ocean, even though he had not jolted or moved the globe at all. There was a soft blue glow that seemed to react and change as the liquid center shifted and swirled within its round prison. The blue would fade to a bright white or darken to a deep midnight blue while the inner current shifted from a horizontal flow to a vertical flow or even reversed directions from clockwise to counter clockwise in an almost lazy manner.

It took all his willpower not to reach in and take the orb into his hands.

" **You must pick this item, kit. This item is one of the things we need for the plan."** Kurama instructed.

Naruto was so mesmerized by the swirling center of the orb that he almost didn't hear Kurama's voice.

 _'What is it?'_ Naruto asked in a reverent tone.

" **This orb is a chakra focus. This one is more than large enough to suit our purposes."** Kurama explained.

Naruto brow furrowed at the unfamiliar term Kurama used. _'What do you mean by focus?'_

" **A focus is used to control and direct the flow of chakra. When mortals first started using chakra, they typically required a focus like chakra crystals or a branch from a chakra tree to control their jutsu until they mastered such techniques."** Kurama answered.

 _'I see. Since we will be tying the jutsu and the seal into the chakra cycle itself, we will need this focus to make sure that all that chakra is directed properly.'_ Naruto replied.

'It is kind of odd that a tool such as this would not appear in any books or even be used to this day. Why would anyone stop using such a thing if it only helped.' Naruto thought to himself as he pondered the implications of an item that could augment or redirect chakra in such a way. His inner musing was interrupted by Jiraiya's voice.

"Oi! Hurry up in there will ya? We are missing out on all the fun!" Jiraiya called out in a friendly tone.

Naruto pushed his thoughts aside and moved to put the lid back on the container when he noticed a card attached to the bottom of the lid. Naruto carefully flipped the lid over so he could read the card's description.

The Pearl of Benzaiten (Kami of everything that flows like water, time, music, and chakra)

This, unusually round, chakra crystal was discovered deep within a gold mine over 400 hundred years ago. It was the only chakra crystal found in the mine during its operation for 120 years. Scientists have been unable to determine how a chakra crystal managed to form in a perfect circle when all other known sources of chakra crystal are found in quadrilateral or pentagonal shapes and are typically restricted to size limits due to their fragile nature. Recent testing has shown that this crystal has not been cut or reshaped in any way since it's discovery only further deepening the mystery surrounding this mysterious artifact.

This chakra crystal was named the Pearl of Benzaiten by the founder who chose the name based on an old legend that was passed down by the early Kazahana clan founders during the Warring Clan era.

Legend states that during the formation of the world, the Kami would often challenge each other to battles in the mortal realm to prevent damaging their parts of the heavenly realms. To prevent the destruction of the mortal realm, Izanagi began blocking direct access to this domain. When Benzaiten learned of Izanagi's plans, she schemed with her friend Tsukiyomi to create a means to influence the mortal realm without leaving the heavenly realms.

With Tsukiyomi's help, Benzaiten quickly created the pearl and cast it into the sea so she could continue to control all that flows in the mortal realm without violating Izanagi's decree. Tsukiyomi benefited by gaining some control over Benzaiten's aspect allowing him to affect the currents in the oceans and the air.

 _'Interesting story behind it.'_ Naruto shrugged inwardly before returning the lid and delicately picking up the jade lotus container for the samurai to examine before making his way out of the vault.

" **It is strange how such an object would be buried in the earth in such an inhospitable country,"** Kurama mused, **"Almost as if someone was trying to hide it."**

Naruto frowned at that thought. _'Is it a good idea for us to mess with something like this if that was the case? Going to such lengths to hide it must mean that something terrible was involved.'_

" **A focus this large would allow someone to control a vast amount of chakra, much more than any mortal should be capable of manipulating,"** Kurama replied smoothly.

Naruto handed the container over to the samurai to inspect while he pondered what Kurama said.

Naruto's mentally hummed when his mind made the connection, _'So a regular jutsu could become a thousand times more powerful if they use the focus and have a large enough chakra source.'_

" **Correct. You must take extra care in guarding this object. If it falls into the wrong hands, some arrogant scum might cause catastrophic damage."** Kurama warned.

Naruto thought about the possible places to store the orb for a moment. _'I don't believe there is any more room to seal it away in my medallion, do you think it will be safe in one of my arm seals?'_

" **For now, it should be okay. We will need to test what happens if you tear a seal in your new clothing and restore it with chakra. The repair seals do not appear to interfere the storage seals you have added, but we have not fully tested all the possible ways the repair seal might fail."** Kurama said with a yawn.

 _'I'll try that tomorrow then.'_ Naruto mentally nodded.

The samurai handed the lotus container back to Naruto and instructed him to wait while he verified the contents of the vault. Naruto made his way over to Jiraiya and leaned up against the wall next to him while studying the container carefully.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at Naruto's selection. "Interesting choice there, Naruto. I'm surprised you didn't pick up those chakra enhancing gauntlets and shin guards I saw you looking at."

" **Try to avoid letting the Toad fool know about what is inside. It will raise too many suspicions if they know you have a chakra focus of this size."** Kurama warned.

"I was tempted to, shishō, but in the end, I didn't think they would fit me," Naruto said with a shrug, "I decided to pick this since it was more eye-catching and unique than anything else in there."

"You could have just taken one of those boxes full of gems and bought something like that instead," Jiraiya stated.

"I don't think so, shishō. I've never seen anything like this before, and if they kept it in their treasure vault, it must be more expensive and rarer than it looks." Naruto said casually.

"Is this one of your 'special power' things again?" Jiraiya said with a chuckle.

Naruto just shrugged before sealing the lotus container away inside one of the storage seals on his messenger back for the moment.

"Everything is accounted for Naruto-sama. If you wish, I can escort you to the special guest balcony to oversee the execution of the tyrant in comfort." the samurai said.

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya in a silent question before they both nodded. Might as well enjoy better food and drinks without having to shove their way through the crowd again. Naruto doubted the drunken group he was with earlier would miss his presence too much, and he could probably control his sake intake easier.

The samurai lead Naruto and Jiraiya towards the balcony overlooking the execution podium in the center of the square. There was a table full of snack foods and drinks off to the side with some comfortable chairs and cushions lining the balcony.

Naruto filled a plate with a few senbei (large rice crackers), dango, and a few nikuman (steamed buns filled with pork). He eyed the glasses of plum wine before shrugging and taking a glass to drink. Waiting on Koyuki earlier had allowed Kurama to purge his system, so he wasn't feeling the drinks he had earlier.

" **Drinking more now, eh? Do you wish to do battle with more cats?"** Kurama said with an amused snort.

Naruto mentally groaned at the reminder of his drunken foolery in the past. With the amount of people around the castle celebrating there would be no way, he could hide any embarrassing moments, especially since the public was paying more attention to him because of his popularity. It would also be much harder to avoid drinking so much when people were always pulling aside to thank him and offer him drinks.

 _'At least up here, I don't have every group of fighters asking me to drink with them. I should be able to keep my intake under control.'_ Naruto replied as he chewed on a nikuman.

" _Besides, we haven't been able to simply relax and enjoy ourselves for some time,"_ Naruto added.

" **Hmph. At least, there will be one less treacherous mortal in the world at the end of the day."** Kurama replied.

Naruto finished his food and had a few more glasses of plum wine to relax as he waited for the highly anticipated execution to begin. As he looked down at the festivities the people were taking part in, he couldn't help but wonder about his connection with humanity once more.

Here was an enormous crowd of people who were practically jubilant that someone was going to lose their head today. Granted he had to admit, the bastard deserved it, but it seemed almost surreal that people were celebrating that fact. Naruto couldn't decide if they were celebrating their freedom, his death, or a combination of both.

Perhaps his perspective was skewed. Nothing Dotō had done had directly impacted him, for the most part. He also couldn't discount the fact that these fools had no idea what was lying in wait for them with Koyuki as their ruler. To them, a tyrant was gone, and they were free of oppression, but Naruto could see Koyuki slipping down that very path with ease.

Yet, the blaring fact that he realized as he reached out with his senses was that there was a very peculiar lack of negative emotions in the surrounding area. Naruto knew there were more Dotō supporters around, and if they had indeed supported the man, then shouldn't they be at least experiencing fear or anger that the ruler they had trusted and stood by was about to die?

For Naruto, he found himself feeling out of sorts with the situation. Was he coldhearted and ruthless for enjoying a nice meal and a few drinks as a precursor to watching a man have his head liberated from his shoulders? Was it an inherent part of humanity to revel in something as morally gray as vengeance? Maybe he was subconsciously feeding off the mood of everyone else around him and just going with the flow, so to speak.

Naruto decided it was most likely the latter. He had seen first hand how the influence of a mob could infect those around them. Now the question he had to wonder about is, was he human for being affected by such emotions, or was the fact that he was questioning such influence an indicator that he was somehow different?

His body had definitely been human from the start, along with his spirit. However, Kurama was adamant that his soul was different. There was also the fact that his body had changed after Kurama had flushed his system with the perfectly balanced chakra. The only other basis for comparison he had at this point were the Toads themselves.

The summoning creatures weren't considered as simple base animals by shinobi. Most shinobi treated them as an equally sentient species, for the most part. There were the few who only viewed them as living weapons to be used, but Naruto would be a hypocrite if he took that kind of view. Instead, these creatures had been so altered by chakra that they were considered a separate species entirely.

Following that logic, he could only presume that a jinchūriki had to also be a separate species as well since they were all altered by the bijū's chakra to some extent.

'Maybe I am just trying to separate myself from humanity because so much of what Kurama has drilled into my mind seems to be true, and I don't want to be associated with filth or trash.' Naruto thought to himself.

Naruto snagged another glass of wine as he mulled over that thought.

'It's not a question that can be answered so easily.' Naruto swirled the glass before taking a sip, 'A part of me is hesitant to discard that connection because that would mean that all the bonds I have formed were based on lies.'

That thought made Naruto feel uneasy, and he released a sigh before turning his attention away from the wine glass and scanned the crowd below him, 'Yet, at the same time, some part of me knows that I am different than all of them. That regardless of what happens to me, I will never be perceived as one of them.'

Naruto's gaze flicked over to Jiraiya when the sound of a hand smacking flesh reached his ears. Jiraiya was rubbing his face with his trademark lecherous grin while an unknown woman stormed away from him with rage written across her face.

'Shishō tries hard to make me feel as if I am no different but in the end, even he can't truly convince me. Kurama's presence has always had an effect on everything around me, even when people are unaware of him.' Naruto mused as he studied his master.

Jiraiya made his way over to Naruto with that huge grin still firmly in place, despite the fact that he had been very publicly humiliated by the woman he had been dallying with, he acted like he didn't have a care in the world. Not even the reddening handprint or the glares of disgust from the other honored guests on the balcony seemed to dampen the old shinobi's mood.

On some level, Naruto suspected that Jiraiya enjoyed receiving pain from women. Perhaps it was just part and parcel with his "super pervert" ways. The academy had mentioned that it was not unusual for shinobi to relieve stress in a manner that seemed downright odd or deviant in comparison to most civilians. Add in the fact that shinobi were trained to be adaptable to all situations made the capability for deviance more prominent.

Jiraiya had noticed Naruto's odd brooding while he had been flirting with the noble woman with the nice firm ass. The woman had seemed to be sending all the right signals at the start, but as their conversation drew on, he could tell she was the type to string a man along. He had lost interest a few minutes ago and was more concerned that the Kyūbi was digging its claws even further into Naruto's psyche.

Deciding that drawing his apprentice out of that strange mood was more important than the slim chance of ass, he let slip a particularly lewd comment to make the woman storm off before turning his focus onto Naruto.

It's not like any noble woman could actually hurt him with their weak little slap. Not when the groups of kunoichi he regularly spied on made it a habit of treating him to so much more pain. It was always worth it in the end, though. To him, nothing was more beautiful than seeing a smoking hot woman in combat, especially when they were naked. It was the same reason why most men enjoyed a good cat fight.

Jiraiya plucked up a bottle of sake from the food table before sitting himself down to Naruto and taking a big swig. He could tell Naruto was slightly amused by the fact that he just shrugged off the offended glares by all the noble women around him. Possibly a little embarrassed by that fact also, but the boy was too damn stoic to let that show on his face so easily.

"So... what's on your mind that has got you so lost in thought," Jiraiya asked in a casual manner. He acted like he wasn't paying close attention to the boy, but he was still studying him carefully out of the corner of his eye.

He didn't miss the brief flicker of surprise in Naruto's eyes before he glanced away.

'Obviously, something he thinks I wouldn't approve of by that reaction.' Jiraiya thought before taking another swig from his sake bottle, ' best to act casual then.'

"It's nothing, really," Naruto mumbled before draining his glass of wine and setting it down on the small table next to him.

"If you say so," Jiraiya said with a shrug before taking another drink.

'Most likely something to do with the execution or Koyuki taking over.' Jiraiya thought.

Jiraiya was inclined to let the silence stretch between them for a few moments before he spoke again.

"I had planned on leaving tomorrow for Tetsu no Kuni since I doubt that you care much for Koyuki's inauguration, but I still haven't received confirmation on our travel pass," Jiraiya said.

"I know the samurai prefer to be neutral, but it seems strange to me that they would be so controlling about people crossing their borders," Naruto commented.

"It's not people that they are so controlling about, it's shinobi," Jiraiya replied, "Shinobi in their country always cause problems to some extent. If they didn't have such effective means of gauging chakra levels, everyone would be capable of infiltrating their country as mere merchants."

Naruto looked at Jiraiya with a curious expression. "How can they detect shinobi so easily when our own villages still have problems?"

"If I knew the answer to that then, believe me, Konoha would have that system in place," Jiraiya admitted grudgingly.

Jiraiya had to hide his smirk as he could practically see Naruto's mind turning over the puzzle that was presented to him. It would be easier to draw answers out of him now.

When he began spending time with Naruto, Jiraiya had quickly identified that the most effective means of breaking down his walls were puzzles and beautiful women. Especially if the women were scantily clad or well endowed.

While he had plans to break Naruto out of that bashfulness around women, it would be much harder to break the habit of revealing his innermost thoughts if you caught him while he was deep it thought. In some ways, Jiraiya didn't want to eliminate that particular vulnerability because it was the best way to determine what Naruto had been discussing with the Kyūbi.

While his sensei had provided signs to look for when Naruto was speaking with the Kyūbi, Jiraiya was certain that Naruto had been working on covering up those signs. He had witnessed, on several occasions, where Naruto told him of the Kyūbi's input on a situation and Jiraiya had not seen that blank look in his eye or that strange unseeing stare that he had seen in the past. This fact had only become more apparent when they developed the code phrases to identify when the Kyūbi was providing input on a situation.

Once that system had been implemented, it had been a troubling revelation on just how often the Kyūbi was providing input to Naruto directly, and Jiraiya was certain that Naruto only revealed half of the Kyūbi's thoughts in any given situation.

Jiraiya saw that his opportunity to probe Naruto's thoughts had arrived and decided to make his move.

"What do you think about all of this?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya while blinking rapidly. "I'm sorry, shishō. What did you ask?"

"I asked you what you think about all of this," Jiraiya said with a vague gesture to the crowd below them.

Jiraiya studied Naruto closely as he thought over his answer.

Jiraiya had made the question vague intentionally because that was the best way to draw out what Naruto had been thinking about so heavily before. His mind would immediately return to the subject he had been pondering before he had presented him with a puzzle.

"I don't know how to describe it really..." Naruto muttered, "Is it strange that I wonder about everyone celebrating that Dotō is about to die?"

Jiraiya raised his eyebrow at that question. Naruto had apparently been thinking about a very grave subject matter if that was the question he thought of asking. Jiraiya had been leaning towards unease over putting Koyuki into power.

"What makes you think they are celebrating Dotō's death over their freedom?" Jiraiya prodded.

Naruto looked back over the crowd as he thought over his answer. Jiraiya could tell he was trying to choose his response carefully, indicating that he was trying to gain an answer to a more obscure question to the one he had asked before.

"I can't help but believe it is both. Dotō was responsible for all of their problems. I doubt if we asked them just to exile Dotō that the people would accept that. If they only cared about freedom wouldn't they just simply want him out of power?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya hummed in thought as he pondered how to frame his response. 'Naruto had no sympathy for Dotō in the past so where does this newfound concern stem from?'

"Dotō caused a lot of suffering to people. Simply allowing him to go free doesn't seem like appropriate punishment, don't you think?" Jiraiya replied.

"That is true. I am not saying he doesn't deserve it." Naruto shook his head, "It's just... I don't see why people feel so jubilant about it. I just wonder if it is normal for people to feel that way."

Jiraiya was partially confused by Naruto's answer, and he must have seen it on his face because Naruto decided to extrapolate.

"I just wonder if it is strange that I find it weird that they are so happy about it. To me, I don't really feel that way. Sure, Dotō was a bastard who did terrible things, but I can't find it in myself to cheer about his impending death." Naruto stated.

"I think I understand now," Jiraiya said as he stroked his chin in thought. "You are wondering why you don't seem to feel the same way as everyone else about this situation."

Naruto nodded. "Partially, I know that people are happy that they don't need to worry about those mercenary scumbags anymore, but it also seems that Dotō's previous supporters are also satisfied with the situation, and that doesn't make sense to me."

Jiraiya just chuckled before lightly smacking Naruto on the back. "That's easy, most of those fools were only catering to Dotō because it was either that or death."

"I took that into consideration also, shishō," Naruto said flatly, "I don't believe that all of them were only trying to avoid death by agreeing with him."

"So, tell me. What is it that you believe?" Jiraiya asked.

"I think that maybe people are just celebrating because everyone else is," Naruto said in an odd tone of voice.

Jiraiya picked up on that tone and tried to think of why that statement was causing Naruto to behave so strangely. To him, it seemed perfectly reasonable that someone would want to join in when everyone else was celebrating. Then an unsettling thought crossed his mind.

"Do you not feel like celebrating because everyone else is?" Jiraiya asked before focusing on Naruto's facial expression closely.

Naruto had his brows furrowed in thought and a frown on his face as he stared at the podium below them.

"I don't know why, but I don't really feel the same as everyone else does." Naruto fiddled with his the hem of his arm warmer for a moment before continuing, "I thought maybe because we don't live here that it doesn't matter but then I see everyone else affected by the mood and realize that it doesn't affect me in the same way."

Naruto was looking back towards Jiraiya with an almost troubled look on his face. "I wonder, do you feel the same as them, shishō? or do you feel the same way I do?"

Jiraiya hummed in thought. Internally, Jiraiya was sweating because he knew that this question would have a significant impact on how Naruto viewed himself in comparison to others.

'This is a bad. No wonder Minato was so concerned...' Jiraiya thought as he stroked his chin, 'The only reason I can see him asking such a question is because he sees himself as something different already. If I don't handle this properly, it will become a big problem.'

"Well, to be honest with you, Naruto. I don't find it strange that you don't care as much as they do about the situation. On the other hand, I also find myself wanting to celebrate just because we succeeded in accomplishing something that was considered nearly impossible." Jiraiya added with a shrug. "Besides, why not relax and enjoy yourself after we have been scrounging around in the frozen wastes and surviving off rations for months."

Jiraiya kept his tone casual. It wouldn't due to clue Naruto into the fact that he knew that the boy was fishing for evidence or proof that his question was bigger than it really was. If he acted like it wasn't such a big deal to examine these kinds of beliefs, then Naruto would pick up on that and, hopefully, put less weight into such thoughts.

Jiraiya could tell that Naruto was studying him carefully and probably using the Kyūbi's senses to detect if he was lying or manipulating him. Luckily for him, he wasn't actually lying, and while he might be somewhat manipulating the situation, the truth was Jiraiya didn't think such thoughts were important. Jiraiya felt he was safe from the Kyūbi's senses because he truly believed in his response.

Naruto didn't need to worry about whether he was human in his book because Jiraiya was confident that Naruto was unequivocally human from his point of view.

After a tense moment of silence, Naruto only nodded before looking away.

"I had that same thought as well, shishō. I guess I don't care as much because I had been distancing myself from everyone due to our... hostile recruitment, I guess you can call it." Naruto said with a scowl.

"It doesn't help that Koyuki is the one taking over. I agree with you there," Jiraiya said before polishing off his sake bottle, "Luckily, she has some competent but firm advisers on her side. I think they will be able to keep the spoiled bitch in line."

Naruto just shrugged before he stood up. "Do you want more sake, shishō? I think I'm going to get another glass of wine."

"Make it two, would ya? Get me some dango while you're at it." Jiraiya said with a wave of his hand.

Naruto nodded before he walked over to the food table and began gathering up his request.

Jiraiya let out a sigh before rubbing his forehead. 'The damage is worse than we thought. I only hope Naruto is questioning such things because he is reconsidering the Kyūbi's opinion instead of deciding to accept it.'

Jiraiya took the sake bottles Naruto handed him with a smile before cracking one open and taking a deep swig. 'I should push up our visit to the brothel. I wanted him to visit the best ones in Cha no Kuni, but there are a few good ones in Tetsu no Kuni as well.'

Jiraiya picked up a stick of dango and pulled one off with his lips before chewing.

'Actually, now that I think about it, it would be better for him to visit the ones in Tetsu no Kuni, it will be easier to find one of the more "hands off" type of woman there than in Cha no Kuni.' Jiraiya thought with a mental nod.

Jiraiya couldn't keep the smirk off his face when he thought about Naruto being trapped in a brothel for two weeks. The ladies would practically eat him alive because of his bashfulness. He wouldn't be surprised if Naruto was unconscious for two days just because of the embarrassment and the nose bleeds.


	59. Year 2: Iron, Mist, and Isobu

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be mild sexual content and violence in this chapter.

Edit 4/26/16

 **Chapter 58**

 **Year 2: Iron, Mist, and Isobu**

 **One Week Later – Suriishi City – Tetsu no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto and Jiraiya disembarked from a private yacht that bore them from Yuki no Kuni to Tetsu no Kuni. While the journey had been in comfort, for the most part, Naruto was glad to be off of the ship.

It was obvious to Naruto that Jiraiya had used unscrupulous means to obtain access to the yacht in the first place. The noble woman that owned the ship had been all over Jiraiya, forcing Naruto to keep as much distance as possible from his master.

Having advanced hearing and senses could be such a burden sometimes.

On top of all that mess, was the fact that Jiraiya and that horrible woman had found another sort of amusement in teasing Naruto about his raging hormones. His puberty had suddenly decided to speed up with a vengeance. Before Yuki no Kuni the symptoms had been prevalent but infrequent. Now, Naruto was struggling with the side effects on a daily basis.

Every other night he had an erotic dream about Hinata, Makoto, or even Samui, which was disturbing his sleep and putting him on edge. Naruto had been so ashamed when the ship's maid had made it a habit to change his sheets every day after that first night. The kind old maid had tried to comfort Naruto by telling him about how her two grown sons had the same problem when they were growing up, but Naruto had found it to be more awkward than comforting.

He just wanted the squeaky voice, random erections, and wet dreams to end as soon as possible so he could maintain some of his dignity. Kurama had a good laugh when Naruto had begged Kurama to speed up the process with his chakra, but sadly, it was just not possible.

For his part, Kurama was tracking the changes to Naruto's body because of the possible side effects of the chakra flush he had given Naruto in Myōbokuzan. If it wasn't for recalling the different anatomy and physiology books he had made Naruto read in the past, he might have been confused or alarmed about the strange behaviors Naruto's body was exhibiting.

The only abnormal changes that Kurama had noticed was the advancement of Naruto's olfactory system, An increase in growth and thickness in the chakra pathways and tenketsu, and the sudden increase in bone density and muscle growth throughout Naruto's body. Kurama could tell that Naruto would start growing rapidly this year by the signs his body was giving him.

It took Naruto and Jiraiya the better part of an hour to have all of their equipment inspected by the customs agent before they were allowed to enter the city. Naruto was glad that he had not restocked his explosive tags and other seals since the rebellion had ended since the samurai had a policy of confiscating anything besides storage seals.

The samurai had been very thorough in searching all of his storage seals which made Naruto wonder just how they had managed to detect or see some of the more concealed ones he had created. Only the hidden micro-seal in his belly button had remained unchecked, but Naruto was certain that was because of the Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Seal).

If it wasn't for the pass that Jiraiya had from Mifune himself, Naruto was certain the samurai would not have granted him access to the country. Naruto could sense their suspicion and fear about the mysterious seal on his stomach.

Jiraiya led Naruto through the city towards the smithing district. Naruto had to clamp down on his senses because of the intense smell of smelting and burning wood that surrounded the area. Naruto looked about the area with interest as the buildings in this city were far more traditional than what he had seen in the previous villages and cities he had visited. After walking a few blocks down the main street, Jiraiya made a sudden turn down an alley and appeared to be heading towards a large house.

Jiraiya rapped on the door a few times before standing back. After a few minutes, the door slid open revealing an elderly man who was almost as tall as Jiraiya. This man was heavy set with graying hair pulled up into the standard top knot that seemed to be a requirement for residents of Tetsu no Kuni. The man's faded brown kimono and hakama also appeared to be standard issue with the only oddity being a dirty black haori tied around his waist.

"Hey, Tatsuo!" Jiraiya said in a cheery tone, "It has been far too long old friend. How has business been?"

"Jiraiya, it's about damn time you showed up," Tatsuo said with a smirk, "You're awfully late this time, much more than usual."

"Yeah, that kind of thing tends to happen when you get dragged into a revolution," Jiraiya said nonchalantly.

"Oh? That sounds like an interesting tale to hear over some sake, but first..." Tatsuo turned his gaze to Naruto, "this must be the apprentice who needed his sword upgraded."

Naruto bowed to Tatsuo before speaking. "My name is Uzumaki, Naruto and I would be grateful if you could improve Makoto for me."

"We will see if you earn that right, boy, but why don't you both come in out of the cold." Tatsuo stepped aside to let Jiraiya and Naruto enter.

Naruto spotted the shoe boxes and slipped off his sandals before stowing his shoes into one of the empty boxes next to Jiraiya's getas. Naruto thanked Tatsuo when he handed him a pair of flip flops for him to wear. Naruto quickly slipped on the flip flops before following Tatsuo through a large living area and into a courtyard.

The courtyard was full of training dummies and Tameshigiri mats for testing the sharpness of newly forged swords. Off to the right Naruto spotted what appeared to be a small dojo with numerous katana, nodachi, wakizashi, and even tantō mounted on the wall. In the center of the courtyard was a raised sparring ring.

Tatsuo slid open a large sliding door at the far end of the courtyard to reveal his forge and workshop.

"Now, let me see what I am working with here," Tatsuo said as he turned to Naruto.

Naruto pulled Makoto out of the ties on his back and presented her to Tatsuo with the saya still on. Tatsuo hummed as he twisted the sword about and examined the saya and where it met the tsuba before drawing Makoto and looking at the blade. Occasionally he would look up and study Naruto for a moment before turning his attention back to the sword.

"This sword is much to short for a young man such as yourself. I will have to add at least three inches to fit your body. At this rate, it would be considered more of a tantō then a ninjato." Tatsuo said before re-sheathing Makoto and handing it back to Naruto.

"Jiraiya mentioned that this belonged to someone important to you and you, didn't want to modify it too much. Is that correct?" Tatsuo asked.

Naruto looked down at Makoto for a moment.

"This sword belonged to someone who taught me a very valuable lesson with their life. I wanted to honor that sacrifice by keeping her sword close to me." Naruto murmured.

Tatsuo nodded. "That is quite a noble sentiment coming from a _shinobi_. However, you are not thinking about this sword in the proper way."

Naruto looked up at Tatsuo, "What do you mean?"

"A samurai considers their sword as an extension of their principals and even their soul," Tatsuo said passionately, "If you truly want to honor her sacrifice you would allow the sword to be reforged to fit you. That would show that you are embracing the spirit of her sacrifice and making it your own."

Naruto looked down at Makoto again as he thought over Tatsuo's words before looking up with a determined gaze.

"I understand. What do I need to earn the right for you to reforge Makoto for me?" Naruto asked.

Tatsuo gave Naruto an evil grin, "I do not forge blades for just anyone, you have to prove to me that you are worthy of wielding such a blade, even if it is a simple reforge. I will give you six weeks to impress me and earn the right for me to reforge your sword."

Naruto bowed again "I appreciate your time, Tatsuo. I won't let you down."

"That is what they all say." Tatsuo murmured to himself. "I will provide you with food and lodgings during this time, but you will be required to perform chores for me on top of your training. If you impress me enough, then I will consider lowering my fee for the materials needed."

Jiraiya let out a low whistle, "That is quite the deal you are giving him."

"Normally I wouldn't consider wasting my time on such things, but his intentions are far nobler than I would expect from a _shinobi_ ," Tatsuo said with a sneer.

Jiraiya laughed at Tatsuo. "Don't be so petty now, Tatsuo. Not all shinobi act the way the samurai claim."

"Hmph. I speak of my own experiences, Jiraiya." Tatsuo scoffed, "If I didn't owe you my life I would never lower myself to creating a ninjato in the first place. You shinobi, always casting them aside like disposable tools. So dishonorable."

Jiraiya just smirked at Tatsuo, "Well, I leave my apprentice in your capable hands, try not to disenchant him too much, will ya?"

Tatsuo shook his head, "With how young you shinobi train your children, I doubt it would have any impact. He's much too old to eliminate those tendencies you have instilled in him."

Jiraiya gave Naruto a pat on the shoulder "I have to run and meet up with Mifune as well as get in touch with my contacts throughout the country. I should be back in a few weeks at most."

"Just don't let this bastard push you around too much," Jiraiya said with a smirk.

"Okay, shishō," Naruto replied.

Naruto watched as Tatsuo and Jiraiya bantered back a forth for a few minutes before Tatsuo led Jiraiya out of the house.

Inwardly, Naruto was a little nervous about being with a man who seemed friendly one moment then hostile the next. It was evident he had a grudge against shinobi in general, and Naruto had to wonder how the man would feel if he learned about Kurama.

'Best to keep my head down and work hard.' Naruto thought.

Since it was late afternoon when they arrived, Tatsuo told Naruto that he would start his training tomorrow. Tatsuo led Naruto to a guest bedroom and instructed him to unpack and settle in for dinner. After dinner, he would be required to show the katas he had learned, and to put Makoto through a few tests.

 **Six Weeks Later**

* * *

Naruto lay sprawled out on the ground, panting heavily after his latest spar with Tatsuo. The past six weeks had been long and extremely painful for him due to Tatsuo's no holds barred sparring with a bokken (heavy training sword), and the "toughening" exercises he had been subjected to during his trial period.

Naruto's typical day during his stay with Tatsuo was to exercise before the break of dawn with his routine push ups, sit ups, pull ups, jumping jacks, and squat jumps. Next, he was required to haul heavy metal ingots from the market to Tatsuo's forge and use the giant fan to stoke the flames hot enough to melt down a mix of metals and smelt them into a new alloy. Needless to say, Naruto gained a great deal of upper body strength from simply fanning the flames hot enough to melt steel and titanium for Tatsuo's various projects.

Once Tatsuo was done creating his ingots in the morning, Naruto's next assignment was to hold different sword stances without moving for an hour each stance while Tatsuo added more heavy wooden blocks, bricks, or even metal poles to try and break his form. If any of the precariously balanced objects fell, Naruto would be forced to start over again. For the first two weeks, Naruto had to start over at least three times for each stance.

After Naruto had managed to maintain each position perfectly for three days in a row, Tatsuo began to up the stakes by stinging each of his muscle groups with a well-worn bamboo shinai (light training sword). Naruto had learned to fear and hate that shinai and couldn't help but grow wary anytime Tatsuo even walked towards where he kept it mounted on the wall. Who would have thought that four thin strips of bamboo tied together with leather could hurt so damn much?

Tatsuo had explained that he was training Naruto's body to maintain the proper fighting stance regardless of any bodily injuries or distractions. Maintaining the proper form during a fight was essential for keeping the proper balance and center of gravity so that you could apply full power to your attacks and defenses. Forcing Naruto to maintain these stances despite his aching and quivering muscles overwrote the natural inclination the body had to favor injured limbs which would expose a potential weakness to the enemy. Knowing how to tense your muscle groups to reduce the impact of an incoming strike allowed you to expend less energy and follow through with your attack regardless of the enemy landing a hit on you.

Naruto wasn't certain if that belief was the wisest choice in most situations. Maintaining such a stance with a sprained ankle would only seem to exacerbate such an injury, but Naruto kept such thoughts to himself because otherwise he would get the shinai again.

Once he was successful in maintaining the stances properly, it was usually time for Naruto to make lunch, eat, and try to stretch his now stiff and sore muscles before Tatsuo began to essentially beat him with a heavy wooden bokken for a few hours. After "sparring" for a few hours, Naruto would then have to repeat his morning workout before making dinner. Naruto didn't even know why he would have to haul more ingots since the bastard didn't even seem to be forging anything at the moment but he couldn't deny that his fear of pain had virtually vanished at this point.

Every night since he started training with the crotchety old samurai, he would crawl into his futon exhausted, sore, and covered in welts and bruises. The brutal workouts had allowed Naruto to adjust to the maximum level of his gravity seal much faster than usual, and his skills with using a sword had increased dramatically.

"Enough resting, boy. It's time for you to practice the Hadan (Rupture) and the Issen (Flash)" Tatsuo called out.

Naruto hadn't learned much about Tatsuo on a personal level, as he could sense that any attempt at prying would have been unwelcome. Naruto couldn't help but respect the man, however, he was still highly skilled and physically fit despite his age. Naruto was certain that he had also gained the man's respect since he had decided to teach him two samurai techniques and even crafted a pair of chakra-enhancing bracers to make the techniques more effective.

While Naruto was grateful for the gift, he still didn't think he would utilize the bracers once he completed Tatsuo's training. Deep down he still didn't want to engage an enemy directly unless it was necessary. The bracers also prevented him from accessing any forearm seals that he had which were more detrimental than weakening his chakra flow attacks. Naruto planned on giving them away to Hinata to see if she could make use of them in conjunction with her Juken.

The chakra flow techniques had been very useful in Naruto's opinion. He was already familiar with channeling Fūton and Katon chakra into his weapons to add cutting or burning properties to his strikes, but the two attacks that Tatsuo taught him used regular chakra instead. Therefore, these attacks didn't have the drawback of being affected by elemental weaknesses.

The first attack Naruto learned was the Hadan, which was a short-ranged burst of chakra that added more cutting power behind the sword. The attack was designed to allow the chakra burst to bypass any armor entirely and strike directly at the internal organs. While Naruto was capable of cutting through any armor when his blade was laced with Fūton chakra, he had to channel chakra to his blade continuously while he attacked instead of a short, quick charge up of chakra directly before the strike.

The Issen was a more advanced method of chakra flow through a weapon that allowed the user to launch a ranged chakra attack with a slash of their sword. Naruto preferred this attack amongst the two since he could remain at a distance and it had the potential to be modified to create different variants. He had already been collaborating with Kurama on adding elemental chakra to the ranged attack to make it more potent.

Naruto shakily stood up before shuffling towards the dojo wall to return his bokken and pick up his assigned practice sword. Once he had claimed his sword, he made his way out to the courtyard where Tatsuo had set up several practice dummies for Naruto to use.

Naruto stood in front of one of the practice dummies before drawing his training sword and channeling chakra into the blade before he slashed out with a horizontal cut and expelled the chakra into the practice dummy. Naruto reset his stance, and when no shinai strike was felt, he set up to repeat the attack four more times before switching to an upwards vertical slash. After completing his the exercise with the upwards slash, he moved onto the downwards slash before examining the cuts into the training dummy.

"Good. You have the Hadan mastered from every angle," Tatsuo complimented, "Now move on to the Issen but, this time, I want you to attack from the other side of the courtyard instead of in the center."

Naruto nodded before he walked to the far side of the yard and waited as Tatsuo set up the tameshigiri mats for him to cut. Tatsuo stepped back to the edge of the courtyard and gave the command to start.

Focusing on the left most mat, Naruto began to channel his chakra into the blade before compacting the chakra into a denser form. Once he felt he was ready, he released a horizontal slash before expelling the chakra halfway through his swing.

A blue blade of chakra shot out from the sword and cut into the mat towards the top. Naruto frowned at the result as he was almost four inches off his intended target. Naruto reset his stance and prepared the next attack.

The next blade of chakra struck much closer to his intended target making Naruto much more satisfied with the result. The next three strikes hit closer to where Naruto had wanted them to strike so he felt pleased with his progress.

"Very good," Tatsuo called out as he walked over to Naruto, "I expected you to be more inaccurate from that range, but it seems that you are not too far off. You still are taking too long on the charge up, but that can only be expected given how long you have known the technique." Tatsuo sent Naruto a stern look, "Just make sure you don't let your practice in the skill lapse."

"Thank you, Tatsuo-sensei. I promise I won't forget to practice the technique regularly." Naruto said with a bow.

"You will have quite the surprise for Jiraiya with your next spar," Tatsuo said with a smirk.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at that thought. Jiraiya had only visited Naruto a few times during his training with Tatsuo before he would take off with his usual lecherous grin. It didn't take a scientist to figure out what the toad sage was up to when he wandered off. Because of that fact, Jiraiya had no idea that Tatsuo had taught him the Hadan and the Issen at all.

"You have more than proven to me that you have earned the right to a properly forged sword. Go and retrieve Makoto for me now and we will start." Tatsuo commanded before he walked off towards the forge.

Naruto couldn't keep the grin off his face as he rushed towards his small room to pick up Makoto. At first, he had been reluctant but resigned to having Tatsuo reforge Makoto completely, but now he had a better understanding of what Tatsuo had tried to instill in him.

After today, Naruto would be able to move on past the events surrounding Makoto and free himself from the pain and the guilt. He wouldn't forget the lesson he had learned from that day, but in some way, he was finally letting her memory slip away so he could move forward with his life.

Naruto handed Makoto over to Tatsuo, who began to disassemble the sword completely. Naruto noticed that Tatsuo had heated up the forge and was preparing ingots to smelt. With an ease that comes from years of experience, the old forger quickly broke Makoto down into her base components. Tatsuo beckoned Naruto to move closer before handing him the naked blade to hold onto before he began tossing several select ingots into the superheated forge to melt down. Using the built-in fan to stoke the flames, he waited for several minutes until all the ingots had sufficiently melted before turning to Naruto.

"It's time." was all that he said. Naruto didn't need any further clarification and stepped forward. With one last glance at the blade in his hands, he let go of the burden of his past and dropped the blade into the vat of molten metal to start anew.

For the next three weeks, Naruto continued to practice and train on his own while Tatsuo spent day and night in his workshop. The rhythmic cadence of hammer pounding metal was constant from the break of dawn to the late hours of the evening, only halted when Naruto would bring Tatsuo his lunch and dinner.

Jiraiya stopped in mid-way through the three week period to check in on Naruto and was quite happy that Tatsuo had agreed to reforge the sword. After trying and failing to get Tatsuo to speak to him as he worked, Jiraiya just shrugged and caught up with Naruto on how his training went for a few hours before he went out for more research.

Naruto kept the two abilities he had learned a secret so he could pay his perverted master back at a later date with a nasty surprise. He knew Tatsuo would appreciate the gesture.

Shortly after Jiraiya's visit, Tatsuo announced that the blade had been completed, and was now working on polishing the blade and preparing the fittings for the new sword. Tatsuo sent Naruto to one of his friend's shops to look over purchasing the new components for his blade.

After searching through the premade fittings, Naruto opted only to add a two-inch long metal kojiri (end cap) and koiguchi (mouth cap) for the saya. Both of the fittings had a cherry blossom motif that matched with the original tsuba and saya design. Naruto also selected an orange sageo (Hanging cord) and ito (Hilt wrap) to replace the verdant green straps of old.

During the last week, Tatsuo made Naruto sit and watch as he polished the blade carefully before he began assembling the ninjato. He made certain that Naruto understood how to disassemble and clean each part of the sword so that the blade would last long and remain reliable.

Naruto had been reticent to rename the sword, but Tatsuo had been adamant that he accept that the old soul of the blade was gone, and in its place, a new one had awoken. After several days of meditation and thought he decided to rename his blade Keikai (Vigilance) so he would remember the lesson behind why he swore to keep the blade with him at all times.

After all was said and done, Keikai was four inches longer than Makoto was. The blade itself was much denser and made of a more sturdy alloy of carbon steel and chakra metal making the blade more resilient. Instead of the typical silver metal color, Keikai was almost platinum in color with a tinge of blue from the chakra metal.

Tatsuo also replaced the same wrapping (Ray skin), mekugi (mounting peg), menuki (decorative grip), and ito on the hilt of the blade to ensure that the grip was comfortable and secure.

The saya was easily modified to fit the longer blade by replacing the small metal Koiguchi and cutting off the old wooden Kojiri and attaching the larger metal fittings Naruto selected to match the cherry blossom motif. The saya was finished off with the new orange sageo that Tatsuo tied in a decorative knot since Naruto still planned to wear the blade as he did before.

"This blade will serve you well if you take good care of it, Naruto," Tatsuo said as he handed Keikai over. "It will take you some time to get used to the added length, but I am confident that you will grow into it properly."

"Thanks for all your hard work and training, Tatsuo-sensei," Naruto said with a bow, "If I remember correctly, you wanted 50,000 ryō for your efforts, right?"

"I said that mostly as a deterrent in case you weren't actually serious about having a real sword. Most shinobi aren't in my experience." Tatsuo said with a shrug, "I will only charge you 25,000 ryō for cost and labor."

Jiraiya laughed at Tatsuo's comment. "I should have known you would have done something like that."

Naruto unsealed the bag of ryō he took from the root base and handed Tatsuo the requested amount.

"Thanks for taking Naruto in and improving his kenjutsu skills, You can consider your debt to me repaid," Jiraiya said with sincerity before he chuckled, "You don't have to worry about dealing with us shady shinobi any longer."

"Nonsense, it was fun beating on the kid for the past month and a half. He is also much less annoying and underhanded than you are." Tatsuo said with a wave of his hand.

"Don't let that fool corrupt you too much, Naruto. It's rare when I can find a somewhat respectable shinobi." Tatsuo said with a grin.

"Believe me. It's a constant battle to avoid becoming an embarrassment, like him." Naruto said in amusement.

Jiraiya grabbed Naruto in a headlock and began grinding his knuckles in his hair. "Lousy brat, I leave you alone for a few weeks and all of sudden you start getting disrespectful. You must be entering that rebellious teen phase."

Tatsuo laughed as Naruto and Jiraiya began to playfully insult each other while Naruto struggled to get out of his hold.

"Alright, enough of that. Get out of my house before you bastards destroy it or steal something." Tatsuo said in a joking tone.

Naruto rushed off, to quickly pack up his things while Jiraiya shared a few drinks and stories with Tatsuo. After another round of sake, both said their farewells before leaving the blacksmith's home. Naruto wouldn't particularly miss the abusive training from the crotchety old man, but he couldn't deny that he had gained a lot of physical strength from his teaching and could probably hold his own with a sword now. He had to readjust his clothing almost every week as his muscles were growing at a rapid pace, and he even had to replace his combat sandals since they were starting to get too small.

"So, where to now, shishō?" Naruto asked.

"Well, Tatsuo managed to get rid of one of your easily identifiable weaknesses that you had. I can tell that you no longer fear to get up close and feel some pain during a fight." Jiraya said approvingly, "but there is still one very big weakness that you need to get rid of."

"What weakness is that, shishō?" Naruto asked with a frown.

He didn't think he had been that afraid of pain before. To him, it had always seemed smarter to remain out of the fight as much as possible. Granted, during the first few days of Tetsuo's training it had been hard for his body to stay strong and steady when being struck. The shinai had been capable of almost stunning him in the beginning, but now it was more of an annoying sting.

"Women," Jiraiya said directly.

"...but I don't want to spy on women in the hot springs," Naruto said with a whine. "Oba-chan said that is not proper behavior."

Jiraiya shook his head, "I already told you the benefits and reasons for my research, but that is not what I am talking about here."

"What do you mean then?" Naruto grumbled.

"I am talking about what happened to you in that Root base, and how easy it is for a woman to throw you off of your game," Jiraiya replied as Naruto grimaced at the reminder. "All kunoichi take special classes on how to seduce a shinobi in order to gain intelligence or bring their guard down to kill them easier. Think of this training as the shinobi class to counter kunoichi techniques."

Naruto eyed Jiraiya with suspicion. "How do you plan on training me to counter these techniques?"

"It's like building up an immunity to poison, you need exposure to get used to the side effects so you can continue to think clearly," Jiraiya explained before giving Naruto a stern look. "Face it, kid. You get all flustered just talking to a woman with a beautiful face, and you can't even look at a naked woman for longer than five seconds. That's a big problem if a kunoichi decides to flash you during an attack. It happens more often than you would think."

Naruto sighed in resignation. Jiraiya did make a valid argument, and he knew that kunoichi were chosen for seduction missions all of the time. Naruto had just hoped he wouldn't have to worry about that kind of stuff until much, much, later.

"Don't look so down about this, Naruto. I know you have been having dreams about these sorts of things. Can you honestly tell me that you aren't curious about a woman's body at all?" Jiraiya said in a knowing tone.

Naruto blushed as he thought about his dreams. Besides Hinata and Makoto, Samui had started to appear in them as well. Naruto remembered being distracted by her beauty the first time he started training with her.

"I guess I am a little curious," Naruto whispered.

Jiraiya's smirk grew into a full blown grin. "Hah! I knew it! My godson is finally on the path to becoming a man." Jiraiya crowed before smacking Naruto on the back. "I have already taken care of everything so don't you worry about it."

"How are we going to do this...training?" Naruto asked warily.

"By staying in a brothel for a few weeks of course," Jiraiya said excitedly.

"Wait...WHAT!? You mean you're going to make me do... THAT with some random woman?" Naruto shouted incredulously.

Jiraiya laughed heartily at Naruto's red face. It was so much fun to tease him about this kind of thing since it was the only way to drop that damn stoic look he tried to maintain, but it was for his own good that he overcome this problem.

"No. You don't have to go all the way yet unless you want to of course." Jiraiya said with a wiggle of his brows, "These ladies are professional companions, kid. Not all of them need to sell their bodies to provide companionship and sex is not always involved in these transactions."

Naruto didn't look convinced, so Jiraiya elaborated a little further.

"Sometimes men hire them so they can simply spend time talking with a beautiful woman that will actually give them the time of day. In other cases, people hire these ladies to teach their sons how to behave in the presence of a woman. More often than not, a man will hire them just to have a lovely woman on his arm to give the illusion that they are wealthy and powerful." Jiraiya explained.

Naruto slumped in resignation as he followed Jiraiya's giddy strut towards his inevitable humiliation. It seemed like there was no escaping this "training". Naruto could only hope he wouldn't embarrass himself too much. Things had been so much easier before his puberty had decided to ramp up suddenly. Maybe all these confusing emotions would finally settle down after all of this. That would certainly be a bonus.

Jiraiya practically was skipping to the red light district of the city. Not only would he get to watch his, far too stoic, godson be flustered and embarrassed he was also going to be able to spend a few weeks surrounded by gorgeous beauties. He would probably be able to finish several chapters of the next Icha Icha series on top of it all. Things were really looking up.

Soon Jiraiya was pulling Naruto into an a large and elaborate home. As they walked through the gated entry, Naruto could see groups of men and women lounging around in the nicely manicured garden. There were several low tables and cushions scattered about with multiple serving women bustling to and fro delivering drinks and food to the customers.

'Okay, this isn't too bad so far.' Naruto thought as he looked around, 'If worse comes to worse, I can just stay outside in the gardens.'

Jiraiya led Naruto down the gravel path and towards the central door in the courtyard. As he slid open the door, Naruto almost gagged on the overwhelming scents inside the building before he clamped down on his senses. The wave of tobacco, incense, sweat, sex, and perfume was like being hit by a dense cloud of noxious fumes in his opinion.

'Definitely going to try and stay outside as much as possible.' Naruto thought as he wiped his watery eyes.

Jiraiya noticed Naruto's expression and mistook it for fear instead of the onset of nausea.

"Relax Naruto, it's no big deal," Jiraiya said in a soothing voice as he patted Naruto on the back. "You don't have to get all emotional about it. No one is going to force you to do anything more than talk if you don't want to.

"It's not that," Naruto said flatly. "The smell in here is almost overwhelming."

Jiraiya merely laughed awkwardly at his mistake. "I see. Don't worry about it only this room is bad like that. All the other rooms are opened up into either the front courtyard that we entered, the hot springs, or the central courtyard in the back. This room is for the more...lower class clientele if you catch my meaning."

Naruto merely nodded. He didn't really understand, but he did _not_ want Jiraiya to go into details. When it came to this sort of thing the fewer details, the better in his opinion.

The pair made their way through the hazy center room that was surrounded by numerous heavy wooden sliding doors that led to small comfort rooms as he heard Jiraiya call them. Naruto's face was flaming red as he tried to block out the sounds he was hearing around him while Jiraiya just had his pervert grin in place. They emerged into a small hallway and made a left before entering a smaller room with an elderly woman sat on a large cushion dressed in a very elaborate kimono.

The woman had an obscene amount of makeup on her face, and her hair was styled in an old fashioned up do that Naruto had never seen outside of history books. One either side of the woman were two very young girls. Naruto guessed they were a few years younger than him at least. If he had to hang out with them, it wouldn't be too bad.

"Ah, Jiraiya-sama you have returned." The old lady said in a smooth voice, "Is this the young man that you mentioned to me last week?"

"Yes, he is." Jiraiya pushed Naruto forwards, "Tomiko, this is Naruto. Say hello, Naruto."

Naruto bowed. "It is nice to meet you, Tomiko-sama."

"No need for such formalities, young one. Though I do approve of your manners." Tomiko smiled as she studied Naruto. "I can tell what Jiraiya has said about you is true. Even now your body tells me that you are uneasy and tense. You expect something bad would happen to you here?"

Naruto was surprised that Tomiko could read him so easily. He must be more nervous than he thought.

"I-I am nervous because I don't know what to expect," Naruto replied.

"That is quite normal for a boy your age. This is more common than you would think." Tomiko said in a comforting tone. "If you had been comfortable in this place I would question those who had been in charge of your upbringing."

"He's a good kid, Tomiko. Just like I told you." Jiraiya cut in. "He didn't have a lot of friends growing up so his social interactions have been limited to dealing with fellow shinobi."

"I see," Tomiko said in a sad tone "I hope you don't lose that kind aura about you, Naruto. All too often have I seen kind men turn cruel because of that profession."

Tomiko rose from her cushion and was quickly followed by the two young girls.

"Now that I have met Naruto in person, I know just the girls for him to help educate him on proper behavior. Please, follow me." Tomiko said before she made her way towards a sliding door on her right.

Tomiko slid the door open to reveal a room full of beautiful women who were dressed in tight fitting but tasteful dresses or kimonos. All of the women had been sitting around chatting while they worked on various hobbies. At a quick glance, Naruto could see several were sewing or drawing as they conversed while others were simply reading off to the side. As soon as Tomiko entered the room, the conversation stopped, and all of the women bowed to her.

"Hanako, Aimi I have a special task for both of you," Tomiko called out.

A woman with long black hair stepped forward and bowed. Her face was similar to Hinata's, but she had soft brown eyes and her hair had a dark brown sheen to it instead of the blue that Hinata's had. She wore a shiny silver cheongsam that seemed to strain against her large, perky breasts. Naruto blushed and turned his gaze away as his thoughts began to wander into dangerous territory.

The second woman set her sewing down and stood before Tomiko and bowed. This woman had light brown hair pulled up into a high ponytail and soft green eyes. She had small almond shaped eyes with a small nose and modest but plump lips. Her body was more lithe than voluptuous but was still curvy. She wore a standard yukata that had a theme of grass and crickets.

"You called for us, shishō?" the ladies replied in unison.

Tomiko gently pushed Naruto towards them before speaking. "This young man needs instruction on the proper etiquette around ladies and to overcome his bashfulness. I trust you will both do your best to teach him properly."

"Of course, shishō" both of the women replied before they focused on Naruto.

Naruto shuffled a bit from nervousness until Jiraiya nudged him with an elbow. Naruto took a deep breath before he introduced himself.

"Hi, my name is Naruto." he said before he began fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

Both of the women smiled at Naruto before they bowed and introduced themselves.

"My name is Aimi. I am pleased to meet you Naruto-kun." The black haired woman greeted. Her voice was soft and delicate, and Naruto couldn't help but think of Hinata when he looked at her.

"My name is Hanako. You are quite the shy little thing, aren't ya." The brown haired woman said with a smirk.

Naruto merely nodded and continued fiddling with the hem of his shirt nervously. Inwardly he was flustered and upset that he was behaving so meekly. Why did he have such problems with women now when it was never a problem before? Naruto cursed his hormones once more as he tried to get his emotion under control before he embarrassed himself even more.

Kurama was rolling on the ground with laughter at Naruto's predicament. It was hilarious to see the boy struggle against the hormones flowing through his body. He knew that the hormones were having a stronger effect than usual because of the trace amounts of perfectly balance chakra that lingered in his system. Normally, Kurama would be all over him for succumbing to such emotions so easily, but he gave the kit a break. This lesson would only help him learn to master his primal urges easier in the future.

 **Three weeks later**

* * *

Naruto was stretched out on a large cushion with his head rested in Aimi's lap with a light blush on his face. Her left hand had his head cradled so her thumb could stroke his whisker marks tenderly while she used her other hand to run her fingers through his unruly locks. It had taken a full week of careful encouragement to overcome his excessive shyness to the point where they could begin to touch him in a nonsexual manner without Naruto fleeing to the garden.

Aimi's soft spoken and demure behavior helped to ease Naruto into getting familiar with the attentions of a beautiful woman. Naruto saw her as a more modest and gentle version of Hinata, which helped him relax around her and get control of his bashfulness. Not only could he hold conversations with her without stuttering and blushing, but he could also manage to keep his composure when she hugged or touched him in a caring manner.

Hanako had been a relentless tease, always pushing the boundaries with her flirty behavior and breaking his guard down by threatening to flash him by pulling her yukata up her leg slowly until he started sputtering and averted his gaze. She loved nothing more than to giggle and stretch or bend over in front of him provocatively just to make him blush. Hanako's methods had been effective as Naruto was now able to deal with such blatant teasing in a more graceful manner instead of locking up completely. He was even starting to be able to deal with her pressing against him in a sensual way without feeling that twinge of fear when he sensed or felt lustful thoughts.

Naruto had not realized just how much Makoto's assault had affected him when it came to dealing with a forward woman. For the first two weeks, Hanako's advances had left him flighty and filled with trepidation that she might go too far. It was an eye-opening experience for Naruto since he had believed he was over that event. Thankfully both Aimi and Hanako had been careful in how they approached him and besides some playful teasing, they had never pushed him too far and kept most of their touches away from his most sensitive areas.

Tomiko had explained to him that such traumas were not easily cured. Sometimes the pain from such attacks would only manifest themselves years down the line in strange ways. Some men would be turned off by sex entirely while others would become almost angry or violent about it.

She had chosen Aimi and Hanako because the opposite personalities would serve as a perfect balance to help him overcome that hidden fear he had. After the first two weeks, more ladies would come and spend time with him to ensure he was still able to maintain his composure around unfamiliar women with different personality types. They had also helped him accept the changes his body was going through without feeling as stressed out about them.

While he would still have some nervousness around women in general, he found that he could push past that nervousness and deal with the ladies in a more confident manner. Some of the more aggressive women could still cause him to lock up or stutter. At least now, he didn't feel the need to run away. Naruto was satisfied with the progress he had made so far and was no longer as frustrated with himself once Tomiko had clarified things for him.

Yesterday had been the biggest test of his new-found confidence. Tomiko had required him to join Jiraiya, Hanako, and Aimi in the mixed gender baths. It had been a real test of his nerves and composure to relax in a hot spring surrounded by so many naked women, but he had managed to endure it with nothing more than a blush on his cheeks. Even when Hanako began to playfully poke at him and tease him for covering his crotch in the beginning. Jiraiya had joined in on the teasing while Aimi tried to defend him since it was his first time in a public bath that wasn't segregated. After they were done teasing him, he was able to relax and enjoy the soak while joining in on the conversations going on around him.

Jiraiya had been secretly proud of Naruto's improvement in the short amount of time they had spent here. He knew it would still take more time and experience before Naruto would overcome his flaw completely, but he was on the right track considering his age.

Now, Naruto was simply enjoying the feel of Aimi's fingers as they stroked his whiskered cheek and gently scraped his scalp while he waited for the Toad Sannin to return from Mifune's summons. Jiraiya had planned on leaving earlier in the day but he received an urgent message from Tsunade, and a summons from Mifune yesterday evening and had to delay their departure.

Word had finally reached Tsunade about the revolution in Yuki no Kuni and their involvement in it which had probably caused Tsunade to shatter some furniture in worry and anger. Naruto could tell that Tsunade had been quite graphic in what she was going to do to Jiraiya for dragging Naruto into that mess if the winces Naruto saw while he was reading were any indication. Knowing that it wasn't his fault made Naruto feel a little bit sorry for him. Just a little. That bastard had been quite relentless in his teasing yesterday.

Naruto couldn't wait to pay him back with a surprise Issen during their next spar.

"Oi! Naruto, it's time to go. We have a mission from Tsunade-hime to complete." Jiraiya called out.

Naruto stood up and gave Aimi and Hanako both hugs before thanking them for their help. Both women simply gave him a kiss on his cheek and wished him well on his journey while they walked with him to the entrance of the brothel.

While Naruto knew they had been paid to help him, he couldn't hold that fact against them. Even though it was another job to them, they had been kind and caring without a hint of negative emotions in them during his time with them. They might not consider each other close friends, but he was still grateful for their help and was thankful for their care. With one last wave to the girls, Naruto hustled after Jiraiya, who had already started briskly walking down the road.

"What's the rush, shishō?" Naruto said as he caught up.

"Apparently the civil war in Kiri has been over for a few years, and they only saw fit to announce it to the world a few weeks ago. Tsunade-hime suspects that they might have sided with Oto, Suna, and Iwa because of the delay in the notification, so we are going to investigate under the cover of a diplomatic mission." Jiraiya said in a serious tone.

"They have been fighting that war as long as I can remember. I remember hearing about it from jiji before I even entered the academy." Naruto said. "Are they really that much of a threat?"

"They might be weakened by all the fighting and their short sighted bloodline purges, but they still have the largest fleet of all the shinobi villages. Their proximity to both Konoha and Kumo give them the perfect opportunity to strike behind any fronts we can establish." Jiraiya explained.

"I see," Naruto said with a nod, "What about Mifune's summons?"

"It was along the same lines as what Tsunade-hime wanted. He knew that I had planned to take you to Uzushiogakure so he wanted me to deliver a message to the Mizukage since we would be in the area." Jiraiya replied.

Naruto stumbled from the shock before he regained his balance and hurried to catch up.

"Really? We were going to go to Uzushio?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"I thought you would like to see your mother's homeland," Jiraiya said with a smile. "There are also a few areas that Tsunade-hime wanted us to check out."

"Do you think there would still be anything hidden?" Naruto said with a frown, "I've heard rumors that it has been inhabited by pirates and scavengers ever since it was destroyed."

Jiraiya scoffed. "You really think some two-bit scavengers or pirates would be able to bypass some of the Uzumaki security seals? Even after the village was destroyed the enemy was still losing battalions to the numerous sabotage and ambush seals your clan left behind."

Naruto could only nod as he thought over the possibilities of what he could find in the ruins. It would definitely be extremely dangerous. He had to wonder if he could activate any blood seals because of his mother. He would need to collaborate with Kurama on a way to safely test it out if he managed to find some.

"I don't want to get your hopes up or anything, but none of the invading villages has ever shown off something they had taken from the ruins," Jiraiya said, "Some believe that there were self-destruction seals that buried the vaults and libraries under the sea. I wouldn't put it past them, honestly."

"Even if we don't find anything I still think it would be worth it to look," Naruto said adamantly.

"Of course, but first, Kiri," Jiraiya said.

It didn't take long for Naruto and Jiraiya to reach the docks and book passage into Kiri. Once they were both settled into their cabins, Jiraiya laid out the details of the mission.

Jiraiya would have to deal with the Mizukage on his own. While he was in negotiations with the Mizukage, Naruto would seek out the Sanbi and the Rokubi to determine their status and potentially gain more information about Kiri through the bijū themselves.

Kurama assured Naruto that Isobu, at least, would be friendly but Saiken might be more of a problem as he always preferred to isolate himself from everything else when he could.

With the plan in place, Naruto set out to restock his seals and explosive tags while he had the chance. He would be able to create a few large chakra storage scrolls and a dozen small chakra scrolls while he created a few ambush and trap seals for Uzushio. Might as well clean out the bandits and scavengers from his mother's homeland while he could, and if they managed to find one of the vaults untouched, he would secure it so that Tsunade could send a recovery team to collect what was his by right.

After he made his own attempts to crack it open of course.

 **Four Days Later – Kamome Bay – Mizu no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto and Jiraiya disembarked their ship only to be met by a group of four Mist Anbu waiting for them at the customs office. The Anbu were guarded but cordial and informed Jiraiya that they were there to escort them to the village proper in a covered wagon without any windows. Naruto could sense that their terms were not negotiable so he wasn't surprised when Jiraiya took it all in stride, even though Naruto could tell he had not expected Kiri to know they were arriving today.

It was only an hours ride until Naruto could hear them approach the village. He opened up his senses entirely to have Kurama help him analyze and catalog everything for future reference. Besides the ever prevalent mist, sea, and fish smell that he expected, he could smell fresh cut lumber, smoke from forges and grindstones, and various unidentified plants.

While the plants were insignificant, the other scents told Naruto that the village was still experiencing a lot of construction from the war, even though it had been over for almost four years. The village must have taken a lot of significant damage if they were still rebuilding after all this time.

When the wagon finally stopped, and they were allowed to disembark, Naruto was not surprised to see they were in front of the Mizukage tower. Naruto studied the tower, and the signs of repair indicated that the entire top half had taken severe damage. Considering the size of the carved granite blocks that formed the tower, Naruto had to wonder what exactly had caused so much damage in the first place.

Kurama was already reaching out to see if he could detect Isobu or Saiken but he hadn't mentioned anything yet, so Naruto guessed they were nowhere near the village. Perhaps they had taken advantage of the fighting and decided to flee the village. Kurama had mentioned that Saiken preferred isolation, but Isobu should still be around based on what Kurama had told him.

The Anbu escorted Naruto and Jiraiya to a few guest rooms inside the Mizukage tower that were set aside for diplomats. The lodgings were pretty good considering the location. Naruto had to hold back a scoff at their poorly concealed spy seals that he spotted with just a glance. He was certain that there were more that Jiraiya had noticed if the smirk on his master's face was any indicator.

"I will come and collect you in three hours time for your meeting with the Mizukage," The Anbu agent with the blue and white striped mask stated, "Please do not leave your rooms until that time. If you require anything, simply speak with one of the guards, and we shall provide you with anything within reason." The Anbu added before leaving.

Jiraiya merely shrugged before he ran a sweep of the room to document all the various spying devices or seals inside of their room. Naruto, already used to the routine, began taking his own mental notes of what he suspected were listening devices or seals. After a few moments, Jiraiya looked in his direction and Naruto held up nine fingers indicating his guess.

Jiraiya chuckled before he flashed ten fingers followed by 2 causing Naruto to frown.

"Well, guess we might as well unpack. You can take the left bed and dresser but leave the nightstand clear." Jiraiya said pointedly, "Do you mind making some tea while I take a quick shower."

"Of course, shishō," Naruto said with a nod before he set his messenger bag down on the futon that Jiraiya mentioned before he made his way over to the small wooden stove to start a fire so he could boil the water.

On further study, Naruto could see the seals that he had missed. He didn't suspect that they would hide a seal on the tea kettle or dresser, and he had disregarded the nightstand because Jiraiya had said most professional spies wouldn't plant a seal there because it was too obvious. The more he thought about it, however, he realized that seal on the nightstand might just be a decoy since planting 12 different spying devices in a room was kind of overkill. If anything was the main spy seal, it would be the kettle he had overlooked. Not only did people often have discussions over tea, but the kettle was always placed in the center for ease of access. It was an ingenious place to put a listening device.

 **"** **Naruto, I have finally managed to track down Isobu's location, but he is in hibernation so I cannot contact him,"** Kurama said.

 _'So his jinchūriki might not even know about him then. That could be a problem.'_ Naruto thought as he waited for the warming water to finish boiling.

" **I don't believe that is the case. I had trouble finding his location because his chakra signature is scattered throughout this village. There are traces of him everywhere. I think he has just finished reforming."** Kurama said in a grave tone.

Naruto frowned as he thought about the implications behind that. _'That means that someone killed his jinchūriki at some point in recent history. Can you tell how long?'_

 **"** **Judging from the traces of chakra surrounding the areas, I would guess 2 or 3 winters at least,"** Kurama replied.

 _'Right around the same time as the civil war would have ended.'_ Naruto mused as he put some tea bags into the bugged kettle to steep. _'That explains the damage to the village still being repaired and the damage to the Mizukage tower.'_

" **Hmph. Hopefully, these fools do not discover his location and seal him away anytime soon."** Kurama said with a growl.

 _'Probably too busy.' Naruto replied quickly. "They are still recovering from the civil war. Plus, there is the fact that another war is about to break out on the continent, and everyone seems to be determined to drag them into it.'_

Kurama scoffed, **"That is no surprise to me considering the nature of humanity. We must take care that no one follows us when we seek him out."**

 _'I hope that we get a chance to. It seems like they will keep a very close watch on us.'_ Naruto said as he poured himself some tea and added some honey to it. _'Too close if you ask me. I suspect they have already been in talks with Iwa or Oto by the reception we have received.'_ Naruto added darkly, _'Shishō always said that the more they try to control your movements, the more they have to hide.'_

" **Yes. The emotions we are sensing also lends weight to your suspicions as well. I will continue trying to contact Isobu for now, but we must search for him. He is the only one who knows where to find the pearls we require for the ink."** Kurama said seriously.

 _'Can't we just buy some pearls to use?'_ Naruto asked.

" **No. Regular pearls are not made of the same materials as coral pearls and will not strengthen the seal we will create in the same way. If we do not have the ground coral pearl in the ink, the seal will fail in a catastrophic way."** Kurama explained.

 _'Well, we definitely don't want that. It will be dangerous enough as it is.'_ Naruto said as he sipped his tea.

Naruto turned his gaze towards the bathroom when he heard the door open. Jiraiya was already dressed in a fresh outfit but was still in the process of drying his hair using Katon chakra. Naruto couldn't stop the snicker from escaping his lips as he saw Jiraiya wild white mane puffed out as he ran chakra through it.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes before forming a half ram seal and using a low chakra version of Ranjishigami no Jutsu (Wild Lion's Mane Technique) to strike at Naruto for laughing at him.

Naruto yelped as he leaped away from the surprise attack before he took cover behind a folding screen. Jiraiya's hair whips were no joke.

"That will teach you to disrespect me like that, brat," Jiraiya grumbled as he finished drying his hair off.

"Oi. It's not my fault your hair acts like a puffer fish when you do that." Naruto said as he peeked out from behind the screen. "Your tea is ready, by the way."

"Good. I hope you have something to keep yourself busy for several hours. Given the... _delicate_ nature of our negotiations, it would probably be better for you to stay here." Jiraiya said as he poured himself a cup of tea.

"I can write some letters instead, I guess." Naruto said with a shrug, "I was hoping to explore the beaches so I can describe them to my _friend_ in more detail. He has never seen them before."

Jiraiya merely nodded for a few moments before he answered, "You still need to work on that chakra control exercise as well. You still flare too much chakra when you use jutsu, which could alert the enemy." Jiraiya said pointedly.

"Of course, shishō. I'll have it mastered in no time _ **!**_ " Naruto said as he got the hidden message.

"Why don't you start now so I can correct any mistakes you are making," Jiraiya said as he made a subtle gesture to towards the bathroom.

Naruto nodded before pumping most of his chakra into a single clone before he slipped a chakra suppression seal onto himself. The clone nodded to him when it received his mental command before Naruto made his way into the bathroom. Naruto reached out with his senses for a few minutes with Kurama. Once they were certain no one was watching the window, Naruto sent the command to his decoy clone to start.

Naruto waited patiently for the clone to flare his chakra and trigger the chakra sensing alarms before he quickly henged and flew out the window while the guards were bursting into the room to confront Jiraiya and his clone.

 **"** **That was clever of you and the Toad fool. If I did not know your mind, I would not have picked up the subtle code you were using."** Kurama said grudgingly.

Naruto smirked as he winged his way towards where Kurama was sensing Isobu. _'If I didn't know any better I would say you are starting to respect Jiraiya.'_

" **Tch. He is still a disgusting and amoral fool"** Kurama said with a snort, **"I don't sense any chakra signatures following us so we should be clear, but stay alert."**

 _'I hope we can get this done in under 5 hours.'_ Naruto said worriedly, _'Jiraiya didn't think he would be able to give me any more time than that.'_

" **We only require the information he has for us and to create the bond. It shouldn't require much time."** Kurama said confidently.

Naruto had to fly for 40 minutes before he got near where Kurama sensed Isobu, and he was starting to get fatigued. Spotting a nearby tree, he back winged down onto a branch to catch his breath and rest.

 _'Maybe I should exercise with my henge more.'_ Naruto thought to himself. _'I wonder how that would affect my stamina and strength?'_

Naruto looked around while Kurama tried to pinpoint Isobu's location. He was near the coastline overlooking a small cove directly below what appeared to be a volcano. Based on what Kurama had told him in the past, though, Isobu wouldn't have hidden inside a volcano. Naruto hoped he wasn't at the bottom of the ocean; he wouldn't know how to reach him if that was the case.

" **I have made contact."** Kurama said suddenly, **"Fly straight ahead out to sea when you are ready, and he will emerge."** Kurama instructed.

Naruto mentally nodded before he jumped off the branch and began flying straight ahead. He was a little nervous as he got further away from the shore, but it made sense that Isobu would be afraid to appear where someone on land could spot him. After about 20 more minutes of flying, Kurama told him to start circling the area and wait.

Naruto obediently complied while keeping an eye on the sea below him. He began to see large air bubbles breaking the surface of the ocean, and the waters became more turbulent before he saw Isobu's massive spiked shell begin to emerge.

" **Land on his back for now so we can make the connection. Since he is not in a jinchūriki, we will not be able to create a mindscape to speak with him directly, but I can still communicate with him telepathically."** Kurama said.

Naruto made his way down before perching on one of the spiny protrusions close to Isobu's head. He heard Isobu make some strange grumbling sounds, but the Turtle bijū didn't say anything discernible. After a few minutes, Isobu's spiked head turned towards Naruto's direction, and he opened his massive maw causing Naruto to get a little nervous.

" **He will take us to where the pearls are located, but it will require us to be submerged for some time. If you maintain this henge and stay inside of his mouth, you should have more than enough air until we reach the underwater cave."** Kurama said.

 _'Oh man. This is not cool.'_ Naruto said with a gulp before he flapped down into Isobu's mouth. _'Where do I even land in here without getting chewed?'_

" **Just land on his tongue."** Kurama said in an annoyed tone, **"You are but a speck of dust to him in this form."**

 _'Okay, Okay. Relax. It's not normal for anyone to just fly into a giant mouth.'_ Naruto snapped _, 'Give me a break here.'_ Naruto mumbled as he landed on Isobu's slimy and rough tongue.

 _'This is really weird and kind of disgusting,'_ Naruto thought to himself as his little sparrow feet sank into one of the lumps on Isobu's tongue.

Naruto watched as Isobu closed his mouth and the last of the light faded away. He forced himself to remain completely still in case Isobu could still feel him moving around on his tongue. While he might be even smaller than an ant crawling on a person, he didn't want to make Isobu uncomfortable by squirming around on his tongue.

Naruto wasn't certain just how long he sat in the damp, dark waiting to reach their destination. He began to wonder just how far under water he was now and if they had to swim even further away from the island. Eventually, Kurama told him to go ahead and fly forwards. It was so dark in the cavern they were in that Naruto had not even noticed that Isobu had opened his mouth.

Naruto gulped before he lifted off and flew forward for a few minutes.

 _'I can't see a thing, Kurama. Am I clear?'_ Naruto said in a frightened tone.

"Yes. Just wait a minute." Kurama replied.

Suddenly the cave lit up as Isobu began to channel chakra through his body, and Naruto was able to circle around and find a giant clam shell in front of the giant turtle to land on. Naruto began looking around in awe at the giant cave they had entered.

Naruto saw numerous giant clams scattered throughout the cave along with starfish, coral, and sea anemones. Some of the sea life began resonating with Isobu's chakra and began to glow on their own, lighting up the cave in a soothing blue glow.

Once the anemones and coral began to glow, Naruto noticed that most of the cavern floor and one of the walls was made out of solid water being held back by a thin layer of chakra. That was when he realized that the "cave" was merely a pocket of air created by Isobu.

Naruto's attention snapped back to Isobu when he heard a crunching noise in front of him. He turned to watch Isobu biting into one of the 'smaller' giant clams nearby. Isobu spat out the mangled shell that he broke open before he bent down and plucked the clam out of the shell and swallowed it.

" **There, claim that small pearl he has revealed and seal it away so we can leave this place,"** Kurama said.

Naruto blinked as he eyed the pearl that was the size of a small boulder. He dropped his henge before making his way over to the pearl, wondering if he was even strong enough to pick the damn thing up. It definitely wouldn't fit into one of his arm seals, so he would have to empty out one of his storage scrolls that he had on him instead.

With a sigh, Naruto unsealed one of his weapon scrolls filled with shuriken. Naruto dumped out the shuriken into the empty clam shell before sliding the storage scroll under the pearl and sealing it away. He began resealing the shuriken into his pocket seals, but he would still have to throw away about 40 of them by his estimates.

Naruto looked up at Isobu as he towered over him and wondered if he was going to share his chakra with him. Obviously, he was supportive of the plan, since Naruto doubted he would have helped them gain the pearl if he didn't agree with it.

Naruto got his answer when Isobu placed one of his tails directly in front of Naruto. Assuming that was the offer to create the bond, Tentatively the blond reached forward and touched Isobu's tail. Naruto shuddered as Isobu's thick and icy cold chakra flowed into his body before it settled into his chakra core.

"Thank you, Isobu, for this gift. I am grateful." Naruto said with a bow.

" **You are welcome, young one. My gift had granted you the ability to create coral and your Suiton affinity has also been boosted."** Isobu's voice boomed out causing the cavern and water to ripple from the force.

" **Now, return to your small form so we may get back to the surface. I want to return to my hiding place so that the humans don't find me again."** Isobu said before he opened his mouth again.

Naruto nodded before he henged back into his swallow form and flew back into Isobu's mouth. He wanted to ask Isobu more about his coral creating abilities, but he could tell the bijū turtle was eager to get this all over with so he remained silent. Maybe Kurama would know.

" **I have already gotten the information you seek, kit. The main thing you need to be aware of is that your Katon jutsu will cost more chakra now, even with my help."** Kurama said.

 _'It's because of that boost to my Suiton affinity, right?'_ Naruto guessed.

" **Correct, you were already naturally inclined towards Suiton but because of my presence you had a minor Katon affinity as well. Now your Suiton is strong while your Katon will be the same as any unaligned mortal that has completed the mastery exercises."** Kurama lectured.

Naruto mentally shrugged. _'That doesn't seem too bad actually. Maybe I can complete the Nidaime's exercise now and make more use of my Suiton jutsu instead of just using Katon and Fūton all of the time."_

Kurama grumbled in disapproval. **"It is far more entertaining when you incinerate fools."**

 _'I bet it is,'_ Naruto said flatly _'I'm sure there are some very destructive Suiton jutsu out there.'_

Kurama just huffed but didn't comment any further. Katon was far more superior to Suiton any day. He wouldn't have picked it as his affinity if it wasn't. Fire was cleansing as well as destructive, removing the taint and corruption from the land. Fire allowed nature to start anew.

 _'Now we just need to find Saiken.'_ Naruto said.

 **"** **That will not be possible. Isobu stated that Saiken's jinchūriki fled the village before the civil war even erupted. He does not know where he has hidden."** Kurama said.

 _'That means he has had years to cover his tracks.'_ Naruto pondered a little curious about who Saiken's jinchūriki was. ' _Does he matter in the overall scheme of things?'_

" **He will need to be present when we use the jutsu and the seal, whether through coercion or force,"** Kurama said seriously.

 _'Well, nothing we can do about it for now. We will just have to track him down once we have everything in place or hope that we run into him during the rest of the training trip.'_ Naruto said.

Naruto's attention was drawn to the light that started to pierce through the darkness as Isobu opened his mouth. Once the giant maw was fully opened, Naruto flew out and began to circle above Isobu's head at Kurama's urging. It wasn't long before Isobu let loose a short rumbling grunt before he began submerging himself once more.

 **"** **Let us return to your resting place quickly. Isobu has given us some valuable information that we must discuss."** Kurama said in a strange tone.

Naruto could sense that Kurama was nervous about whatever he had discussed with Isobu and couldn't help but wonder what could unsettle his typically unflappable partner.

Naruto quickly winged his way back to Kiri as fast as his little sparrow wings could take him.


	60. Year 2: The Eye of the Whirlpool

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be graphic depictions of violence in this chapter.

Edit 4/26/16

 **Chapter 59**

 **Year 2: The Eye of the Whirlpool**

 **Two Weeks Later – Off the coast of Uzu no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto stood at the stern of the ship watching the raging whirlpools that surrounded the ancestral homeland of his mother and enjoying the cool breeze as the late summer sun beat down on him. The glare of the sun from the ocean would have been blinding if not for the sunglasses he had purchased in Yuki no Kuni. His focus, however, was on the massive maelstroms in the distance. It was awe inspiring just how vast and deadly the churning vortexes were, even at the distance they were currently anchored. The fact that the ship was still being deceptively dragged towards the swirling waters had come as a surprise to Naruto. He wouldn't have noticed the drag if one of the sailors hadn't pointed out the strain on the anchor ties. Even with two anchors dropped, the captain would occasionally run the ship at half a knot in the opposite direction to prevent them from drifting any closer.

It had taken Jiraiya a gigantic sum of ryō and several days of constant rejection to find a young and brash captain of the 30ft fishing trawler to brave the waters around Uzu no Kuni. Even with the substantial amount of ryō promised, the man had been adamant that he would not take them any closer than one nautical mile from the island itself.

Naruto had been a little off put at the man's cowardice at the time, but now he fully understood why the man had been so afraid. The whirlpools themselves had to be at least 70 feet in diameter, more than enough to suck in the majority of ships he had seen in Nami and Kiri. It made Naruto wonder just how the invasion force even managed to land on the island in the first place.

Naruto turned his gaze away from the turbulent waters when he heard footsteps approaching him. Jiraiya strolled up to him and looked out over the island before he spoke.

"Alright, Naruto. From what I gathered in Kiri, the pirates have not been active at sea just yet, so there is a chance we will run into some of them along with the teams of scavengers sent from Iwa and Kiri." Jiraiya said.

"Even after two decades they are still picking at the bones like scavengers," Naruto said with a sneer.

"Remember, the Uzumaki sealed all their vaults with dangerous traps and even collapsed buildings on top of them to make it even more difficult for the invaders to steal their secrets." Jiraiya said before he sighed, "Frankly it's a long shot that we find anything let alone be able to bypass the blood seals." Jiraiya shot a quick glance at Naruto before he finished speaking. "You aren't a full blooded Uzumaki so the seals might not even recognize you."

"I'm not expecting to find much, honestly," Naruto said with a shrug, "I would just like to pay my respects and look around."

"Let's get some rest now so we can scout out all the active campsites in the dark. After we identify everyone, we can remove them all at dawn." Jiraiya said before he left Naruto to his thoughts, heading below deck.

Naruto stared out at the island for a few more minutes before he made his way below to take a nap.

 **Early Morning – Ruins of Uzushiogakure**

* * *

Naruto stood on the second floor of destroyed building overlooking a camp of Iwa scavengers. Hidden with Tōton Jutsu (Transparent Escape) he waited for the signal from Jiraiya to begin his attack.

Jiraiya had given him the southwest quadrant of the island to clean out which had a total of four camps. After that, he would recheck the southeast quadrant to ensure that they didn't miss any campsites while Jiraiya took care of the bulk of the pirates camped to the north.

The camp below him was the only shinobi team they had found during their surveillance last night. From his scouting, this was also the most dangerous group for him to be concerned about judging from the chakra levels Kurama reported to him.

Three Chūnin level guards were watching over a group of four genin level workers. From what Naruto had overheard during their dinner conversations, the Iwa team believed they had discovered a vault and only needed to excavate for another day before they could begin attempting to break through the seals on the door. Going by old intelligence reports gathered by Iwa spies before the invasion, it was believed that the vault in question was an armory of some sort.

Maybe once all the trespassing filth was removed he could come back and try and enter the vault for himself. At least, the pirates had seemed content only to camp out instead of trying to loot the ruins. Still, the pirates were not respectful of their surroundings and had caused a lot of damage to the remaining buildings and artifacts in the area with their drunken brawling. Not to mention the fact that they often captured innocent civilians for slavery or sport.

Naruto rested his hand on Keikai's hilt as he waited with breathless anticipation. His clones were already in position for their attacks. The Iwa bastards wouldn't know what hit them until it was too late.

The distant rumble of an explosion caused Naruto to leap into action, drawing Keikai in a swift motion as he fell towards the unsuspecting chūnin guard. The chūnin was dead before his body hit the ground as Keikai cleanly severed his head from his shoulders. As soon as Naruto's feet touched the ground, he sprung forwards and charged up a Hadan (Rupture) before he lashed out and cut the nearest tent in half. The startled cry of pain accompanied by a splash of blood confirmed that he had hit his target in their sleeping bag.

Naruto ripped the sliced canvas apart and saw that the sleeping genin had been gutted by his first strike, so no killing blow was necessary. Naruto charged up an Issen (Flash) and sent the chakra blade slicing through the other two tents that were lined up with the first tent. Naruto watched with a wary eye as the tents collapsed inwards and scowled when he saw that both had been empty.

Naruto failed to notice the slight vibration in the ground below him in time to avoid the sharpened spears of rock that shot up around him. He cursed to himself as he was forced to Kawarimi with a nearby rock to avoid a fatal blow. The spears had managed to carve a large wound into his thigh, but his movement wasn't hindered too severely by it.

Naruto reached out with his senses as he dodged another group of spears emerging from the ground. He finally spotted the hidden chūnin in one of the buildings to the south and quickly flipped through hand seals to use Doton: Iwadeppō no Jutsu (Rock Gun) to flush him out of the building into the open. Naruto followed the boulder with a quick Shunshin to put him into a position to lash out with Keikai.

The Chūnin cursed before jumping out of the collapsing building before he pulled out a kunai to block Naruto's charging slash. The Iwa ninja unsealed a second kunai from his wrist and thrust at Naruto while his blade was locked with his right kunai.

Naruto pivoted away from the thrusting blade and kicked out towards the Chūnin's leg forcing him to leap back away from the kick. Naruto feinted a horizontal slash towards the chūnin's neck before reversing his attack and trying to gut the man with a horizontal slash across the torso. The chūnin was able to avoid the slash by leaping back before he threw both of his kunai at the charging blond to gain some distance.

Naruto was forced to halt his advance to deflect the kunai before he laced more chakra into his blade and launched another Issen towards the chūnin. The enemy was forced to stop his hand seals and dive quickly to the side to avoid the chakra blade. Naruto charged forward again and slashed through the chūnin's guard.

The chūnin disappeared revealing a split log causing Naruto to tense up and look around wildly.

 **"Behind you,"** Kurama warned.

Naruto whirled around and saw a large boulder flying in his direction. Naruto used Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) to knock the stone off course and slow down its momentum before he used Issen to cut through the boulder and, hopefully, catch the chūnin off guard.

The chūnin barely avoided the chakra blade that flew at him. He flipped through more hand seals as he rolled so he could launch another boulder at Naruto as soon as he was in an upright position.

Naruto quickly used Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) to quickly disrupt the enemies hand seals before he used Shunshin to close the distance before slashing the man across his chest. The chūnin was unable to avoid the attack and cried out as Keikai cleaved through his ribs and sternum. Naruto finished the man off by driving Keikai directly into his heart before he could fall to the ground. With a deft twist of the blade, Naruto shredded the man's heart before kicking him back to free his sword.

Naruto flicked the blood off his blade as he looked up to check on the status of his clones. The six clones he created had managed to kill two of the genin as they slept in their tents, and were currently fighting the remaining genin and chūnin guards.

Three clones were battling the genin with their swords and judging from the wounds Naruto could see; the genin wouldn't last much longer against them. He would bleed out very soon if he didn't receive medical attention.

The chūnin had managed to dispel two clones using taijutsu and her rock armor. The remaining clone was using Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone) to keep her at a distance. Naruto sheathed Keikai and began to form a Rasengan before giving the clone the mental command to lure the woman in closer before using Kawarimi to replace itself with him.

As soon as the chūnin drew closer to his clone, Naruto felt the pull of the replacement jutsu and immediately ducked under her cross before slamming the Rasengan into her stomach. It didn't take long for the Rasengan to drill through her rock armor and start grinding into her belly. The woman was sent flying back into a wooden support beam, crashing through it before landing in a heap inside of the ruined building.

The clone quickly ran in and finished the woman off by slitting her throat while Naruto watched his clones finish off the genin. With an order for two of the clones to search the bodies and tents for anything significant, Naruto and the rest of his clones made their way towards the nearest pirate camp.

It didn't take long for the group to reach the pirate camp. Only 10 minutes by foot at shinobi run speed. Naruto and his clones looked over the camp from a nearby ruin and a few of the trees using Henges. The pirate camp had at least 15 people milling about, but Naruto could only see 5 of them standing guard. The heavy smell of vomit and liquor gave him the indication that most of them were probably still passed out or hung over.

" **You should use a combination to finish this filth off quickly,"** Kurama suggested.

 _'If I do that the other camps will probably wake up.'_ Naruto replied with a frown.

He wanted to eliminate them as quietly as possible. It was the main reason he had only used Keikai during the Iwa attack until he was forced to use jutsu to win the fight.

Kurama merely snorted, **"As if any of this trash could provide you with a problem."**

Naruto stroked his chin in thought as he looked over the pirate camp. While the other two camps were small, they were orderly and close to each other. Just in the brief amount of time he spied on them, he had seen several move back and forth between the camps to trade food or socialize. Naruto was certain they would back each other up if they were willing to barter with each other.

 **"You should have just struck each camp with clones at the same time as I suggested before,"** Kurama said with a snort.

 _'I would have in the beginning, but Jiraiya wanted us to be as subtle as possible. I need to be there in case something unexpected happens.'_ Naruto replied.

 **"Then head to the smaller camps to the east first."** Kurama offered, **"Leave four clones to finish off this camp once you clear the other two."**

Naruto pursed his lips as he thought that over for a minute before he internally nodded and created four charged clones. With a command to wait for his signal before lighting up the pirate camp, Naruto made his way with the two clones he had left from the Iwa camp assault.

It didn't take very long for Naruto to find the second pirate camp. Only eight pirates were staying at this camp from what Naruto could smell. They didn't smell of alcohol as much as the other group, and most of them were awake and making breakfast.

Naruto ordered his clones to swing off to the side. Since all of the pirates were sitting around the fire eating, he figured he could eliminate most if not all of them with Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Once his clones were in position, it didn't take long for a rain of kunai and shuriken to fall on the unsuspecting pirates. A few of the pirates managed to shout out alarms before they fell under the rain of projectiles, much to Naruto's dismay.

Naruto created a few more fresh clones and left two of the low chakra clones behind to search the camp before rushing off towards the second pirate camp in the area. As they dashed through the ruins, they ran into a group of four pirates that had heard the shouting and had decided to investigate.

Two of the pirates fell quickly, perforated by the multiple kunai each clone threw in their direction, but the other two pirates were quicker on their toes and managed to deflect the blades with their cutlasses.

Naruto dashed forwards and drew Keikai to engage one of the pirates in a kenjutsu battle supported by two clones while the rest of the clones engaged the second pirate. The pirates didn't last long against the coordinated onslaught. When Naruto swung high, two clones would attack low while the third would attack from the flank.

Naruto and his clones closed in on the second camp to see a group of 10 pirates armed and waiting. With a brief mental command, the clones flanked to the sides and prepared Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Blade Jutsu). Naruto sent out his jutsu and watched as the group of pirates was cut apart by sharp blades of wind hitting them from the front and the sides of their camp. Only four of the pirates managed to avoid fatal blows from the blade storm, but they were severely injured, and a quick slash across the throat was all that was needed to dispatch them.

Naruto received the memories from a clone at the Iwa camp reporting some possible relics and scrolls that they had found. With that thought, he held off sending the command to the clones at the main pirate camp in fear of destroying something potentially valuable. Leaving two clones behind to search the remains of this camp, he made his way back to the second pirate camp only for his clones to report nothing of interest besides booze and a small amount of ryō.

Naruto just took the ryō before making his way back to the Iwa camp to seal up everything the clone. With that taken care of he ran back to the main pirate camp. Only 6 of the pirates were awake and aware in the main camp. They were currently arguing in hushed tones about heading out towards the other camps to check on the screaming they heard. After several minutes of arguing, a few of the pirates went back to sleep while a group of 4 set out to investigate what they heard.

Naruto and his clones fell back quickly to set up an ambush for the investigating pirates. He would capture one of the pirates and interrogate them to see if they had anything important in their camp. These were obviously the more "responsible" members of the group. If any of them did have useful information, it would be more likely that one of these four held it.

After a few minutes, the pirates walked into the ambush zone and were set upon by Naruto and his clones using their swords. This group of pirates managed to put up more of a fight, however, and Naruto lost most of his clones during the attack. In the end, a bulky male pirate was trussed up and dragged away to a building where Naruto set up a privacy and security seal for the interrogation.

Naruto took a deep breath to settle his nerves as he stared down at the roughed up pirate. He remembered his lessons on conducting a field interrogation from the Academy, but he had never actually tortured someone for information before.

He could easily justify killing these scumbags since they were rapists and murderers, but to intentionally make them suffer was something he had never really thought about before. It was the kind of thing these bastards took pleasure in, and it felt wrong for him to follow in their footsteps.

Jiraiya had claimed that the Academy's methods were archaic and unreliable at best. He had stressed that it was unreliable to rely on torture for information since anyone would confess to anything if they were in enough pain. He admitted that sometimes there was no other choice, but it was better to use leverage and fear instead of pain to draw out the information.

The key was ensuring that the information you might receive would warrant putting someone through that kind of pain. Saving the lives of hundreds was worth the torment of one person.

The question he had to ask himself now was: Is the possibility of finding relics or scrolls from the ruins worth torturing this guy? He already knew what Kurama's answer would be. That was obvious. Kurama felt that the best chance of finding the seal array for the plan would be in these ruins.

Naruto let out a shaky breath before he backhanded the pirate to wake him up. He would have to set aside his reservations. The plan was too important to take the risk of incinerating that camp. He had to be certain that the pirates hadn't managed to stumble across the information he needed.

The pirate groaned in pain as he started to wake up. After a few minutes of grumbling the pirate was finally fully awake and started cursing when he recalled the events before he was knocked out.

"Let me go now you little shit! My boys are going to..." Naruto cut the pirate off by punching him in the diaphragm forcing the air out of his lungs and cutting off his tirade.

"You shouldn't threaten me in your position, idiot. All of your boys are dead, and no one is going to save you." Naruto said with a growl.

The pirate let out a few more wheezing coughs before he glared up at Naruto.

"As if I'm going to believe a little punk like you could take out the Umi no Wazawai (Disasters of the Sea)" The pirate spat before Naruto punched him one more time.

"Perhaps this would make you realize the situation you are in," Naruto said with a sneer before he stepped out of the building.

A clone arrived carrying the severed head from the group of pirates he had just killed. Naruto grimaced as he took the head from the clone and held it out so the blood wouldn't drip on him. Setting his stoic mask into place, he walked back into the building and tossed the head at the pirate.

"Ichiro! You little bastard! You're going to pay for that!" The pirate shouted in defiance.

"Who is going to make me pay? You?" Naruto said with a cold laugh, "I doubt that."

Naruto drew out a kunai and flashed it in front of the pirate menacingly. "Now you are going to answer my questions like a good little bitch, or I promise you, your death will be slow and very painful."

"Fuck off." The pirate said before trying to spit in Naruto's face, but the glob fell short of its target.

Naruto channeled some wind chakra into his kunai and lunged forward, driving the kunai into the pirate's knee. The pirate roared out in pain before letting out a stream of curses.

"Now that you know I am serious let's begin," Naruto said before twisting the kunai to cut the pirate's cursing off with another whimper of pain.

"Did any of you filth take anything from the ruins?" Naruto asked.

"Fuck you." The pirate said between heaving breaths.

Naruto frowned before he twisted the kunai and drove it deeper into the joint. The pirate cried out in pain as the kunai dug deeper into the knee cap and sliced through some tendons.

"Wrong answer," Naruto said before pulling out the kunai and holding it above the pirate's other knee.

"Answer my question you piece of shit!" Naruto shouted, "Did you bastards take anything from these ruins?"

"I'm not going to tell you shit! Go fuck yourself you stupid little brat!" The pirate said before he screamed in pain as Naruto drove the kunai down into his other knee.

Naruto twisted the kunai a few times just to make the pirate scream even longer. As he was pondering where he would target the man next, Kurama made his thoughts known.

 **"This fool will take too long to break in such a manner. We must break him before the other filth wakes up."** Kurama said with a growl.

 _'You want me to use your chakra on him, don't you?'_ Naruto guessed.

 **"Yes. Use the chakra cloak and grab one of his limbs. Our chakra will do the rest."** Kurama said.

"You certainly like to act tough, don't you," Naruto said menacingly "Let's see how tough you really are you son of a bitch," Naruto said with a snarl before he drew on Kurama's chakra.

The pressing weight of Naruto's killing intent combined with the maliciousness of Kurama's chakra caused the pirate to lose his nerve and his bowels.

"W-w-hat the f-f-fuck are you?" The pirate trembled as he watched Naruto's face become more feral and demonic. Naruto flashed his fangs at the pirate in a sadistic grin as he felt the chakra wash over him completely. His blood red eyes boring into the frightened brown eyes of the pirate.

"Y-you're some kind of fu-fucking d-demon!" The pirate stuttered as he tried in vain to break out of his bonds.

 **"That's right you filthy mortal! Not so tough now, are you?"** Naruto said as his grin grew even bigger before he let loose a growl. **"Answer my question or I WILL DEVOUR YOUR SOUL!"** Naruto shouted before flaring his chakra at the frightened pirate.

The pirate began pleading as he shook in fear. "I s-s-swear! I d-d-didn't touch anything! It was the others who l-looted the b-buildings and g-g-graves."

 **"You bastards dare to touch the graves of my ancestors?"** Naruto said with a snarl before gripping the man's forearm.

The corrosive chakra surged up the pirate's arm causing him to scream in agony. Naruto let the chakra burn at his skin and muscles for a few minutes before releasing his grip.

 **"What did you trash take from there? TELL ME NOW!"** Naruto said with a growl before slowly bringing his chakra encased clawed hand towards the pirate's face.

"I d-do-n't know! I s-s-sw-ear! They s-said they found some stuff, but my buddies said it was nothing big!" The pirate shouted out in panic.

" **I don't believe you."** Naruto let out another growl, **"** **WHAT DID YOU BASTARDS TAKE!?"**

"I d-don't know j-j-ust some s-sw-ords is all that I heard about! " The pirate said before he began begging, "Please. I tried to stop them, but they didn't listen, please don't take my soul."

Naruto just stared at the man for a few minutes making the pirate start babbling more nonsense as he pleaded for his life. If this fool was to be believed, then it had been a waste of time to interrogate him. More of the pirates had to be awake at this point so it would be more problematic to eliminate them all.

Naruto reached out with his claw and ripped the pirate's throat out to end his miserable babbling. Dropping his chakra cloak, he left the building and ordered his clones to begin the attack on the pirate camp with a restriction to use Fūton jutsu only. If there were anything in that camp, he would claim it. Once the camp was cleared, any survivors would be burnt alive for desecrating graves. It was one thing to loot the ruins, but the fact that this slime went grave robbing was even more despicable and made Naruto's blood boil. Naruto took off at full speed to join in on the slaughter.

By the time Naruto arrived at the camp, most of the pirates were down with only a handful still fighting against the remaining clones. Naruto wasted no time in sending out a Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu to carve into the group of pirates, cutting their legs off and leaving them screaming out in agony.

As he advanced towards the far end of the camp where the remaining pirates had started to run to, he was forced to leap back as a throwing knife whizzed down from one of the buildings around him. Naruto snapped his gaze up to see a pirate swinging down from the rooftop using a rope with his cutlass extended for a diagonal slash.

Naruto quickly drew Keikai and parried the strike before reversing the swing and trying to cut the pirate's head off. The pirate ducked under the swing and tried to sweep Naruto's legs out from underneath him. Naruto managed to slide back out of range before he slashed downward to try and cut the pirate's leg while it was still pirate deflected the bow before stabbing forward towards Naruto's stomach.

Naruto managed to deflect most of the blow, but the tip of the cutlass cut grazed his lower ribs creating a small cut. The pirate was quick with his sword and managed to push Naruto back with a series of skilled thrust attacks before slashing at Naruto's face.

Naruto stepped into the pirate's off shoulder to evade the slash while throwing a left cross into the pirate's face. Naruto followed the punch with a slash towards the pirate's rib cage, but the pirate had pivoted away and blocked the attack with his cutlass before bringing the blade around to cut at Naruto's exposed side.

Naruto used a quick Fūton: Reppūshō directly into the pirate's face to drive him back, but the pirate's sword still managed to slice him across the bicep. Naruto charged in while the pirate was distracted and drove Keikai directly into the man's heart. Naruto twisted the blade slowly before pulling the blade out and letting the pirate collapse in a heap.

Naruto hissed as he pressed against the cut on his side. He should have remained more vigilant with the pirates. He let his anger get away from him, and the pirate was able to take advantage. It was only logical to expect that there were competent fighters amongst the pirates. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been capable of taking over ships that were guarded.

Naruto created a few clones to begin rummaging through the pirate's tents and pockets for anything of note before he began searching alongside them. Soon the clone from the Iwa camp arrived with the scrolls and other items of note. It wasn't long after that the other clones showed up with their loot from the pirate camps. Overall, nothing of significance was recovered from the pirates. Only some small relics such as several small carvings, jewelry, and some weapons that had significant damage or wear from exposure to the elements. Naruto decided he would just bury all of the items claimed from the pirates near any disturbed graves since he wouldn't know how to sort them out.

The items found on the Iwa ninjas didn't seem very significant either. Only a rough map with marks indicating areas they had searched and excavated as well as areas they had planned to excavate. There were a few mission update scrolls and some orders from the Tsuchikage about their mission parameters. One of the letters had shown the Tsuchikage's displeasure at the lack of significant items being uncovered, much to Naruto's pleasure.

That small pleasure was briefly wiped away by the sobering realization that he might not recover anything. The Iwa team had been in place for a year already, according to the journal he had found. Naruto couldn't help but become discouraged that nothing of his ancestors would be recovered. Jiraiya had been reluctant to visit the ruins for that very reason, but since he had promised to let Naruto choose one destination to visit, he had held up his promise when Naruto refused to choose any other location. Still, he had stressed that Uzushio had been destroyed over two decades ago and had been open season to scavengers and pirates for just as long.

Naruto knew that the odds of finding something significant were slim to none, but he couldn't help but have a sliver of hope that the prized Uzumaki sealing techniques had managed to hold strong after all this time. Even after all this time a properly sealed vault should have kept all intruders out and prevented any normal wear and decay to occur. Naruto had also hoped the dangerous seas around the island would have been more of a deterrent, but if some drunken pirates had managed to find their way through the turbulent waters, it should be expected that more than just a single Iwa group had already swept the island years ago.

The fact that the Iwa team had managed to crack three different vaults was also discouraging. Naruto had hoped that the sealing had been more sophisticated than usual, but he should have expected there to be at least a few other sealing experts capable of breaking the old seals. Add to that fact that internal security measures either destroyed the contents of some of the vaults or the items eroded due to exposure to sea water and other elements were starting to douse that flicker of hope he clung to.

The last of his clones piled the remaining spoils from the pirate camps in front of him before awaiting orders as Naruto mused over the map. From the last mission report, the Iwa team had managed to finish excavating another vault. Instead of attempting to tunnel around this vault and triggering the security measures, they were studying the seals on the door and attempting to crack through them. Naruto had to admit that the notes from their fūinjutsu expert showed that he was not half bad at sealing. If the man had been in charge of the operation, instead of the Jōnin commander he always complained about in his personal diary, Iwa might have more to show for their efforts.

On one hand, Naruto was pissed at the possibility that some important scrolls or jutsu were lost because some idiot thought he could simply dig up into the vault from below. Anyone with half a brain would have secured their vault from something so simple and expected, especially if they were using seals. On the other hand, Naruto was glad that Iwa didn't get their hands on what was inside of the vault.

The second vault had apparently been close to a coastline that had partially eroded over the years. The seal expert had managed to safely open the vault only to find everything under three feet of sea water. Besides some sealed boxes of gold and jewelry that were stored on the higher shelves in the vault, all of the scrolls were completely eroded. The boxes had been sent to Iwa a long time ago, so those were a permanent loss.

The third vault had introduced the Iwa sealer to triple layer seals, which judging from the notes, he still didn't fully understand. Naruto had to admit it would have been challenging for him to decipher as well, if what the man had written was accurate. The third vault had been full of scrolls and gold bars which had made the team euphoric. Unfortunately for the Iwa team, they didn't expect the gold bars to be a part of the security seals that were applied to the vault. Before they could fully document the different seal patterns and jutsu they had discovered, his team began packing up the gold to ship back to Iwa. As soon as the first bar of gold was removed from the shelf, a weight seal triggered the security system and several different traps went off destroying some boxes of loot and almost killing a few of the genin.

According to the man's notes, all the scrolls had been wiped completely instead of incinerating like expected. Instead of destroying the scrolls outright, he opted to study them at a later date to see if he could reverse engineer how the seal functioned and recover the writing that had been on the scrolls previously. Naruto could only agree with the Iwa ninja's logic on studying the now blank scrolls. It was highly unusual to wipe a scroll completely. Making such a seal would be highly complicated and sophisticated in comparison to a simple incineration seal.

Naruto flipped back through the notes to find the location of the third vault so he could re-open it and examine the scrolls himself. Maybe he would be able to modify his storage recovery seal to restore whatever writing had been removed. It was a shot in the dark at best, but Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that the Uzumaki had intentionally used this odd seal for this vault to ensure that whatever knowledge was on those scrolls was protected but wouldn't be lost forever.

Naruto was eager to get started on his search, but he had to figure out how he was going to keep everything he found confidential with Jiraiya around. He might need his master's help to open any of the sealed vaults if he ran into something more complicated than what the Iwa ninja had documented so far, but he also didn't want anything pertinent to be revealed to the Sannin without his scrutiny. It wasn't that he distrusted Jiraiya, but these were Uzumaki clan secrets.

There was also the fact that the special seal he was looking would provide Jiraiya with a clue about what he was planning with Kurama. While the seal itself was flexible enough to be used for good or bad purposes, Naruto had to suspect that once he began gathering more of the materials, Jiraiya would be capable of piecing everything together with enough time. The man was a seal master in his own right, and every seal master knew that to use special materials in the creation of a seal only pointed to one of two possibilities.

The first possibility was that the seal required an exorbitant amount of power in order to create an effect that would be applied to a vast area. The more materials used, the larger the area of effect and Naruto was going to be buying an enormous amount of materials. While the desired effect could be positive or negative in nature, the fact that he was planning to affect a large area at all would bring suspicion down on him.

The second, and much worse, possibility was that the seal he was creating was some sort of Juinjutsu (Curse technique) or Kinjutsu (Forbidden technique) which meant the effect was going to result in massive collateral damage or require some kind of sacrifice. If Jiraiya deduced that the materials Naruto was going to purchase were related to this seal, then the logical conclusion would be that this seal would create a significant amount of collateral damage or even require multiple sacrifices to prevent the seal from backfiring on the user.

Obviously, either possibility alone would be disturbing and highly suspicious. If they managed to learn that he was actually planning on modifying the seal so that both possibilities became reality, he could only expect them to overreact in some manner.

Even if he weren't considered a flight risk, the Hokage would have no choice but to investigate a shinobi who was suspected of creating such a seal. Naruto was no fool. He knew that he was being monitored by Jiraiya and the others as a mid to high-level flight risk at the very least. If he was suspected of working on a seal of such a magnitude, there was no way he could avoid imprisonment and interrogation.

While he knew the Sandaime had honestly cared for him on some level, he had been still duty bound to take steps to monitor him as a threat to the village. Naruto understood that the Hokage had to care for the village first and foremost. Tsunade would be no different on this front if she was any good at her job and would have to continue the investigation started by the Sandaime since it was her duty. While they both would look to protect him from any unwarranted scrutiny, actions on this level could not be overlooked by anyone in a position of authority.

The fact that Naruto needed to purchase a lot of various herbs and ingredients to create the seal was only going to raise suspicion if the seal was discovered. He would be very hard pressed to conceal his purchases since he needed to buy either several plants or dozens of pounds of each herb and spice he needed. That wasn't including any of the exotic materials he had or needed to collect as well.

To try and offset the suspicion that would come from purchasing such items, Naruto had been fostering an apparent interest in incense and herbs in general since he left Konoha. Whenever he had free time, he would read books about the creation of different types of incense or the properties of common herbs. Not only did he light incense whenever he had an opportunity to relax or work on sealing, but he had also started to use dry incense to deodorize his dirty clothes and add a mild scent to his clean clothes. Sealing a small satchel of incense with his clothes and other items ensured that all of them had a pleasant scent.

Naruto had also discovered that he could make provisions last longer when sealed with particular herbs common in tea and incense making like Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, and Oregano. The fact that they doubled as cooking spices was only a bonus.

His love of tea had already been established, and since it was genuine, it was not difficult for him to reinforce this belief with Jiraiya. Jiraiya had often teased Naruto on how he had become a tea snob when he grimaced after tasting some low-quality tea, and how he carried several different blends with him to drink at all times. Still, it would be difficult to write of purchasing most of the more common items in bulk, which is why Naruto hoped to purchase seeds or plants when possible.

Naruto let out a sigh of frustration. There was no point in worrying about that right now since he still needed to find the seal. If the seal were lost completely, it would be a major setback, but he could, at least, purchase the required materials at a less suspicious rate. While Kurama could help him recreate the seal, it would probably still take them a decade to succeed. Then they would have to modify it to suit their purposes which could take just as long. If he had to wait that long, then the damage to the chakra cycle might be severe enough that sacrificing his life alone might not be enough to fix all the damage. He might actually have to sacrifice all the other jinchūriki as well. That thought left a bad taste in his mouth.

Naruto sent a few of his remaining clones off to search for Jiraiya and see if he wanted any help to clean out the rest of the trespassers, even though he doubted the man needed it at all. With that in mind, he decided to head over to the third vault and see if he could find something while Jiraiya was preoccupied. He would probably get in trouble for it later, but he could deal with that when the time came. The vault had already been cleared for the most part, according to the diary he found, so all that remained was the inert seals and the blank scrolls.

With a few clones following to act as lookouts and guards, he made his way towards where the vault was marked down on the map. It only took Naruto a little less than half an hour to reach the vault and unseal it using the Iwa-nin's own notes.

The vault itself wasn't very large considering the ruins it was located underneath. The vault was six feet long and eight feet wide making Naruto believe it was more of a storage room instead of a vault. Considering the number of gold bars the Iwa ninja documented it was probably a private storage vault for a particular family instead of a village sanctioned vault.

Naruto made his way over to the single dusted off a shelf that had the remains of candle wax in a small pile on the corner. There was no candle available for him to light up, but there was enough light trickling through the opened vault door for him to see by with his low-light vision. He could see the weight seal that was etched onto the weathered shelving itself and, while faded. It was still present enough for him to decipher the basic layout that had made up the seal. While interesting, it didn't provide him with any more clues than what he had read from the Iwa-nin's diary and notes, so he turned his focus to the stack of scrolls that lay piled on a table in the center of the vault.

Some of the scrolls had been strewn about haphazardly while a few of the more ornately decorated ones had been laid out on the table and studied by the Iwa, seal expert. Naruto flipped through the man's notes and diary to read up on his progress but didn't find anything very helpful besides a few observations he had made on the construction of the scroll itself. Apparently the more ornately decorated scrolls had very thin metal weaved into the thick canvas used to create the scroll itself.

Naruto confirmed this with a quick study of the scroll the unfurled scroll on the table. He could see a subtle glint of light from the super thin metal threads that entwined the fibers of the canvas. In full light, it might not have been noticeable but in the low light conditions, it was much easier to pick up the reflection of light. The curious blond ran his fingers across the old scroll to test the fabric for oddities; it didn't feel much different than the usual fancy canvas, only a little rougher than the typical canvas that was commonly used for important scrolls nowadays. That fact could have been written off as simple advancements in the creation of canvas in the past twenty years, though.

Naruto's study of the scroll helped him identify a few of the seals that were responsible for wiping off the ink, but he had never seen the symbols that were used before. Hopefully, his mother's intermediate and advanced fūinjutsu training scrolls would mention these particular seals and a possible way to reverse them. Naruto checked all of the scrolls for signs of the metal threads or remnants of seals for him to study closer before sealing them away. The rest of the blank scrolls he decided to bundle up for him to re-purpose into storage scrolls or chakra scrolls. Why waste perfectly good scrolls if they had managed to remain undamaged for such a long time?

By the time Naruto was done packing up the scrolls and double checking the vault for any hidden seals, he received feedback from the clones he had sent to help Jiraiya out. As expected, Jiraiya had not needed their assistance, but the clones decided to enjoy the show instead of reporting back. Naruto wasn't really bothered by that fact since it kept Jiraiya preoccupied while he studied one of the vaults in peace.

Naruto was happy when the clones relayed Jiraiya's message giving him permission to explore the island on his own until the sun began to set. He debated between studying the scrolls he had found or focusing on the vault that the Iwa ninjas had just finished excavating. In the end, he decided that cracking the vault would probably prove to be more time-consuming, so he decided to at least study what he was up against first. If it turned out to be much too difficult, he could ask Jiraiya for his help and work on the scrolls he had found.

Naruto exited the vault and decided to seal it up just to mess with any future scavengers. He pondered adding his own additional surprises but disregarded that thought. His traps were all highly destructive, and he was loathed to cause more damage to the ruins even if they were already in poor condition at the moment. Maybe when they decided to leave the island, he would reconsider it but for now, he set that thought aside as he made his way back to the Iwa camp with his clone bodyguards.

Using the notes provided by the Iwa specialist, Naruto sat down and studied the seals on the vault door while a few clones continued to clear out the rubble that was blocking the stairway leading down to the vault itself. While he would have taken a different approach to breaking the security and trap seals on the vault door, since these seals were identical to the vault the Iwa ninja had successfully broken he decided to go with what had been proven instead of a theoretical method.

Pulling out his fūinjutsu kit and cracking open his inkwell of Gyūki ink, he began applying the counter seals to disengage the security seals. These seals would determine and mimic the key seal that was necessary to unlock the vault and would match the chakra flow of the necessary hand seals usually required to complete the unlocking process. After double checking his work a few times, he took a deep breath and channeled chakra into the counter seal.

The seal lit up, and chains of symbols spread across the door causing the security seals to react. After several minutes, the seals stopped glowing, and the chains of symbols disappeared. Naruto held his breath as he waited before he released a breath in relief when the locks clicked, and the seals disappeared signaling that he had been successful in unlocking the vault. Naruto took a few minutes to calm himself before he stepped back and had a clone push the vault door open gingerly.

The clone studied the ground in front of the vault door carefully before he took a few steps into the room. Naruto followed after him when the clone signaled that he was clear of the threshold. As his vision adjusted to the low light conditions, he could see that this vault was much larger and most likely, more dangerous. He would have to proceed very carefully if the tiled floor was any indication.

From what he could see this vault was two different rooms. The first room was relatively large being, at least, twenty feet long and thirty feet wide by his guess. There were shelves full of scrolls against the leftmost wall. To the right the shelves were full of containers of various shapes, possibly reliquaries or fancy boxes by his guess. Surrounding the archway to the next room were shelves full of gold and silver bars. Directly in front of the entryway in the very center of the room was a large support pillar with four large chests on each side of the square pillar.

It was too dark for Naruto to make out what was in the second room or if any other rooms were branching off from that point but he could already tell they had hit the jackpot. He had to be very careful so he could, at least, claim all the scrolls. The rest of it didn't matter to him as much since he already had a large amount of ryō from his inheritance.

The clone next to him let out a low whistle, "Damn that is a ton of loot, boss!"

"Don't touch anything," Naruto warned.

"Please." The clone said with a snort of amusement, "If you think that I am that stupid you must not have a lot of faith in yourself." The clone said with a smirk.

"Whatever. You know that you were thinking about it." Naruto grumbled, "Don't try to play it off."

The clone folded his arms across his chest, "So...how do you want to play this then?"

Naruto frowned as he pondered the situation. His thoughts had been racing because of nervous excitement; otherwise, his clone wouldn't have bothered to vocalize anything. Ever since Naruto had learned how to create clones with a small portion of Kurama's chakra added in, he gained the ability to relay commands to them all mentally. Since then the clones had not bothered to communicate with him vocally opting to wait for a mental command instead.

Naruto decided to voice his thoughts since no one was around to chastise him for essentially talking to himself. Sometimes it helped to think out loud anyways.

"Obviously, this room has some sort of significance, judging from the amount of valuables that we can see from here," Naruto said as he gently pulled on one of his side bangs in thought. "The last vault didn't have a tiled floor like this one, but it was small. Yet, there are no mentions of tiled floors in the other vaults in the Iwa ninja's notes, so I am suspicious of their purpose."

The clone nodded, "I agree. Since the entire floor isn't tiled that much is obvious."

Naruto crouched down and took a deep breath before he blew off some of the dust on the tile directly in front of him to see if he could spot a seal. He wouldn't risk using even a small jutsu and triggering any traps. The clone copied Naruto and blew off the dirt on a few more tiles around them to see if they could spot a pattern.

The three tiles directly in front of them had two different patterns. The tile Naruto had uncovered revealed a brick red center with a tan border. The two the clone had uncovered displayed an opposite pattern. Naruto unsealed one of his notebooks and used it as a fan to blow off the dust on the remaining tiles around the entry way. The tile next to the first one he had uncovered had the same red center while the final two had the same tan center as the tiles revealed by the clones.

Naruto carefully leaned forward and dust off the second row of tiles reveal the same pattern but a different color scheme. Instead of brick red and tan, these tiles were black and white. Uncovering the third row of tiles revealed blue and gray tiles, but these tiles were different from the first two rows. Not only were the colors different, but the colors did not follow the same pattern as the first row. Instead of two dark centered tiles surrounding four lighter centered tiles, the second row was the exact opposite. The third row, however, copied the same pattern as the first row.

Naruto tried to uncover more tiles, but the notebook was not generating enough wind to blow off the accumulated dust. He needed to reveal more of the tiles to verify the pattern was consistent, but he was afraid of triggering any traps by using his chakra.

"Hey boss, what if we used a jutsu outside and the wind blew into the vault?" the clone asked as it followed Naruto's train of thought.

"It might work." Naruto said with a nod, "If we displace enough wind next to the entrance we can avoid chakra laced wind entering the vault but still create enough of a gust to dust off the ground."

Naruto and his clone made their way up the stairs until they were high enough to clear the entrance way. Since the building housing the vault had was completely leveled there would be nothing obstructing their jutsu. Naruto and his clone aimed both of their palms up over the doorway to the vault and used Fūton: Reppūshō causing a gust of wind from both palms to shoot up over the door.

Naruto went back down and relaxed when he saw everything was still intact, and more tiles were now dust free. Sending a command to the waiting clone outside to use Fūton: Daitoppa, he thought over the puzzle some more to quell his nerves that he might screw this up and lose something valuable. A much larger gust of wind swept through the room stirring up a cloud of dust that blocked his vision for a few moments. Once the dust cloud settled down the faint light trickling into the vault revealed that a significant portion of the tiles were now clear, confirming his theory.

The odd number rows had groupings of two dark colors in the center surrounded by four tiles of light centered tiles on each side. The even number rows had two light centered tiles surrounded by four dark centered tiles. At the same time, the color patterns differed. The first three rows were red and tan, black and white, and blue and gray. The next three rows, however, were black and white followed by red and tan then blue and gray. After that, the next three rows were the same as the first three rows at the doorway.

The clone walked back down the stairs and looked around the room once more while Naruto studied the puzzle in front of him. No matter how he looked at it, he would have to take the first step before he could begin to work out how to safely traverse the room. If only the wrong action wouldn't end up destroying potentially precious treasures.

"Well. No risk no reward! Right, boss?" the clone said with a shrug.

Naruto blew out a heavy breath, "Yea...I hope I don't fuck this up."

Naruto took another deep breath before he retreated out of the room and called out from the stairway, "Step on the red center tile in the first row."

The clone nodded and stepped forward. He froze when he saw several seal arrays light up and spread throughout the room. Naruto's heart stopped, thinking he had just destroyed everything but the seals simply cleared off all of the tiles of dirt before revealing kanji in the center of each tile. When the seals all stopped glowing both Naruto and his clone let out a collective breath in relief.

"Kami, boss. I thought we screwed up for a second." the clone said with a nervous look on its face.

"No shit," Naruto muttered as he studied the kanji that appeared, "Interesting. At least, this makes things a bit easier."

The clone looked down and saw that the red centered tiles all had the kanji for Lava in the center while the tan centered tiles had the kanji for Earth. The black centered tiles displayed the kanji for Darkness with the white centered tiles displayed Light. The blue centered tiles were labeled as Sea while the gray centered tiles all had the symbol for Sky.

Naruto started to pace the safe section near the entrance as he thought over the possible patterns. Lava had revealed all the symbols so either it had the activation seal, or stepping on any tile triggered the seal in the rooms, and now any misstep would activate the traps.

Naruto looked over the rest of the chamber for any other changes and noticed that one of the tiles on the pillar was glowing with the Lava kanji. As he studied the pillar closely, he saw that there were seven tiles in total on the sides that were visible. The Lava tile was the second from the bottom with the Earth tile directly above it. At the very bottom was the Darkness tile while the fourth tile was blank. Moving up from the blank tile was the Sea tile followed by the Sky tile and last was the Light tile.

"Could it really be that simple?" Naruto mumbled in disbelief, "I guess there is only one way to find out." He said out loud before turning his attention back to the clone. "Go ahead and step on the Earth tile."

The clone nodded before speaking up, "Better stand back then, boss."

Naruto stepped back and let the clone advance the puzzle. The clone rotated his shoulders and shook out his arms as if preparing for an enduring task before stepping to the earth tile to the left. Naruto was holding his breath and praying to the Kami as the tiles flashed briefly before the earth tile lit up. When nothing else happened, the clone looked back at Naruto with an uneasy smile.

"I think that is right. Go ahead and step on Darkness, followed by Light, then Sky followed by Ocean." Naruto commanded.

"Wait. What do you mean Sky before Ocean?" The clone asked in confusion. The clone had believed the pattern was what was below versus what was above. Lava rose up turned into earth, the realm of Yami (Darkness) while Amaterasu being the source of Light for the world was always in the Heavens. That meant that the Ocean tile would go before the Sky tile by his thought.

"Well, all the stories mention that the Kami lived in the heavenly realm before the mortal realm was created, I am guessing that means that the sky existed before the ocean if the pattern holds true," Naruto said. "At least that is what I am hoping."

The clone had a look of realization before nodding and following the pattern towards the support pillar. Eventually, he stood directly in front of the chests surrounding the post.

"Now what, boss?" The clone called out.

"Do you see anything on the chests that seems out of place or more noticeable?" Naruto called out.

The clone studied the chests carefully and besides security seals he didn't see anything at all.

"Nope." the clone answered.

Naruto started pacing again, "What about the blank tile in the center?"

The clone looked up at the blank tile while leaning in over the chest. He noticed that glaze in the center of the tile seemed to be worn indicating that something had been placed over the tile repeatedly. If he had to guess, it required a person to channel chakra into the tile which could be bad or good.

"Looks like people used the tile to channel chakra into it." The clone called out. "Don't know if that means it requires a particular chakra or not."

Naruto stopped pacing when the clone replied and frowned for a minute before he began pacing again. If the seal needed a specific chakra, they were basically screwed. Then he had to include the fact that the clone had a small portion of Kurama's chakra in it to facilitate their mental communication ability. That could screw with the chakra detection seal and trigger the security seals. He could create another clone but using Kawarimi might trigger the security seals if he tried to replace himself with his clone. No, there was no other choice but to let the clone channel chakra into the tile and hope for the best.

"Get yourself to a safe distance, boss. "The clone called out louder before mumbling, "Here goes nothing."

Naruto backed out of the vault completely and stood halfway up the stairs. He was sweating in nervous anticipation. The clone reached out and placed his hand on the tile before he channeled chakra into the tile and waited. The room lit up once more before the clone heard a clicking sound coming from each of the chests directly below him. Looking around the clone noticed that all the tiles were no longer labeled.

"Did you channel already?" Naruto yelled into the vault.

"I think we are good, boss." The clone shouted over his shoulder.

Naruto dashed down the stairs but halted before the tiles before looking around and taking in the changes to the room. Creating another clone real quick, he stepped back out and had the second clone step forwards into the chamber onto one of the formerly labeled as earth. When nothing happened, Naruto and his clones all had huge grins on their faces.

Naruto stepped into the room slowly at first before he gained more confidence and made his way over to one of the shelves of gold and silver bars. Without lifting any of the stacks of bars, he gingerly rotated one of the stacks 180 degrees to see if he could spot any weight seals. Not spotting any seals, he ordered one of his clones to turn more stacks without lifting any bars to see if he could find any weight seals before making his way over to the scrolls. Naruto gently shuffled the scrolls around to see if there were any seals on those shelves before picking one up carefully. Unfurling the scroll slowly, he read the first few lines revealing, what appeared to be, a deed of property belonging to a certain Uzumaki family. Naruto picked up the scroll next to it and opened it slowly revealing a different land deed owned by someone else.

Naruto created another clone to start picking through the rest of the scrolls before he made his way towards the entryway of the second room. He was not able to see as far into the second room since it was pitch black. Unsealing a chakra powered flashlight he got as a gift from one of the citizens of Yuki no Kuni, he activated it and looked through the room.

His heart almost stopped when the light fell upon an armor set on a wooden mannequin. For a moment, he thought it had been a vengeful ghost which of course amused his clones greatly. The clones all started openly laughing at him which caused Naruto to scowl.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." Naruto said sourly, causing his clones to start laughing harder.

"Jerks," Naruto mumbled under his breath before he continued scanning the rest of the room. The second room was half the size of the first room, and there were no other entryways or doorways that he could see. It seemed that this room was an armory of some sort. Besides rows of armor that had seen better days, there were weapons of various states of degradation that were in stands or mounted on the aged walls.

Naruto carefully picked his way through the different armors and arms looking over each of them carefully. Most of the items he saw just seemed like standard issue armor and weapons for samurai or militia. That would fit in with all the scrolls he had seen earlier meaning this vault had belonged to the village administration building. Naruto didn't know if Uzu no Kuni had a Daimyō who would require the funding and training of samurai. If not, it was possible that the Uzukage simply let people who didn't have enough skill or chakra to become shinobi serve as a militia or some sort of civilian police force.

Most of the items were too degraded to be salvageable if he was any judge. The few that might be restorable had some interesting seals on them. He would pick out the most preserved armor and weapon so he could study the seals and see if he could recreate them for his own clothes. While he wouldn't really want to wear the armor itself, it couldn't hurt to at least keep a set on display in his house in remembrance.

Naruto made his way towards the walls and began looking over the various nodachi, katana, kusarigama, naginata, and even tantō but seeing as the blades and tsubas were all heavily rusted or corroded he doubted any of them were functional. As he examined the left wall, he noticed a strange seam along the wall where a draft was entering the room. Naruto spotted a small seal on the frame of one of the weapons racks and channeled chakra into it without a thought.

Fortunately, it wasn't a trap and instead revealed a small room that had a dozen scrolls along with another suit of armor that was in pristine condition. On the wall behind the armor were a nodachi, a chokuto, and a kusarigama that were also in pristine condition. Naruto could tell that all of these items had some very sophisticated seal arrays which probably contributed to their immaculate condition. As he studied the armor carefully, it appeared that these belonged to someone whose name was Takashio, or that was some form of title held by the commander of the militia since all of the items had that kanji engraved on them.

The armor was very similar to what he had seen worn by Hashirama and Tobirama in pictures drawn during the clan wars era. Surprisingly it was also very similar to what he saw the samurai in Tetsu no Kuni wearing but with a lot less armor plating to allow more flexibility. It appeared that the armor was a deep blue color, but he couldn't be certain until he brought it outside. The weapons all had the same color scheme as well.

Naruto turned his focus to the scrolls and started to get more excited. These scrolls were more ornate than what he had recovered from the third vault. Naruto shuffled through the scrolls without lifting them up to see if there were any seals on the shelf. Not seeing any, he picked up one of the scrolls and saw that it was secured with a blood seal. A quick scan of the rest of the scrolls revealed the same thing.

Worse case scenario, he wouldn't be able to break the seal, and they would remain closed forever. He might be able to use Kurama's chakra to break the seal, but if they stored anything, then he might lose the capability to recover anything from it. Even his recovery seal wouldn't work if the entire array broke down. Naruto quickly packed them scrolls up into a storage seal before turning his attention to the armor and weapons.

A careful study of their stands didn't reveal any seals, so he sealed those away in another scroll. Naruto found a few more storage seals hidden away in the room that revealed some land deeds, some old currency that predated the ryō, and some gold coins he had never seen before. Naruto took one of the currency bills for novelty along with all of the gold coins before he made his way back to the main room.

The chests surrounding the pillar had revealed more promising scrolls that were secured with locking seals which meant they were probably jutsu scrolls or storage scrolls with valuable items. There even appeared to be two large scrolls that looked like summoning contracts. Naruto read the faded text on the scrolls and was surprised to see that one of the contracts was for the Osprey clan while the second scroll was for the Tanuki clan. He had never heard of either of these clans and while it made sense to find a contract for seahawks on an island, the raccoon dogs were a bit puzzling. He would have to run it by Gamakichi the next time he summoned him if Gamabunta would allow him to sign one of these contracts.

Naruto hoped that the toad boss would be amenable to letting him sign with the Osprey clan. Having a flying summons would be immensely useful like the Owls had proven in Yuki no Kuni. While he could always use henged clones, summoned creatures were much harder to detect by sensors, seals, or jutsu. While Naruto was very fond of the toads, they were not very covert summons in battle. They were more designed to be dominating powerhouses that attracted attention, and his enemies might falsely assume he was Jiraiya instead. For Naruto, that was dangerous because he was nowhere near Jiraiya's level just yet but the enemy would be preparing to face a Sannin level threat. Plus, the contract hadn't been seen in decades which would give him another advantage since so one would know what the Ospreys were capable of in battle.

As for the Tanuki contract, he could only guess what kind of capabilities they had. Regular raccoon dogs were fairly intelligent and capable of avoiding farmers traps when they moved in to steal crops. Even Team 7 had been assigned a D ranked mission to guard a farm against raccoon dogs, and Naruto had to admit that a few of them had managed to slip by his carefully laid traps only to fall to a well-thrown kunai. In legends, however, tanukis were known to be masters of disguises, even more so than kitsunes were. If Naruto had to guess, that would mean that the Tanuki clan probably had powerful henges and genjutsu at their disposal if the legends were based on the Tanuki clan.

Naruto sealed the contracts away into his leg seal while his clones sealed the rest of the scrolls away in a storage scroll. He would want to keep those summoning contracts close until he could decide what to do with them. It was not an easy decision by any means. People have started wars and even killed over summoning contracts in the past, and here he had two unsigned ones.

Naruto made his way over to the clone that was focusing on the shelves full of scrolls. As he suspected, the wall of scrolls turned out to be nothing more than documenting the distribution of land across the island which Naruto decided to leave them where they were. It wasn't like anyone would be fighting to reclaim this land anytime soon. His clones began a sweep of the walls and shelving to see if there was another hidden room but nothing else was discovered, so they set to work sealing up all the gold and silver before turning their focus on the various boxes and reliquaries.

Most of these containers had simple locking seals or physical locks which were easily broken open once vetting the containers for trap seals. Jewelry, unique gems, old currency, and a few stacks of unknown seal tags were discovered and sorted before being sealed up. Naruto was glad that he kept the blank scrolls from the third vault as this unexpected find was quickly using up all the storage scrolls he had set aside for the materials he needed to buy. That minor annoyance wasn't enough to dampen his mood, however. With all the gold, silver, and jewelry he had found combined with his inheritance, he probably wouldn't have any need to earn ryō from missions anymore.

Once all was said and done, Naruto emerged from the vault right before the sun began to set. He sealed the vault shut and quickly rushed off to meet Jiraiya at their planned campsite before he was late. He couldn't keep the smile off of his face as he considered what he had recovered so far.

Perhaps it wasn't foolish for him to hope that he might find something even greater when he finished exploring the island completely.


	61. Year 2: A Glimmer of Plans and Futures

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **A/N:** Another double post this week in the absence of an update next week. Chapter 61 will follow shortly.

 **Warning:** There will be graphic depictions of violence and mild sexual content in this chapter.

 **Chapter 60**

 **Year 2: A Glimmer of Plans, Treasures, and Futures**

 **Three Weeks Later – Ruins of Uzushiogakure**

* * *

Naruto was continuing to catalog and reorganize everything he had accumulated on his trip so far. He couldn't keep the smile off of his face as he sorted through the various scrolls and treasures he had found from the remaining vaults he had discovered. The main reason for his happiness was not the scrolls full of gold, silver, and precious gems. It wasn't even the rare Fūton and Suiton jutsu that he had discovered that had him radiating joy.

No, the source of his happiness was the current lack of negative emotions he was feeling from his most trusted companion, Kurama. Not only had he succeeded in recovering the seal they were looking for in one of the vaults, but he had managed to restore several of the wiped scrolls revealing several advanced modifications to the seal that eliminated the more difficult components that would need to be gathered and help reduce the overall danger and risk when they used the experimental jutsu that would aid the seal in fixing the chakra cycle.

The Chijō sanpu Fuin – Ground Application seal was a seal that could synchronize the chakra of the people within the seal and redirect the chakra based on the will of the user in the central ring to anyone else within the area of the seal.

The modification that had been recovered from one of the wiped scrolls had expanded on the seal even further by designating focus rings on the outer edges that allowed the person in the center ring to convert their combined chakra into whatever type they chose and direct it to a target outside of the seal's influence area. The modified seal had mentioned that the seal had been created by Iryō-nin to replenish chakra or heal fighters on the front lines while the healers remained safely away from the battle.

If the person in the central ring had the Kagura Shingan (Mind's eye of the Kagura) then they could target or heal people from any range by their chakra signature alone. The possibilities of such a seal were exciting and terrifying at the same time. Now it actually made sense to Naruto why so many villages had allied to eliminate a small village like Uzushio. The capability to target someone with a large scale destructive jutsu from any range based on chakra signature alone was a very frightening prospect.

All they needed now was to gather the rest of the components and recover the experimental jutsu when they stopped in Tsukigakure for mission experience. After that, they could proceed with the plan and end the destruction of the world. For the first time in his life, Naruto had felt the endless rage and hatred in Kurama disappear when the brief moment of elation and pride had spread through their partial bond.

Ever since that promise he had made at the tender age of 6 he had never felt that pool of negativity disappear entirely. It had always been lingering in the background even when Kurama made efforts to suppress the emotions for his sake. Sure it would return once Kurama had begun to focus on what else was needed but it was a start. Naruto knew that the closer he got to the goal the more Kurama would be freed from that hatred.

It was almost unbelievable that they had managed to come so close after such a short amount of time. Kurama had warned him that it would take at least ten years to gather what they needed for the plan to succeed but the Uzumaki and their ingenious sealing techniques had exceeded their expectations by leaps and bounds.

'Kami I love fūinjutsu.' Naruto thought for the millionth time since he had successfully recovered the wiped scrolls.

Kurama kept his annoyance at the redundant thought to himself since he couldn't argue with the results. The kit had exceeded his expectations and soon he would be free. The damage that humanity had caused with their insufferable greed and ignorance would be corrected and measures would be in place to prevent them from causing such a catastrophe in the future. Kurama couldn't keep the sadistic smirk off of his face when he thought about how the world would react when those measures took effect. It had been more than he hoped for. The best thing of all was that his kit not only had a much higher rate of surviving the ordeal but there was a very slim chance that he would emerge from the experience better than before.

That was all well and good in his mind. Even if the chance was very slim, his pure soul deserved such a reward. Naruto had been nothing but loyal and trustworthy from the very start, even when the Toad sage had tried to stir up doubt against him. Whenever Naruto had started to have doubts, he would voice them almost immediately. It was to be expected that such a trusting young kit could fall prey to subtle manipulation but since Naruto would actively voice his doubts, it only proved to Kurama that he could trust Naruto completely.

While he knew that Naruto had been starting to keep thoughts to himself it never bothered Kurama because he could still sense his emotions anyways. Plus, the kit hardly ever blocked his mind completely and when he did it was very brief. His actions reinforced Kurama's beliefs at any rate.

Naruto sighed as he put another filled sealing scroll away into his messenger bag. He might have to buy another bag at this rate. He had added storage seals all along his bag strap and even added more into his pockets and his larger back pouch but if he couldn't buy plants instead of dried herbs then he might have to cave and buy another bag at this point.

While he had recovered a good amount from the vaults he had unlocked, he couldn't help but wonder what other crazy seals and jutsu had been scavenged from the ruins in the past. After searching the remaining marked vaults on the Iwa map he recovered, he discovered a handful of vaults with his own search. Only one other vault had yielded anything significant while the others had either been cleaned out and resealed at some point or were completely destroyed due to cave-ins and erosion.

Naruto had also been pleasantly surprised when Jiraiya had stayed out of his business unless Naruto approached him for help. Instead of keeping track of what Naruto was doing, Jiraiya had simply remained at camp for the most part and caught up on his writing. When Naruto had asked him why he wasn't interested in searching the vaults for treasures, he simply stated that he had no right to unless Naruto invited him to come along. Since Naruto was the only living Uzumaki that he knew of he saw anything on this island as his birthright until someone else came along and proved they had Uzumaki blood as well.

Naturally the conversation then segued to any Uzumaki's that Jiraiya had known in the past. Besides a brief mention of Kushina that he had already discussed with Naruto, he mentioned one of his students during the Second Shinobi war that was named Nagato, interestingly enough. Jiraiya had mentioned how his first book, The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi had been based on his time spent training a group of Ame orphans named Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan. He had been invested in training the three to defend themselves and survive when Amegakure was dragged into the conflict between Konoha, Suna, and Iwa because of their quest to bring peace to the world. Jiraiya had been visibly saddened when he recalled hearing rumors about their deaths. It had taken some time for him to convince the Sandaime to accept the group only for him to learn that his efforts had been too late to save them.

Hearing about Amegakure had reminded Naruto about the information that Kurama had gained from Isobu during his visit to Kiri. Naruto had wanted to mention what he had learned to Jiraiya but Kurama had convinced him it was better to keep the information to themselves for the safety of Saiken and the others.

After the events in Yuki no Kuni, Naruto had firmly labeled the Akatsuki as a dangerous threat since they duo had been overzealous in their attempts to capture him. What Isobu had told Kurama, however, had thrown that belief into disarray and Naruto was no longer certain what to think about the mysterious organization.

According to Isobu, Saiken had been convinced by his jinchūriki, Utakata, to travel to Amegakure and join the Akatsuki. Kurama had been quite surprised by the news considering that Saiken had always been adamantly neutral and reclusive. If the Akatsuki had managed to convince the most stubbornly passive of his brethren then their plans were either highly lucrative or very convincing. Saiken would only involve himself if it meant he was absolutely certain he would be free of his seal and be able to live in secluded peace.

Unfortunately, Isobu was unable to learn all of the details from Saiken as their discussion was interrupted by the approach of a battalion of hunter-nin. Isobu had wanted to emerge from the ocean and help fight off the capture team but Saiken convinced him to remain hidden so he could avoid being resealed again.

All Saiken had managed to tell him was that the Akatsuki were gathering the jinchūriki in order to stop the humans from sealing away the bijū in the future. Saiken had told Isobu that the most important thing for him to do was remain hidden so he couldn't be resealed and that a messenger would be sent to provide him with more details of their plan at a later date.

Until Kurama had shown up and relayed the details of his plan, Isobu had been reluctant to believe anything Saiken had said. Once Kurama had provided the details, Isobu had been more than willing to assist him in the belief that he was also working with Saiken. When Kurama asked for Saiken's location there had been confusion on Isobu's part.

Kurama had tried to convince Isobu to ignore the plan by Saiken and the Akatsuki, but Isobu had always been a pragmatist and wouldn't simply write off any other possible means of fixing the problem. Even with the memories of Akatsuki trying to capture Naruto were not enough to dissuade him from listening to their plans since he trusted Saiken's judgment.

After a short debate, Kurama reluctantly agreed to track down Saiken, when they had the opportunity and learn more about Akatsuki's plans. Isobu would grant Naruto the gift of his chakra and relocate closer to Hi no Kuni so it would be easier to relay information to him after Kurama learned more. Kurama hoped this was enough to keep Akatsuki from learning about his own plans as he couldn't guarantee that Isobu wouldn't spill the details of their plan to Saiken or the other members of Akatsuki. At least, not until he had learned of the Akatsuki's plans and decided which would result in a better outcome for him and Naruto.

Needless to say, Naruto had them labeled firmly in the villainous category until Kurama had provided some convincing arguments to weaken his resolve. Kurama had stressed that Saiken would not have been easily manipulated and that they had to provide solid proof to convince Saiken to listen to anyone. If Jiraiya learned about the location of Akatsuki and discovered that they were recruiting and/or hunting down the jinchūriki then things would only get more difficult for them. Not only would Konoha try to storm the village where Akatsuki was stationed and cause needless deaths, they would also probably restrict his movements and keep a heavy watch on him, making it impossible for them to complete Kurama's own plan.

Naruto knew that Kurama had a valid point. Tsunade probably would attack Ame just to eliminate the threat to him and the fear that he would be coerced to leave the village would only make them scrutinize his actions thoroughly. In the end, it was the threat of restricting his movements and being put under watch that made Naruto decide to keep the information from Jiraiya. Dragging Ame into a war was an unpleasant thought certainly, but the threat to the plan was an even bigger problem in his eyes. It was already going to be hard to conceal his actions when it came to making and preparing the seal. Adding more scrutiny to that would only force him to put the plan on hold causing the damage to the cycle to grow.

There was also the fact that there was little to no information about the Akatsuki's true objectives. Besides some propaganda campaigns that both supported and demonized jinchūriki in Iwa, they were known for taking the most dangerous missions for a lower cost. Some of the smaller countries seemed to be quite supportive of the group with some people claiming they were practically humanitarians.

Naruto was reluctant to approach anyone from Akatsuki but he couldn't dispute the fact that they didn't have enough information to form a clear view of their true goals. Jiraiya's own teachings along with Kurama's arguments compelled him to seek the group out and learn the truth. Still, the fact that two of their members had been actively attacking him and trying to capture him still made him believe their intentions were not noble in any way.

The brief bout of glum guilt at keeping, even more, secrets from his precious people was washed away as he remembered the next destination on their training trip. They were finally going to make their way to Kumo and complete his training on bonding with Kurama completely. Jiraiya was going to leave him with the key and he would stay in Kumo until he could bond completely with Kurama like B did with Gyūki.

To say Naruto was ecstatic would be an understatement. He couldn't wait to open the seal completely and recreate his mindscape so that Kurama would be more comfortable. On top of that fact, he would be capable of using all of Kurama's chakra without the seal hindering the flow of chakra between the two of them. With a complete bond, Kurama's chakra would no longer damage his body and he would no longer be susceptible to the negative emotions left in Kurama's chakra.

Kurama had to remind him to calm down and remember that it would still take time for his body to adapt completely and that he would only be starting the process. Naruto just shrugged it off, it was just another form of training to him. Jiraiya was giving him nine months in Kumo which was more than enough time to train. Fixing that depressing sewer and cage in his mindscape and bonding completely with Kurama was the most important thing in his mind. Anything else was simply a bonus.

Naruto unsealed a few of the scrolls his clones had filled up and began sorting through the containers full of jewelry, reliquaries of miscellaneous items, and the loose gemstones and bars of gold and silver. As he listed off the items in his mind a clone behind him was creating an itemized list of everything they had recovered to help him organize everything better.

"Damn, Naruto. You are going to be one rich little brat." Jiraiya said as he eyed the pile of loot Naruto was sorting through. "You better not let it get to your head," Jiraiya said in a teasing manner.

"You're more than welcome to some of it, shishō," Naruto said with a shrug as he sorted the jewelry into groups. "I have more than enough and I don't really have a need for it at all."

He was certain he could find some nice things for Hinata out of all of this. While he planned to give her the chakra enhancing bracers, he had so much jewelry and no real use for it. Some of the pieces were really intricately detailed and he felt it would be a waste to simply sell it for ryō. Especially considering their origins.

"Well, with that much jewelry you can use that to impress any woman you meet," Jiraiya said with a chuckle.

"What do you mean?" Naruto looked up from his sorting in confusion, "Are you saying I should just hand it out randomly?" Naruto's face went from confused to thoughtful, "Actually, that's not a bad idea. At least, people would be using it instead of it sitting store or consignment shop somewhere."

"I don't mean randomly." Jiraiya chastised, "I mean any special women you meet." Jiraiya shook his head when he saw the look on Naruto's face, "Like how you saved some of that Iwa loot for that pink haired girl you were talking about or the Hyūga hime you were interested in."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Jiraiya, "Were? I am _still_ interested in Hinata-chan." Naruto said firmly, "That armband I found just belonged to Sakura. I don't see her in the same way as Hinata-chan."

Jiraiya's adopted a more serious look and tone of voice when he spoke again. "I know you were fond of the Hyūga girl Naruto, but remember what I told you about putting all of your eggs in one basket." Before Naruto could reply, Jiraiya cut him off, "I know you trust her and I am not saying she is untrustworthy but you need to understand how the Hyuga clan works, brat. It is extremely difficult to marry an heiress." Jiraiya leaned forwards to emphasize his point, "Most of the time they have marriages arranged shortly after _birth_."

Naruto's jaw actually dropped at that revelation. "..b-but how does that make any damn sense?!" Naruto shouted.

"Calm down, Naruto" Jiraiya waved his hands in a placating manner, "She might not even be aware of this fact." Jiraiya sighed.

He didn't want to dash the poor kids hopes but Naruto needed to expect the worst case scenario when it came to Hinata. If it turns out he was wrong about the whole thing then it would be a happy surprise instead of a devastating letdown. Adopting a softer tone of voice he continued, "Look, a lesser known policy of the Hyūga clan is that when a Main Branch female reaches the age of sixteen they pressure that girl to have a three-year plan in place to be wed and in the process of creating an heir."

Naruto looked down at the ground as he absorbed that information. If what Jiraiya said was true then Hinata would already be one year into the three-year plan before he even returned to the village. Naruto thought back to his final moments with Hinata and the promise she had asked him to make.

 _"Naruto-kun promise me that you will not shut everyone out completely and that you will embrace whatever comes during your journey. Live your life to the fullest so that you have no regrets when you return. If you promise me that you will do this, then I will promise you the same. When you return, we will see what becomes of us then okay? Can you promise me that?"_

At the time, he hadn't understood why she had been on the verge of tears when she asked him to make that promise. He thought that perhaps it was because he was the demon brat and her cousin would bring trouble to them if they had tried to get close. Now he had to wonder if she had known all along.

 _"I promise I will embrace whatever may come and that I will have no regrets Naruto-kun. You have been a dear friend to me Naruto-kun and will always be."_

Naruto clenched his fists as a familiar pain flashed through his chest. At the time, he had considered that statement as her placing the same burden on herself that she demanded of him. Now looking back it seemed like she _had_ known what would happen while he was gone.

Looking down at the jewelry he recalled the farewell dinner he had with her and the flirting. He remembered how she had badmouthed the tea house and his home out of jealousy, angry that he had shared them with other people without thinking about her. He remembered how she had clung to him at the gate before he left and how he experienced a rare peace when he held her in his arms.

Most of all, he remembered how free he had felt not having to maintain his detached persona while he shared a meal with her and how wonderful it felt when their lips met and their tongues danced against each other.

Naruto sighed and relaxed. She might have known it was possible, but she had always complained to him and Sasuke about her battles with the elders and their policies. Like Jiraiya was trying to prepare him for the worst case scenario, Hinata had been trying to protect him in her own way. She didn't want to burden him with the thought that he might come back wanting to get closer to her only to find she was already in the process of being married. She wanted him to accept whatever would come and if Kami or Fate willed it, they would be able to pick up where they left off when he returned.

"I think she had some idea, shishō." Naruto said softly causing Jiraiya to scowl a bit, maybe Tsunade had been right about the Hyūga girl. Before he could say anything, however, Naruto looked up at him "I think the promise she wanted me to make was her way of warning me."

"Oh?" Jiraiya said in a surprised tone, "What promise was that?" He knew how serious Naruto was about his promises, everyone who was close to him did.

"Basically, she made me promise to embrace whatever may come on this journey and to have no regrets." Naruto replied with a sad smile, "She said we would see whatever would become of us when I returned to the village."

'So she isn't as bad as Tsunade portrays her then.' Jiraiya thought.

"I think you are right about that," Jiraiya said with a nod, "Most noble clans like the Hyūga aren't good with the blunt approach so she might have just defaulted to their usual veiled and subtle messages that they practically feed on." Jiraiya said with a smirk.

Naruto chuckled a little at Jiraiya's little dig against stuffy noble types. It wasn't even that good of a joke but it lightened his mood enough so he could continue sorting his loot.

"I guess I will keep some of these on hand like you suggested," Naruto said before studying a square linked white gold chain that had small ice blue diamonds set in the center of each link. It didn't call out to him like some of the other jewelry but the color of the diamonds did remind him of Samui's eyes. "Maybe Samui would like this, and we might be seeing her soon."

Jiraiya grinned before he walked over and gave Naruto a friendly smack on the back. "Now, that's what I am talking about, brat! Who wouldn't miss such a lovely set like hers." Jiraiya said with a lewd cupping gesture with his hands and a boisterous laugh.

Naruto merely shrugged as he set the necklace aside. While Samui had been very beautiful and had many of the qualities he had liked in a woman, he didn't think he would have the same feelings for towards her like he had with Hinata. If he was to fulfill his promise to Hinata, however, he would have to, at least, give _someone_ a chance.

Naruto decided that if he couldn't feel as comfortable being himself as he had felt when he was on that date with Hinata, he wouldn't bother trying to do anything further. He would embrace whatever would come his way for Hinata's sake and leave it in Kami's hands. So far, no one had come close to making him feel how Hinata had but he hadn't really had any opportunities either.

There were some fan girls in Yuki no Kuni but those didn't count to him. Aimi looked and acted a lot like Hinata so he couldn't really take his attraction to her seriously as he might have been using her as a replacement, which didn't seem right to him. Plus the fact that she worked at a brothel had been a deterring factor for him, even if she didn't actually sell her body in _that_ way. It just rang false to him to have to pay for companionship. Fū was more like a sister in his eyes because of her maturity level, but that had probably changed by now. Even her unflappable charm couldn't remain as she grew older and became more in tune with the negative emotions of other. It was a sad fact, but the changes had already started while he stayed in Taki. Still, she had managed to draw out the inner child that he had believed was long dead due to reality.

Naruto organized all the necklaces into a group of boxes to be sealed in one scroll with all the boxes that had bracelets and armbands in them. Next he sorted the loose gems and miscellaneous relics into a different scroll. The rings and earrings were given their own containers and sealed into a scroll.

He had found a nice mother of pearl torque that would match Sakura's armband nicely. When he returned to Konoha he would let Shizune, Ayame, Neko, and Momoko (the cheek pinching old lady who made awesome onigiri) pick a few things from the boxes of their choice for helping him as a child.

Finally, the gold and silver bars were sorted and stored away into four different scrolls. Jiraiya had taken quite a few of each when Naruto insisted that he take stuff to help with costs if not to save him some space on his storage scrolls. While neither of them needed the money, at the very least they could buy better provisions and supplies or stay in fancier inns when they were in town.

Naruto decided he would cash in a full scroll worth of them and splurge on some new camping equipment, casual clothing, and manga. Jiraiya reminded him to stock up on candy and snacks for Gamakichi and Gamatatsu since they had grown large enough to the point where Naruto could probably start to ride on top of them, he would need to provide at least three pounds of the stuff to satisfy them. Jiraiya estimated that would keep them happy for at least three more years until they moved onto more mature vices like tobacco or sake if they followed in Gamabunta's footsteps.

That also reminded Naruto that he still needed to fulfill Gamabunta's request for a drink. Jiraiya said the best opportunity for that would be when they stopped in Yu no Kuni on their way to Kumo. Jiraiya knew a good sake company that would be willing to part with several brewing barrels full of sake that Gamabunta would find acceptable. The people also wouldn't freak out when he appeared because Jiraiya had summoned Gamabunta there a few times in the past. That would probably his best chance to politely ask the toad boss about the other contracts he had found.

When Naruto asked about getting things for Fukasaku, Shima or the other toads, Jiraiya said there wasn't much most of them wanted really. Shima didn't really care for jewelry but they might accept a few gold bars so she could buy more exotic insect ingredients for dinner but otherwise, they were content with what they had for the most part.

In the end, Naruto decided to wait for his sage training to offer the Toad Elders a stab at his bounty to see if they had any interest in what he had acquired. Naruto continued to reorganize and seal away all his stuff in preparation to head out to Kumo and finally complete his bond with Kurama.

Thinking of bonds and elders made his thoughts drift back to the people he cared for that he hadn't found acceptable gifts for yet.

He didn't know what else to get for his jiji. Maybe more tobacco when he was in Cha no Kuni? Maybe one of the ornate metal lined scrolls that had some jutsu he had already copied? Actually, that would suit his jiji just fine. The scroll had plenty of space so he could add his own jutsu to the scroll and pass it down to Asuma and Konohamaru. The built-in security seal would need to be modified so that the Sandaime could use it, but that wouldn't take much effort since he had managed to reverse engineer the seal.

Kakashi would be easy to please. One advanced copy of Icha Icha and a copy of some of the jutsu he had found would probably suit the copy-nin just fine. He could probably throw in a few bars of gold and silver just to off load some of it, but he knew that Kakashi wasn't lacking in that department due to his long stint in Anbu.

Besides the chakra enhancing bracers from Tatsuo to power Hinata's juken strikes, he had found some nice strand earrings that had simple silver studs and delicate chains of silver that held three teardrop cut Tanzanite gems. There was also a matching headpiece of silver wire that supported a large oval gem in the center flanked by three teardrop gems in a layout that mimicked his whisker marks. Naruto knew it would compliment her necklace nicely and would be perfect for his hime teammate.

For his brother in all but name, he couldn't think of anyone more worthy of wielding that pristine Uzumaki chokuto he had recovered from the vault. He had studied the seals on the blade closely and had practiced copying them down several dozen times since they were literal works of art in their placement, layout, and brush work.

The chokuto had a durability and repair seal making it extra strong and resilient to normal wear and tear. The next seal, that Naruto couldn't identify until skimming his mother's advanced fūinjutsu training notes, was a level five sharpness seal that kept the blade's edge sharp enough to shave a hair regardless of the abuse it was put through.

Yet, the most impressive seals of all were two jutsu seals that stored Suiton: Suishōha (Water Shockwave) and Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Formation Wall) on the handle. Unlike the jutsu seals Naruto could make, these seals didn't require the user to store the jutsu manually. Instead, once the jutsu was used the wielder only needed to refill the seal with chakra before he could use the jutsu again. It was an ingenious seal which Naruto had copied into his notebook to study and modify right away.

Yes. Takashio (Storm Surge) was too good to be anywhere else but in Sasuke's hand. It belonged to him.

 **Kuroi Tsume Swamp - Numa no Kuni (Marsh Country)**

* * *

Sasuke scowled as he was forced to roll away from another vicious slash. The swamp muck was disgusting and smelly making his mood as foul as the mire he was currently fighting in. Flicking the sticky muck off of his chokuto so it wouldn't weigh him down, even more, he just managed to parry the next to attacks before he was forced to leap back to avoid a lunging attack.

He had underestimated just how vicious, fast, and deadly a mongoose could really be. Sasuke had done his due diligence before leaving on his hunt for the Hakuja to steal the snake summoning contract from Orochimaru. The books he had read about mongooses, in particular, did not do them justice on how efficient they could be in combat.

From the pictures Sasuke had thought, they looked like a mix between a weasel and a squirrel. With their diet consisting mainly of eggs, carrion, and insects. Clearly such was not true for giant mongooses. When Sasuke and Itachi had tracked down their first of three targets, Sasuke had not been very impressed by what he had seen.

The Giant mongoose was maybe six feet in length. While large for a human, Sasuke couldn't figure out why the snake clan would consider these creatures so dangerous. He maintained that belief right up his Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) barely singed the fur on the mongoose's back. After that, the mongoose had simply turned, snarled and then disappeared from view before Sasuke tasted dirt because of Itachi knocking him away from the slashing claw that would have shredded his chest.

After that, the battle had begun in earnest once Sasuke began to take the rodent-like creature seriously and used his Sharingan. Even with his dojutsu active, the mongoose moved at blistering speeds and it took all of Sasuke's wits and skill to avoid the attacks and counter with his chokuto. Even then his blade was proving to be ill-equipped for doing anything more than minor flesh wounds to the dense hide of the mongoose.

Even the lucky Chidori that Sasuke landed during one of the mongoose's blitzing charges didn't penetrate completely into the mongoose's body cavity. At least the wound was still bleeding, giving Sasuke more confidence that he was capable of damaging the beast. Sasuke had tried using more jutsu but the wily mongoose was so quick and agile that all his lighting jutsu seemed slow in comparison. He was lucky that he even got slashes in with his sword when he saw some of the last second complex maneuverings that the mongoose was able to pull off before lashing out in a counter attack.

Itachi had remained silent as he observed the battle. Inwardly he was glad that the mongoose was squashing Sasuke's pride so thoroughly. Itachi had wanted to spend more time training Sasuke before they started the mongoose hunt, but when Jiraiya had sent word of a confirmed sighting, Sasuke would not be placated unless they set out right away. While his bond with Naruto had helped to eliminate some of that foolish Uchiha pride and arrogance, it seemed that Itachi's reemergence in his life had destroyed the progress that had been made. Add the fact that he had awakened his Mangekyō and he had all the makings of falling to the Uchiha curse.

Itachi had started to make gains against Sasuke's inflating pride by refusing to agree to the eye transplant to grant him the Eternal Mangekyō until he met certain conditions. First he had to defeat one of the mongoose's without using the Mangekyō. Next he had to defeat Itachi in a spar without the Mangekyō. Finally, he would have to defeat Naruto without the Mangekyō. Sasuke had not been pleased with the final condition since he knew that the earliest he would have the opportunity to meet up with Naruto would be after they had successful killed all of the mongooses and contacted Jiraiya to locate the Ryūchidō to present the heads to Hakuja.

This had forced Sasuke to avoid using his Mangekyō since the greatest fear an Uchiha could have was blindness. Itachi knew that if he hadn't held Sasuke back, he would have grown too reliant on the EMS abilities even though he hadn't developed the speed or chakra levels through regular training. Itachi had no doubt that Naruto had made massive gains by now and would only become more powerful after he learned how to use the Kyūbi's chakra.

Sasuke was running different plans through his mind as the mongoose circled around trying to confuse him and find a gap in his defenses. He had been stupid to think a creature that was labeled as fearsome by snakes that could reach over 50 feet in length would be a simple kill. While he knew it would be easy to simply use Amaterasu on the beast, the blood, and blurriness that accompanied even a single use petrified him. He would never admit that anything would trigger such paralyzing fear in him but it was the truth.

As the mongoose began to switch back and forth more rapidly instead of circling slowly, Sasuke knew it was planning to lunge, leap back and then dash forwards. If he hadn't been quick enough in recognizing the beast's chaotic patterns of behavior, he had no doubt he would be severely wounded, if not mortally. One technique stood out in his mind, he hadn't fully mastered it, but he was close.

His Sharingan tracked the beast as it began to start it's jerky switchbacks indicating that he didn't have long before it would start dashing in and out of range to try and force him to extend himself and give it an opening to land a vicious bite. Sasuke began channeling Raiton chakra within his chakra core. He had to be very careful or this would backfire horribly and leave him in a very vulnerable position to a creature that wouldn't hesitate to feast on him while he still lived.

The mongoose stalked to his left forcing him to slowly pivot and keep it directly in front of him.

He could feel the ball of Raiton chakra beginning to grow and pulse within his body, he was nearly done with the first step, the second step would come much faster so he was still confident he could pull the attack off.

The mongoose quickly switched to the right before pausing.

Sasuke almost aborted the attack and prepared to avoid the initial lunge, but the mongoose had missed its chance he had just finished expanding the ball of chakra and was now beginning to concentrate on creating a hollow shell within the center, the second step.

The mongoose feigned like it was going to continue on it current path before quickly whipping around and moving back towards Sasuke's left at a much faster pace.

Sasuke kept tracking the mongoose while carefully creating a dense shell of chakra in the shape of an oval. In a few more seconds he would be ready to complete the final step which would hopefully defeat this foul beast.

The mongoose paused again and rose up onto it's hind legs while moving it's upper body back and forth.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he continued to push the shell of chakra out of his chakra core towards the other edge of his body. This behavior didn't fit with any of the previous patterns he had seen before. Sasuke held his breath in trepidation. Had the creature managed to discern his plan? Did the creature realize that the vulnerability of this technique was that he couldn't hold the final stage for too long before it backfired on him? It was the only drawback that he hadn't completely eliminated yet.

The mongoose continued its strange movements as if mimicking a snake before it planted one of its forepaws on the ground and opened it's massive maw in a threatening manner.

The final state was complete and his jutsu was ready. Now he just needed the stupid beast to attack him. Sasuke set himself into an aggressive stance hoping to fool the beast's instincts by giving him a false opening.

The mongoose seemingly took the bait and lunged.

Just as Sasuke was about to release his technique the mongoose leaped back deftly and began prodding Sasuke's defenses again. Apparently the creature was also much smarter than he thought. If the stupid thing didn't attack in the next five seconds, he had just handed the beast its victory. Sasuke began to breath heavier since he could no longer hold his breath. He was sweating from the exertion of controlling the layer of Raiton chakra he was holding at bay and the nervousness that comes from realizing that your opponent might just get the upper hand on you.

The mongoose lunged in once more and sealed it's fate.

As quick as the lightning that began to grow out of Sasuke's body, the mongoose committed to its attack and was only feet away from clamping it's jaws down on Sasuke's neck before Sasuke cried out in rage and poorly masked desperation.

"CHIDORI NAGASHI (Chidori Current)!"

Lightning erupted off of Sasuke's skin in all directions striking the airborne mongoose and causing an ear piercing shriek to ring out. Both Itachi and Sasuke couldn't stop from wincing at the sheer volume that was emitted from the beast as it collapsed to the ground in a twitching heap.

Dashing in at a speed that masked his true level of exhaustion, Sasuke channeled as much chakra as he could into his blade and drove the point of it down into the large round eyeball of this beast from the underworld. The blade pierced through its ocular cavity and directly into its brain, putting the mongoose down for good. With an exaggerated twist of the blade, Sasuke obliterated the eye and tore a rending hole into the brain matter of the rodent ensuring its death.

Sasuke panted in exhaustion, only his tattered pride managing to keep him from collapsing into the bloodied muck beneath his feet. A squelching sound drew his attention away from the cursed beast towards Itachi who had decided to abandon his perch in a twisted swamp tree and grace him with his presence. He loved his brother dearly but that damn stoic face that he saw too often on his blond brother really pissed him off sometimes. He had just fought a battle that Itachi said was the only type that mattered to a true shinobi, an epic struggle where you were forced to push yourself beyond your limit to overcome overwhelming odds and grow stronger.

The least the emotionless bastard could give him was that same soft smile that Naruto would give him when he had managed to pull something impressive off.

"You did well, Sasuke."

Apparently his congratulations were delivered in monotone as well. Naruto had never managed to pull off the monotone voice, thank Kami. There was always a hint of emotion that bled through when they spoke to each other since Nami no Kuni. When Naruto congratulated him Sasuke could hear respect and the warmth of a brother.

Yet even that line delivered in Itachi's usual flat tone was still able to make him stand taller than ever and feel proud of what he had accomplished. At the end of the day, he couldn't admire anyone more than his big brother.

He knew his pride was still an issue but he was beginning to learn the difference between the good kind of pride and the bad kind. The bad kind had driven him to this fight before he was ready, the good kind would keep him from making such a foolish mistake again.

Sasuke took slow, deep breaths to calm his breathing and turned his attention to the beast he had managed to kill. One out of three requirements had been left beneath his feet. The fact that this one was rumored to be the smaller of the three was a humbling thought. Sasuke stepped closer and began the process of removing its head to seal away. It wasn't going to be fun but it was necessary. He doubted the snakes would comment on the state of the beast's neck if he had to saw at it for a few hours instead of cleanly removing it with a single stroke.

Now he had to beat Itachi and Naruto in a fight in order to obtain the pinnacle of the Uchiha's powers. It would be fun and challenging to face both of his brothers in a match and test his strength. If there was one thing that Sasuke longed for at the moment, it was to be able to spend time with both of his brothers together. They would grow stronger together and eliminate all the scumbags like Danzō and Orochimaru from the world.

Hell, he would purge some of the filth from the village for his blond brother without hesitation if he had the opportunity to do so without any potential legal repercussions. Then once their task was complete they would find women they loved, have children and grew old enough that the only way they could live vicariously was through fostering healthy rivalries in their children and grandchildren.

Sasuke's new dream for the future had come from a pair of elderly men who always sat together in the park during his usual walks through Konoha. From the looks in their eyes, he could tell that both had gone through much together. One day he overheard a few of the older jōnin telling the story of those two old men to a curious chūnin who had wondered why all the elder ninja showed the men such respect.

Apparently, the men had been young rivals during the days of Konoha's founding. They had both been Ninjutsu specialists with different styles and opposing chakra natures which fueled their spirited clashes when they trained.

When the village was formed, they were one of the first genin teams created under the new system and with their kunoichi teammate they fought together. Through the First and Second Shinobi wars, they fought and bled together. Their kunoichi teammate decided to retire after the second war and left the village to rejoin her relatives in a village near the border of Taki no Kuni, but the men refused to part. Going so far as to purchase homes right next to each other and always completing missions together.

Both of the men had followed the same path at home as they did on the battlefield. They found wives around the same time and even had their first children within a month of each other. Following those children were their first grandchildren and, to this day, great-grandchildren. Through it all, they were always together. Their family and friends often joked that if one of the men had been a woman, they would have married each other. Even their wives joked about the fact that the men loved each other more than they loved them. No matter which way any of the relatives pulled the men, they always remained together.

When the Third Shinobi war broke out they took up arms to defend their families once more. They were one of the lucky few veterans who had managed to fight and survive all three wars, even if they were considered past their prime when the Third war broke out. During every mission or battle, the men were inseparable. Their attacks were so flawless and coordinated it made every battle they took part in look choreographed in their favor.

When the war finally ended, the men retired from the shinobi forces and began their tradition of sitting on that bench together. Even when their wives had passed on and their descendants too busy with their own lives to do more then visit on occasion, the men were still content with their lives because they had each other. Their routine, while simple and boring to most, was their greatest treasure because they now spent every moment in the twilight of their lives, together.

That was what Sasuke wanted more than anything else. Instead of two, it would be three old men on that bench together until the very end. Maybe it was a byproduct of having his family ripped away from him at such a young age that caused this story to resonate with him so strongly. While he knew Itachi was six years older than him and that the odds of him living as long as Naruto and himself were low, he still couldn't be satisfied with that dream image in his mind if his frail old body wasn't framed by both his brothers on that park bench.

A spiky mane of white on his right and a long tail of silver on his left.

'Naruto, you better get strong enough so that when we are reunited, no one will ever tear our brotherhood apart again.' Sasuke thought with conviction as he recalled Orochimaru's taunts. 'I want us all to stand together until the end.'

Sasuke finally managed to remove the mongoose's head after fifteen minutes of sawing and hacking. His chokuto was probably trashed beyond repair but that was just a minor annoyance. It had been barely above a training blade in his opinion, but there was nothing better around for him to purchase at the time.

 **Chūnin Exam Day 8 - Training Ground 44 Central Tower – Konoha**

* * *

Hinata looked down at the preliminary match between her "teammate" Sakura and an Ame genin she was taking apart with her _barbaric_ taijutsu. Sakura had been taking after Tsunade in more than one way. Some of that temper from the Academy had re-emerged but it was controlled and focused on the enemy alone. Hinata had to keep the sneer off of her face when she watched Sakura miss her opponent and make another crater in the arena. There was no form or grace to Tsunade's style at all. She had expected better from a Senju but maybe that was just her bias showing. She really did have a problem with Tsunade and the feeling was quite mutual.

Hinata had been livid when Tsunade had announced Sakura as her official apprentice. While the relationship between herself and Tsunade had been borderline nasty when Tsunade learned of her interest in Naruto, a small part of her wanted to be taken in as Tsunade's direct apprentice so she could win the Senju hime over and gain her assistance to win Naruto's heart. Hinata could tell that Naruto listened to Tsunade dutifully despite the fact that the woman hadn't been in his life for very long. Hinata didn't know the all the circumstances behind Tsunade's absence from Naruto's life in the beginning, but she couldn't help but hold some scorn towards her. Naruto had grown up in the orphanage thinking he was a lowly civilian child only to be attacked and forced to live on his own. It was disgraceful that the suspected son of one of the greatest heroes of Konoha would be forced to suffer such a life when Tsunade had some sort of familial connection to him.

Learning that it had been Naruto who practically begged Tsunade to take Sakura as her apprentice had been like a slap in the face, especially when the news was delivered by a smug looking Tsunade. While his reasons for aiding Sakura had been typical of his sweet and noble nature she couldn't help but feel a sting of bitterness and jealousy at the fact that Naruto had, as Tsunade put it, _begged_ her to accept Sakura for the coveted apprentice spot.

The very girl who had tried to murder him in cold blood! That boy was too damn noble and adorable for his own good. Hinata huffed when Sakura was announced as the winner. She had felt so special when Naruto had let his stoic mask drop completely for her on that wonderful date that Neji _ruined_. Hinata shot a glare at Neji as she recalled his interference once more. No matter how much she tried to write Naruto's actions off as pity or his typical kindness, there was still a small part of her that worried that Naruto had begun to care about Sakura on some deeper level.

When she saw Naruto's face actually start to light up when he mentioned the time he spent with Sakura at a tea house of all things it had filled her with jealous rage. Even if that tea house had proven to be quite exceptional when she went there with Naruto alone, the taint of that pink haired harridan's influence had soured her mood to the point where it had started to drive a wedge between her and Naruto.

Her Hyūga upbringing and the loss of control over her emotions had almost ruined everything. She had opened her big mouth and, based on Naruto's reaction, insulted his family home quite handily. It had taken her awhile to clamp down on her wild emotions as she toured his home and managed to placate him with her comment about the tree house and a genuine laugh at his comment regarding the den. Judging by his reactions, she felt that she had repaired enough of the damage between them.

Then she learned about him approaching Tsunade on the day he left the village and pushing hard for Tsunade to accept Sakura as her apprentice. She couldn't help but feel hurt and jealous that Naruto hadn't tried to convince Tsunade to grant her that honorable position. Hinata calmed her anger and jealousy by remembering how he had hugged her so tightly before he left and how those beautiful blue eyes had been so bright with his affection for her.

Hinata let out a subtle sigh as she watched the random genin that was helping Ino and Choji take the exams fight against a Taki-nin that was quite skilled. She didn't think that rookie genin stood a chance but, at least, he could feel proud that he made it this far.

She had to remember that Naruto was so naive about relationships. Besides Choji and Shikamaru, no one else was friendly to him at all in the Academy. In fact, most of them were downright vicious if they didn't ignore him. When she learned that Kiba had been a friend at one point only to turn into one of his bullies it was understandable why he was so guarded and slow to befriend anyone. Which only made his naivety worse.

Without positive female and male role models active during his early development, how could he know better? Add to that fact that the only consistent source of encouragement as he grew had been from a bijū who had almost destroyed the village and forced him to become an orphan. It was a wonder that he was well behaved and _sane_ under those circumstances. It showed that he had such an indomitable spirit and strength of will behind his noble and caring nature. While she didn't usually put stock into the power of blood the elders constantly espoused, in Naruto's case, she felt it might actually be true.

She still didn't have proof yet, but she was certain of his pedigree and it was not something that could be overlooked by someone with a functional brain in their head. The conviction in his eyes when he sees a wrong that needs to be righted. He was truly the standard for people to be held to in the face of all the adversity he had to deal with. That brief glimpse she had of his true personality and that delicious warmth she had felt when he held her in his arms. When their lips had met and-

Hinata sighed again as she brought her attention back to her surroundings. If she wasn't careful her mind would start to wander down dangerous roads if she continued that line of thought. Those kinds of thoughts were best saved for dreams where her imagination could run wild and she didn't have to worry about duty, clan, or pink haired road blocks.

In a few more months she would turn 16 and her biggest and most terrifying battle of all would begin. She was terrified of the consequences if she made a single misstep but she must not falter or lose faith in herself. She had been slowly moving the pieces into place. While they believed she was playing their game, she had been setting them up for a loss in a completely different one.

Hinata clenched her fist in determination as she mentally psyched herself up for the difficult path that lay before her. She would not be saddled with some trumped up nobleman and commanded to become a baby factory at the very cusp of her adulthood.

She was a proud and strong kunoichi and was more than capable of steering her hidebound clan into a successful future. A future where their barbaric principals are discarded and the clan could face everyone with true pride. Her clan would become true examples of nobility, instead of maintaining a false sense of pride borne of arrogance.

When the time was right, she would fight those wrinkled old bastards with every fiber of her being until they got just what they deserved. When she had the means, the caged bird seal would be abolished and a true way of securing their bloodline would be developed to everyone in the clan. If it wasn't good enough for the Head then it shouldn't be worthy of the Branch. Once that was all said and done then she would focus on her true desire.

Kami help any woman that might have swayed him to her side during his absence for she would show no mercy. She would win his heart. She knew that they were more than compatible with each other the moments their lips had met. The look in his eyes as he pulled her close before their first kiss had been more than enough to convince her. Behind that nervous trepidation, she saw the same spark that ran through her body as they tasted each other for the first time and she knew nothing would ever compare to that moment. It was then that she was convinced that she _loved_ him.

Why else would she be so easily enraged at the thought of him with another? That someone else could bring him happiness and peace better than she could? How else could she explain that her happiest moment in her life had been over a kaiseki dinner giggling at his innocent ignorance of fine cuisine and his bad table manners as he played with his food like a small child? Instead of being appalled, however, she couldn't keep the smile off of her face and wonder if what she was feeling at the moment was true peace. How else could she explain how the world seemed to stop when she had seen his true smile and felt that she had seen the sun for the first time?

She could not lose!

She would not lose!

For once she would put something above her clan in her life.

She would fight for him.

She would win for him.


	62. Year 2: In the Spirit of things

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Chapter 61**

 **Year 2: In the Spirit of Things**

 **One Week Later – Outskirts of Kumogakure**

* * *

A cool breeze blew through the narrow mountain pass tousling his long golden locks and sending his side bang into his face. Naruto gently brushed the bang back into place and mentally reminded himself to get a hair cut as part of his much-anticipated spending spree.

Knowing that he would only get to spend a few days in the village proper, he would be pressed for time to buy everything he needed before he spent the better part of a year in isolation.

 _'Maybe if we work hard enough, we can leave the island sooner and spend more time in the village itself.'_ Naruto said with a soft smile on his face.

" **Hmph. Even if we do manage to completely all our potential forms without any negative consequences being discovered, I would prefer that you, at least, let me enjoy some of the isolation for a bit."** Kurama replied.

 _'Of course, Kurama. I will work hard so that your can feel the world around you once more.'_ Naruto replied with a fire of determination lighting up his cerulean blue eyes.

" **Just don't push yourself too far kit. You risk setting us both back if you do."** Kurama said with a soft growl.

It was hard to reprimand his kit when he was so determined but he couldn't risk him damaging his body permanently.

Naruto internally nodded. _'Only if I feel we are on the very brink. Otherwise, I will follow your lead.'_

Kurama merely rumbled an agreement. He was eager to remove the final shackle of his imprisonment as well but he could be patient. Just having the seal open and the bond complete would allow him much greater access to Naruto's senses. While he could only smell, hear, and taste right now, once the bond was completed he could essentially feel everything Naruto felt.

They would still be capable of blocking each other out of their thoughts and senses if desired, but now Kurama would be able to feel the wind against Naruto's skin or the heat of the sun on his face. It had been so long since he had been able to enjoy such things in peace. Kurama was almost eager to feel such sensations once again. He would have to convince Naruto to spend a lazy afternoon in some tall grass basking in the sunlight once the bond was complete.

As Naruto emerged from the canyon he sucked in a breath of awe as he caught his first glimpse of Kumo. It was no wonder that Kumo was considered the most prosperous of the big five shinobi villages. When compared to Konoha or Iwa, Kumo was in a much better standing than any other village. They had less population to support but a larger military and the strongest economy of all five villages because they were able to provide a wide array of raw goods and materials for trade. Jiraiya had drilled him on the standing strengths and weaknesses of each village and even the Toad Sage had to admit that Kumo was sitting pretty.

The towering peaks of Kumo topped with interconnecting balconies and interesting oval, spherical, and cylindrical shaped buildings merged with the jagged and narrow peaks, enhancing the landscape instead of obliterating it completely. The village was framed by the sky filled with the village's namesake, fluffy white clouds.

Still, Naruto couldn't help but think that the verdant forests of Konoha were preferable to the towering peaks of Kumo. Even if it was tainted by all the ignorant assholes who despised him.

Naruto stopped his gawking and made his way towards the main gate. Unsealing his papers and the letter he was to deliver to the Raikage from Jiraiya, Naruto waited in the entrance line to get into the village feeling a little nervous and excited at the same time.

After stopping in Yu no Kuni to give Gamabunta his requested sake and asking about signing another contract. Once Naruto revealed the two clans whose contracts he had found, Gamabunta had told him that he would have to run it by Fukasaku, Shima, and Gamamaru first since the Toads had not had contact with those clans before. Jiraiya had warned Naruto that due to Gamamaru's age that would take quite some time. Since Naruto knew he would be training for the better part of a year in Kumo, it didn't really bother him.

Once Gamabunta had finished drinking up his tribute and left in a much more jovial mood, the Toad Sannin gave Naruto an updated traveling pass from Tsunade, a thick letter for the Raikage, and a general direction of where to find Kumo before transferring the key for his seal. It would be the first time Naruto had really traveled anywhere solo and he couldn't help but be a little nervous.

Jiraiya had told him to think of it as a B rank delivery mission. While most delivery missions were C rank, solo deliveries and distance could elevate the ranking because of the time and danger factor. Naruto might have been a little more intimidated by the fact that he would be going into a foreign country on his own, but he really did want to start training with Kurama so he steeled himself for his solo journey.

It might have been boring to Naruto if he didn't have Kurama to converse with but his journey had been uneventful for the most part. It had been annoying to travel through Shimo no Kuni (Frost Country) as the land was nothing but flatlands covered with ice and snow. Once he entered Kaminari no Kuni the route was much easier to traverse and he even had the company of a group of traveling merchants who had offered a fair price for some of the more plain looking jewelry he had found in Uzushio.

Naruto stepped forward when the Chūnin guards waved him up.

After a quick question and answer session, Naruto was required to fill out a small declaration form listing his current shinobi tools. Once that task was completed, he was waved through the gate with some vague directions on how to reach the Raikage tower. While it was obvious which building was the Raikage tower it was a little more difficult for him to locate the right bridge and entrance.

 _'It's a good thing he isn't expecting me right away. That would be embarrassing.'_ Naruto thought as he crossed the bridge towards the front of the Raikage tower.

" **Hmph. I do not sense Gyūki or Matatabi here, but I can still sense trace amounts of their chakra. They must have just left for a mission."** Kurama noted.

 _'Oh well, we can look for that chakra metal items we need for the seal array while I_ _replace all of my gear_. Naruto said as he climbed up the stairs towards the Raikage's office.

" **Yes. I remember Gyūki mentioned such places could be found in what they call the Artisan district."** Kurama said.

Naruto made his way towards the reception desk and waited for the receptionist to address him.

"Hi. Can I help you?" The green eyed woman with pale blonde hair queried.

"Hi. My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I have a letter for the Raikage from Jiraiya of the Sannin." Naruto replied.

"Ah. We have been expecting you. The Raikage is currently in a meeting so please have a seat. It shouldn't be much longer." The lady replied.

"Thank you," Naruto replied before sitting on one of the nearby chairs and unsealing his practice notebook. He had been stumped on those jutsu seals he found on Takashio and he really wanted to break it down so he could augment Keikai and the chakra bracers he got for Hinata.

He remembered that she had problems with Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall) and Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Formation Wall) in the past. While she could rely on her Kaiten it still wouldn't hurt to have a free defensive jutsu or two anyways. Either that or he could put Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet) so she could augment her Raiton attacks. That seemed like a better idea. He just needed to focus and break this seal down already.

After, what seemed to be a short amount of time, Naruto was called by the receptionist to enter the Raikage's office. Sealing away his notebook he walked through the door that the receptionist was holding open for him.

Naruto kept his face stoic as he approached the reclining Raikage who was seated on a red couch behind a low table in front of him. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto could see the office was mainly filled with scattered gym and training equipment that appeared to be well used. Stepping up to a respectable distance he bowed before introducing himself.

"Hello, Raikage-sama. I am Naruto Uzumaki and my shishō Jiraiya of the Sannin sent me with a letter to deliver to you." Naruto said politely.

"I am glad that your village has accepted my offer of teaching you how to utilize the Kyūbi. Please hand the letter to Mabui there behind you and I will deal with it later." A said with a casual wave to the receptionist that stood off to the side.

"I am grateful for your offer and look forward to the training, Raikage-sama," Naruto replied before turning and holding out the letter for Mabui to accept.

"Tell me. How much control have you managed to gain since your two-week lesson with B?" The Raikage asked.

"I have been able to use my battle sync more effectively and could safely use the four tail cloak," Naruto replied.

The Raikage frowned a bit. "No partial transformations?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, Raikage-sama, my seal does not allow me to exert that much control at this time."

The Raikage leaned forward from his reclined position and rested his chin on his massive hands braced by his elbows resting on his thigh. "You said at this time. Please elaborate."

"The seal that was used to contain the Kyūbi is designed to allow the least amount of influence from the Kyūbi directly. However, with the use of a key I can adjust how much the seal allows the Kyūbi's chakra to flow." Naruto explained.

Normally he wouldn't have shared this much with a stranger regardless if he was the leader of a village but Jiraiya had driven home the point to reveal the details about his capabilities with Kurama and the seal itself since the Raikage would be the one to decide if he could access the training grounds on Genbu.

"Very interesting. Why do you think such a seal was used?" A said in an amused tone, "Most people want their jinchūriki to access their bijū's chakra."

"I believe it was intended for me to simply absorb the bijū's chakra until the Kyūbi disappeared," Naruto said honestly.

Kurama snorted but didn't say anything in response.

A was silent for a moment before he leaned back against the couch and started laughing uproariously. "Leave it to the Kiiroi Senkō to try and eliminate the Kyūbi completely."

Naruto didn't know why he found it funny so he opted to remain silent.

After A's laughter died down a bit he studied Naruto for a few more minutes.

"Did you know the Chūnin exams are in progress right now in Konoha again?" A asked again.

"I was not aware of that fact," Naruto replied said a little thrown off by the sudden switch in behavior.

A simply nodded again and seemed to be mentally debating something before he spoke again. "You should know that by the time you are ready to leave Genbu it might be only a few months before the Fourth Shinobi War erupts." A leaned forward again, "Tell me. Are you ready for a war?"

Naruto was taken aback by what the Raikage had just told him. He looked down for a moment and gathered his thoughts.

"I don't know, Raikage-sama. I took part in the civil war in Yuki no Kuni but was not directly involved in the one major battle that seemed the closest to how a true battle had been described to me." Naruto paused for a moment before adding, "I did set up the battlefield with ambush seals, traps, and explosive tags on the eve of battle and set them off at the very start of the battle, but I believe that is much different than fighting in a real war, and I am not certain I am prepared for a battle of that magnitude yet."

A nodded again. "A wise answer for someone your age. I am satisfied that allowing you access to Genbu will not create a threat to my village. If you had proven to be a braggart or a coward I might have revoked your access."

"Thank you, Raikage-sama, for allowing me the chance," Naruto said.

"I imagine you have grown quite strong since the chūnin exams under Jiraiya's tutelage but you should be aware that before you can complete your bond with the Kyūbi, you will have to face your inner darkness." the Raikage said in a serious tone. "Do not take this lightly, that is the only advice I will offer you."

"I will do my best, Raikage-sama," Naruto said.

"Good." A stood up and stretched for a moment. "B had to go out on a last minute mission so instead of setting out for Genbu in two days time, you will probably leave in a week. If you aren't already stocked up on provisions I suggest you take the time to do so now. If you have any questions ask Mabui there and she will help you out."

Naruto merely bowed before turning and making his way over towards the receptionist who had made her way back towards the door to escort him out.

After getting information about a bank, inn, and the Artisan and Merchant districts he made his way out of the Raikage tower and headed directly to the bank to sell off a few of the gold and silver bars. While he had plenty of ryō still, he knew that he would need to order a chakra conductive bowl which would be costly, and a bulk amount of cone incense burners in order to provide the necessary amplification to the seal.

While the incense burners were small and otherwise inexpensive, he would need almost a hundred of them at least. The seal would need to be surrounded by the incense and have incense at key points throughout the seal array in order to stabilize the amount of chakra that will be channeled through the seal itself.

The metal bowl would be needed for him to create the ink from a special blend of herbs, the pearl, rare materials, shells, and the Hero's water. It would require him to constantly channel chakra while he ground, mixed, and blended all the ingredients together to make ink strong enough to not only handle a massive influx of chakra for a long period of time but to also withstand bijū chakra. Kurama didn't want to risk using the Gyūki's chakra since the formula he had read had been very specific about the ink. The Uzumaki scrolls had called for a specific ink from a rare squid mixed with the blood of the Iryō-nin using the seal but Kurama believed that the special blend of ink he had learned about would be a suitable alternative when combined with the Hero water.

After collecting a very large amount of ryō for the sale of four gold and silver bars, Naruto made reservations at an inn closest to the merchant district before heading out towards the Artisan district. After an hour of browsing the district, a small flash of light drew his attention to a man in a standard gray kimono who was waving around a shiny metal object while arguing with a delivery man wearing a bright white work uniform and hat.

Naruto moved closer and listened in as the man complained about being forced to pay for a shipment of incense burners that were not only the wrong made of the wrong materials but were also in a larger quantity than what he ordered from the manufacturer. Naruto could only smile inwardly at his good fortune but his fox companion was not as pleased with the situation.

" **It seems like things are falling into place for us so easily,"** Kurama said before narrowing his eyes, **"It is highly suspicious that everything is coming along so quickly."**

Naruto frowned at that thought, _"You think someone is manipulating us? Who would it be beside the jinchūriki or bijū?"_

" **I do not know, but we need to be wary and to closely examine everything we have obtained multiple times,"** Kurama said with a growl, **"Especially that modified seal."**

 _'Should we test it? I bet we can try a small one with_ _Kage Bunshin_ _and eliminate any risks.'_ Naruto replied.

" **Yes."** Naruto felt Kurama's nod, **"At the very least we still have the original that you can modify to suit our purposes."**

Naruto mentally nodded before making his way over to the shop keeper that was clutching his hair and shaking his head. Looking into one of the open boxes he saw a fairly nice looking lotus blossom incense burner designed for burning large cone incense. Naruto couldn't help but look around suspiciously when he felt a chill creep up his spine. Kurama was right! It was too much of a coincidence. The incense holder was exactly what they needed, in the amounts that they needed, and it even looked _exactly_ like the reliquary for Benzaiten's orb.

Those kind of odds were just not possible.

The man looked up and noticed Naruto studying one of the incense burners closely. "I don't think you want to bother with that one kid, it's going to be three times more expensive than any others in this district." The man said with an increasingly depressed tone before mumbling. "The shape is not even unique enough to warrant that cost either."

"Actually, I really like it," Naruto said as he continued to check the burner closely for anything suspicious. "Why is it so expensive?"

"For some reason, my manufacturer decided to make them all out of high-quality chakra metal like an idiot." The man grumbled, "I am ruined. Even if I melt them all down to the base metals the purity would be lost and I will still lose out on a lot of money."

Naruto actually had a flat look on his face as he stared at the merchant. He had been set on obtaining regular incense burners since no one made chakra metal incense burners. It was absolutely pointless and not cost effective to use such expensive metal for a simple ornamental decoration with such a simplistic function. Yet, the seal would only benefit even more from having the chakra metal burners placed strategically throughout the seal array.

Naruto had to wonder if he was actually still sleeping in that cave he had found with the nice hot spring the night before because it certainly seemed like he was dreaming right now. This situation was just unbelievable and too good to be true.

" **I agree but I sense nothing suspicious from the boxes or the merchant... Perhaps we should risk it. We can always have Gyūki's jinchūriki send us more if we find something suspicious."** Kurama said reluctantly.

"That's very unfortunate for you, however, we might be able to make a deal that will benefit both of us," Naruto said in a sympathetic tone.

The man snapped his head up from his silent lamenting. "I doubt you will want to accept. I have 400 incense burners made out of ridiculously expensive materials in order to just break even I would need to sell them at 70 ryō each. That is more than double what anyone else sells them for."

"You know I think that I can take them all off your hands for that much," Naruto said with a nod.

"WHAT?!" the man shouted in shock. "For what possible reason would you need 400 incense burners made out of chakra metal?!"

"Well, you see, I am from the Hasuītā merchant clan of Kiri and we have very strict requirements when it comes to decorating our clan holdings. We have recently remodeled our clan lodgings and the usual silver or bronze metals used to create normal incense holders was deemed unsuitable by our clan head." Naruto said with an air of arrogance. "This chakra metal, however, has just the right shade of blue that would meet the requirements of our clan head," Naruto explained before readopting his sympathetic tone for earlier, "While 400 is more than we need it doesn't hurt to have spares in case of accidents, right? This way we can both help each other out."

The merchant sputtered in disbelief for a moment before he managed to speak. "You know what? Forget my silly questions," he said with a grin before adding. "Do you need me to have them delivered somewhere?"

"Ah. If you could deliver them to room 10 at the Shimizu Inn, I would be grateful." Naruto said with a short bow before he pulled his small ryō bag out in order to pay the merchant.

After handing the man 28,000 ryō and accepting his receipt of purchase, he made his way towards the custom metalwork shop he had spotted during his earlier walk through.

For a deposit of 15,000 ryō for a 3-day rush order, the shop owner was commissioned to create a fairly large chakra metal mortar and pestle based off of a rough sketch that Naruto had made. While it wasn't necessary to make the actual pestle out of chakra metal, Naruto decided it couldn't hurt when he created the ink. He had at least 200 gold and silver bars remaining and over 400,000 ryō from the ones he had cashed in so he could afford to waste a little.

Now that his more pertinent tasks were completed, he found the nearest pawn shop and offloaded all of his old camping gear and travel equipment. Once relieved of his old gear, he made his way to the more upscale survival store and bought all new, top of the line camping gear, outdoor cooking set, and traveling supplies.

Next he went to a clothing store and purchased new casual clothing and undergarments that were, at least, one or two sizes too big for him, at Kurama's behest. It would be at least 9 months before he could return and he was still growing rapidly. Between the time he had left Konoha till now he had already grown five inches in height and four shoe sizes. Naruto added a few pairs of dark gray combat sandals to complete his clothes shopping

He really needed to make progress in breaking down the repair and restoration seals on his Enclosed outfit and the armor from Uzushio. Naruto made a mental note to assign his clones into breaking down and studying the seals more closely during his time on Genbu and in his mindscape. With the promise of a secure training location for 9 months, he should be able to break down those seals plus the jutsu seals he found on the chokuto.

It didn't take long for Naruto to finish the last of his chores which included getting a hair cut and stocking up on some high-quality provisions to test out his new cooking set. Genbu might be isolated but that didn't mean he had to skimp on more high-quality food and provisions with access to preservative herbs and storage seals. He also bought several pounds of candy and chips for Gamakichi and Gamatatsu.

After a nice dinner at a sushi restaurant, Naruto went back to his hotel to seal away all of his new incense burners before heading to bed.

 **8 days later – Waterfall of Truth – Genbu**

* * *

On the back of a giant tortoise that made it's home off the coast of Kaminari no Kuni, the Waterfall of Truth guarded a temple that was older than history itself. Surrounded by a thick and thorny forest that grew on the back of the ancient tortoise the half moon shaped falls spilled into a deceptively shallow pool that had a small circular island designed to draw out the innermost darkness of a person who meditated on that spot.

Naruto stood on that very spot and looked around at the idyllic scene as B explained the process of bonding with a bijū completely. The Raikage's warning was still ever present in his mind and he couldn't help but wonder what his "Inner Darkness" would be like. From what B had described, in his unique lyrical style, Naruto would have to confront the most troubling aspects of his inner self and to expect whatever he found to be profound. In Naruto's mind, that meant facing the darkest aspects of humanity which Kurama despised so thoroughly. Would his inner darkness be a greedy, self-centered, rapist who kills for fun and enjoys lying to people? Naruto had a feeling that it wouldn't be as simple as that.

At any rate, he would face whatever would come and succeed for Kurama's sake.

Once B was done with his explanation he gestured for Naruto to start whenever he was ready and that he would be nearby waiting. Settling down to meditate as instructed, Naruto let his mind relax and his breathing slow. After a few minutes, he came to the realization that he couldn't hear the roar of the waterfall and he couldn't sense Kurama at all.

Naruto snapped his eyes open and saw that he was standing in a void with nothing around him at all. Even the ground beneath his feet was nonexistent, which was causing him some disorientation on top of his growing unease of being separated from Kurama completely. It felt like he was completely alone in this space and it troubled him deeply.

Naruto took a deep breath to try and calm himself. It should have been obvious to him that being alone would have been a part of this test. Ever since he could remember he had always been afraid of being alone.

" **Yet you like to push people away."** A voice rang out.

Naruto whirled around to see if he could spot who was speaking but still there was nothing. His unease at the situation began to grow once more but he forced himself to breathe slowly and calm down. He had to maintain his composure.

" **Why? Do you want to throw away your emotions? You like to make a face of stone, so why bother with emotions at all?"** The voice said in a taunting manner.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. Whoever or whatever this voice was could read his innermost thoughts so that meant that he had to face his doubts and fears. The only way to do that was to remain calm and control his emotions. He could endure this, he had endured much worse.

 **"Why did you bother to endure?"** The voice asked in a tone laced with contempt. **"You don't care if people acknowledge you at all. You actually put more effort into pushing everyone away than anything else."** The voice said coldly.

 **"It's almost like you wished you could just... disappear."** the voice whispered directly in his ear.

Naruto couldn't stop himself from jumping away and spinning about quickly but still there was nothing around him. He was beginning to lose his composure as he looked about and tried to calm himself again.

The voice just laughed at Naruto causing its mocking and malicious laugh to echo throughout the void. Naruto frowned deeply as he stole subtle glances around trying to find where this voice was coming from so he could settle his nerves by having something to focus on.

" **You are such a coward."** The voice said viciously, **"It's such an embarrassment since you were brave once."**

As Naruto scanned the dark void, he began to think over how to face this problem. It was obvious that this was meant to unbalance him by breaking his emotional control. He had to figure out the trick to this all so he could stop this bullshit. His mind raced as he thought over everything the voice had taunted him with and how he felt. As soon as he thought about his oldest fear, this...voice... countered with the fact that he intentionally pushed people away.

That must be the answer. He had to release his control over his emotions. Since he was little, he had feared those feelings inside of him because they drove all the other kids away and left him alone, unwanted.

" **Hah. Now I can understand why they say you are so smart, but you didn't solve the problem. You only hid it away."** This voice sounded flat and bitter to Naruto.

It was true he did fear to be alone, but as soon as he realized that Kurama would always be with him it didn't matter anymore. No one else really mattered because they couldn't be trusted. They had proven that.

" **Tch. Only an idiot would think like that."** The voice said with a scoff, **"Why should they trust you when you've never shown that you can trust them?"**

Naruto frowned but decided that there was no point in remaining silent when this entity could read his thoughts anyways.

"They showed me that they couldn't be trusted. I may not have been smart enough to realize it at the time, but Kurama opened my eyes to the truth." Naruto stated firmly.

" **If you had tried hard enough, had never given up, you would have overcome their misconceptions and proved that you are trustworthy."** The voice replied.

"It wouldn't have mattered." Naruto shook his head, "Even from the start Ren, Taro, even Makoto, they only cared for their own selfish desires." Naruto swiped his had as if cutting the air with a scowl on his face. "I did just like you said and look what it got me. Betrayal."

" **Did they really betray you? Or... did you betray them?"** the voice said in a strangely musical tone before it grew cold. **"A true person would stick with their friends no matter what. Yet, you forgot about them after you met with that damn demon."** The voice said with a sneer.

"Bullshit! Ren and Taro only wanted the reward for tricking me into Root." Naruto said with a snarl. "They never really cared about me at all _ **!**_ "

" **What about Makoto? Are you honestly going to lie to me about her feelings for you? She _loved_ you and you _murdered_ her because of your own weakness!"** The voice said in disgust.

"That asshole Danzō drove her crazy! That wasn't my fault! She was obsessed, she was threatening everyone that was close to me!" Naruto shouted in a shaky tone.

The memories of the past finally breaking down the fragile control he tried to maintain over his emotions.

" **Don't lie to me!"** the voice shouted, **"I know the truth as well as you do! You could have helped her but you turned your back on her...actually, I take that back, you stabbed her in the back."** the voice mocked, **"...and you label her as a traitor."**

"No. I don't think she was a traitor." Naruto replied quickly before clenching his fist and looking at his feet. "At first, I did, but when she admitted the truth to me I realized that Danzō took advantage of her vulnerability and led her to believe that only by clinging to me that she could survive as her world fell apart around her," Naruto said sadly.

" **You are the one who is clinging."** the voice spat. **"Clinging to that tired argument to try and justify _murdering_ her." ** The voice said sternly. **"I told you to stop lying to me we both know you should have given her the same chance that you gave Sakura."**

Naruto gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. He had begged the Sandaime to forgive Sakura because he considered her sick, but wasn't Makoto sick as well? Even the Sandaime had questioned him about it. Naruto was having difficulty trying to deny the hypocrisy of his actions.

" **You lashed out and killed her instead of maintaining that noble _facade_ you like to fool everyone with. You gave up on your first friend and threw her away like trash instead of doing whatever it took to save her!" ** The voice accused before it started shouting, **"You're pathetic! Weak! You're a coward and a traitor!"**

"SHUT UP! I'm not the one hiding in the dark." Naruto snapped as he started to visibly shake from the storm of emotions raging through him.

" **The truth hurts, doesn't it?"** The voice said with a laugh before it seemed to take notice of his shaking. **"Aww... is the little coward scared because his big bad demon friend isn't here to hold his hand?"** the voice mocked.

Suddenly the entity emerged in front of him revealing a completely different version of himself. Naruto could only stare in shock at how similar yet different this alternate Naruto was.

Alt. Naruto was wearing an orange jumpsuit that had the shoulders and arms in black with a bar of back running down where the zipper was in the center of the track jacket. His pants were orange and he wore calf length black combat sandals. The doppelganger's hair was a bit shorter than his own and lacked the side bangs that he was fond of. He was also proudly wearing his hitai-ate.

Naruto couldn't even remember where he had sealed his hitai-ate away at the moment. With the need for subterfuge pressing as they traveled through hostile territory, he had taken Jiraiya's advice and hid his visible tie to Konoha away. That had not bothered Naruto in the least.

" **Confused? You should be! I am the real you. The one who was supposed to exist."** Alt. Naruto said with his thumb pointing to his chest. **"How does it feel to see how far you have strayed from what you were supposed to be?"**

"I-I don't understand," Naruto said in confusion. His mind was in turmoil as he studied...himself. This version didn't even bother to maintain a stoic expression, instead, he opted to let his emotions be clearly displayed on his face and in his body language. Right now the anger, disdain, and even a look of betrayal was clear on his face.

Alt. Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. **"Dad and Mom gave their lives so you would become the hero of the village but you turned your back on them and betrayed their sacrifice. You claim to hate traitors and cowards but that is exactly what you are! It makes me sick to see what I have become!"**

"I'm no coward!" Naruto shouted. "That fucking village betrayed me! They turned their back on me! They spat on my parents sacrifice! Why the fuck should I care about any of them!" Naruto stormed closer to Alt. Naruto with each statement with his hands balled into fists.

" **Because that was your whole reason for existence!"** Alt. Naruto countered before shoving him back, **"You were supposed to prove the fox was defeated and gain their acknowledgment through hard work and loyalty!"**

Alt. Naruto pointed at Naruto before continuing his rant, " **Instead you proved them all right by plotting with that fucking fox instead of protecting the village like you were supposed to! You put your trust into that fucking _demon_ above everyone else! Even when you _knew_ he was the entire reason for your suffering!"**

Naruto had a stubborn expression on his face. He would never blame Kurama for the actions of those fucking idiots.

Alt. Naruto threw his hands up in frustration. **"For Kami sake, he killed mom and dad! Don't you give a fuck about them at all?"**

"How the fuck should I know?!" Naruto shouted before he took a few calming breaths when he saw Alt. Naruto enter an aggressive stance. It would be a wasted effort to let this devolve into a physical fight since he was certain that wasn't the objective of this trial.

"I have never known them so how can I?" Naruto said with a sigh, "It seems wrong to me... to pretend or react how people expect me to since I don't know how to feel. I feel like pretending to care for them would be more dishonorable than being genuine in my apathy." Naruto said softly before he started to pace again. "When I learned about them, I was more upset about the fact that jiji was hiding things from me. And how can I blame Kurama for trying to fight his imprisonment when I would do the same exact thing?"

Naruto stopped his pacing and looked back towards Alt. Naruto. "Sure, I was relieved that I wasn't just abandoned but at the same time it seemed like their sacrifice was just a waste since the village was full of corrupted idiots who not just hated me but actively tried to _kill_ me. In reality, I should be angry at them for sealing Kurama inside of me and being indirectly responsible for everything that happened to me, but I can't even find it in myself to be angry at them, let alone care for them."

Alt. Naruto narrowed his eyes before he started to pace as well. It was surreal to watch another version of himself using the same method of trying to determine how to convey complicated thoughts.

" **That is not entirely true."** Alt. Naruto started, **"You could have left the village at any time but you didn't. If you really didn't care about them at all or thought their deaths were a waste, you would have listened to that bastard fox and left the village."** Alt Naruto paused to throw Naruto a smirk. **"It's the only reason I don't think you are entirely worthless."**

"I really don't know what to feel about them. That is the truth." Naruto said with a shake of his head. "The only reason I stayed is because not only would I be spitting on their sacrifice by leaving that hellhole, it would have been an insult to jiji's efforts as well."

Alt. Naruto stopped his pacing to sneer at Naruto. **"That is not honoring their sacrifice, idiot! Honoring their sacrifice would have been to follow in their footsteps and protect the village from all threats!"** Alt. Naruto clenched his fists and a look of rage crossed his face. **"Instead, you gave yourself to that corrupted embodiment of hatred that mindlessly consumed our village! The very one dad and mom fought so hard to protect us from!"**

"Kurama is not some rampaging and mindless beast!" Naruto shouted. "If you are really like me at all you wouldn't say such crap!"

" **I am the real you!"** Alt. Naruto shouted back, **"The one who was supposed grow from the adversity and rise up to become the Hero of Konoha!**

Naruto was surprised to see a look of pain appear on Alt. Naruto's face. **"Instead, you put your trust into that fucking fox, let him turn me into** _ **you**_ **...** **a corrupted** _ **tool**_ **who is almost eager to turn his back on his** _ **duty**_ **. You were supposed to embrace your humanity! Not abandon it!"**

"So that is what this is really about," Naruto mumbled to himself. "You actually believe that we are still human?" Naruto said with a tilt of his head, "Can you honestly say, after all that we have learned and known, that we are still just an ordinary human?"

" **Of course! It was just like jiji said when we woke up in the hospital!"** Alt. Naruto said in a matter of fact tone. **"The fox is the kunai and you are the scroll."**

"Even after knowing the truth about our ability to bond with jinchūriki or bijū?" Naruto said softly. "Even after knowing how our very bodies have changed the moment the bijū were imprisoned inside of us?"

" **Isn't it obvious?"** Alt. Naruto shook his head, **"How can you let the damn fox make you forget that?"** Alt. Naruto asked in a pleading tone. **"How could you let the damn fox convince you to lie to jiji like you did?"**

"You forget he wasn't jiji to me then," Naruto said with the shake of his head. "To me, Kurama and jiji were just strangers in my eyes." Naruto ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't understand how to explain things and every time I tried it only pushed people away. Sometimes, I was even punished for it."

Naruto looked down at his feet. "I couldn't relate to jiji on the same level as I did with Kurama because I could feel the same emotions from Kurama. The very same emotions that I was plagued with helped me relate to him." Naruto voice almost dropped to a whisper. "I had to help him because I knew what it was like to feel that way. It could only be considered suffering."

Alt. Naruto growled before he started pacing again. **"There you go sympathizing with the very thing that is the cause of all your suffering."** He turned towards Naruto and pointed at him, **"It would be one thing if you were trying to help him and the village at the same time, but you never take the hard path. You never the take that path that requires the most courage and I can't stand it!"**

"It's not about me taking the hard path. It's about me taking the smart path." Naruto said with a shake of his head, "Struggling and suffering just to change the mind of some damn cabbage vendor?" Naruto raised both of his arms to his shoulders with his palms facing up. "What's the point? It will not change anything in his life and I would have gone through hell and back for nothing." Naruto paused as he dropped his hands back to his sides. "All that would accomplish is that he would disregard me like any other villager instead of taking the time to blatantly ignore or glare at me. It's a wasted effort."

" **If you worked hard to prove yourself to them, he wouldn't just disregard you. He would acknowledge you and even look up to you!"** Alt. Naruto said passionately.

Naruto snorted, "I'm not an attention seeker. I've admitted that it is nice to have bonds but I don't need to seek them out. If they really wanted to be my friend they would seek me out."

Alt. Naruto gave him a flat look. **"You know that is a lie. You have always been an attention seeker. Instead of seeking attention from your own kind you're dancing to that fucking fox's tune and letting him convince you to turn your back on everyone else."**

Alt. Naruto studied Naruto with a sad but solemn look, **"He has corrupted you so much that you are willing to sacrifice your very soul. Can't you see how wrong that is?**

"You know what is at stake," Naruto said with a shrug, "What's one soul to stop the destruction of the world and preventing the idiots who caused this mess from doing so in the future?"

" **You say one soul for the world, what about 9 lives for millions?"** Alt. Naruto said as he tapped his foot, **"If you bothered putting your efforts into Gyuki's plan then there would be a way to solve the problem with only 9 lives being impacted instead of the hundreds of thousands that had no involvement in this mess.** "

"Even Gyuki admitted his own plan wasn't going to solve the problem before the world started to drain all life of chakra. Even with all 18 of us being involved willingly." Naruto said before he glared at Alt. Naruto, "I say 18 because you conveniently left the bijū out of your thoughts."

Naruto crossed his arms and continued speaking in an icy tone. "For all your bluster about doing the right thing, you treat the bijū as if they aren't alive as if they don't feel like we do. If they can feel hatred and pain that means they can feel love and happiness."

" **I can't help but despise them for what they have done to you."** Alt. Naruto said sadly, **"They have corrupted everything you were supposed to be and left me trapped watching everything fall apart while you march happily to their tune. I want to save Konoha! I want to stop wars and end all suffering! I want everyone to understand each other and find peace! That was the will** **shishō** **shared with you in the ruins. That was the will that he is trying to get you to carry into the future so that humanity could finally have peace."**

"You might be able to stop wars but you will never stop suffering." Naruto said with a sigh. "There will always be rapists, murderers, and thieves. Greed, envy, jealousy, hate... these emotions will always exist with humanity and because of that someone will suffer. Humanity will never be truly rid of those emotions."

" **Of course, there will always be a few scumbags who will cause problems, but if the vast majority came to an understanding then with each new generation those bastards would fade away even more."** Alt. Naruto stepped closer before whispering, **"Don't give up on humanity. Don't give up on** _ **your**_ **humanity."**

"I never gave up on humanity." Naruto replied softly, "I have always told Kurama that I still believe there are good humans out there..." Naruto looked away, "..but being a jinchūriki..., to me that means I am no longer human anymore. I have been bound to a bijū my body and soul have been altered because of his presence. Even the very name of jinchūriki suggests that our humanity was sacrificed to become what we are."

" **Still you avoid seeing the truth and cling to that lie you have been fed."** Alt. Naruto said with a sigh before a hopeful look appeared on his face, **"If you still believe there is good in humanity then you can be convinced to take the harder path and find a better way. You won't let everyone get punished blindly, will you?"**

"Your talking about the jutsu aren't you?" Naruto asked.

" **You know what it will do."** Alt. Naruto said with a stern look. **"Can you really accept that? Can you really go through with it? Knowing what could happen?"**

"As it is by itself?" Naruto huffed, "Of course not. That is why the seal is so important." Naruto stressed, "The changes we found are just one part. The jutsu itself... even Kurama wants to modify its effects. It will be hard, but it won't be impossible."

" **If you don't succeed in modifying it, though, will you still go through with it?"** Alt. Naruto asked with a stern expression.

Naruto could tell he was searching his mind for any deception.

"I have two possible theories that could work if we fail to modify the jutsu." Naruto said with a shrug.

" **That is not what I asked!"** Alt. Naruto yelled.

"I will still go through with it." Naruto replied without hesitation. Alt. Naruto looked like he was going to reply but Naruto cut him off quickly. "I will, but only I will pay the price if it comes to that. I won't let anyone else pay that price unless they are willing to do so." Naruto said with a serious expression. "The world must survive first and foremost."

Alt. Naruto stared at him for a moment before he sighed and shook his head. **"This is not how it was supposed to go but I can see that it is too late for you to be the hero that humanity needed to rise above their hatred. It's not ideal, but I can't deny that the damage to the world is bad."**

Alt. Naruto stepped up and stood directly in Naruto's face, and stared into his eyes with determination. **"However, you should know that I won't give up so easily. You need to prove that you are taking a path that is best for everyone if you want me to let you pass this trial and create your bond with the fucking fox."**

Naruto merely nodded and waited for Alt. Naruto to continue. Refusing to drop eye contact as they both stared at each other to measure the resolve of the other.

" **I want you to answer my questions honestly. If I like what I hear, then I will put my faith in you and let you move on. "** Alt. Naruto narrowed his eyes, **"...but you must speak your answers out loud. If your thoughts contradict your words then I will disappear and you'll never bond with the fucking fox."** Alt. Naruto said.

"I agree. Let's get this over with." Naruto said quietly. He knew this was going to be even more nerve-wracking but it must be done. He had to bond with Kurama and complete the plan.

" **Do you believe that you could live without the fox?"** Alt. Naruto asked.

"I don't know if I can. Kurama... he's the only one that has been with me forever. I might be able to survive without him... but it will be painful. I will always miss his presence." Naruto resisted the urge to look down at the thought of being without his closest confidant. He forced himself to continue to stare into the cerulean depths so similar to his own.

Alt. Naruto nodded before asking. **"Did you really kill Makoto to free her?"**

Naruto took a deep breath before he answered. "No. I..I wasn't thinking straight. I was angry, confused, I wanted to lash out at her but I also felt guilty. None of this would have happened to her if Danzō hadn't wanted to claim me as his weapon. I wanted to remind myself about trusting my senses too much, but most of all I wanted to punish myself for allowing my curse to spread to her and destroy her life." Naruto said tears began to form in his eyes.

" **You're not cursed. You are being given what you need to be strong enough for what is to come. Why do you think I wanted you gain the village's acknowledgment? It would have been difficult, painful, but in the end, you would have emerged much stronger. You would have become the example for people to change their ways. Anyone can take the easy path. It's the hard path that has more value in the end."** Alt. Naruto said in a comforting tone.

Naruto remained silent as he squashed down the painful memories of Makoto and listened to Alt. Naruto's words. There was logic in what he said, but he didn't believe it was possible. He still believed that people would harbor some distrust or hatred towards him because he was a jinchūriki.

Alt. Naruto only gave him a sad smile as he read Naruto's thoughts. **"If you had to choose between saving your teammates or completing the plan, which would you choose?"**

Naruto took a shaky breath to push the memories aside for now. "The plan comes first but I would find a way-"

" **You can only choose one, not both."** Alt. Naruto cut him off.

"I would find a way to do both." Naruto said with determination.

Alt. Naruto looked at him with skepticism, **"What if there was no way to do both?"**

"There is always a way!" Naruto said with conviction.

Alt. Naruto smiled at Naruto which made him blink in confusion. **"There it is! I was afraid the fox had managed to destroy that part of you."**

"What do you mean?" Naruto said with genuine confusion.

Alt. Naruto's smile dimmed and became sadder before he looked out into the void.

" **There was once a time when you wanted to prove yourself to everyone but when the part you needed to struggle through and survive began, you gave up. Suddenly that became normal for you. Instead of drawing on your conviction and determination to fight against overwhelming odds, you allowed yourself to succumb and bend. You let your will falter and allowed yourself to fall.** Alt. Naruto explained.

Naruto was about to argue but Alt. Naruto continued.

" **It happened to you in Nami no Kuni. It happened to you with Makoto. Both times you were provided with the potential to learn a valuable lesson and grow even stronger, but instead, you faltered and fell even further into your corrupted beliefs, losing the chance to find your true strength."** Alt. Naruto said sadly.

Naruto remained silent as he recalled those events. When the emotions were bearing down on him, he gave in. When the lust started to overwhelm him, he gave in. Ever since the Academy he had strived to become stoic and emotionless like Itachi. He had worked hard to suppress his emotions so he could remain stoic, detached, and in control of his actions. It was easier not to be affected by the negativity when he built those emotional walls to protect himself.

Alt. Naruto could see he was making his point so he pressed further. **"Even when you put all of your conviction into the plan itself all it took was a fancy story from Jiraiya to make you question the damn fox. The one you claim has your full trust."**

Naruto looked away. He did trust Kurama and always would, but what Jiraiya had said made him realize that at some point he had started to blindly follow Kurama. He hated the fact that people wanted him to be a simple pawn but he had failed to consider that Kurama might have been using him as such. It was the first time he had even questioned his own actions.

Alt. Naruto merely nodded before continuing. **"It's the whole reason I felt you were a coward because you never really pushed through something with your will power alone. You had to rely on your intelligence or support from someone else to get through a challenge. Like when Koyuki ambushed you in Yuki no Kuni, even though you started to show a fragment of your former self, as soon as it looked like all was lost you faltered and began to doubt yourself once more. Jiraiya had to pull you out of your depressing thoughts and make you see that even though they managed to catch you in the end, you should have been proud that you managed to defend yourself as well as you did."** Alt Naruto said sadly.

Naruto knew that was the true reason for his resentment of Koyuki. Sure she was a rampaging bitch, but he also hated the fact that he needed Jiraiya to save him. He hated the fact that without someone standing next to him his confidence fled. Even with those odds, he shouldn't have needed Kurama's encouragement to stand tall and fight for his life.

" **I was afraid that even though you claimed that you would give your life or soul willingly when push came to shove you would falter once again and everything would be lost."** Alt. Naruto said before falling silent.

Naruto looked back towards Alt. Naruto as they stood face to face. He couldn't dispute anything because he knew it was all true. Deep down he knew that he had faltered more than succeeded. It was why he hardly ever faced a foe directly and used his clones to take all the risks. He had been driven more by his fears than anything else in his life and that made him buckle in an attempt to stop things from getting worse. It was time to stop fearing and to start overcoming everything that stood in his way.

"Never again." Naruto said, "Never again will I just give in like I used to."

" **That's not good enough! You are starting to know what I want from you but you still refuse to admit it."** Alt. Naruto said chidingly.

"I will succeed in finding the jutsu and making it safer. I will complete the plan and save the world. Nothing will stop me." Naruto said.

" **That is all well and good but it still isn't the answer I need. Stop hiding and admit what you are trying to deny so vehemently!"** Alt. Naruto smacked Naruto on the back of the head to admonish him.

Naruto furrowed his brow as he thought over everything they had discussed. When the answer came to him he practically face palmed himself. The answer was so obvious and the answers had been given to him as far back as the Academy.

It was the very thing he had struggled with his whole life but instead of dealing with them he ran or suppressed them. He suppressed his emotions because he feared them since he was growing up in the Orphanage. The same emotions that overpowered him in Nami no Kuni and clouded his mind in the depths of the Root base. The emotions and instincts that came from his _human_ spirit.

As if a light switch was flipped, the darkened void became white.

Alt. Naruto had a beaming smile on his face. **"I'm glad you finally remembered me once more."**

"You're my spirit?" Naruto said in surprise.

Alt. Naruto nodded. **"Now you know why I hate that bastard fox so much. He convinced you that I was nothing but negative emotions like him. He convinced you that I was nothing but filth to be ignored or cleansed."** Alt. Naruto growled.

Alt. Naruto sighed. **"I don't really blame you. He has been constantly attacking me since you started to interact with him. I won't deny that I can be greedy, lustful, angry, or full of hate but I am also where your compassion, nobility, friendship, and love come from."**

" **I am that comfort you felt when jiji would run his hands through your hair. I am that bond you felt when you and Sasuke realized that you could rely on each other no matter what. I am that warm feeling you get when you hold Hinata-chan close. I am that spark you felt when you kissed her for the first time. It was painful to see you embrace the gifts I gave you while you were actively trying to throw me away at the same time."** Alt. Naruto said with teary eyes.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said with guilt, "I did forget about you because I was too caught up in the semantics. I tried to erase your existence while embracing all the good things you have shown me.

" **Yet you still believe that you aren't really human."** Alt. Naruto said bitterly.

"I believe that I am a jinchūriki." Naruto said firmly, "but now I can accept that my humanity wasn't sacrificed when my bond with Kurama was created. I accept the fact that you are an important part of me. I won't ever question that again."

Naruto stepped forward and embraced his spirit. Alt. Naruto was hesitant before he returned the hug.

" **You aren't going to forget about me again?"** Alt. Naruto said quietly.

"I promise I won't forget you again _ **!**_ " Naruto said firmly, "I realize now that it was because of you that I can feel close to anyone, even Kurama. You are the reason I can gain strength and hope from the bonds I have. With Sasuke, Hinata-chan, Shishō, Oba-chan, all of them. I won't be so stupid to forget how much you have given me. I won't forget that without you I wouldn't be alive _ **!**_ "

Naruto smirked as he stepped back and placed both of his hands on his spirit's shoulders. "I have to be grateful to you since I wouldn't exist if it wasn't for you, right?"

Alt. Naruto smirked **. "Damn right! As soon as you muster up enough courage to embrace your passion, you will definitely understand why you should be so grateful to me."** Alt. Naruto gained a lecherous grin that was eerily like Jiraiya's

Naruto laughed and shook his head. Before such a thought would have been considered disgusting or even dirty to him, but now he could accept it. It was a part of being alive. Remembering how it felt when he kissed Hinata. Even the things Makoto had done to him had felt _good_ but the experience had made him associate such feelings in a bad light. Tsunade had told him as much but since he still feared his emotions.

" **I believe you now. I know how you would have tried to deny such a thing in the past."** Alt. Naruto said with a chuckle before his face took a more serious expression.

" **Before I leave, you should know that you shouldn't feel bad about your promise to Hinata-chan. Some relationships are meant to grow and fade away with time. Don't be afraid to embrace a bond that isn't meant to last forever, because sometimes you need that experience so that you know when the time is right for you to create a bond that could last for eternity."** Alt. Naruto said cryptically before fading away.

Before Naruto could ask him what he meant, he found himself staring at the flowing waters of the Waterfall of truth. Naruto blinked a bit and looked around before realizing that the trial was over. He had passed!

Oddly enough he felt better after that emotional roller coaster. He had been convinced that there was no humanity at all in him. While it had caused him some turmoil, he had given up on his humanity so easily in the end because he had focused entirely on all the bad examples surrounding him. His spirit had been right about Kurama desensitizing him over time with his bad mouthing of humanity. At some point, Naruto simply stopped trying to convince Kurama that humanity did have merit. He had lost that part of himself and didn't realize how _empty_ he had felt without it.

Now, he actually felt stronger for embracing that part of himself. He could actually feel a stronger connection to his body and chakra. It made sense the more he thought about it. While a person's soul was tied to the heavens, their spirit was tied to their body.

Naruto stood and stretched, enjoying this new feeling. He had not felt like this since he was a little child. Naruto looked up and saw that a few hours had passed. There must have been a big time difference in that void. It had felt like he had been arguing with his spirit for almost a day.

Everyone else had described the trial as defeating the darkness or evil within them so they could be purified of bad influences. In his case, he needed to do the opposite and embrace the source of his bad influences and learn how to balance them with the good ones. However, they also mentioned that he would have to defeat Kurama and take his chakra in order to gain control over him.

Naruto's situation was completely different, though. He already had Kurama's respect and they were simply waiting to open the seal and complete the bond inside the chakra isolation chamber. Technically, Kurama said they didn't even need the chamber but he didn't think the Raikage would take their word for it. He wasn't certain if he was going to take Kurama's chakra or if Kurama was going to simply give it to him but he knew that Kurama wasn't planning to fight him at all. Kurama had said it was pointless since they were actively working together and that the bond was necessary for their success.

Maybe that is why he had to face his spirit instead of his evil side or whatever. Either that or his spirit had been suffering so much that he couldn't be purified enough to enter the temple until his mistake had been rectified. It didn't matter anymore, he was at peace because he could embrace his humanity like he once did long ago. He might be a jinchūriki but he didn't need to be ashamed of the fact that he still had his humanity.

Naruto walked through the waterfall to approach the temple that B had mentioned. He couldn't help but look around in awe at the huge underground cavern that housed a very Buddhist style temple in front of him. Even all the statues were in the style of Buddhist monks, but Naruto had to wonder why they were all headless. It was a little creepy actually.

Looking up on the wall of the cavern revealed massive murals depicting, what Naruto guessed were the bijū. He spotted Kurama towards the far right side closer to the ceiling. It made him wonder what the true reason for building this temple was. Did they want people to bond with the bijū? or simply fight and defeat them so they could essentially command them? Even B who seemed to have a strong bond with Gyūki had fought with him first.

Making his way down the avenue of headless Buddhas, Naruto was surprised to see Yugito waiting next to B. He didn't even meet up with her when they left to travel to Genbu from Kumo. Naruto gave a polite greeting which Yugito simply returned with a bow of her head but remained silent. Naruto's attention was directed to the strange stone cat head that was mounted on the wall. The cat had it's mouth opened wide as if hissing or roaring. It appeared that the mouth served to hold something since it was carved out in detail, but the shadows were obscuring whatever was inside.

"This is the chakra suppression chamber. Inside the cat's mouth is the switch that you need to activate, but you can only reach it if you stick your head inside." Yugito explained.

Naruto nodded before he walked up and stuck his upper body inside the cat's mouth. He saw the stone lever towards the back and had to strain forward until he could reach it and give it a pull. Naruto quickly pushed himself out of the cat's mouth when he heard a clicking sound and the wall started to rumble.

The stone door that was closed was slowly sliding open revealing a narrow hallway that led to a set of heavy iron doors. There was a strange glowing light seeping out of the door seams which illuminated the narrow hallway.

B and Yugito made their way down the hallway with Naruto following behind them. Once they neared the doors, B stepped forwards and pushed them open with both arms revealing a strange room that was multicolored with clouds floating throughout the empty space. Like the void where he reconciled with his spirit, there was no ground or other discernible objects.

Yugito walked into the room without a second thought while Naruto tentatively followed. He didn't think he would ever get used to walking on nothing, but it couldn't be helped. Yugito led Naruto further into the strange space before she suddenly turned around stood with her arms crossed over her chest.

Naruto took the moment to look around and saw that B was sitting on the invisible ground and scribbling in his normal notebook. Obviously, he would be relying on Yugito for guidance, how lovely. Naruto looked back at Yugito expectantly as he waited.

"Alright brat, listen well. In order to get control of the demon inside of you, you will need to show it that you are dominant enough to earn its respect." Yugito said coldly.

Naruto bristled at all the wrong in her statement but remained silent.

"Now. I was told that your seal requires a key so what you have to do is enter the mindscape, use the key to open up the seal completely." Yugito gave him a loaded glance. "You better be ready at that point because the demon will be able to attack you right away. You need to subdue the demon long enough to pull it's chakra manifestation into your own body. Once that is complete, close the seal using the key and you will have full control over your demon's power." Yugito finished.

"I understand." Naruto said. She didn't need to know that he already had an arrangement with Kurama. She might be tempted to kill him while he was distracted if she did learn the truth.

"Good. If you fail and the demon takes control of you myself and B here will make your death quick." Yugito said before she stepped back and promptly began to ignore him.

Naruto scowled at Yugito before sitting down to meditate and enter his mindscape. As soon as he felt the pull, he opened his eyes and was surprised to see that instead of the usual sewer like theme, his mindscape had changed to reflect the temple he had entered. The walls were made of the same stone as the temple itself, and the mindscape was much larger. He also noticed that he didn't appear directly next to Kurama like he usually did.

Naruto set out towards the direction he could sense Kurama was at. It didn't take him long to find the new cage that Kurama was located behind. The gates were larger and more ornate then before and while still dark, his surroundings were much better then the dank sewer he had resided in before.

Kurama cracked open an eye as soon as Naruto approached. **"Finally, you arrive, kit. I have been trying to contact you since you entered this wretched place but something was blocking us."**

"Sorry, Kurama. I didn't realize. I was so distracted by the trial that I had to go through I didn't think to reach out to you right away." Naruto said sheepishly.

" **It's no matter."** Kurama swished his tails before he rose from his usual resting position and stood. **"It is time for us to complete our bond. Disregard anything those fools told you outside, there is no need for combat between us. Instead of taking my chakra, I will be granting it to you instead so the results will not be the same as what they had experienced."**

"There is something I need to tell you first, thought." Naruto said hesitantly.

" **I already know. As soon as you entered this place I received all of your memories from our partial bond."** Kurama gave a huff of contempt. **"Personally, I thought you were better off as you were before. Emotions have always been your weak point."**

"So you were trying to make me forget my humanity." Naruto said in a hurt tone.

" **Does this really surprise you?"** Kurama said with a snort, **"You had already displayed that you are above the filth called humanity. I felt I was doing you a favor by purging that scum that was clinging to your soul with such desperation."**

Naruto sighed. He really shouldn't have been surprised, given Kurama's hatred of anything human. In his own twisted way, he believed he was helping him. Still, he promised that he wouldn't forget his spirit anymore more. He needed to know if Kurama had been driving them apart because it suited his goals or because of his misplaced beliefs.

"You told me once that I needed to remain calm and focused so that my logical mind wasn't overwhelmed by these emotions and instincts. Were you really trying to just help me control my actions or was that your way of driving me away from my spirit?" Naruto asked with a hint of nervousness.

" **Ever since I awoke from my slumber I saw that your spirit was absorbing all the negativity around you and feared it was corrupting your pure soul. After you lost control in Nami no Kuni, I was convinced that it would be your undoing. When you became stoic and distant you stopped absorbing all the negativity around you and began to heal."** Kurama said before he settled down so he was eye to eye with Naruto. **"The light of your soul was pure and all I could see happening was the filth and corruption of humanity slowly tainting it. Even my own festering hatred was having an impact on you. When you stopped embracing your spirit that corruption began to subside and your soul grew even brighter."**

"So, you decided to convince me that I wasn't even human." Naruto said flatly.

" **I still don't believe you are, and you aren't entirely convinced either."** Kurama retorted, **"Even those exemplars of humanity that you can manage to point out are not pure. They are tainted with the sins of their past lives. You were not, which makes you something else."**

"My human spirit still exists inside of me and I realize now that it is a necessary part of me," Naruto said adamantly. "Know this, I won't accept you trying to distance me from my spirit anymore. I am proud to be your jinchūriki and you need to accept the fact that from now on I will be proud of my humanity as well." Naruto said firmly.

Kurama narrowed his eye as he studied Naruto's gaze. The kit seemed stronger and more determined now that he had embraced his mortal spirit. It reminded him of that declaration he had made when he was practically microscopic in his eyes. That pure little soul no older than a decade that promised to erase his eons of hatred and pain. Still, he couldn't accept this change if the kit decided to side with humanity after all their progress.

" **What about the plan then? Are you going to go back on your word now?"** Kurama growled.

"No! But I also won't accept the plan as it stands right now. We are going to make some changes that will make things better for everyone. Not just the bijū." Naruto stated.

" **You realize that it might not be possible. We haven't even found the jutsu yet to see if we can even modify it to the point where you can survive the cost."** Kurama tested.

"I have a few ideas but I need you to accept that I won't turn my back on humanity anymore. I know most of them are corrupt bastards and I would be happy to stand with you as we cleanse the world of their filth, but I am not going to simply spare those close to me and write everyone else off anymore." Naruto said with conviction.

Kurama was surprised at Naruto's forcefulness. It had been so long since he had seen him have such strength of will. He had wanted the kit to rise above the rest of the mortal filth and distance himself from them completely. Perhaps it was a mistake believing that his spirit was a threat to his soul and their plans.

Perhaps by embracing his spirit it would be easier for him to see just why so many people succumb to those base emotions. Maybe it was needed for Naruto to learn how truly strong he was to be able to cast that corruption aside and ascend. While he would never lose his own bias against humanity, he shouldn't have let it color his decisions. By doing so, he had inadvertently been acting in the same manner of the very filth that he felt he was above spitting at.

" **Very well, kit. We will study the plan that we have so far and find a way to make the consequences less severe. Even for the humans."** Kurama said grudgingly.

"Thank you, Kurama." Naruto said quietly. "What do I need to do now?"

" **Fly up and release the tag over the lock, then use the key on the seal and open the lock completely."** Kurama instructed. **"Do not try to pull my chakra out, just relax and let me give it to you instead."**

Naruto willed himself up towards the gate and ripped the tag off revealing a new lock that was similar to the spiral on his stomach. Summoning the key to his right hand. Naruto lifted up his shirt with his left hand and twisted his right arm so that his hand would be facing directly up before applying the seal.

Taking a deep breath he turned the key slowly until his hand was facing straight down. He was about to lift his hand to try and twist the seal more, but Kurama stopped him.

" **That is far enough, kit. Just be patient now."** Kurama said.

Naruto could see Kurama was excited as his tails where flicking about wildly behind him, even if he kept his face neutral. Naruto had rarely seen Kurama express emotions on his face but his tails were always a dead give away.

Slowly the interlocking triangles began to slide together in a spiral pattern, releasing all the locking plates that bound the gate together. Once the lock was completely cleared, Kurama gently pushed the gates opened with his paw. As soon as the gates swung fully open they disappeared completely and the room changed from a darkened prison to the same white void that he had been in with his spirit.

Before Naruto could say anything or move, however, Kurama gently reached out and grabbed him with his paw. Naruto could barely see over Kurama's thumb due to its size so he opted to lean back against Kurama's index finger so he could look up and over the appendage. Kurama settled back on his haunches and lifted Naruto up so he was directly in front of his right eye.

" **Prepare yourself. This will be painful since I have all of my chakra. You must endure the pain and not lose consciousness during the process or you will be lost."** Kurama warned.

"It's okay Kurama. I can handle it." Naruto said with a determined nod.

Now he knew why his spirit had been so adamant. This was going to be one of those moments where something so far beyond him was going to bear down on him once more, but this time, he wasn't going to bend or fold. He would not fail in this.

With the warning given, Kurama channeled his chakra into the paw that held Naruto and directed it through his pathways and into his chakra core.

Naruto gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut as he felt like his body had just been set on fire. Not only did he feel like he was being burnt alive, it was like an unbearable weight was pressing down on him. Constricting him like a snake or crushing him like a boulder. For a moment, he thought that Kurama might have been gripping him too hard but the fact that he was able to still thrash about from the pain disproved that thought. The pain just seemed to keep increasing and he couldn't stop himself from crying out any longer.

All his other thoughts fled and all sense of time was lost as he kept pushing back the encroaching darkness of unconsciousness and fought to remain awake despite the agony he was in. It seemed like days had passed before the burning sensation had stopped but he now felt like there were large shards of glass being forced through his chakra pathways and blood stream.

His chakra core and limbs all felt like something inside of them was expanding to the point that they would rupture and explode. He tried taking deep breaths to try and calm his racing heart but he could only manage a few before he would cry out again.

He knew Kurama was encouraging him on, but he couldn't comprehend anything but the pain at the moment. All he could do is twitch and spasm when another flare of pain would shoot through him then take a few more breaths before the process repeated. It seemed like an eternity had passed that he suffered before he finally just started to feel cold. His eyes shot open as he began to panic, thinking he had failed to remain conscious but he saw that he was still firmly in Kurama's paw and his large eye was firmly fixed on him. In that eye, Naruto could see Kurama's guilt so he flashed him a weak smile before he let his head drop back and panted in exhaustion. His body started to shiver as he was hit with a wave of cold that was causing his body to shiver and his muscles to start cramping.

For some reason, the thought entered his head that it wouldn't be too much longer until he could rest. Naruto didn't know how he knew that, but it felt like a certainty. There was also a feeling of pride for enduring as long as he had. Some how he knew these thoughts were not his own but he wasn't concerned about that right now. He only had two tails left of chakra to transfer and he would be one step closer to completing his goal.

Naruto gritted his teeth and another jolt of pain shot through his chakra pathways. It felt like his stomach and chakra core were swelling to unreasonable levels, but they didn't rupture or hurt as much anymore.

It had to be expected since his fragile mortal body wasn't used to such amounts of chakra, but it was admirable how it had adapted so quickly. He had a few ideas on how to change the seal so that the rate of chakra drain would be less fatal, even if that filth did deserve it he would be happier with the results.

He blinked as the wave of pain passed and he realized that his thoughts were overlapping with each other. A wave of confusion distracted him from the impending wave of pain as he wondered how much longer it would take for him to channel the rest of his chakra. He already knew that he needed to finish channeling two tails worth, well more like one and a half now, but it was still a time-consuming process. This confusion was only making it harder for himself so he just needed to focus on relaxing and channeling his chakra into himself so he could have a clear head later when thinking about the plan.

His body shuddered as another wave of numbing cold shot through him. He just wanted to close his eyes and rest but he couldn't be lulled into that trap just yet. Not until he had finished.

He lifted his weary head and looked back up at his face. It was a strange experience staring into his own eyes. Blue eyes were glassy with a vacant look to them, red eyes were narrowed in concentration and concern. Just one tail left and he could rest and take account of the changes to himself.

He could sense that he was fading even as he renewed his resolve and fought to stay awake, so he recalled memories from long ago to help distract him. He knew that he would see these memories as his own since the bond was nearly completed. He recalled his favorite memories of the other continent, of the ancient tribe that paid him tributes, of creatures that had long gone extinct before humans had roamed the lands. He was pleased when he could sense the awe at seeing such wonders that no human had ever laid eyes on before.

He had to admit that he respected that flame of determination that burned brightly in his spirit since it had allowed him to endure. He had to apologize for trying to drive him away from his spirit and knew he was forgiven since his intentions had been pure but clouded by bias. He didn't resent him for his actions and still had full trust in him. He felt warm when that thought was returned.

He felt even more at peace with himself. He had never been so assured that he would succeed and everything would turn out better. Come what may he would overcome and would succeed.

Then the bond was completed and he learned what it was to experience true understanding.


	63. Year 2: Realization and Actualization

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Chapter 62**

 **Year 2: Realization and Actualization**

 **Naruto's Mindscape**

* * *

Kurama plopped down onto the ground of the mindscape in exhaustion, taking care to lower his shaky paw, that held Naruto, down carefully. He had never exerted himself to the point where he would have trouble maintaining his chosen form. Was this what some of his brethren had experienced when they were forced to reform?

It was a humbling experience for the strongest of the nine. He had always been wily enough or strong enough to avoid such a fate in the past. It was definitely more disturbing to experience such _vulnerability_ first hand, rather than attempting to draw a correlation based off of the descriptions he had heard from his brethren. It brought a twinge of guilt to recall the times he had forced a few of his fellow bijū into reforming or being pretty damn close to reforming. Now he could understand exactly why Chōmei and Shukaku had been so pissed at him in the past.

Kurama had often felt that being sealed was the bigger humiliation and only his wounded pride had caused him to lend his chakra to Naruto on that fateful night where his life had begun to fade. He would be damned if some mortals had forced him to reform. For once he could admit that something good had come from his arrogance. Saving the kit had been the best thing he had ever done in his long existence.

Now that his mind was separated from the kit's once more, he could think clearly without their thoughts blending and overlapping each other. It was relieving to have clarity of mind once more but he still couldn't help feeling bereft that their connection had tamed itself. So thoroughly had they been connected that he had an intricate understanding of how Naruto's mind and spirit now worked. The reverse was also likely true and while that would have disturbed him before, he found that he was at peace with this new reality.

There could be no doubt driven between them now, regardless of past mistakes or fears. Their minds had been bared completely to one another and all had been revealed. To be in the face of such purity had been awe inspiring for him. So much resentment, bitterness and hatred that remained in him after centuries of torment and anger had simply evaporated when he was before Naruto's bright soul.

While it may seem excessive, Kurama couldn't help but think he had viewed the hand of a Kami at work. He had always had suspicions when he first awoke from his hibernation and noticed the mysterious light reaching out to him in the mindscape from this tiny and frail mortal kit. Back then, he had nothing but suppositions and a rough hypothesis about where this light was coming from. The fact that Naruto appeared in his mindscape while he slept had lent some weight to his hypothesis since it was not usual for Mito or Kushina to appear in such a manner. Yet, in that one moment when the bond was completed and they were both revealed to each other, he had seen the true extent of Naruto's soul and was rendered speechless.

Kurama could only wonder what Naruto had seen when looked upon his own essence. In his mind, it could have only been foul in comparison to the radiant and ethereal wonder that was Naruto's pure soul.

The bijū had no souls, as far as they could tell. His brethren had experienced destruction enough times to know that no aspect of them was bound to the heavenly realms like the souls of mortal creatures. Before the days of being sealed away, they had often gathered and debated exactly where they had originated from and how they existed. From their very first memories their purpose had been clear, but who gave them this purpose?

Personally, Kurama believed that they had evolved from something that had been formless at one point. It was the only logical way to explain how they simply dispersed and reformed anytime they were "destroyed". Everything else in the world evolved to the world around them with enough time and incentive. Why would they be any different? The question he couldn't answer, however, was what did they evolve from?

Did Naruto see his sentience when that final moment came? Maybe the bijū had evolved a spirit in some form and that was what Naruto had seen? Could that be the reason that Naruto's trial had been focused on accepting his human spirit? He would have to wait until his kit awoke from his ordeal to find out. He had been far too distracted to take note of Naruto's thoughts or reaction when they looked upon each other. He wouldn't have to wait long because he simply _knew_ Naruto was about to come to right now. While their thoughts were not as entwined as they had been during the bonding process, the connection between them was stronger than he imagined. He wouldn't be surprised if they no longer needed to vocalize their thoughts to communicate, but he had always enjoyed conversing with others.

Naruto hummed in contentment as he stirred in Kurama's paw. Despite having gone through so much pain, for Kami knows how long, he felt amazing right now. He didn't want to wake up but something was compelling him to do so. His eyes fluttered open and he looked around to see Kurama had sprawled himself out on the mindscape floor quite ungracefully. Naruto frowned when he could feel Kurama's exhaustion. He felt overflowing with energy at the moment so it only made sense for him to share.

Naruto closed his eyes and focused on restoring Kurama's chakra with the excess he could feel brimming inside of him. He couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face as he examined the strength of their connection. It was like every aspect of them was in sync now. The peace that Kurama was feeling was resonating within him along with the sense of exhaustion but he would fix that shortly. Since their chakra was essentially one now, they could redistribute and share their reserves with each other.

While Kurama's share of their chakra reserves was vastly larger than his own, right now he had taxed himself in forming the bond and even his solid chakra was beginning to break apart in order to fuel his chakra core. Naruto could see the fur on his paws and neck starting to disappear because his main stores had been depleted. Until those stores were filled once more, Kurama couldn't maintain the intricate chakra control needed to create his solid form.

When he had seen all that comprised Kurama during that final moment of bonding, it had been indescribable. It was like looking at a small planet that held, at its very core, the will of chakra itself. Surrounding that core were webs of chakra floating in a sea of chakra that was being tossed about by a massive storm of chakra. What confounded him was just how he knew exactly what he was looking at since it was such a foreign concept to him that chakra was actually _alive_. Even with the knowledge being bestowed upon him by the bond it was difficult for him to comprehend the highly sophisticated layers of different chakra control techniques it took for Kurama to form the paw that was currently embracing him.

Naruto opened his eyes and looked over at his partner as he felt the exhausted feeling fade away. He pushed more chakra back into him until he saw Kurama regain his chakra control and his fur was restored in all its magnificently orange glory. Kurama snorted in amusement at Naruto's obsessive love of orange before he cracked open his eye and brought Naruto closer to study him for any obvious changes. Once his paw opened up, Naruto stood and stretched himself out a bit before looking at his reflection in Kurama's iris.

The first thing he noticed is that his pupils were no longer round at all. His pupils now permanently slit like a fox but they were a bit thicker than usual. He would have to study them closer in full light to see just how thin they would get. His eyes also seemed to be darker. Instead of the soft cerulean of his birth, they were now a deep but vibrant shade of cobalt with a very slight tinge of purple. While the eye color wouldn't be a big deal, he knew his fox-like eyes would probably cause more problems for him with the stupid villagers.

He was surprised to find that the thought of those idiots made him feel more annoyed than angry. He surmised it was because he now felt they were insignificant like ants. That must be Kurama's influence on his psyche now that their bond was complete.

His hair hadn't changed much, still just as wild and spiky as before, but there were subtle amber highlights making his hair lean more towards the golden color of honey. The change was only by a few shades, at most, and would be easily overlooked by those who weren't close to him.

The next thing Naruto noticed were that his whisker marks were markedly pronounced. Naruto ran his fingers over them out of curiosity and couldn't withhold the gasp that escaped him at the sensation of his nerves and senses tingling from just a gentle touch. Closer study revealed that there were now hair thin whiskers tucked into the grooves that had graced his cheeks since birth. It was the biggest and most surprising change, in Naruto's opinion, and a small part of him was kind of unsettled at how much further his body would deviate from normal.

Kurama was also surprised that Naruto had gained this attribute but had seen the change in a more positive light. The emergence of actual whiskers would mean that Naruto's sensory perception would be increased significantly. Kurama had created his own whiskers with the intent to support and enhance his sensory organs by picking up subtle impurities, vibrations, and chakra out of the surrounding air. If his sense of smell or hearing was temporarily blocked or overwhelmed, the whiskers could function as a crude back up as well. Kurama was very interested to see just how much Naruto's senses would improve with this new addition.

Naruto studied his hands closely almost expecting them to be clawed after he felt the addition of whiskers but to his relief, his hands were completely normal. It would have been even more problematic to deal with the idiot villagers if he had claws as well as "demon" eyes.

Running his hands over his body revealed no further changes in that department either, he felt lighter than before but since he didn't need to activate the seals to readjust his clothing, hr suspected the change was due to a gain in muscle strength.

Naruto ran his tongue over his teeth before baring them for closer scrutiny. His canines were definitely larger but not to a dramatic degree and could be easily overlooked by the stupid villagers.

" **Hmph. It seems the unexpected changes are minor, at best, and easily concealable, for the most part.** " Kurama said as he completed his own study. **"While it is strange that you took on some of my chosen form's attributes, the benefits should outweigh the changes to your appearance."**

"While I am glad that our bond is finished, I can't help but feel grateful that the changes are as subtle as they are _ **!**_ " Naruto said with a grin before a look of surprise crossed his face. "Do I sound different to you?"

" **It appears your voice has gotten much deeper. Perhaps there has also been subtle changes to your maturation process."** Kurama mused. **"It is fortunate that nothing too dramatic has changed though I suspect the humans will be still be unsettled by your eyes."**

"It is what it is." Naruto said softly, "The ones I care about might be worried at first but I trust that they will be open minded and accept us."

As the images of those who cared for him ran through his mind. His brief flare of doubt sputtered out and his cobalt blue eyes hardened with resolve.

"The rest of those fools opinions are unimportant and if they try to make things difficult, then we will just have to put those bastards in their places," Naruto said with determination. "No more will those weaklings be able to push me around without impunity."

Kurama let out a small growl of agreement before he lowered his paw to the ground to let Naruto jump off. Now that the physical inspection was completed on their part, it was time to feel out the changes to their newly combined chakra system. The once figure eight shaped pipes that ran along the walls of the mindscape were now one single significantly larger pipe that was golden in color. A quick mental debate between the two resulted in Naruto conceding to Kurama to test drawing on their cloak in the mindscape first to get a feel for the changes since there would be less resistance. It would only make it easier for Naruto to draw on their chakra in reality after testing it here.

"Here goes nothing," Naruto mumbled before he concentrated on his chakra system. Searching for the newly added knowledge that had been added to his mind through their bond, he drew on the connection and let the chakra flow over him like he remembered the original chakra cloak working. The result was unexpected, to say the least, but not unwelcome.

Activating the cloak was like triggering a crate of explosive notes. Kurama's fur was ruffled from the force of energy that exploded from Naruto and blinded Kurama temporarily. When the light died down, Kurama was intrigued by the gold and black form that stood before him. So much chakra was radiating off of Naruto it looked like he was made out of golden fire with small wisps of chakra swaying and leaping off of his form like a roaring campfire.

His spiky locks were in constant motion from the power, adding to the flame like effect of the chakra cloak, his side bangs were forced upwards, giving him the appearance of having a pair of golden horns emerging from his temples. His eyes mirrored Kurama's own with blood red irises, and his whiskers became thicker.

The collar of his shirt grew from a standard collar to the high collared style that Sasuke preferred, a trademark of the Uchiha clan. At the base of the neckline was a thick ring of black that was broken by a small gap that sat below his adam's apple. Below the ring of black was a row of magatama that ran just below his collar bone.

On each shoulder sat a black circle that was framed by a black ring. Connecting to the black ring was a line that ran down the length of his arm to his hand were a black circle was formed on the back of his hand below the knuckles and in the same location on the inside of his hand. A ring of black connected the two circles together giving the appearance of a black strap wrapped around his hand.

A second black line ran from his shoulder across his upper chest directly below the ring of magatama, connecting to the ring on his opposite shoulder. On his stomach, where the seal was located, was a black circle that was framed by a black ring with a small gap at the very top. From the sides of the ring a black stripe wrapped around his ribs and curved upwards till they met together on his upper back. Directly below the rib line was a waist line in the same pattern as the rib line. Connected to the waistlines were two leg lines that ran down the center of each leg until they connected to a black circle centered between the ball and heel of his foot. This circle was connected to another circle located on the bottom of his foot by a black ring similar to the ones found on each hand.

Naruto had an almost feral grin on his face as he studied the strange markings on his hands and arms. The power he was feeling was indescribable. He couldn't wait to test it outside of his mindscape and see what he was capable of with their cloak active. Naruto looked over his shoulders and creased his brow as he didn't see any tails.

" **You must create the tails on your own in this form,"** Kurama explained. **"Otherwise, you must use the partial transformation method to create tails."**

"Of course! How can I forget that our power is now all about chakra control and manipulation." Naruto said.

With just a thought, nine tails emerged from his "coat" and began swaying about at Naruto's command. He practiced moving them in different ways before he tried making them grow, shrink, expand, and reshape themselves at his command. It really was all up to his imagination as it didn't take him much effort to will them into what he wanted. His grin grew into a full blow smile as he watched nine Rasengans form on the tip of each tail. Looks like he didn't have to worry so much about his taijutsu weakness anymore if his other theories were correct.

He knew the regular properties of his old chakra cloak still applied. His speed and strength would be increased and he would be able to literally dive through most jutsu without a care since their chakra cloak would repel all but the most powerful jutsu. He would have to brush up on his Kitsune style since he hadn't been given the opportunity to practice the style in quite some time. With more tails available to him now, he could use the advanced moves that Kurama had held back for later.

"Are there any downsides to using our chakra cloak now?" Naruto asked. It certainly didn't feel like there were any drawbacks but he knew that there had to be some.

" **You mean besides the fact that any competent shinobi could sense the chakra radiating from you in a one-mile radius?"** Kurama said in amusement before growing serious, **"The drain on our chakra reserves has increased significantly but not enough to prevent us from maintaining the cloak indefinitely, if we moderate our chakra usage. With this cloak, however, the restrictions on chakra expulsion that you are used to no longer exist. This means that if we aren't cautious on our control, you can expel all of our chakra quite rapidly, even in a single attack."**

Naruto nodded, control had always been a big issue for him. While he had worked on all of his mastery exercises diligently, he knew he was still prone to using more chakra then necessary in all of his attacks, even when he wasn't trying to empower them. His exercises in control had been all about learning how to reduce his chakra output to prevent the jutsu from faltering or falling apart because there was not enough control to maintain the desired form.

With this new cloak, he wouldn't know if he was wasting chakra with each attack because the subtle signs of the jutsu starting to fall apart or backfire wouldn't appear. Instead, the cloak would simply increase the power or area of effect.

Kurama continued outline more of the specifics of their new cloak. **"If we expend all of our reserves, we will require five minutes of rest before we regenerate enough chakra to reactivate the cloak. At that point, our regeneration will increase based on the speed of our synchronized heart rate."** Kurama settled down into a resting position before continuing with his lecture **. "A slower heart rate will allow us to regenerate faster but will also weaken your strength since your smaller form requires a faster heart rate to maintain proper circulation. Conversely, we can increase our speed and power by increasing our heart rate but the gains are restricted by the maximum heart rate my larger form can tolerate, and the increase in chakra drain."**

"So, not only do we need to practice all our chakra control again but we need to practice regulating our heart rate safely during battle." Naruto summarized, "Anything else that you can think of?"

" **There are no other drawbacks that I have noticed, at this time."** Kurama said after few minutes of silence, **"You should have clones focus on your control without the cloak active while we train together, it should help up improve faster."**

Naruto chuckled. "I never thought that I would have to worry about running out of chakra with you around."

Kurama snorted. **"Our reserves are much larger but your control has always been barely adequate. So bad that it might even offset the total gain in chakra we have together."**

"Hmph. Says the one who always encourages me to be as overwhelming as possible." Naruto grumbled, "Just admit that you like it when I use the most destructive means of eliminating our enemies."

" **Indeed. I suspect that we could end a war in short order if we decided to be excessive."** Kurama said in amusement.

"With that thought, we should probably leave this place and start training," Naruto said with a sigh. "I doubt the Daimyō's will drag their feet about starting this war for much longer. There is also the Akatsuki to investigate and the fact that someone is pulling strings for us to gather what we need for the plan as well." Naruto finished with a frown.

Kurama could sense Naruto's wariness about approaching the Akatsuki coming through the bond so he didn't try to push him at the moment. Since their feelings and thoughts on the subject could be felt quite clearly through the bond there was no use vocalizing their arguments. The underlying truth was that they didn't have enough information for them to safely approach an organization that had proven to be a threat on first contact.

The best bet would be to connect to Saiken somehow, but Amegakure was an isolated nation at the footsteps of Iwa. Jiraiya had mentioned to them in the past how no one has successfully infiltrated Ame and lived to this day. Instead, they should focus on getting stronger and let the Akatsuki start revealing themselves more. Then it would be safer to discern the truth.

Before Naruto faded out of the mindscape he decided to fulfill one of his long-standing promises. Closing his eyes he concentrated on the various forests and lakes he had seen during his training trip. As he willed the mindscape to the image in his mind he could feel Kurama's surprise and contentment with no longer being trapped in a cage. In the end, the mindscape was converted to a large clearing surrounded by a forest full of pine, oak, elm, and ash trees.

There was a waterfall and pool towards the back of the clearing for ambiance. While he couldn't alter the dimensions outlined when his seal was created, he could take some creative liberties so that Kurama had the illusion of being in a large forest. At least, he had room to walk a short distance and was only surrounded by steep mountains or dense forest instead of the old musty and dank sewer.

Naruto opened his eyes and was satisfied when he saw Kurama already lounging in the grass on the sunny side of the clearing. With that done, he left his mindscape to see what was going on outside.

 **Maximum Security Prison Ward - T & I Division – Konoha**

* * *

Gaara leaned back against the cell wall as he re-read the letter that he had received several months ago. When he had first read the letter, he had been tempted to simply wad it up and throw it away. Whoever this "Naruto" character was, he was living a pipe dream to think that people like them could live in peace. If it wasn't for his mother and Shukaku encouraging him to have hope again, he would have simply opted to be freed from his miserable existence by fighting his way out of this prison until Konoha managed to put him down. They always said that death was the ultimate release.

Gaara sighed and closed his eyes. It was a struggle for him to forgive the bastard tanuki for impersonating his mother and driving him insane for as long as he could remember. If Shukaku hadn't attacked that cursed village, his mother would have lived and cared for him. He might have actually grown to love and care for that damn village and the rest of his fucked up family. At least, that was what he believed until his mother had told him the truth.

Shukaku hadn't attacked the village in over eighty years because he was sealed away inside of a container by the Uzumaki clan. As the container's seals were beginning to fail, the Kazekage had sent a missive to Konoha saying an attack was imminent and if they could assist him in creating a jinchūriki like they had done with the Kyūbi. The Sandaime was willing to grant his request for a steep cost and several demands. The sealing process would remain secret and could not be witnessed by any Suna ninja, the sealing had to take place in Konoha, and the identity of the child was not hidden from Konoha. His father had been furious at their demands and rejected the offer outright. His belief had been that as allies, Konoha should be willing to provide the details and seal the bijū away without cost. The Kazekage then tasked their best Fūinjutsu expert, the elder Chiyo, to create a seal based on an incomplete copy of the Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Seal) one of Suna's spies had stolen during the Kyūbi attack.

After three months of work, time had run out and Shukaku was only days away from breaking free of the container. Chiyo suggested letting Shukaku loose out in the desert until the seal was completed so they could then subdue the beast and seal it inside of a newborn, but Rasa was desperate for a jinchūriki and ordered her to modify the process so his son could be used instead. This way, he would be able to control the jinchūriki directly without interference from the council.

Chiyo was no seal master, and in Shukaku's opinion, she was barely above the intermediate level at that time, so it was no surprise that the sealing had been a disaster. The seal was not sophisticated enough to target Shukaku directly and his mother's soul had been dragged along with Shukaku's chakra when Chiyo applied the seal. Shukaku had said that only the most dedicated seal masters might have been able to avoid trapping his mother's soul like that but it would have resulted in her death anyways. No true seal master would have bothered to try sealing a child that was still in the womb. Even Chiyo had protested the action vehemently, but Rasa would not be swayed. In the end, Chiyo had no choice but to obey the Kazekage or risk her and her brother's execution.

At first, life had been good for Gaara. He was cared for as an infant by his uncle Yashamaru and his wife. His older brother and sister would play with him as a toddler and he even had a few friends. As Shukaku and his mother's soul slumbered, life moved on and Gaara grew old enough to begin training at the age of 6. That was when his life fell apart completely.

Rasa had wanted Gaara to be raised as an emotionless weapon that would serve the village without question, but Yashamaru refused to raise his sister's son in that manner. He believed that Gaara deserved a better life. In order to try and counter Yashamaru's influence, Rasa announced Gaara's status to the village. Even with the entire village turning it's back on Gaara and his friends abandoning him, Yashamaru and his wife stayed by his side and tried to comfort him from the beatings and the torment. It was the only comfort Gaara now had in his life and he clung to it like a lifeline in a stormy sea.

Shukaku had been more than willing to let his container break down since it made the seal weaker. Instead of being imprisoned for the next 80 years, he might be able to break free in under 30 at this rate. So, he opted not to intervene unless some of the stupid mortals took their abuse too far and put his container into a life threatening situation. Why bother to accept destruction and reform if he could just bide his time and break the seal instead?

It wasn't long after the torment started that Karura's soul finally woke up from hibernation and seeing the status of her son, began desperately fighting through the restrictions in the seal in order to comfort her son. Unfortunately for Gaara, Karura had no knowledge of fūinjutsu or she might have succeeded and changed the course of Gaara's life but it was not to be.

Shukaku knew that if Karura did find away to circumnavigate the seal and reach Gaara directly, his plans would be set back immeasurably, so he offered the distraught woman a deal. She would gain control of his natural sand defenses but would have to avoid contacting Gaara directly. Karura reluctantly agreed to those terms since she believed that if she could protect Gaara from the mobs, eventually someone would come along and save him from his lonely existence.

Once the deal was in place, Karura showed Shukaku the power of a mother protecting her son because not one hair on his head was ever touched from that moment forward. It didn't matter how many people attacked him at once. If anything approached Gaara with malicious intent it was repelled. Even the strongest of jutsu couldn't breakthrough what the villagers dubbed as "the perfect defense".

Even with the village turning against Gaara, Rasa could tell that he would need something highly traumatic in order to push the boy down the path he wanted. Since Yashamaru was a thorn in his side, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get rid of a problem and further his own goals. When Gaara made his weekly trip to the playground to try and make friends, Rasa set his plan into motion.

Two Anbu attacked and killed Yashamaru and his wife before using a Henge to take their place. Next, they joined the mob engineered by Rasa to attack Gaara and finally drive him over the edge. It worked better than Rasa expected because as soon as Gaara saw Yashamaru trying to kill him he broke down completely.

"Yashamaru" proceeded to tell Gaara that they never loved or cared for him, that he would never have any loved ones since no one could love a demon, and that his mother had died cursing his very existence. Enraged by this bitter betrayal, Gaara lost control completely and lashed out killing everyone around him. After the massacre, the villagers were too afraid to try and curse or torment Gaara. They steered clear of him or gave him whatever he wanted out of fear of being crushed by his malevolent sands. From that point forward, Gaara decided that he could only care about himself and that he could only have a peaceful life by driving fear into everyone around him.

As Gaara grew older and his body count continued to rise, the villagers and the council were at their wit's end with dealing with Gaara. Every assassination attempt failed horribly and resulted in even more collateral damage since Gaara would retaliate by crushing random villagers afterward. Women, children, the disabled, no one was safe from Gaara's vengeance. Their only salvation came from Temari herself. Gaara, while distant, still remembered that his siblings had cared for in the past and had maintained a cordial but distant relationship with them.

What Gaara didn't know, however, is that Temari's first love had been one of the fools who had crossed him and paid for it with their life. Temari had harbored a hidden hatred for her brother ever since. As she was the only one able to bypass Gaara's sand defenses, she waited for the perfect opportunity and slapped a suppression seal on Gaara before he could react. Gaara fell unconscious and Chiyo was instructed to apply a control seal so that they could stop his rampages through the village. Chiyo's assistant, however, had been a relative of the slain boy and he conspired with Temari to get revenge on the demon by applying a crippling seal the assistant had created. On the night of the sealing, the assistant provided enough of a distraction for Temari to sneak in and add the crippling seal using a pattern and Chiyo's own sealing ink. Once Chiyo activated the control seal, she unknowingly activated the hidden crippling seal as well.

The rest, as they say, was history.

Gaara actually became even more violent and unstable because of the crippling seal and no one knew why but Temari and the boy's relatives. While Gaara didn't know what Temari had done to him, Shukaku did and he made sure that bitch paid for it in spades. Taking up the appearance of his mother out of desperation, Shukaku drove Gaara into murdering people more frequently in the hopes that they would finally manage to subdue the boy and seal his chakra away completely. They would then identify the crippling seal and remove it or seal him away in another container. Anything was better than this constant pain at this point. Gaara listened to the voice in his head dutifully as he still longed for someone to love and care for him despite his belief that only through fear and death could he find peace.

His preferred targets were anyone who grew close to his whore of a sister and their entire family as well. The entire village now knew that even smiling at Temari would result in death so they started to avoid her like the plague. For a young hormonal teenage woman, nothing could be more torturous then being ostracized. As far as Gaara was concerned, the bitch deserved it. Now she could enjoy the pain of loneliness and she would never be loved by anyone since they all feared death.

For Gaara, it became a game to him. He would behave and follow orders just long enough for them to let their guards down as he made a list of people to kill. Once they were all lulled into a false sense of security, he would lash out violently taking as many of his targets out as possible before they managed to subdue him with the control seal. The constant raving of his mother's suffering was the only thing that mattered. He would lash out and kill until his mother was satisfied. It was the only time his mother was pleased with him, every other time his mother would curse him and blame him for her suffering. It pained Gaara deeply so he worked hard to please his mother.

That all ended with the failed invasion of Konoha. What happened during the invasion itself was a complete blur to him since his mind had been bombarded by so many voices his already fragile psyche had snapped. The next thing he knew he was waking up inside a cell and mother was silent. His mind was actually clearer than before and it was easier for him to think and remember everything. Before he could process all of the changes that had happened to him, he was pulled into a sandy cavern and in front of him was the soul of his mother and Shukaku himself.

Shukaku and his mother had then explained everything to him. From his premature birth to the moment where the Kyūbi and Hachibi jinchūriki subdued him and freed him from his suffering.

Shukaku apologized for his manipulations and explained why he had been so destructive towards him because of the crippling seal.

His mother had dropped to her knees and begged him for forgiveness for making the deal with Shukaku and not being able to comfort him as he struggled through life.

For his part, Gaara had no idea how he should respond or react to this information. On one hand he was glad that his mother had actually cared for him and loved him. For so long he had believed the spiteful admissions of the village that his mother had died cursing his existence. He now knew that the reason he had survived all these years was because she had been controlling his "perfect defense".

In the end, he couldn't find it in himself to blame his mother for making the deal. She had been a victim in all of this mess, not having any choice in the matter. He didn't understand the technicalities on how she had been sealed inside of him but he didn't care for that. At least, he now knew the love of his real mother instead of Shukaku's twisted version.

As for Naruto and B, the others who, like him, were containers for bijū, they cared enough for him on some level to fight and free him from his misery. The letter he had received from Naruto showed concern and care for him in its words. Naruto had given him some details about his own childhood and in it, Gaara could see the parallels between Naruto's life and his own. Admittedly, his life was so much worse and on that front and Naruto had pointed out that while he had his own struggles, Naruto didn't think they were nearly as bad as Gaara's had been. He had heard nothing from this person called "B" so he wouldn't do anything more than thank him and be done with it.

The sticking point had been Naruto's insistence that his life would only get better if he bonded with Shukaku. Naruto had explained all the details of his life before and after bonding with the Kyūbi. While he admitted he had gained some friends and even the care of the Sandaime himself, it was the bond with the Kyūbi that helped him to survive the painful loneliness and shield himself from the hatred of the villagers.

Gaara could kind of understand his point. He had felt a hundred times better when he accepted his mother's soul was with him. A huge wound in his heart had healed just by him accepting her love and now he could speak with her and Shukaku just with his thoughts. Even if Shukaku had been the one to give him that capability, Gaara still felt there was much for Shukaku to make up for.

Could things only get better if he accepted Shukaku as well?

Then there was this plan that Naruto and the Kyūbi had explained to Shukaku. Mother's was reticent to believe everything they had been told, but she did believe that some aspects had to be true since the repercussions were not just dangerous for humanity but the bijū themselves. She pushed for him to stay neutral until Naruto returned and provided more details. Gaara, for his part, could see that what Shukaku had said was indeed plausible. He owed Naruto and the Kyūbi for fixing the hell that was his life, the least he could do was to keep an open mind and hear him out directly.

Gaara wasn't stupid or uneducated in the least. While he had to learn on his own since the teachers were too frightened of him in the Academy, no one dared stop him from entering the restricted areas of the library and Kazekage tower. Essentially, he had been granted access to all the knowledge at Suna's disposal. He had to do something to keep himself entertained during the long sleepless nights after all.

Still, it was hard for him to simply trust the tanuki. While Shukaku had been making inroads into gaining his forgiveness, there wasn't much that could be done while he was imprisoned. Naruto had mentioned that he would push for better accommodations for him while he was away, but it appeared that his attempts hadn't born fruit just yet.

At least, they brought him books and better food then what was provided to his disgusting siblings across the way, but still he longed for freedom. It was the only reason he was considering Naruto's insistence that he bond with Shukaku in the first place. If he was going stir crazy being in this cell then it must have been worse for Shukaku. Shukaku had been bound for almost a century in an inanimate object. After that, he was sealed into Gaara before the crippling and control seals were applied and he was in constant pain for the past six years. Gaara could clearly remember the constant screams and curses coming from the bijū and while he still harbored some hatred for the tanuki, he did feel a little pity for the beast. He knew what it was like to be in constant pain and it was not fun.

Gaara was drawn out of his thoughts when two Anbu guards entered the prison. They were escorting a young woman with blonde pigtails that had a strange marking on her forehead. The woman was simply dressed so Gaara was completely shocked when the Anbu introduced her as the Legendary Slug Sannin, Tsunade, and the Godaime Hokage of Konoha.

Gaara was escorted out of the prison by the Hokage and the Anbu guards and led to a meeting room which was then sealed for security and privacy. It wasn't like he would be capable of doing anything with the chakra suppression seals on him, but he couldn't be too surprised by the precautions being taken by the ones responsible for the security of the village leader.

"Gaara, I brought you here to give you an update on your situation and give you some options on your future," Tsunade said before sliding a letter over to Gaara before she continued. "As you can see Suna is still demanding the release of your siblings and the return of their "property." Tsunade finished with a look of disgust on her face.

Gaara maintained a stoic facade but he could tell that she was displeased by the fact that they referred to him as property. Perhaps he could lend more weight to Naruto's words after all.

"As it stands now, Konoha will reject Suna's demands since they are in no place to attack us again after their failed invasion. In a few years time, however, that situation might change." Tsunade said before leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms.

Gaara finished reading the letter and looked back up to Tsunade. He didn't know what Tsunade wanted from him, but if it would give him the chance to be freed he was very interested, the question was, under what conditions?

"What do you want from me?" Gaara asked outright.

"Well, you are not one to beat around the bush, are you?" Tsunade said with a snort. "I'll be honest with you, your reputation in Suna does not give me any confidence in trusting you but Naruto-kun was adamant that I give you a chance to prove yourself. I am taking a big risk in doing this so I need you to understand a few things." Tsunade said before her aloof expression quickly changed to an intimidating one.

Not much could intimidate Gaara, but knowing what this woman was capable of made him reluctant to simply wave off her warning as insignificant.

"Let's get one thing straight. I don't care if the villagers look at you the wrong way or spit at your feet. If you so much as threaten anyone, I WILL END YOU." Tsunade said coldly. "The villagers are no threat to you so it stands to reason that you have no excuse to lash out at them like you were known to do in Suna." Tsunade leaned back in her chair and took a more cordial tone after that. "From what Naruto-kun tells me, some of that behavior was unavoidable because of certain seals that were applied to your person. While I might take my godson's words to heart, as the Hokage I can't afford to take risks. If the villagers try to lash out at you, can you control yourself?" Tsunade asked.

Gaara thought it over for a moment. He had been lashing out at people without a thought for so long that he wasn't really certain if he could stop himself. On the other hand, it would be worth putting some effort into doing so if it meant being free.

"I might need some time to acclimate myself to crowds in general," Gaara replied. "You have to understand that for half of my life I have been plagued with assassination attempts and beatings to the point that lashing out at a threat is almost second nature to me. With that said, now that Shukaku is no longer in pain I have greater control over my actions. If someone were to attack me, however, I can not promise they won't emerge unscathed." Gaara finished.

"That's good enough for me," Tsunade said with a nod. "Any villager that has the gall to attack someone should expect retaliation, especially if they are stupid enough to attack a shinobi. It's one of the reasons no one ever attacked Naruto-kun again when he was younger. The Sandaime made it clear that he would put them down quickly and deny any benefits to their families for the act. Restrain yourself if they open their mouths but if they attack then you are free to defend yourself against anyone who is in the process of attacking you." Tsunade finished.

Gaara was a bit taken aback by how quickly Tsunade accepted his words. "Really? Just like that, you will accept my words and give me freedom?"

Tsunade couldn't stop the laugh from erupting from her mouth. "Oh, it won't be so simple. I'm willing to take your word because of Naruto-kun, but you still need to prove yourself before you get any true freedom." Tsunade slid another folder over to Gaara for him to read. "In that folder are the terms of you becoming a shinobi of Konoha. You will be required to pass certain tests and checks just like any other defecting shinobi, but, in addition to these tests, you will be required to attend mandatory training, have semi-annual mental evaluations, and will be under a probationary period for one year before we allow you missions outside of the village."

As Gaara read over the terms he noticed a few things that didn't sit well with him.

"It says here that I will still have my chakra sealed until I complete the probationary period," Gaara said with a frown.

"Yes. Until you prove you are trustworthy, we won't allow you to access the Ichibi's chakra. That is part of what the mandatory training is for." Tsunade steepled her fingers together and leaned against the table. "Naruto-kun wanted you to be unsealed, but I wouldn't budge on that point. The compromise we decided on would be that you would learn self-defense using taijutsu and bukijutsu during your probationary period. I will provide you with a guard detail until you feel secure enough to move about without them."

"How will I earn ryō to live if I can't do any missions?" Gaara asked curiously.

"Naruto-kun was generous enough to leave a sum of ryō for you to use should you accept the offer," Tsunade said with a sigh. Gaara could tell that she didn't approve of Naruto's actions but was not petty enough to keep him from accessing the money if he accepted the terms.

Gaara shook his head in confusion. It didn't make any sense to him that some random guy would give him an obviously significant amount of money to live for a year with no strings attached.

"What does he want from me?" Gaara said suspiciously.

"Honestly? I don't know what that brat was thinking, but he was adamant." Tsunade said with a chuckle. "Maybe it is because you both have the same burden, perhaps. It has been mentioned to me that jinchūriki are known to be drawn to each other like kindred spirits. Perhaps it is because of the difficult lives they have or because of the bijū inside of them, who knows." Tsunade said with a shrug. "All I know is that he wants to offer you this chance."

"Just remember this. If you do accept the offer, you better be grateful to him, because if I learn that you are taking advantage of his kind nature. I will make your past suffering look like a simple paper cut." Tsunade said in a dangerous tone.

Gaara looked down at the contract and shook his head. "It almost seems to good to be true," he mumbled, but Tsunade heard him anyways.

"What happens if I don't accept?" Gaara asked.

"You will remain here with your siblings until the council comes to a decision on what to do with you three. For you, it will be the worst. I imagine they will want to either kill you in the desert forcing the Ichibi to reform away from here, or extract the Ichibi and seal it away if not create another jinchūriki. Knowing our Daimyō, the latter is most likely." Tsunade said in a no nonsense tone.

"Which means, either way, I will die since a jinchūriki can't survive the extraction," Gaara said.

"Yep. Your brother and sister will likely be ransomed or executed based on how Suna reacts." Tsunade continued as she studied Gaara for his reaction.

Gaara merely shrugged. "I could care less what happens to them, especially that bitch they call my sister. She can suffer for all I care, after what she did to me."

"If you have no love for Suna, why not take the offer. You know it is only a matter of time before we will be at war with them once again. Konoha will not forgive them this time." Tsunade said.

Gaara crossed his arms across his chest and looked up at the ceiling. It seemed like it was too good to be true but at the same time, Naruto had never needed to free him of the seal. Konoha could have just killed him and let Shukaku reform safely away from the village, or they could have sealed Shukaku away into another container. He had been resolved to give Naruto the benefit of the doubt about the plan so he might as well go for broke and accept the deal. It was better than sitting in a cell and losing his mind again.

"Okay, Hokage-sama. I will accept the deal. I, at least, owe it to Naruto to accept his generous offer since he has freed me from my torment." Gaara said after a few moments.

"Good. If you had said you were simply going to accept just to lay waste to Suna, I might have rescinded the offer." Tsunade said with a smirk before handing Gaara a pen. "Sign on the first, fifth, and sixth pages and we will get you set up with access to the account Naruto-kun left for you as well as his old apartment. Just make sure you make it last, contact with Naruto-kun has been sporadic, at best, since he is traveling with Jiraiya at this time." Tsunade replied.

"How much longer until Naruto returns?" Gaara asked as he flipped to the fifth page to sign.

"Two more years at most." Tsunade said sadly, "Maybe one year if he manages to finish his training sooner or if the war breaks out sooner than expected."

Gaara merely nodded before flipping to the next page to sign. "I have plenty of time to prepare then. I might not be hell bent on revenge against that cursed village, but I won't complain if you tell me to lay waste to it."

Tsunade didn't reply since she knew it was likely they would end up using him for their assault on Suna. All reports she was hearing from the capital still pointed to the Daimyō wanting to raze Suna completely. While she wasn't fond of the idea, there was nothing she could do if the Daimyō refused to change his mind. It was saddening to know that thousands of lives were resting on a petty grudge between two self-important men who just happened to have been conceived from the right hime or concubine.

Once Gaara was finished signing the paperwork, Tsunade gathered it all up and left him to wait for his Anbu detail and a guide to help him learn his way around the village. A short time later a woman named Shizune introduced herself and led Gaara to the bank in order for him to get access to the account and pick up his bank book. He was shocked to see that Naruto had left him 2,000,000 ryō to live off of. In Suna, that would have lasted him, at least, four years of modest living.

Shizune explained that while the cost of food and rent was low, energy, furniture, and appliances were much more expensive in Konoha. She suspected that with the amount Naruto had given him, he could furnish the apartment and live comfortably without any income for two years with the right budget. Exactly the amount of time it would take for his return, Gaara noted.

Still, two S ranked missions worth of money was a lot, especially from a stranger. Gaara resolved himself to stop using the account once his probationary period was over and repay the blond for anything he had used from it. He was used to frugal living and only really needed a few good books and a nice meal to be satisfied. Besides, he was completing B and A ranked missions as a genin so it should be easy for him to recoup the money to repay the debt once his probation was over.

After they left the bank, Shizune brought Gaara to the merchant district so he could pick up the essentials to furnish the apartment. Besides the kitchen appliances and a futon, the apartment was completely bare so Gaara had to buy all of the essentials to make the place livable. It didn't take long for everything to be purchased and, with an additional fee, the store owner promised to have all the items delivered by the end of the day.

Next, Gaara went through a few clothing stores to find some new clothing to wear. The styles in Konoha were vastly different then Suna and since there was less heat to deal, with it took Gaara a few hours to find something suitable to wear. In the end, he opted for a simple dark red button up jacket with matching pants over a kusari shirt for protection. For the first time in his life, he added kunai and shuriken pouches to his ensemble since he wouldn't have access to his chakra until his probation was over. At least, he would have some weapons to use. He was proficient in the use of kunai and shuriken as it had been required to pass the Genin test in Suna, but his taijutsu was non-existent because of his mother's protection.

For now, he would need to rely on his own strength until he proved he could be trusted.

Once he had picked out a few sets of clothing and some casual wear, he was lead to the grocery store that Naruto owned so he could stock up on any groceries he would want to fill his fridge with. Gaara had never had to cook for himself so the pre-made meals were right up his alley, even if it was a disappointment that they didn't have salted beef tongue and gizzard on the menu. It was the most depressing thing he had heard when he learned that it was not a common meal in Konoha like it was in Suna. Perhaps learning to cook would become a priority since he could easily purchase the tongue and gizzards himself.

On the brighter side of things, it appeared that his guard detail might not even be necessary. There were a few villagers who sent him a glare or two but, for the most part, he was able to walk around the village without anyone paying him any mind. It was surreal to have vendors call out to him to purchase their wares, to have shopkeepers greet him with smiles and a cheery nature. He was so used to people averting their eyes and clearing out of his way. Shopkeepers would often be sweating and shaking out of fear when he entered a shop. Restaurants would clear out when he entered to have lunch or dinner.

Gaara decided that this was one change that he could learn to enjoy.

 **Tamago Nabe Restaurant – Taki**

* * *

Fū leaned back in her seat as she drank from her glass of ice tea. Setting her glass down she continued to eat her Oyakodon (Chicken and Egg Bowl). Her eyes drifted to the side as she sensed a flare of hatred directed her way. It was minor and quick, but she had caught onto it just the same.

While tensions had died down since the attack, there were still villagers pressuring Shibuki to banish her or kill her outright. Most of the villagers had settled down and just disregarded her presence while others just kept their thoughts and feelings to themselves, knowing that nothing short of killing Shibuki would change the fact that she remained.

The villagers liked Shibuki too much to plot against him in that manner, so she didn't have concerns about that.

To think she had been foolish enough to think she could befriend them all. What a ridiculous dream that had been. She didn't fault Shibuki for encouraging that thought. It was like casting a net. The bigger the net the more chances you had to catch the fish that you wanted. Fū thanked Kami for Naruto's arrival in Taki. If he had not intervened, she would probably still be that hyperactive and clueless idiot.

She missed Naruto dearly. He had been so much fun to hang out with. Looking back now she could tell that she had been an annoyance to him but instead of lashing out at her or belittling her any further, he would still spend time with her playing those silly games. She couldn't stop the smile from growing on her face as she remembered the day he let her decide what to do. She had made progress in breaking through that stoic mask of his and found that he was actually a kind and pleasant person to spend time with. It had been a major achievement in her mind.

As time had passed and she gained mastery over her negative emotion sensing, her maturity had increased dramatically. She no longer only cared about playing games or making friends. Now she put more focus into training and becoming stronger instead of just fulfilling her required amount of training time like she did in the past. She was still cheery and outgoing by nature but it was more tempered now.

She noticed that people took her more seriously now and that some of the fools who had hated her because of Chōmei had actually changed their minds about her. Some of the younger generation had actually accepted her overtures of friendship. Now, she had several friends around her age and skill level (without Chōmei's help) that she would go on missions with and could rely on them to watch her back in a serious situation.

Fū finished up her meal and got up to return to the training grounds. She had to get much stronger if she wanted to be prepared for what was to come.

News of the brewing war between Konoha and Kumo vs Iwa and Suna was on the forefront of everyone's mind. To a small village like Taki, all this meant was that they were likely to be the very first victims of an assault well before the big villages even declared war. A small village like Taki was just considered a useful pit stop on the way to their bigger objective. That meant that they would have to face a significantly larger army without any support until one of their runners made it through the enemy blockade and warned Konoha.

In the past, she might have been happy enough to run the message herself. She was very fast and very hard to take down, but now that was not good enough for her. Despite the assholes and idiots in this village, there were still a group of people who supported and cared for her. There was also a larger group who treated her the same as everyone else. She had all this power inside of her with Chōmei as her partner. It would be insulting to those who supported her if she didn't learn to harness that strength and drive back the enemy.

With Chōmei, she could take much more punishment and survive where all her friends would fall. It was time for her to use her friendship with Chōmei as more than a crutch. She didn't think of him as a tool or weapon to be used, on the contrary, he was her best friend. Yet, he was able to provide her with power that she could use to protect herself and those she cared about. The power was there, so she might as well use it. Otherwise, it was just a waste.

As she made her way back to the training ground she remembered some of the games she had played with Naruto. Sure he was only placating her at the time but she had still enjoyed herself immeasurably. Looking back she could tell that Naruto was also using her enthusiasm as a form of training himself. As she thought about it more, she couldn't find it in herself to be angry with him for manipulating her in that way. Technically, they both got what they wanted in the end. It had also served to wear down his defenses and finally allow him to accept her as a friend which was worth it. If she had been in her right mind at the time his actions wouldn't have really been necessary.

Besides, when he did finally return to visit she could always prank him for payback. She had a few ideas on how to rile the stoic blond up. That would be more than enough to pay him back for using her like that. Maybe he would find other ways to use her, ways that would be a lot more enjoyable.

Fū blushed as her thoughts started to get away from her. Naruto had been very handsome but she hadn't been interested in that sort of thing at the time. While he was younger than her she was certain it was by only a few years. That wouldn't be much of a problem for her. His blond hair and blue eyes were an exotic look when compared to the vastly brunette population of Taki so it was only natural she develop a crush on him. She had to wonder just how much sexier he had gotten over the years.

Yes. It would be very fun to tease the blond when he returned. Given his stoic nature he probably wasn't very experienced with women. She could lower his guard by playing the loud and annoying friend until the time was right to strike. She couldn't wait to see his face when she started laying the innuendos on him with that childish personality. He would never suspect that it was all a ruse.

It was going to be so much fun to watch him squirm and blush, she couldn't wait.


	64. Pieces in Motion

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be depictions of violence and sexual content in this chapter.

 **Chapter 63**

 **Pieces in Motion**

 **9 months later – Mid Morning – Border of Hi no Kuni**

* * *

A convoy of wagons and carriages rumbled down the dusty road leaving the grassy plains and rolling hills of Yu no Kuni and through the bordering meadows that surrounded the vast woodlands of Hi no Kuni.

At first glance, the convoy seemed typical for a minor nobleman or wealthy merchant. Two plushly decorated carriages with built in suspension systems led the convoy, guarded by two teams from Shimogakure. A team of chūnin scouted ahead of the convoy, looking for threats and traps while the genin team and their jōnin sensei formed a protective perimeter.

Three covered wagons followed behind with two dozen hired mercenaries that marched in a line alongside the traveling caravan with only a handful having the funds or importance to ride upon horseback. The second wagon gave away the wealth and value of its contents, however, despite their best attempts at disguising the wagon as ordinary.

Beneath the faded canvas top, thick iron bands and plates could be seen reinforcing the exorbitantly expensive and durable ironwood planks used in the construction of the wagon. The wheels and frame of the carriage were also constructed of iron, instead of the typical wood, and the thick metal door and multiple steel locks securing it only added to the impression that something of great value or worth was contained within. If the construction of the wagon wasn't enough of an indicator, for those savvy enough to pay attention to details, the fact that the most heavily armed and armored mercenaries were concentrated around the wagon would have been obvious to even the densest bandits.

As morning gave way to noon the convoy passed through scattered woodland and peaceful meadows until the natural woodland began to give way to the Shodaime's forests that surrounded the vast heart of Hi no Kuni. The convoy began to slow down as they entered the dense forest, the path becoming more treacherous for multiple reasons.

The tightly knit formation of trees and their towering trunks made navigation difficult for wheeled transport. Giant arching roots protruded from the ground preventing anything more than simply packed dirt roads from being constructed. Thick, wide spreading limbs and their numerous smaller branches were practically entwined with each other forming a dense canopy of broad leaves that cloaked the ground in an emerald veil. Very few rays of light were capable of piercing through the tree tops unfiltered, leaving the forest floor shrouded in dappled lighting that provided the perfect camouflage for traps and bandits.

The shinobi and mercenaries began to close ranks as they entered deepening shadows of the forest. The Jōnin warily scanned his surroundings with a trained eye, keeping a close eye on the various root arches and caves formed from the centuries old forest around him. He could tell his genin were antsy and nervous but did nothing to settle those emotions. The hypersensitivity they would get from their fear was much better than the alternative in his opinion. A brief flicker of light drew the Jōnin's attention to the tree tops. Apparently the chūnin team had decided to split up. It was not a bad idea in this situation, as long as they didn't wander too far. Strangely enough, the visibility only improved as you climbed closer to the canopy. With two of the chūnin covering the tree paths and the remaining two scouting ahead of the convoy, they _should_ be able to spot trouble in time to react.

Unknown to the caravan, several different eyes were watching their progression from the shadows.

The old lady smirked as she watched the convoy near the group of bandits she had been inspiring for the past week. Unlike most bandits, there was much more to this group than the usual thieving filth that you would expect from a band of highwaymen. Usually, these types of men were desperate, uneducated filth that had little to no morals and didn't offer the proper respect to the Kami that had created them. Because of this fact, it wasn't normal for the Light to be tasked to reward such a group.

Now, however, it turned out to be the best. The Light would be able to fulfill the task dictated by their patron Kami and sabotage some of the Darkness' plans in a manner that was typically used by the Darkness itself. That thought made the old ladies' smirk grow even larger. Today would provide a delicious and ironic twist in this eternal game they had been created to play.

Usually, the Light was the one dealing with the pious, regardless of their motives. In the morning the Light would be granting strength or fortune to a ruthless warlord or greedy merchant who worships Bishamon (God of Wealth and War) by afternoon the Light would be using it's talents to grant a bountiful catch to a poor fisherman or rewarding an honest merchant with a surge of business because they had pleased Ebisu (God of Honest Labour). It would be interesting to see the Darkness' own schemes falling to the types of mortals it usually manipulated with ease. It would be highly amusing if the Darkness manifested its typical shadowy form, just so that the Light could sense its anger and frustration at having its plans thwarted.

The old lady turned her gaze down to the bandit group as they edged closer to the road. With the Light's help last week, this particular group had managed to outfit themselves with better armor and weapons for this particular raid. With a few subtle enchantments, their armor would reflect less light, their footfalls would be lighter, and they would be able to withstand more attacks giving them a fair chance at surprising the shinobi guarding the Darkness' precious cargo. With the haul that they would receive from successfully ambushing this caravan, their faith would be rewarded and the Light could move onto thwarting its rivals plans even further before the next task was assigned.

With narrowed eyes, the avatar of Light studied the procession. While this particular move was highly unusual for its shadowy counterpart, the Darkness had always been quite cunning. The true threat in this caravan was concealed from the Light but if it had to guess, it was some form of relic that would counteract the enchanted artifacts that had been given to the chosen one and his companions. This theory seemed more feasible when taking into consideration that the clan traveling with this convoy planned to have dealings with the Hyūga clan. The Light made a note to observe these pawns movements closely once they reached the village to ensure that they weren't sent to interfere with its plans.

The old lady leaped further ahead of the caravan with a speed and grace counter to her wizened appearance. If anyone was capable of tracking her movements, it would seem almost supernatural. No mortal would be capable of seeing her in detail as she moved, but one pair of shadowed eyes was able to pick up the woman's movements easily.

The shadowy figure opted to remain on its side of the road instead of chasing off its long-time rival. Perhaps it had been foolish to hope that this particular scheme would go unnoticed but there was still a chance that his true plans were concealed. The Light had always been resourceful and capable of readjusting plans or strategies to counter its own. If it wasn't for that particular skill, the Darkness would have been bored as well as bitter and weary of its purpose.

For centuries, it had been forced to endure the mortal plane and dish out the punishments dictated by the Kami, regardless if they were deserved or not. Maybe it was simply due to the fact that it had to deal with constant orders to torment, destroy, or bring misery into the lives of these foolish mortals that had caused the Darkness to tire of _existing_.

The Darkness held nothing but contempt for the pawns of the Kami. They were corrupt, inept, vicious creatures that seemed to feed on misery and death. This whole plane of existence was nothing but a sham to feed the egos of the petty Kami and the mortals that dwelt on that realm were a perfect image of their creators. Greedy, selfish, destructive were the main traits that were immediately observed when viewing the mortal pawns that crawled on the earth.

Even the good aspects of their existence were shadowed by their inherent corruption. Love went hand in hand with selfishness and greed. Valor and nobility were only covering for arrogance and pride. The only saving grace, in the Darkness' opinion, was their destructive nature for it would provide the means of its salvation from this empty existence it was forced to endure. The best part is that the Kami themselves wouldn't even be bothered to intervene because they were too involved in their stupid rivalries to care. Their arrogance blinded them so much that they wouldn't even realize their actions until the punishment of the elder gods was enacted and they lost most of their powers. Even after several warnings before and after the creation of the mortal plane, the Kami had still disregarded them all and almost destroyed the world shortly after it's creation. That was when their direct interference was banished and the Darkness was born into eternal servitude.

If the mortal realm was threatened with destruction once more, however, the elder gods would not only punish the Kami, but they would dissolve the mortal plane as well. With the mortal realm's destruction, the Darkness would no longer have any purpose and would be sent to peaceful oblivion, dragging the Light along with it. It would be the ultimate revenge.

That had been one of the first goals of the Darkness after diligently fulfilling the tasks of the Kami for several centuries. The more time it spent on the mortal realm, however, the more it realized how trivial its purpose truly was. Doling out petty revenge against mortals in the name of even pettier immortals, it was shameful. Yet the Light was always thwarting its efforts to end this useless game and free them from their burden because the Light actually enjoyed toying with the mortal pawns.

For centuries, the Darkness had waited for the opportunity it needed while it plotted various ways to drive the mortals into destroying their own world. Usually, the scale of their destruction wasn't nearly vast enough to threaten the entire world, but misery breeds company so the Darkness continued to sow it in the hopes that one of them would arise with the strength necessary to wipe out existence. Finally, the humans had succeeded in sealing away all the bijū and keeping them contained, giving it the opportunity to destroy the mortal realm completely.

Only now did the opportunity arise to create destruction on such a massive scale that the elder gods could be forced into action. Only now, if successful, could the Darkness set into motion the events that would force those spoiled, arrogant Kami to stop their petty bickering, pointless rivalries, and foolish games that they thrived on. It was frustrating that the Light couldn't realize the truth behind its efforts but the Light couldn't be blamed since it was only fulfilling the purpose that had been given. To counter the influence of its counterpart while completing the tasks designated to it.

Still, the Darkness would carry on and try to gain more ground that it had lost with the chosen one. The Light's interference had fouled up well-laid plans that had been in place for years. Hopefully, what was in that caravan would ensure that the boy continued on the _proper_ path.

The artifacts of protection the Light had granted to the boy and his companions had been causing major setbacks in the Darkness' plans. That meddlesome counterpart had managed to facilitate the alteration of the plan that the Darkness had created centuries ago. Not only had the Light paved the way for the chosen one to obtain what was needed with little fuss, it had also ensured that it was easier for the child to collect the materials he needed.

With enough time and effort, the chosen one _would_ find a way to modify the plan so that its original intent would not provide the threat of destruction necessary to force the elder gods to react. If the damage was repaired without causing massive chaos or destruction that would only serve to continue this pointless existence and the Darkness wouldn't allow that to happen. Who knows how many more centuries of servitude it would have to suffer before another opportunity like this arose. It was irksome that the Light had so easily determined the long game the Darkness had planned, but there were already contingencies put into place to ensure that the desired outcome could still be obtained.

Fortunately, the Darkness had been able to salvage some of the plans that had been in place and manipulate events to help steer the boy back towards the right path. Even with all of the Light's gains, the Darkness could take solace in the fact that the boy had not completely deviated from the path that had been laid before him. The Darkness did have the advantage that the Light's plans not only required more time but a great deal of efforts and hard work to fix the cycle without any devastating results. The best way to prevent that from happening at this point is to continue trying to turn the boy against humanity overall by constantly exposing him to the darker aspects of mortals and providing enough distractions to ensure the chosen one didn't have the time or energy to focus on modifying the plan before it was too late.

The convoy below would go a long way in fulfilling what the Darkness required. Distracting the chosen one, as desired. As long as the Light was misdirected and thwarted from the true threat, the Darkness could move on to its other plans.

The shadowy figure continued to project an oppressive sense of danger to the mercenaries and shinobi guarding the precious caravan to ensure they remained alert and wary for whatever the Light planned. Attracting the usual groups of scumbags in this forest would only be a hindrance, so the Darkness had driven most of them off to facilitate safe travel.

Both the preternatural beings watched with detachment as the bandits swarmed over the caravan and the battle began.

The shinobi did their jobs well but were quickly outnumbered. As planned, the shinobi ordered the carriages to flee to Konoha, escorted by half of the chūnin team and the genin. The remaining mercenaries and Jōnin stayed behind to cover their escape and to try and salvage the situation but it was clear that the bandits would prevail on this day.

It wasn't long before the mercenaries were overwhelmed by the marauding bandits. The remaining shinobi took down several more bandits before they took to the trees and fled after the caravan to ensure their noble charges remained safe. They had only been tasked with the protection of the nobles, not their excessive luggage and goods. They couldn't be blamed or punished if the mercenaries had failed their duty.

The bandits merrily set upon the, now unguarded, caravans and began sorting through and distributing their plunder while the leader and his closest confidants worked on trying to break into the heavily secured wagon.

The Darkness sent a flare of anger towards the Avatar of the Light that was watching over the group of bandits with glee radiating from its aura. Inwardly, however, the Darkness was pleased. The man within the carriage had been far more important to its plans than what was stored in the wagons anyways.

The shadowy figured faded away to set its other plans into motion, leaving the Light to bask in its small victory for now. In the end, the Darkness would prevail and gain its freedom and revenge.

 **Suna Council Chamber – Kazekage Tower - Suna**

* * *

Baki sat at the head of the council while the remaining members and elders continued to argue with each other. He couldn't believe the fools expected Konoha to simply hand Gaara over because they demanded them to. What a bunch of arrogant and pompous fools that had risen to the council. It was no wonder that Suna had been in a decline for the past decade with these idiots being in charge of the village. Needless to say, the Senju hime sent back a resounding denial to their demands and told them quite unkindly where they could place any future demands to their former ally.

Currently, they were debating accepting the ransom for the Kazekage's son and daughter. Baki wanted to save Temari and Kankuro badly. They were the last of the family line that had the rare Jiton ability. Even if the elder siblings hadn't expressed the bloodline like Gaara had, they were the only ones who could successfully carry on the family name and produce offspring with the potential bloodline. They were the last members of the clan that had guided Suna since its founding. Even though only one in five members had ever developed the bloodline, losing both of them would ensure that the Jiton was lost to Suna forever.

He couldn't believe the fools were being so petty over the amount of ryō requested for such a ransom. It was standard practice for villages who had the upper hand to make such demands, especially for high-value targets like the Kazekage's own children. It wasn't like the Daimyō couldn't afford the money anyways, he had cut funding to the village by over 60% in the past 6 years.

Once again Baki tried to figure out what exactly Rasa was thinking by making this move and leaving him with this mess. Even though they were allies with Iwa the fact that Gaara had so spectacularly failed to perform his duty had them off balance when dealing with Ōnoki. He was just as likely to raze Suna as Konoha was in Baki's opinion. If it wasn't for their lack of major resources and farmlands he would have expected Iwa to start occupying them within the month.

As it were, they were already in discussions for launching attacks into Kawa no Kuni and Takigakure once the Wind Daimyō gave the green light. Suna would be the staging ground for the counter attack once Oto and Kiri made their move to draw Kumo and Konoha to the east.

The plan was for Suna to blitz Kawa and Tanigakure in order to establish secure supply lines for Iwa. At the last minute, however, Iwa had sent word that Suna should also assault Ame, which the council would begin discussing once they got done arguing over the ransom issue. Baki was hesitant to get involved in that mess. Ame had been quite successful in keeping itself independent despite Konoha and Iwa's best efforts and Suna didn't nearly have the resources or strength to deal with a country that had been able to go toe to toe with two of the strongest villages. Once again Baki had to thank the Kami that Suna was in the middle of the desert. If not for their location he was certain they would have also been subjected to the massive destruction and damage that Ame had dealt with during the Third Shinobi War.

With the desert as their ally, Suna would weather the coming storm and survive what will come. Even with embarrassing defeats in the past, no one ever pursued them far past their borders and he doubted any country would risk doing so this time.

 **Tsuchikage's office – Iwa**

* * *

Ōnoki snarled at the latest missive he received before vaporizing it with a small Jinton cube. He already had enough drama from the Daimyō for his team losing some spoiled brats jewelry in Yama no Kuni. His recovery teams had found no trace of the culprits but suddenly pieces of the jewelry were turning up in every geisha house and brothel from Iwa to Oni no Kuni. Every time someone of influence noticed another piece of lost jewelry he would receive a ranting letter from the Daimyō about the disgrace the lord felt and another fine or penalty for his failure to bring the thief to justice. Not only that, Ōnoki was then forced to send out a jōnin team to recover the jewelry and conduct a fruitless interrogation without any mission pay being provided.

Needless to say, the chosen jōnin were not very motivated to do their best. Even the ones who were devoutly loyal to the Daimyō that had put in their best efforts voluntarily had failed miserably. Whoever had taken that jewelry and dispersed it had thoroughly covered their tracks and had taken great measures to bury the chain of evidence so deeply that it had taken several wild goose chases before Ōnoki had rescinded the order to follow all leads. It had been a huge waste of resources and time when he was busy preparing his forces for war and Ōnoki suspected that it had been done not only to humiliate Iwa and the Earth Daimyō but to also serve as a minor but annoying distraction for him.

If Ōnoki had to guess, he would think that filthy disease bag, Jiraiya had something to do with all of this. His forces would be hard pressed to catch the reclusive hermit if they could even find the bastard in the first place.

While that was annoying it wasn't nearly as bad as dealing with that backstabbing, child raping, treacherous snake. All the people he sent to teach Orochimaru a lesson were either dead or captured. Right after each failure, Ōnoki would receive another scathing letter from the Daimyō with even more admonishments. The Daimyō was an idiot if he truly believed the bullshit that Orochimaru was feeding him. There was no way that the Snake Sannin was seriously considering allowing Tsuchi no Kuni to annex Oto no Kuni in its entirety. The rice fields, while lucrative, were obviously something Orochimaru wouldn't part with unless his head was removed from his shoulders.

Ōnoki sighed as he berated himself internally for the hundredth time. He should have never let his emotions get the best of him. When Orochimaru had approached him with the prospect of an alliance with his new village, Oto, and Suna with plans to attack Konoha, his instincts had told him to be reticent. When Orochimaru dangled the prospect of the Yellow Flash having a brat for him to claim and punish as he saw fit, however, Ōnoki let his bitter hatred get the best of him. He had stupidly fronted the majority of the forces in the attack in an attempt to seize the boy for himself.

What better way then to punish the father then to force him to watch his son live a life of torment from the afterlife? What better way to take revenge for the loss of his precious children and wife than to ensure the son of that bastard suffered a life of misery, cursing the very name of his father? If his son hadn't been so impulsive and free with his affections, Kurotsuchi would have never been born and his line would have ended completely. The Jinton bloodline would have disappeared completely and Iwa would have lost its most prestigious bloodline. Ōnoki could only hope that Kurotsuchi produced a few sons who were capable since she had proven to be a disappointment on that front.

Now he had to placate the Daimyō by promising an assault on Amegakure in order to please the snake bastard. It was pointless and a waste of resources to focus on a heavily fortified nation that could so easily be bypassed.

He could pull some of his resources off of Taki and let Kusa handle the brunt of that invasion. They needed to prove themselves valuable in this assault after their failure in Konoha. He had already sent a missive off to Suna to try and get them to handle the brunt of the assault. If they refused, he could always simply bully them into attacking anyways. They weren't exactly in a position to refuse anyone at this point.

If Iwa and its allies won this war, Suna wouldn't survive the year anyway. The Wind Daimyō had made far too many enemies. The Earth Daimyō despised him, the Lightning Daimyō could care less, and the Water Daimyō was in no position to anger anyone at this point.

The Fire Daimyō had been his staunchest ally and was now calling for the man's head and the razing of Suna. Even if Konoha lost the war, with the Fire Daimyō's connections, it was very likely the man would only lose control over Konoha and half of his territory.

It would be easy for Iwa to simply claim all the land around Suna and starve the sand rats into submission once the war was over, and the Daimyō's would probably reward him for it as well.

 **Sub-level 4 Laboratory – Southern Base – Otogakure**

* * *

Orochimaru stretched as he tested out his newest body. Another female body but it couldn't be helped. Guren's loyalty ensured that he could make this body last for five years at least. While her Shoton wasn't anything special, he could perform a few safer augments to make the body stronger. It was an unfortunate loss to have to use the body of such a diligent and capable tool.

Orochimaru made his way towards his office where Kabuto was waiting for the latest updates on the state of readiness for each nation. Oto had lost over 50% of its forces but they were all the expendable trash anyways. Every day more missing-nin and mercenaries flocked to his village due to the offers of protection and generous recruitment benefits.

Not like they would actually receive any of those benefits, but once Konoha was wiped off the map he could probably throw the survivors a bone or two. All he cared about was obtaining Naruto and Sasuke for his own purposes then the rest of the world could go to hell while he gained power and immortality safely in one of his bases.

He had tested a few new variants of his Curse Mark of Earth and the results were highly promising. It would be difficult to impossible for Naruto and the Kyūbi to break his next curse mark and it would be easier for him to bend Naruto to his will once the mark was set.

All of his plans seemed to be moving forward seamlessly despite the previous setbacks. Iwa and Suna would help eliminate the Akatsuki threat. Kiri had been duped into launching an invasion of Yu no Kuni and Hi no Kuni at the same time. It had been laughably easy to convince that slutty Mizukage to join the invasion.

All it took was one of his more suave agents to play to her insecurities of being in her thirties and unwed. With a few subtle aphrodisiacs and hormone stimulants, it had been child's play for his agent to get close and into her confidences. He should order his agent to obtain some DNA samples before the war started so he could experiment with her blood lines. Orochimaru knew it was highly unlikely that she would survive against the Raikage in battle.

With Kiri involved, Kumo will be too engaged to lend aid to Konoha. Konoha would be stretched thin since they would be forced to not only defend their own countryside but Taki and Kawa as well. With Konoha's forces so divided it would be easy for him to make an appearance somewhere and lure Naruto into his trap. Where Naruto goes, Sasuke is going to follow and he would have both of the pieces he needed to achieve his ultimate goal. With both of them firmly under his control, he would be able to easily deal with Iwa's attempts at backstabbing him when the war was over.

 **Mizukage's Apartments - Mizukage Mansion – Kiri**

* * *

Two Anbu guards shifted uneasily as they stood guard over the door to the Mizukage's room. The loud sounds of flesh slapping against flesh and cries of pleasure bleeding through the door was the cause of their unease. While a silencing seal would be welcome for both parties involved, such things were against protocol. The Anbu would need to hear if a potential assailant had managed to breach security and attack their leader, after all.

Listening to their leader and her lover going at it for a few hours was a test of any man's resolve, given the inherent beauty of Mei Terumi. Any man would be jealous with envy for the lucky bastard that was currently pumping her roughly if the sounds they were forced to endure were any indication. The creaking of the bed frame and the headboard slamming into the wall at a rapid pace coupled with by the increasing volume of the Mizukage's moans and demands lent weight to the assumption that she loved it hard and fast.

Since the Mizukage had found her new lover, only the most stalwart of guards was able to pull this particular duty without requiring a cold shower at the end of their shift. Placing only kunoichi guards in this position had proven that even women could be affected by listening in on the epic sex sessions the Mizukage had been taking part in for the past year.

The guards were relieved when one final loud cry rang out announcing Mei's release before everything fell silent. Thirty minutes later, the Mizukage emerged from her apartments fresh from the shower with a radiant smile and a dreamy look in her eye. Very few had actually seen the lucky bastard that had gotten into the Mizukage's skirt, and few still had the gall to try and question her about her private life.

Her usual top knot was in place, tied neatly with a matching blue ribbon to add a sense of order over her wild auburn locks that reached down to her ankles. Her bangs neatly arranged to frame her left eye and curl over her right eye. Two longer bangs framed her face and were arranged to cross over each other directly above her bountiful cleavage.

She was dressed in her usual blue, off the shoulder, long sleeved dress with a teasing side cut that exposed her entire right leg and hip revealing her kusari body suit and tight black skirt underneath. Her steel armored combat sandals were tied into the outfit with a thin silver belt at her waist.

The guards followed their leader towards her office where she sat down and heaved out a sigh at the mountains of reports and other trivial paperwork she had foisted on her. She never really wanted to be the Mizukage but Yagura had made damn sure that any other potential candidates had licked the bottom of the sea early on in his tenure.

Mei had always been proud of her strength and skills, always willing to prove herself against any comers male or female. However she never in her life expected to become the strongest that Kiri had to offer. She loved her village, there was no doubt about that, and she was willing to do whatever it took to advance Kiri's status in the world.

Even if it meant riding the cock of a spy. At least, he was skilled enough to fuck her just how she liked it. It would be a shame when it came time to melt the bastards balls off as he was really quite good in bed.

For a woman like her, it was so difficult to find a genuine man who wasn't intimidated by her strength. Most of the men could be categorized into two groups: Men who were trying to prove their masculinity by overpowering her or men who were simply trying to plow her for bragging rights. In a small way, it was almost refreshing to know that this particular _toy_ had a unique ulterior motive for getting in her panties.

Mei sighed as she read up on the combat readiness of her troops for their part in the upcoming war. Even though she knew that most of this situation was a setup, she needed to play along for the safety of Kiri. They had lost too many of their strongest shinobi to Yagura's madness and without any alliance, they were one step away from being eliminated entirely.

She had been very tempted to take Konoha's offer, but the reparations that had been demanded, for their part in the destruction of their Uzumaki allies, had been too steep. It had been so long since that event occurred but any time Kiri had approached Konoha in an attempt to make overtures of friendship, Konoha made it a sticking point to ask for those reparations in the form of a percentage of all exports or handing over all Kiri specific jutsu. Her spies knew that Kumo had paid some reparations in the past during the Yondaime's tenure but the details on what type of reparations had never been discovered. Their recent alliance with the Hidden leaf had nothing close to the demands Konoha was making of Kiri. The Hokage probably figured that their isolation coupled with their vicious civil war put them in a very weak position to make any serious counteroffers or make any other demands for an alliance.

While she knew that Iwa and Oto were treacherous at best, they had returned a few of the famous Seven Swords as a show of good faith. All they were asking for were troops to serve as a distraction. That was something Kiri could afford. With their tactics of hit and run using mist as cover, her forces could bog down and distract any army for quite some time with little to no risk of taking heavy losses. While facing Kumo would be dangerous in itself, at least, the current Raikage was known for being an honorable man. If Kiri found itself on the losing end she had no doubts they could cut a bargain to maintain their autonomy in some way. It would be tough but not impossible especially with Konoha being their allies. Everyone knew that Konoha wouldn't sanction the razing of a village with their current leadership.

If they managed to win they would be in a just as dangerous situation. Iwa wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of their situation. Their only saving grace would be the fact that Iwa would be too busy gloating and dividing the spoils of Kumo and Konoha for years to come, allowing her to bide her time and build up a suitable defense. With Iwa's lack of navy she had no doubts that Kiri could maintain a defense that Iwa couldn't penetrate. Kiri had a low population and they could provide most of their goods themselves. Anything they couldn't provide for themselves they could gain from piracy if the situation was desperate enough. They would be more than capable of holding out against any siege attempts for years on end if they didn't find a way to strike at Iwa directly.

Mei set aside the first report and picked up the report detailing their current naval strength and privateer forces. She frowned as she perused the report and thought over the possible war scenarios Ao had outlined for her yesterday. Blockades wouldn't be of any use, but she could use those ships for dropping strike teams behind enemy lines. While it was a high-risk job, most of the shinobi of Kiri were known for their bloodthirsty and vicarious natures. Many of them would probably thrive on being outnumbered behind enemy lines and she had faith that many of them could survive long enough to cause a great deal of damage and retreat back to their ships with minimal losses.

It would help take the pressure off of her main troops and spread the enemy forces thin as they tried to protect the different towns and villages. Mei made a note to discuss the plan further with Ao to see who the better target would be. Her gut was saying Hi no Kuni, but their focus was supposed to be on distracting Kumo. The strike team strategy would be difficult to use against Kumo as they had many impassible mountain ranges carving through their territory and the few passes and roads used to navigate those ranges would be guarded effectively. With the right team and a few heavy explosives, however, she could make things really difficult for the Raikage.

At most, Mei figured that she had one more year to enjoy her current boy toy, playing at spy, before things would start to heat up. At least, she would have the excitement of war to satisfy her until she could find another male that could satisfy her needs.

 **Early Evening - North Gate – Konoha**

* * *

Two battered carriages rumbled up to the gate with three exhausted and frightened genin and the Jōnin sensei who was trying to comfort them. The chūnin team, who were trying to maintain an air of strength, were about to collapse from exhaustion.

The frantic pace they had set from the ambush site coupled with additional bandits that had sought to take advantage of their lessened numbers had left the remains of the caravan harried for the rest of the route. The gate guards sent off runners for medics and extra patrol teams when the Jōnin relayed the size of the bandit forces that had attacked their noble charges. Such a large and organized group was a major threat that needed to be dealt with soon or the Daimyō would be displeased.

After a short discussion at the gate, the carriages were directed to the stables where the occupants stepped out of their battered carriages and looked around the surrounding merchant quarter they had been directed to.

The first to emerge from the carriage was a pale skinned man with ice blue hair styled in a tousled and lightly wavy look with short bangs that draped between his light blue eyes and curled around his face towards his small, flat mouth.

He was wearing a high collared and loose fitting Kimono top with voluminous sleeves and baggy loose fitting gray slacks. The collar of his shirt had a row of magatama just below the top of the collar in light gray. Over the gray clothing, he wore a dark gray tabard with a light gray trim around the hemlines. The tabard draped down over both of his legs reaching just above his ankles. Finally, there was a medium gray sash that draped over hs right shoulder and waist handing just below his waist in the front, while the other part draped down to he knee in the back.

The man was approached by a group of six men and two women. All of them were similarly dressed as the first man but instead of wearing darker shades of gray, they wore white and light gray. Three of the men were heavily burdened with several bags and were carrying two traveling chests between them.

"Toneri-sama, from what the servants have told me, we still have plenty of funds but only our plainest clothing remains in our possession." The woman said with a tone of disgust. "Should we head towards one of the tailors here and order new garments to be made? " she asked, her tone going from disgust to respectful when the older woman shot her a reproachful glare.

"Let us retire to the inn first." The man identified as Toneri said after a few minutes pause. "We must account for our total funds and plan for a recovery mission."

Toneri turned towards the servants standing nearby and addressed them. "One of you should begin searching the finest jewelers in Konoha to try and identify a suitable betrothal gift if we are unable to uncover the original. Be certain that what you find is not common, the Hyūga will accept nothing less than perfection and the clan is depending on our success." Toneri said sternly.

"Of course, Toneri-sama. I promise I won't fail the Ōtsutsuki clan in this task." One of the men said with a low bow.

"You better not." Toneri said with narrowed eyes, "You know just how important it is that we convince the Hyūga for this marriage alliance. Failure is not an option for us and we can not afford any more setbacks." he said dismissively before waving the man off. His attention was drawn when one of the other men began speaking.

"I told Homura-sama that we should have risked more resources to protect our caravan. Now we have lost almost everything we have!" One of the other men said with a sneer, "What was the point of bringing most of our remaining wealth to some lesser clan anyways." the man concluded with a huff.

"Idiot," Toneri said before slapping the man across the face. "You would be wise to watch your words in this village. The Hyūga have eyes everywhere here and declaring them a lesser clan if foolish. They are the most powerful clan remaining in Konoha." Toneri thrust his finger directly in front of the cowering mans face. "If your foolish arrogance has ruined my chances of achieving our goals, I will kill you and your family myself."

"I apologize, Toneri-sama." the man said with a bow before he lowered his voice to a whisper. "Everyone knows the prestige of our clan and we all know the truth behind the Hyūga. I just don't understand why we should be kowtowing to them when they should be bowing to us instead."

"Because they hold more wealth and power than our clan right now, fool." One of the women snapped in a harsh whisper. "Let us move this discussion to a safe place lest they learn of our true plans."

The group fell silent as they waited for their shinobi escorts to lead them through the merchant district to one of the higher ends hotels in Konoha. It didn't take long for their group to move through the village since the bustle was beginning to die down as the evening drew to a close. Soon they entered the Tenrei Yubina (Lissome Willow) Hotel and walked up to the main desk. Once their reservations were confirmed and their rooms swept for safety and privacy, the group settled down into the penthouse suite with the larger living area to continue their discussion over some plain, but acceptable, tea.

"As we were discussing earlier, the Hyūga branch is our only chance of reclaiming our stolen wealth and land from that filthy snake," Toneri said as he took a sip of tea, "Besides, they are a long lost branch family of the Ōtsutsuki clan and it is time they return to their proper place." he concluded haughtily.

"They think they are so noble and strong yet not one of them has awakened the Tenseigan." The older woman with gray hair said with a snort. "To me, that proves their blood is too diluted to be considered as a part of our prestigious clan."

"Perhaps that is true, but you can not dispute that we have very few members awaken the Byakugan as it is. Without the Byakugan, the Tenseigan can not exist." An elderly man said in a chastising tone.

The young woman let out a sad sigh, "Which is why our noble Toneri-sama must make such a sacrifice of dirtying his blood with a lesser clan. How cruel fate can be."

Toneri merely smirked. "At least, the heiress is reported to be a true beauty. It would have been a shame to lower myself for some plain filth in order to ensure the strength of our clan."

"There is that, and any prospective competition for her hand pales in comparison to you, my lord." The woman said with a blush.

"True. What was the list the informants provided us with?" The younger man tapped his chin in thought. "That's right, an Inuzuka, a Nara, an Akamichi, and the Uchiha." The man listed off before chuckling. "We all know the Uchiha is out of the question. The rest are mere trash, easily ignored." he finished dismissively.

"What of her rumored affection for her teammate?" the second man said.

"Nothing but a clan-less orphan, worse than trash." The old woman said snidely. "Our goals are all but completed at this point."

"I wasn't aware that the heiress had expressed affection for someone else," Toneri said with narrowed eyes. "I want all information and the location of this annoyance by tomorrow. I will not let any man claim what rightfully belongs to me."

"My apologies, my lord, but that isn't possible." The old woman replied apologetically. "It was reported that the boy has left the village for an unspecified amount of time."

"I still want what information you have so I can study him myself. If he returns at the wrong time it may throw our plans into disarray." Toneri said seriously.

"Why bother? He is a _clan-less_ orphan." The young woman said incredulously. "Any self-respecting Hyūga wouldn't give him the time of day."

"If she lusts after the boy she might give him her purity." Toneri snapped. "If I am to be forced into lowering myself to sleep with a woman of a lesser status then myself, I expect her to be pure for me," Toneri said with a sneer. "I just hope it isn't too late or I might not be able to contain my disgust when I finally do claim her as my own."

There were exclamations of shock and disgust from the group that a noble woman would even lust after such an ill-bred commoner. "and they consider themselves noble? How far our wayward branch has fallen." The first man said with contempt.

"Maybe it would be prudent for you to simply claim her during the courtship. If they really are so loose with their morals I doubt it would have an effect on their acceptance." The second man offered.

The young woman scowled at the second man with an angry and jealous expression on her face but Toneri wrapped his arm around the woman to calm her.

Toneri sighed. "That might be the best course of action. I am more than experienced enough to endear her to me with such actions, after all."

Toneri turned his focus to the young woman and cupped her cheek tenderly. "You know my heart truly belongs to you, Hitomi. Once I have sired a few whelps off of the Hyūga I will toss her aside and claim you as my true wife. Only you who has the pure blood of the Ōtsutsuki clan is worthy of bearing my true heirs."

The old woman moved over to the woman and laid a gentle hand on Hitomi's leg. "You must endure for the sake of our clan. Once we safely reintroduce the Byakugan into our blood we will toss them all aside and can live our true lives." The old woman looked up at Toneri with a sly expression. "Perhaps we will even use their own barbaric Caged Bird Seal on all of them." the older woman gave the younger one a gentle pat on the leg before continuing in a placating tone. "Just bear with the injustice for a little while longer, then you can comfort yourself by using their own seal to put that woman in her place."

"That is true," Toneri said in a comforting tone. "Would you feel better if she were to become your personal servant? To cater to your very whims? With the seal, you can even punish her as you see fit."

Hitomi nodded as she leaned into Toneri's touch. "That filth will deserve it for befouling your purity. No outsider should have the pleasure of touching one with your pure blood," she said vehemently. "I hope that snake bastard pays for forcing us to associate with such commoner filth."

There was a round of agreement with the group at her declaration. The Ōtsutsuki clan had been more than happy to isolate themselves from the rest of the filth of humanity. After the disastrous results of one of their own breeding outside of their clan became clear, the Ōtsutsuki clan believed that no one outside of their line was worthy of their pure blood.

Hagoromo was considered a disgrace, in their eyes, for wedding outside of the Ōtsutsuki clan and befouling their bloodline with the tainted blood of commoners. Two of his three sons had not manifested any of their heavenly traits while the third never advanced beyond the Byakugan. While it was apparent that those three had inherited some of the vaunted power of the Ōtsutsuki clan because of their rise to power and influence over the world, they still were considered lesser and expunged from the clan to ensure that the Ōtsutsuki clan remained untainted.

It should have been obvious to everyone that such breeding was folly when the cursed Sharingan appeared. It was an unholy mutation of the heavenly Byakugan and its advanced form, the Tenseigan. Their beliefs were only justified when the newly formed Uchiha clan had been cursed with traitors and murders to the point where the Kami saw fit to wipe them out completely. That clan was an abomination and insult to the mighty Ōtsutsuki clan. Until they had lost their home in Ta no Kuni and had been forced to flee into Shimo no Kuni, there had been talks of eliminating the rogue Uchiha and his little brother to complete the work of the Kami.

The Senju were not much better. None of the power and prestige of the Ōtsutsuki clan had manifested in that blood line, further proving the instability of breeding outside of ones clan. The only reason that clan had any respect was because of the fluke that was Hashirama, but no other member of that line presented such ability, further justifying that it was an unstable and errant mutation. Once again, the Kami saw fit to eliminate that disgrace to their noble blood by letting that line fall. After the Slug Hime died, the Senju would be no more.

Even the Senju offshoot, the Uzumaki, had been cleansed from the world by the Kami's will. Though the noble and wise elders had to admit that it was impressive that the Uzumaki held off the combined forces of Kiri, Kumo, and Iwa as long as they had. Their inherent vitality, massive chakra reserves, and intelligence lent weight to their Ōtsutsuki origins. Unfortunately, there were no known remaining survivors of that clan to be brought under the Ōtsutsuki clan's control. Their skill in fūinjutsu would have been most welcome and would have granted them status just above the servants and commoners. With selective breeding, they would have been carefully integrated back into the main family along with the Hyūga until all of their impurities were removed and only the Ōtsutsuki remained.

A knock at the door drew the group out of their collective mourning for the status of their noble clan. One of the elders opened the door to reveal an elderly maid and a few bell hops carrying the extravagant meal they requested. The man stepped aside so that the workers could lay out their food on the dining table.

As the food was arranged and served to the group, the maid offered a complimentary tea ceremony and after dinner snack service to which the group happily accepted. It was nice that the hotel recognized their status and took such steps to ensure their satisfaction. Once dinner was finished and cleared, the group settled back down in the living area and continued their discussion while the old maid performed the tea ceremony for each of the members of the group.

"So, Toneri-sama. How will our plans change now that our first offer has been lost to those thugs." The old woman asked before accepting the tea from the old maid.

Toneri eyed the old maid with suspicion and was about to tell the others to hold off discussion but something about the woman made his suspicions fade away. She was too old and unassuming to be a possible spy.

"Well, first off we must compile a list of all that was lost and present it to Konoha along with a mission request. We won't recover everything but we might be able to recover enough to satisfy those Hyūga brutes. I doubt the gift we commissioned will be recovered so hopefully the servant finds a suitable jeweler to create a replacement." Toneri paused in thought for a moment. "Perhaps I will visit most of these jewelers myself tomorrow while we acquire more suitable dress."

"We were arranged to meet with the Hyūga clan in two weeks time. Do you think we should push that date back in light of the setbacks we have been forced to endure?" One of the men asked.

"That won't be necessary. We were only planning on conducting formal introductions and business discussions for the next month or two. The actual courting request and betrothal proposals were planned to be presented six months from now at the earliest." Toneri replied.

"More than enough time to situate ourselves and gather more detailed intelligence on the clan then." the younger man replied.

"And to establish our superiority over everyone so they can recognize just how far above them we all are," Hitomi said vainly.

While she wouldn't directly sabotage her lover's efforts she could still make the Hyūga bitch feel ugly and insignificant in comparison to her. It might even help her lovers' interests if that Hyūga slut's self-esteem were attacked. When such a handsome and perfect example of Ōtsutsuki blood began to express an interest in someone as plain as her, the Hyūga would be swept off her feet and she wouldn't have to endure such a disgrace for long. It was _almost_ more than she could bear, but she had to remain strong or Toneri might view her as unworthy of his touch.

"Now Hitomi, what have I told you about such behavior." The old woman said chidingly. "Lording your superiority over those who have no recourse is a sign of ill-breeding."

The old lady took another sip of tea before continuing her lecture. "A true noblewoman appears graceful and untouchable in a subtle way so that the peasants consider themselves grateful for being put in their place instead of trying to rise up to a position they don't deserve."

"Of course, I haven't forgotten," Hitomi said nervously. "I was just merely implying that by making our presence known throughout the village, they would be able to see just how superior we are to them."

"Of course, you were, dear," Toneri said in a placating tone.

Inwardly he was rolling his eyes at his chosen consort. She was not the smartest or prettiest woman that threw themselves at him, but she had a nice pair of tits and was willing to perform any deviant act he desired with enthusiasm. Even the most degrading fantasies he could think had been fulfilled by her. Plus, she had the least relation to him by blood in comparison to the rest of the eligible females.

Unlike the rest of his clan, Toneri found the very act of sleeping and breeding with a cousin as distasteful. Sadly, the options were slim since the Ōtsutsuki clan had practiced inbreeding for such a long time. The woman he had truly loved had been one of the few that had no direct relation to him in over four generations. She had been beautiful, intelligent, strong, and caring. Then those Oto bastards cut her down without a thought when the elders refused to merge their clan under Orochimaru's rule.

Now the only choice they had was to bring the Hyūga under heel. With their chakra and the Hyūga's Byakugan they could create an army of Tenseigan warriors and purge the two bit Sannin from their lands. He would pump out a few heirs as necessary then wait for the day he could rejoin his true love in the afterlife. Maybe the Hyūga girl would prove to be more diverting that the simpering simpleton at his side.

"How long do you think it would take for the Hyūga heiress to take command of the clan?" The younger man said.

"Her father is quite healthy," Toneri said taking another sip of tea. "However, if I can sire an heir on her right away he might be forced to step down sooner."

"So, at least, four years at the earliest." The young man muttered. "If the war goes in Konoha's favor we might not even need to pursue this plan since our lands would be free beforehand."

Hitomi looked hopeful with that statement but Toneri decided to dash her hopes immediately.

"Regardless of the result of the war, this is something that needs to be done," Toneri said firmly. "The elders had always planned on bringing the Hyūga back under the Ōtsutsuki clan but the opportunity had never presented itself. The heirs have all been males until now."

"So we press forward for the good of the clan," Hitomi said sadly.

"Correct. Nothing is more important than ensuring the prosperity and superiority of our clan." The older woman said.

The group fell silent as the old maid finished the tea service and set out some snacks for the group. The conversation drifted between what kinds of clothing they should order and gifts that they should present before the elders decided to retire to their room for the evening.

Toneri led Hitomi into the bedroom so he could expend the pent up stress of travel on her willing body.

No one noticed that all the dishes from the tea ceremony and snacks simply vanished from the room along with the old maid.

The Light frowned as it considered everything it had overheard. While the arrival of Toneri wasn't a huge setback, the elders of the Hyūga clan could pressure the girl into this marriage. If that were to occur then the chosen one might separate himself from humanity even further. There were very few viable females that had been kind to the boy throughout his life that he would be attracted to. When the truth of his heritage was revealed the task of exposing the boy to real love would become almost impossible.

It had already been an uphill battle for the Light considering the immense hatred and negativity the boy had been exposed to from birth, but after the first artifacts were gifted to him, he had slowly turned away from complete darkness and had been starting to turn back to the light.

Even after the latest events that had been engineered to drive him back into the light, he still walked the path of destruction. The only reason the Light hadn't taken more drastic action up to this point was because he was steadily turning away from that path as he grew older.

Now the Light had to rethink the plans that were in place and find a way to counter the setback that the Darkness had set up. The Light had faith that the chosen one's soul mate was smart enough to see through the deception of the pawn sent by the Darkness.

The Light set off to sabotage the plans of the Darkness' pawns. It was important that the other half of the medallion be delivered to her hands or else everything could fall apart. Hopefully, the boy would open up to another on his own naturally and learn what was needed before he returned to the village. If not, the Light would have even more work cut out for it.

 **Konoha Council Chamber – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Tsunade listened with half an ear as the Clan heads discussed potential strategies with the representative from Kumo and her newest advisers.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the former Sandaime, was a shoe-in for the position once Koharu and Homura had been executed for treason. It was a shame Naruto missed watching those old bastard's heads roll. She could tell her sensei was saddened by the deaths of the final people who had trained under the Nidaime alongside him, but the evidence was clear. Both Koharu and Homura had taken steps to sabotage Naruto's life the moment he was discovered. That was more than enough for Hiruzen to turn his back on them.

Tsunade's second choice for an adviser had caused quite the stir.

Kosuke Marubosi, aka. The Eternal Genin. The humble man had, at first, refused the position as he was still plagued by the reckless decision in his youth that had cost him his team and made him swear to never accept a promotion. With some encouragement from Tsunade and Hiruzen, they managed to convince the elderly genin to lend his experience and his adamant adherence to the Will of Fire to the council so that more people would follow his own philosophy.

Kosuke was no slouch when it came to skills, but what made Tsunade certain he was perfect for the role was his calm demeanor, lack of arrogance, and his experience with almost every living shinobi above the rank of Chūnin. Kosuke's position had given him the opportunity to work with every known talent in the shinobi force since the Second Shinobi war. No other person could boast such an achievement.

Currently, the council was debating the merits of assisting Kumo against Kiri and Oto instead of preparing their western front against Iwa and Suna. Intelligence reports have shown that Suna would start their assault on Kawa no Kuni in order to claim those water resources for their troops. It was really the only logical move on their part, besides surrendering to Konoha but that option seemed out of the question for the desert nation due to the Wind Daimyō's obstinance.

Even if the Wind Daimyō got down on bended knee and asked for forgiveness (Hi no Kuni was more likely to freeze over before that occurred) the Fire Daimyō was still quite upset at the whole ordeal and wouldn't likely accept anything less than the Wind Daimyō surrendering all the territory of Kaze no Kuni to him.

Their spies, along with Jiraiya and Naruto's intelligence, showed that Iwa was establishing bases near and around Kusa as the staging point to invade Taki and, surprisingly, Ame as well. It was that intelligence that made Kumo reticent to divide its forces instead of focusing on the threats directly on their doorstep.

If Iwa and Suna wanted to bog themselves down in the quagmire that is Ame, they were more than welcome to. Even the Konoha council couldn't dispute that Ame was more than capable of slowing Iwa's advance down for some time. While there wasn't much known about the extremely isolated nation, what was clear to everyone was that they had enough strength to keep most villages out of their business quite effectively. No village had been successful at infiltrating the villages there, and the announcement that Hanzo the Salamander had been successfully overthrown in a violent coup was enough to give any of the big 5 villages pause.

Hanzo had been quite the deterrent during the Second Shinobi War. Every force that was sent to try and push him out and claim Ame as a staging point was effectively repelled. Even if the countryside ended up suffering from the collateral damage alone. Even when Tsunade had faced him alongside Jiraiya and Orochimaru, they had been hard pressed to survive that fight. It was only because they had managed to impress Hanzo with their teamwork that Hanzo eventually broke off his attack and allowed Konoha to save face by falling back and using Taki and Kusa to attack Iwa instead. Thus, the title of Legendary Sannin was known, granted by Hanzo himself.

The fact that someone strong enough had managed to defeat Hanzo quite soundly without an army behind them only meant that Ame would be even more of a pain in the ass to conquer or subdue. No one disputed the fact that Hanzo was dead as his head had been mounted on the border for all to see and the location proudly announced when the letters were sent out to each of the shinobi villages. Of course, fact, finders were sent to verify the announcement, and all had returned with confirmation that it truly was Hanzo's head that was gouged on a pike and prominently displayed with a warning to all outsiders.

Outsiders are not welcome. Stay out of Ame.

Even if Iwa and Suna were foolish enough to waste their time on Ame, Konoha was in a very tough position. Not only did they have to worry about possible fronts in Taki and Kawa, but they had to worry about their borders with Kusa and Ta no Kuni. (aka Oto) Plus, there was the possibility of incursions into Hi no Kuni by Kiri privateers and raiders. Given Hi no Kuni's extensive coastline to the south, Kiri could be raiding villages deep inside of Fire Country in just a few days.

With Kumo having the strongest military force in terms of active combat shinobi, it was only natural that the council wanted Kumo to share some of the burdens since Kiri and Oto would have a much harder time attacking Kumo directly. Kumo also had two fully trained Jinchūriki that were experienced in comparison to one jinchūriki in training, and another jinchūriki that was considered mentally unstable.

The Kumo diplomat was adamant that they stick to the Raikage's plan of blitzing Kiri and Oto quickly before they turned their attention to Taki, Kawa, and Kusa. With Kiri being weakened from civil war for so long, the Raikage was confident it wouldn't take much to bring Kiri under heel. Konoha would get it's revenge by covering Kumo's flank and taking out Oto as well as finding and eliminating Orochimaru. While Iwa and Suna might be able to make some inroads into Hi no Kuni during that time, Taki would be capable of holding long enough for reinforcements and Kawa was too valuable to simply be sacked by Iwa or Suna so those countries could simply be reclaimed at a later date.

The Raikage even pointed out that if the leadership of said border countries was eliminated, the Fire Daimyō could simply annex more land into Hi no Kuni while the people viewed Konoha as liberating heroes. Tsunade wasn't pleased with the insinuation that they would simply abandon allies to their fate. Taki and Kawa had been faithful allies despite their small size, and they had provided beneficial trade for Konoha for quite some time. In addition, the fact that they were separate nations served as an effective buffer against covert incursions, even if their shinobi were not on par with the big five.

As the discussions grew more heated, Tsunade decided to settle things down before the group council lost focus entirely.

"Settle down. Now!" Tsunade said as she slammed a gavel down causing the delicate wooden hammer to shatter.

'Damn, not another one. I need to request a replacement in steel next time.' Tsunade thought with a huff as she lazily tossed the remains of the gavel towards the nearest trashcan.

"Really, Tsunade," Hiruzen said in a chiding tone. "You only need to tap the gavel to get our attention. The council wasn't even that out of hand!"

"You were all getting far off topic." Tsunade retorted. "The fact of the matter is that the Daimyō will want us to focus on Suna first. He is still calling for total destruction according to the last set of minutes from the Daimyō's council." Tsunade said grimly.

The Kumo ambassador frowned. "but we need Konoha to provide an alternate front if our blitz on Kiri is to be successful. This plan would also eliminate all your privateer worries since we are confident we can eliminate Kiri's resistance swiftly." The ambassador turned back towards the council. "This plan can only succeed if you assault Oto in force. Besides, the pincer attack on Oto would guarantee that Orochimaru is unable to evade our attacks. Isn't putting the Sannin down more important that a weak village that is struggling with it's dying breath?" The ambassador concluded.

"Suna is not to be underestimated," Hiruzen warned. "They haven't survived as one of the major five villages for this long without having enough force to back up their threats." Hiruzen sighed before continuing. "While they are definitely weaker now they are also more desperate. They aren't stupid enough to believe that they will survive long if this war turns against them."

Shikaku decided to speak up as well. "If anything, Suna knows that they will likely be annexed or eliminated once this war is over. My guess is that they are hoping to prove they are worth annexing since their land doesn't provide much beyond the usual mines and quarries for stone."

Hiashi nodded his head in agreement. "I concur with Shikaku. Most likely Suna will resort to any tactics to survive this war and seek to assimilate under Iwa. My contacts in both the Wind and Fire Daimyō's courts both concur that the Wind Daimyō is in dire straights. Even the Earth Daimyō is ready to cut ties with him completely."

Kosuke had been mainly silent for most of the meeting but after listening to both arguments he decided to add his opinion to the discussion. "What of the Ichibi jinchūriki? He has accepted our offer to join, right?"

"That's correct, but his probationary period might not end in time," Tsunade replied.

"Perhaps we can still lend our strength to their assault on Kiri while maintaining a strong enough defense for our western front if Kumo were willing to lend their Nibi to us. I heard that the Nibi jinchūriki uses fire which wouldn't be good against Kiri's primarily Suiton, but would be an advantage against Suna's Fūton users." Kosuke suggested.

The Kumo ambassador seemed to mull the suggestion over for a minute. "It might be possible to convince the Raikage, but only if you guarantee that the Kyūbi jinchūriki is involved on the Oto assault."

"and leave our western front entirely reliant on foreign jinchūriki completely?" Shikaku said with a frown. "I don't see how that would satisfy our defense and the Daimyō's desire to see Suna eliminated as a priority."

"While the Daimyo might not disagree, I have to admit his suggestion does have some merit," Hiruzen added in a reluctant tone. "Orochimaru would be less likely to try and evade us if his primary target is dangled in front of him."

Tsunade scowled at Hiruzen. "Which is why Naruto should be kept on reserve for Suna and Taki instead. If we station Naruto near Taki, they would definitely lend us the Nanabi jinchūriki in those battles as long as Taki is certain they are secure." Tsunade said firmly before adding. "Besides, the Ichibi owes a debt of gratitude to Naruto so he would be more inclined to listen to him in battle and we can't deny that the Ichibi would be invaluable for assaulting Suna directly."

"No way." The Kumo ambassador said indignantly. "We need the Kyūbi with us on the assault in order for the blitz to succeed. With the power of the Hachibi combined with the Kyūbi, nations could be eliminated in just a few days." the ambassador stated with certainty. "Surely you can hold off for that long to ensure that your greatest traitor is eliminated and to clear the way for a full assault against Iwa and Suna directly?"

"That maybe certain, however, we are at the mercy of the Daimyō's whim," Hiruzen said as he puffed on his pipe. "Unless you can convince the Lightning Daimyō to change the Fire Daimyō's mind this argument is pointless."

The Kumo ambassador seemed to settle down after that. "I understand. It is not that you are reluctant but that your hands are tied? Is that correct?"

Tsunade let out a sigh as she looked between Kosuke, Hiruzen, and the rest of the Shinobi council. "Let's speak hypothetically then. If Kumo lends us the Nibi for the attacks from Suna, we will station the Ichibi and request Taki provide the Nanabi for any incursions from Iwa or Suna into Hi no Kuni. In exchange, we will provide two-thirds of our forces on an assault on Oto directly along with Naruto aiding the Hachibi jinchūriki in their assaults on Oto and Kiri. After that, Konoha will focus on Suna entirely while Kumo advances to Iwa. Konoha will lend support to Kumo once Suna has been eliminated or surrenders, depending on what the Daimyō decides." Tsunade said as she ran through the plans in her head. "Does this seem acceptable to the council?"

After looking around at each of the clan heads and the council members it seemed that the council was in agreement.

"Very well, we will present that plan to the Daimyō for approval," Tsunade said with a sigh. "You might seek to pressure the Lightning Daimyō to support that plan as I feel that the Fire Daimyō will be reticent at best to support attacking Kiri and Oto first," Tsunade suggested to the ambassador.

The ambassador gave a slight bow to Tsunade. "Of course, Hokage-dono, I will relay the plan your council has agreed on to my associate in Kaminari no Kuni right away. With any luck, he will have the Daimyō's ear in a few weeks."

"In that case, I declare this first war council convened," Tsunade announced. "The next War Council will be scheduled once we receive word from our _esteemed_ Daimyō on his decision."

There were a few chuckles as the council members filed out of the meeting chambers. Tsunade made her way towards her office with Kosuke and Hiruzen following behind her. After setting down the stack of papers she had brought to the meeting she made her way over to the window and stared out at the horizon to the Northeast.

"Worried about Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked softly.

"Yes," Tsunade said with a sigh. "Right now he is probably finishing up his training in Kumo to master the Kyūbi's chakra like the Hachibi and the Nibi."

Hiruzen joined Tsunade at the window and only offered a hum of sympathy. He would be concerned about Naruto facing the Kyūbi in combat as well. When they had received the document outlining the training Naruto would be exposed to in Kumo, it had been very difficult for him not to worry about how much Naruto's mentality would change.

There was also the fact that Naruto had been in contact and trusted the Kyūbi to some extent. Even with the reassurance that the Hachibi and Nibi would be watching over him closely, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of manipulations the Kyūbi would try, or if he would just simply try and take control of Naruto and break out entirely. The Kyūbi had made that very threat when Naruto was marked by Orochimaru.

Hiruzen glanced over at Tsunade and could see the concern on her face. "At least, Jiraiya will be there to support him," Hiruzen said in a placating tone.

"That old pervert better be supporting him," Tsunade said with a growl. "If I find out he was busy with his damn research. Kami help him because I will castrate the bastard."

Hiruzen and Tsunade simply fell silent as continued to look out over the village while Kosuke finished verifying the minutes the secretary had created for the War Council. He was more than happy to handle the tedious paperwork, much to Hiruzen and Tsunade's joy. Anything to serve the great village of Konoha and foster the Will of Fire was a positive in his book.


	65. Year 4: Compulsion

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be sexual content in this chapter. I have provided a warning before the more graphic bits. This is my first lemon attempt so feel free to let me know what you think if you do decide to read it. If it turns out to be terrible, I will leave out the details in future chapters.

A/N 1: I added my own versions of the unrevealed nature combinations below. Odds are that someone might have thought of these before. I have not directly pulled these combinations for any particular story but the thought of mechanics that would make sense through theoretical or pre-existing phenomena that would fit with the element combos of Fire and Lightning *1, and Wind and Lightning*2.

A/N 2: To Halftime: Who says that the Darkness isn't trying to remove Hinata from play? Kumo tried to kidnap her when she was a toddler, The missing-nin in Nami were targeting her specifically, and the Oto trio would have killed her in the Forest of Death if Team Guy hadn't intervened long enough for Naruto to awaken.

 **Chapter 64**

 **Year 4: Compulsion**

 **Early Afternoon – Degarashi Port – Cha no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto weaved his way through the busy seaside marketplace towards the Bordello Jiraiya had ordered him to meet at. It had been a few weeks since he had completed his training on Genbu and his time in Kumo had been more productive and beneficial than he could have ever imagined.

The now 16 year old had sprouted a total of four inches in the past nine months, and Kurama suspected that pattern would only continue this year as well. Now sitting at 5' 7" and 157lbs it would be hard for anyone to view him as a child still. Naruto's muscles had bulked up significantly, and while he wasn't as heavy set as Jiraiya or other heavily muscled shinobi, his muscles were very defined. All of the roundness of youth in his face had disappeared completely, leaving him with the sharp and narrow chin of his father.

In fact, if it weren't for the whisker marks and his larger cobalt eyes, he would be an exact replica of his father. Naruto had let his honey colored locks grow out a bit more but kept his side bangs trimmed so they wouldn't be too much of a nuisance in a fight. This only contributed to the illusion that the Yondaime had been reborn once more.

More than once, Naruto had seen citizens or shinobi from Konoha give him a double take when he ran across them during his stay in Cha no Kuni. He couldn't help but let a subtle smirk slip through his stoic mask when he saw someone gaping at him with their mouth ajar. The predatory gazes of the women, however, he could do without.

While his libido was now in full swing, he certainly didn't want to associate himself with a woman who only lusted after him for his looks. Even with the challenges that lay before him he couldn't find it in himself to simply enjoy a casual relationship. He had more important things to worry about than the pleasures of the flesh. At least the random erections had stopped, finally. The wet dreams, however, were still prevalent and even with Kurama's encouragement to find a woman to rut with in order to solve that problem, Naruto was still reticent to do so. He also didn't feel comfortable with the act of pleasuring himself, knowing that Kurama would be exposed to those sensations with their newfound bond. Since his puberty was beginning to settle down, Naruto had simply decided to continue to endure with the cold showers until his hormones balanced out and he would be able to leave this all behind him.

What surprised him the most, however, was how easy it had been for him to regain his chakra control when using his new chakra cloak. He still sucked horribly at Raiton, however, due to his extremely strong affinity for Fūton and it made him highly susceptible to Raiton attacks. Kurama was looking into a way to try and eliminate this weakness if just to ensure Naruto didn't take massive damage from Raiton in general, but Naruto wasn't too concerned about it. The cloak would still protect him from most attacks and he would just have to be extremely cautious around Raiton users.

B and Yugito had been shocked when they saw him activate his chakra cloak for the first time. It was nothing like the pair had ever seen before when they drew on Gyūki or Matatabi's chakra before. Gone was the familiar red initial cloak and in its place that radiant golden fire with strange black markings.

Fortunately for Naruto, his radiation of chakra had been reduced with recovering his chakra control, making him less of a beacon for shinobi around him. Sensors would still be able to detect him from a great distance, but normal shinobi would have to be within 30 meters to feel his power. Not the best situation but it was better than attracting every shinobi in a two-mile radius while simultaneously causing any wildlife to flee the area.

He had also quickly mastered partial transformations, allowing any part of his body to manifest Kurama's form with ease without the cloak active. He still hadn't managed a full transformation as the strain was too much on his body, but he was able to manifest an avatar of Kurama's full form with the chakra cloak active. The size and shape were accurate to Kurama's own form, but he would still have that golden glow with black markings on his body.

At least all of Kurama's abilities were available to him, but Naruto had still been disappointed and upset that he couldn't let Kurama's full form experience the real world once more. Kurama was only able to placate Naruto by mentioning that his body might be capable of handling a full transformation once he learned Sage Mode from the toads.

Kurama and Naruto had tried to recreate their own form of sage mode with their new found bond but found it was not possible since their chakra had been combined. Before, Kurama had been able to handle the mixing of the different chakra types, but now it was not possible for him to do so. It appeared that Naruto himself must start the process before Kurama could take over and maintain the balance. Kurama had attempted to guide Naruto into drawing the Natural chakra on his own, but all of his attempts had failed.

Kurama determined that it was too difficult for Naruto to learn how to draw on that energy since it was not as heavily abundant outside of the summoning realm and set that lesson aside for the Toads to teach him. In the end, Naruto decided it was for the best. It would help his bond with the summoning clans and reduce suspicion on them if he learned Sage mode the regular way.

When all of his chakra control and transformations were practiced and mastered, Naruto found himself with five months of free training on his hands. He spent two more months on Genbu with B to spar and hone his control over his sensory abilities before he returned to Kumo and began running a few missions with team Samui and a few other Chūnin level shinobi around his age.

During this time, he completely overcame most of his nervousness around women as the teens would all hang out in groups around the village eating, talking, seeing movies, or just relaxing during their down time. Samui had been a big help in helping him overcome his bashfulness and while they had gotten close, it never progressed into a full relationship. Besides a few pecks on the cheek or the occasional arm around the shoulders, the two hadn't gone any further. Even though Samui made it clear she had been interested in more, Naruto felt it would be too difficult and somewhat underhanded to pursue a relationship with her, knowing he would be leaving in a few months. Naruto had to admit that Samui was sexy as hell and had been at the forefront of some of his more lewd dreams.

In addition to gaining some operational experience in completing missions as a Chūnin, Naruto had made great strides in his Fūinjutsu. He was close to recreating his father's fabled Hiraishin and the very important offshoots of that jutsu, the Hiraishin – Ni no Dan (Flying Thunder God - Second Step) and the Hiraishin: Dōrai (Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder Barrier). He already had an idea for his jutsu-shiki that would be needed to form the necessary seal.

Naruto had chosen the symbols of 決 (Determined) above the symbol 解 (Solution) set inside the Uzumaki clan spiral. Interestingly enough, the two chosen characters could also be misread as kekkai (barrier) which could throw off the true purpose of the seal if the opponent noticed it.

While he really didn't need to use the Hiraishin itself with his new chakra cloak, it couldn't hurt to master the technique and work on his own variants. If he did manage to survive fixing the chakra cycle, he might want to pass it on to any children he might have in the future. Plus, it was a seal that was complicated to decipher so it was entertaining for him to figure it out.

He had also managed to recreate the repair seals on his clothing from Yuki no Kuni as well as the durability seals he had found on the armor set in the Uzushio vault. Now all of his clothing had the repair and restoration seals and were more resistant to wear and tear as well as damage from jutsu or blades. At least he wouldn't have to buy new sandals and clothing every few months now.

Last, but not least, he had mastered the rechargeable jutsu seals he had found on the chokuto he dubbed Takashio (Storm Surge). For now, he could only make the seals with Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet) and Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Formation Wall) but it was only a matter of time for him to be able to recreate the seals for other elements and jutsu. He planned on adding some Raiton jutsu on Keikai so he would have some way to use his weakest element if necessary.

Naruto softly smiled as he passed one of the garden stores he had visited when he first arrived in town and was waiting for Jiraiya's arrival. He had managed to buy all of the necessary ingredients he needed for the incense and sealing ink he would need for the plan.

Hibiscus, Lavender, and Rose plants. Dried Hyssop, White Sage, Saffron as well as Kaiko (Onycha shells) and Aloeswood. He was even fortunate enough to find Umbrella pine needles and heartwood which eliminated the need to travel to Mori no Kuni. He also bought large amounts of the silver needle tea and other rare blends of tea for him to enjoy and as a gift for Sakura and Shizune.

The dried goods he kept sealed away on himself while the plants he had paid to be delivered to his jiji with a note and some ryō to pay for the gardener to integrate the plants into the garden around his home. Naruto was a bit nervous that the Sandaime would become suspicious about the plants so he bought several different varieties of the plants he needed as well as several rare ornamental plants and trees to try and throw off any suspicion. It was his hope that mixing unnecessary plants into the delivery would make it seem more like he was just expanding on his gardening habit more than anything.

All he needed now, material wise, were geodes, chakra crystals, and meteorite fragments from Hoshigakure. The geodes could be purchased easily while the chakra crystals would have to be harvested directly to ensure that they were all the same size and density. Fortunately, Kiba no Kuni was known to have numerous chakra crystal caves that Naruto could explore and take what he needed. The meteorite fragments were going to be very difficult to recover.

Kurama had explained the reality behind Hoshigakure's "star chakra" and the fact that they jealously guarded the meteorite and any fragments that were discovered in the surrounding area. It would be very difficult to infiltrate the village and take what was needed, but it was fortunate that Jiraiya had arranged for him to spend time in Tsukigakure in order to gain more mission experience.

Tsukigakure, the rival of Hoshigakure, was near the border of Kuma no Kuni and Kiba no Kuni. With Hoshigakure being located in Kuma no Kuni, and no active shinobi village in Kiba no Kuni, tensions were high between the two villages since Tsuki constantly competed with Hoshi for missions. To facilitate their attempts to take more missions away from Hoshi and establish themselves as the superior village, Tsuki allowed foreign and missing-nin to act under their village banner as mercenaries with a proper referral from a previous client or hired ninja.

Jiraiya had told Naruto that the plan was for them to head out to Tsukigakure where he would meet up with Sasuke and Itachi. Naruto would remain behind and work as a Tsuki ninja to gain the necessary mission experience for the Jōnin exams while Jiraiya led Sasuke towards the suspected location of Ryūchido. Jiraiya and Itachi would remain nearby to help guard and/or recover Sasuke after he completed Hakuja's trail to become a summoner and possible sage mode training. Once Sasuke emerged from the Snake realm, Naruto would return to Myōbokuzan to start his sage training while Jiraiya returned to Konoha with Itachi and Sasuke so he could deliver all the intelligence he had gathered in Suna and Iwa during Naruto's training on Genbu.

Naruto couldn't wait to meet up with Sasuke after all this time. He knew he had to be strong since he was with Itachi of all people, but just how strong was the question. Plus, he couldn't wait to see what his surrogate brother felt about Takashio. There was no way Sasuke had found a chokuto of better quality and strength than the ancient Uzushio blade, even if he had managed to make his way to Tetsu no Kuni.

Naruto let his stoic mask slide back into place as he neared the red light district. He glanced at the different signs until he found the Bordello that Jiraiya had mentioned. Strolling up to the counter, he identified himself as a guest of Ambassador Hōfuna, one of the many aliases that Jiraiya like to use. A young woman dressed in an a skimpy yukata took his arm with a fake blush and giggle before leading him down a hall and into a private lounge area.

Jiraiya was red-faced and giggling as two, practically naked, women were serving him various snack foods and sake. Another woman was massaging his feet as he lounged on a large couch. Naruto shook his head before he let the young woman lead him into the room and they took a seat on a small couch opposite of Jiraiya.

Naruto only had a simple request of tea and some light food from the woman on his arm so she didn't need to feel obligated to maintain her facade of interest around him. In this way, she would be able to relax knowing he wouldn't demand more of her. Hopefully, Jiraiya didn't plan to stay too long, but judging from his appearance, that was probably wishful thinking on his part.

"There you are, Naruto," Jiraiya said happily. "How was your time in Kumo?"

"Pretty productive, shishō. I managed to accomplish much." Naruto replied.

"You certainly sprouted right up, didn't you," Jiraiya said as he pulled his feet away from the massage and leaned forward to study Naruto closer. "I'd say you are just about the same height and weight as your father was. Maybe a little heavier, judging from your build."

A wistful smile crossed his face as he looked over Naruto for a few moments before he leaned back and motioned for the women to continue their pampering.

"Tell me about what you learned," Jiraiya asked with his full attention on Naruto.

Naruto went into the edited version of his training using the code terms to mention Kurama and their chakra. He also explained some of the seals he had recreated from the items he had uncovered in Uzushio, taking care not to mention where he had managed to recover the items in case some of the ladies were informants. By the time his story was complete Jiraiya had an oddly serious look on his face that made Naruto a little nervous.

After staring Naruto down for several minutes, Jiraiya spoke. "I can't believe you turned down a hot thing like Samui," Jiraiya said in a disappointed tone. "It's not often you find a babe like that with tits that big."

Naruto looked at him with a flat expression on his face. For a moment, he had thought that Jiraiya had disapproved of his training or had detected something he had kept hidden from him only for him to make a comment like that.

"I didn't think it would be right for me to take advantage of her," Naruto replied.

"Suit yourself, kid. A woman like that knows the deal." Jiraiya said with a lazy wave before he downed another cup of sake. "Most kunoichi know the score, Naruto. They will be upfront from the start because they just don't have the time to waste."

Naruto let out a sigh. "I know, shishō. I just think there should be more to my first time than a casual fling."

Jiraiya shook his head. "Your first time is going to be sloppy and disappointing. Ask any of the ladies here." Jiraiya leaned forward again and took his normal lecturing tone of voice. "You have to think of it like training. Do you think it is wise to try a jutsu in battle without testing it out on a training dummy first?"

Naruto frowned at that analogy. It seemed kind of screwed up to think of a person as a simple training dummy. Jiraiya noticed the look on Naruto's face and decided to clarify his words.

"If you find a woman you really care for, you don't want to embarrass yourself by failing to please her, do you?" Jiraiya asked. "While some woman might find it cute, most will find it as a turn-off. They might think that you aren't compatible with them physically and turn you away. Regardless of what most women say, the truth of the matter is one of their biggest complaints is when a man can't please them in bed. It is also one of the biggest indicators that a serious relationship won't work."

Naruto groaned and leaned back into the couch he was sitting on. He really didn't think having this conversation around a bunch of women was really appropriate. It was an embarrassing topic on its own.

"I'll take your words into consideration, shishō," Naruto said with his hands over his face.

"Suit yourself," Jiraiya said with a shrug. "Just don't say I didn't warn you."

Naruto and Jiraiya let the subject drop as they began discussing the next few months of training for Naruto. They remained at the bordello for only a few more hours before they departed for the inn with a plan to catch a ship to reach Kuma no Kuni the next day. After a week at sea, it would take a few days journey on foot through the canyon heavy country to reach Tsukigakure.

 **Two weeks later – Outskirts of Tsukigakure**

* * *

Itachi and Sasuke both sat around their campfire waiting for the arrival of Naruto and Jiraiya. They had been camped out for a few days near the village that Jiraiya had requested to meet them at. Due to Itachi's status, it was usually not safe for them to enter a shinobi village until Konoha announced his pardon and the word spread. While Tsuki was more forgiving than most villages, the nature of Itachi's crimes were too severe for him to seek work through any village and his bounty too high to be safely overlooked. Both Sasuke and Itachi had been forced to kill several bounty hunters during their trip already so they had been sticking to the wilds or civilian villages to avoid such problems. It annoyed Sasuke that the Hokage hadn't done that already, but Itachi reminded him that such actions are only taken after a probationary period is completed in case there were _relapses_.

Sasuke had grown during these past few years but unlike Naruto, his growth had been steady instead of a massive spurt. Sasuke was now 5' 5" tall and weighed a slender 140lbs. While some might consider him skinny, he still had an athletic build focused around speed and he held a deceptive strength for his size. His hair had not changed at all and he still wore his trademark Uchiha outfit with the high collared black shirt and the Uchiha crest and black knee length cargo shorts. Instead of arm warmers, however, he now had armored gauntlets popular with Anbu, and shin protectors over his black ankle length combat sandals.

Itachi still wore the standard Anbu uniform of dark blue sleeveless shirt, cargo pants, armored gauntlets, and leg wraps that tucked his pants legs into his standard issue combat sandals. All that was lacking was the armored vest and ceramic mask. Over all this, Itachi wore an ankle length traveling cloak with a high collar to hide his face.

The Uchiha brothers went on alert as they both picked up the sounds of someone approaching their campsite. Sasuke stood with his hand on his standard chokuto as he peered out through the dense woods. Itachi remained resting against a tree in a deceptively relaxed stance as the sounds drew closer.

The first to emerge into view was Jiraiya, causing Sasuke and Itachi to relax minutely. Shortly afterward, Naruto entered the campsite and stood next to Jiraiya with his usual stoic expression. Sasuke walked toward Naruto, who met him halfway before they stood face to face, sizing each other up. Naruto smiled first and extended his arm, which Sasuke quickly grasped before a smile also spread on his face.

With their forearms locked in a grip of brotherhood, both young men began to launch into a round of their usual taunts and teasing, much to the amusement of Jiraiya and Itachi.

"Man, Sasuke, you are shorter than I am now." Naruto teased.

"Tch. Only because of your hair, baka." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Like your own hair is any better, duck butt." Naruto retorted.

"At least my style is original, Yondaime clone," Sasuke said with a huff.

Naruto's small smile grew bigger. "I missed you, Sasuke. I hope you have gotten strong."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You think I would waste all this time hunting those damn mongooses without getting stronger? You will be lucky to defeat me now."

Naruto laughed. "If we didn't have to keep you two under the radar, I would be more than willing to put you in your place."

Naruto withdrew his hand from Sasuke's forearm and reached into one of his cargo pockets on his leg to pull out a small storage scroll. Naruto held the scroll out to Sasuke, who accepted it before shooting him a questioning glance.

"I got you something that _might_ make you a challenge for me." Naruto said with a smirk, "I hope you make good use of it." He completed in a serious but friendly tone.

Sasuke was surprised that Naruto had gotten him another gift, and a little guilty as well. He had been hard pressed to find the last two mongooses to slay and hadn't spent much time in any towns or cities because of Itachi's missing-nin status. This was the second time Naruto had given him a gift of some sort and he hadn't done more than pay for some of his meals or give him a few jutsu from the Uchiha library.

Sasuke unrolled the scroll and channeled chakra into it to reveal a chokuto. Sasuke was speechless as he studied the chokuto's deep blue saya (sheath) with subtle silver inlays in the pattern of waves around the koi-guchi (mouth of the saya) and kojiri (end of the saya). The kashira (pommel cap), fuchi (metal collar between the hilt and the tsuba), and even the menuki (decorative hilt ornament) were stylized in a traditional stormy sea motif in the shiniest silver, representing the white sea foam against the deep blue used to replicate the ocean's hue on the saya and tsuka ito (hilt wrap).

Sasuke drew the blade reverently to study the blade closely revealing a similar wave themed horimono (blade carving) running along the top of the blade. As Sasuke studied the blade, Naruto explained all the seals and how they functioned as well as how Sasuke could use and recharge the jutsu seals concealed on either side of the tsuka (Handle)

Sasuke was deeply touched by the gift. This sword was a rare masterpiece that only the most wealthy or famous could usually afford. That was even without including the rare Uzumaki seals that were applied. Sasuke felt it was more than he deserved. He would treat this sword as one of the most important heirlooms to be handed down for generations within the Uchiha clan.

"Thank you, Naruto. I'm honored that you would give me one of your clan's recovered treasures." Sasuke said sincerely.

Naruto's smile grew even more as he saw Sasuke was truly touched by his gift. "It was better off in your hands then sitting on a wall." Naruto said nonchalantly. "Besides, who better than to give this too than my aniki (brother)?"

"Hn. Since when did you get all emotional." Sasuke said as he turned his head away to hide his watery eyes.

"I'm not the one who is about to cry, Sasuke-chan." Naruto said before giving Sasuke a gentle shove on the shoulder. His tone was lightly teasing but Sasuke could see that Naruto was honest in seeing him like a brother as well.

"You'll regret giving me this blade... ototo." Sasuke said before shoving Naruto in return. "Even with your fancy training in Tetsu no Kuni, you'll never beat me in kenjutsu."

"Just be glad that you have to remain incognito." Naruto replied with a feral grin. "Otherwise, I would be embarrassing you in front of Itachi." Naruto's voice took on a tone of mock despair. "How would poor little Sasuke-chan live with himself if he was so soundly defeated in front of his precious onii-san?"

"Tch. Enjoy your safety for now, baka." Sasuke said with a flat look on his face. "You won't be able to hide behind Itachi's missing-nin status when we get back to Konoha."

Naruto simply wrapped his arm around Sasuke's shoulder before asking him to give all the details about his battle with the mongooses and his training with Itachi. As both boys moved over to the campfire and began to exchange tales of their adventures during the past few years, Jiraiya and Itachi were having their own conversation as they watched the young men.

"So, you really managed to track down all those targets." Jiraiya said with a low whistle. "That is very impressive. I heard that those Mongooses were quite vicious and wily."

"The first one presented quite the challenge for Sasuke and it was, by far, the smallest one." Itachi said proudly. "If not for the Susanoo, I don't think it would be possible for anyone to have dealt with the largest one on their own."

"I thought you were going to forgo any Mangekyo training on him because of the blindness?" Jiraiya queried.

"That was the plan until we confronted the last target." Itachi said before he pulled out a box of dango and picked out a stick. "Even I would have been hard pressed to kill that thing on my own." Itachi said before he began munching on the stick of dango.

"If you are saying that you would have trouble, then it certainly must have been a tough fight." Jiraiya said quietly as he studied Sasuke. "He must be very strong now."

Itachi nodded before he swallowed his dango and replied. "All he needs is mission experience and he is more than qualified for the Jōnin exams."

"That is without the Mangekyo abilities, I'm assuming." Itachi simply hummed in confirmation as he had another stick of dango in his mouth. "He is probably around the same level as Naruto without using the Kyūbi then." Jiraiya concluded.

"I take it you took up Kumo's offer for training then." Itachi asked.

"Yep." Jiraiya said proudly. "He has fully mastered the ability but has to be careful using that power since he is literally like a beacon to anyone with chakra sensitivity."

Itachi nodded once more before he finished another stick of dango and put his box away for later. He had to ration his precious dango carefully since it would still be some time before he could purchase more. Unless there was a civilian village near Ryūchido, but he doubted that was the case.

"What is our plan for tomorrow?" Itachi asked.

"We will travel together towards the rumored location of the caves while Naruto will remain in town to gain his mission experience." Jiraiya answered.

"Are you certain it is wise to leave Naruto-kun on his own?" Itachi said with a raised eyebrow. "If the snakes require more time for their trials, Naruto-kun could be on his own for months."

Jiraiya merely waved off Itachi's concerns. "Don't worry about it. Naruto can take care of himself now. Besides, there isn't much instability in this area besides the few skirmishes between Tsuki and Hoshi. He will be fine."

"If you say so." Itachi didn't sound convinced but it wasn't his place to dispute Jiraiya's words.

Little did they know that a major conflict would break out in just a few months between Tsuki and Hoshi, plunging the whole area into a bloody and violent conflict.

 **Two Months later – Tsukigakure Town Center**

* * *

Naruto readjusted the Tsukigakure hitai-ate around his forehead as he strolled through town with a soft smile on his face. He was making his way towards a popular ramen stand that served very good ramen. It wasn't as good as Ichiraku's, in his opinion, but it was close enough and it had been so long since he had enjoyed fresh miso combined with tender roasted pork.

The hitai-ate that rested on his head was an unfamiliar weight, given the fact that he had been made to conceal his original one for the past three years. He considered wearing this one around his neck like Hinata did in the past, but he didn't want to come off as being disrespectful. This village was essentially doing him a favor by giving him mission and combat experience that he sorely needed.

So far, he had accumulated a good amount of successful B and C ranked missions and had even been invited to assist on a few A ranks as well. Naruto could see why Jiraiya wanted him to build up experience with this village. While the mission ranks followed the same format as the one used by Konoha, the duration of each mission was far shorter. While the shortest C rank in Konoha would last a week, there were always C ranked missions in Tsuki that could be completed in one or two days because of their close proximity to the village itself.

With Kiba and Kuma no Kuni both being a quarter of the size of Hi no Kuni, travel times were also much shorter, even with terrain that was more challenging to navigate. This allowed Naruto to complete between 3 - 6 C and B ranked missions each week, and most of them were not very challenging at all. Sure, he had gotten into a few scrapes with Hoshi shinobi and missing-nin, but nothing too major that he couldn't handle alone or with his temporary teammates.

Naruto could see why so many missing-nin avoided associating themselves with a village these past few months. You had greater leeway in accepting or rejecting missions and could take on missions at your own pace. The only downside was the lack of protection from hunter-nin and enemies, but there were so many places one could hide out and live off the land quite successfully.

The main reason for the smile on his face, however, wasn't the excitement of completing missions or his upcoming ramen ritual, but the team of Tsuki shinobi that he had been assigned to join as a replacement for their lost teammate. In particular, the kunoichi named Rei.

Rei had midnight black hair with blue highlights, like Hinata. Her bangs were parted heavily on the left side leaving most of them to drape towards the right where they stopped short just above her creamy jade colored eyes. Her long and luscious hair was always in an elaborate braid that was tied up in a bun. She kept two longer braids loose that hung down from her temples the stopped just below her well-endowed bosom.

Her tight-fitting black silk cheongsam with small golden crescent moons embroidered throughout the dress accentuated her ample curves and her long tone legs that were covered with black thigh high shinobi sandals drew the eye and made her outfit that much sexier, in Naruto's opinion. On her arms were black arm warmers like Naruto's own, embroidered with the crescent moon symbol of Tsukigakure on the back of her hands.

When Naruto had first met Rei, it was like he had been slugged in the gut by Jiraiya in sage mode. His breath was taken away by her beauty and his mind had shut down as he gawked at her. Rei, being six years older than Naruto, found his behavior quite flattering and had enjoyed flustering the young man who was usually so stoic and professional around everyone else. Naruto had tried his best to remain composed around her, but Rei had an aggressively flirty nature and seemed to sense Naruto's attraction to her, which she took full advantage of. It also didn't help how his body reacted so strongly to her.

Just her giggle and smile were enough to take his breath away and heat his body up to point where he had to look away and take a few deep breaths before his desire for her became obvious. When she latched onto him and began taunting him with her sultry voice and brushing against him with her soft curves, it was impossible for Naruto to think straight. Naruto couldn't help but wonder if Jiraiya would be disappointed in the fact that his apprentice fell apart around her so easily after all the work they had done to make him master himself around women or impressed that he had attracted such a beautiful woman.

While she made her intentions to him clear, Rei managed to be aggressive and demure at the same time, which only caused Naruto to become more intrigued by her. Her words were heavy with innuendo and desire while her touches were often soft and fleeting. Even when she would brush past him in a narrow hallway or lean in to whisper something seductive, the manner in which she would press against him wasn't as audacious or overt as most of the other kunoichi or civilian women who were trying to get his attention. It was for that reason more than any other that Naruto found himself being lured in by her seductions more and more. As they spent time together on missions or around the village with her team, he found her more fascinating and his attraction grew rapidly.

Rei wasn't just a beautiful woman with a strong personality, however, she was also a deadly and skilled kunoichi which only added to her attractiveness. She was a very talented ninjutsu and genjutsu specialist in her own right, with an impressive array of jutsu for her age. For a 22-year-old kunoichi to have three elements mastered was a testament to her skill. Rei's focus was primarily Raiton, Suiton, and Katon with a few Doton jutsu to round out her arsenal. Naruto couldn't resist her demure pout when she asked him for instruction on Fūton after learning about his affinity. The fact that she had insisted that she exchange some of her own jutsu in exchange his instruction had only endeared her to him even more. It proved to him that she wasn't trying to seduce him simply for knowledge or his body alone, but because she was generally interested in him.

Those training sessions eventually led to spars where she showed an impressive talent for taijutsu as well, being able to keep up and sometimes best Naruto considering she was a long range specialist. Naruto still came out on top on spars where all jutsu were allowed since all of her attack patterns relied on one or two genjutsu, which Naruto could shrug off without a thought now. Half of the time he wouldn't even realize that a genjutsu had been used on him since Kurama purged it so rapidly.

Today was the first time that Naruto had worked up the courage to ask Rei out in an informal setting and she had accepted. She would meet up with him at the Ramen shop and she would spend the day showing him around some of the lesser known parts of Tsuki that most foreign ninja weren't allowed to visit without an escort.

Naruto could barely contain his excitement. He had expected to be nervous about the encounter but strangely enough, all he could feel is anticipation for being near her. It was a bit disturbing to him just how sudden these emotions had set in and how powerful they were but those doubts and fears fled when she was near him. Kurama's own encouragement to pursue her greatly alleviated any concerns he had about the sudden onset of these emotions, but Kurama often reminded him that nothing permanent could come from this situation and for some reason that reminder always brought a pain to his heart.

It was the first time he truly felt conflicted about his goals. A small part of him just wanted to run away with Rei and live happily ever after but Naruto had to squash that part down vehemently. Not only was such a thing not possible, but he couldn't just abandon the plan and let the world be destroyed for his own selfish desires. Still, he wanted nothing more than to feel her soft curves pressed against his body as he held her in his arms. To taste her mouth and skin with his tongue as he ran his hands over her body.

Naruto quickly cut that line of thought off. It wouldn't do to get himself all worked up and embarrass himself in front of her. It was already hard enough for him to maintain his composure when he was near her. Those lustful thoughts would only make things more difficult.

As he rounded the corner and entered the Ramen shop he spotted her waiting near the counter and was blown away. She was wearing a flowing orange sun dress with large white daisies that reached just above her knees. Her hair was down outside of its usual coiled braid and decorated with numerous small floral hair barrettes in yellow, orange, and white. Only her trademark temple braids remained in place but these were dressed up with thin orange and white ribbons mixed into the braids and tied off in a small bow at the bottom. Her long legs were bare and delicate beaded sandals covered her feet.

The seductive smirk on her face only added to the look, making Naruto gulp audibly as he tried to regain his composure. He was a little disappointed in himself for picking such a casual outfit of his own after seeing her own outfit. He had opted to wear a simple white t-shirt with an orange hoodie and gray cargo shorts that had elastic that tightened just below the knees. The shorts had two orange stripes that ran down the sides that matched the hoodie, and he wore regular sports sandals on his feet.

Rei sauntered up to Naruto with an extra sway to her hips. She just loved how this handsome and confident young stud lost all composure around her. It did wonders for her self-confidence and helped her forget the pain of her past.

It amazed her how such a devilishly handsome young man like Naruto could be so thoroughly tripped up by her. While he was far from being a bashful and nervous hormonal teen, his innocence was apparent to any woman with experience. Plus, he was a very fine example of a sexy and virile male just reaching the prime of his life. While some would call him a pretty boy because of his delicate facial features and large expressive eyes, his feral like whisker marks and cat-like pupils gave him a more masculine look. When you included his quite muscular body and husky voice, very few women could say that he wasn't attractive.

His golden hair was a painful reminder of her beloved Hiruko but their personalities were quite opposite.

Hiruko was a ray of sunshine and energy with his emotions always clear on his face and in his voice. His slate gray eyes were always sparkling with pure happiness and he was the epitome of an optimist, always seeing the bright side of things.

Naruto was more like still water. On the surface, it seems like all is calm and smooth but that only concealed the hidden depths that not many discovered. Naruto's eyes conveyed a greater range of emotions when compared with Hiruko's. Plus, they were such a mesmerizing shade of deep blue that she had never seen on a person before. It must be due to his mysterious bloodline that Naruto was hesitant to provide details on, but Tsuki ninja were more than used to people keeping secrets when it came to such matters. As long as the person wasn't a threat to the village itself, they wouldn't push for details unless said person wanted to join the village full time. It was the only way to ensure there were plenty of foreign ninja on reserve to help them take on a mission load that would normally overwhelm the small number of native shinobi born in Tsuki.

Rei herself had fled to Tsuki from her home in Hoshi because of her refusal to follow clan traditions and expose herself to the meteor in order to gain the use of star chakra. Even with her proven talent at a young age, the pressure for her to embrace the star chakra had been immense on her clan. Despite the fact that her clan only had a 3 out of 10 chance of surviving the exposure, the Hoshikage had been adamant that her clan embrace the star chakra or resign from being ninja and marry outside of their clan in order to dilute their blood and make their clan more compatible with the star chakra.

Rei had seen the results of the failed students who were incapable of taking the star chakra into their bodies and it frightened her. They all suffered horribly and for a very long time before they died as nothing more than withered husks. Then there was the fact that if she continued to refuse the Hoshikage's demands she would be forced to marry a man that was twenty years her senior at the time and was known to be a violent and cruel man.

As chūnin, she and her beloved Hiruko had made plans to elope and flee to Tsukigakure where they could live happily, free from all the burdens and abuses of Hoshi. Unfortunately, their plans were discovered and she was forced to watch as Hiruko pushed her aside to take the volley of shuriken that was meant to end her life.

Rei managed to take down the first tracking team that had found them with Hiruko's help before they fled towards one of the numerous bridges leading to Kiba no Kuni. They were unable to cover their tracks sufficiently to lose the second tracking team and it wasn't long until a second pursuit team was on their heels.

Hiruko could feel that he was mortally wounded and demanded that Rei continue on without him. Hiruko begged her to move on and have a happy, fulfilling life without him until they could reunite in the afterlife. Rei refused to abandon him at first but Hiruko insisted that she make that promise to him or he would forsake the afterlife and remain in torment as a yūrei (ghost) until she moved on. Rei relented and made the promise so that at least her love would find the peace of the afterlife before her. Once Hiruko was convinced that Rei was serious about her promise, he took all of her explosive tags and told her to run while he rigged himself to explode and delay her attackers. Once Rei was safely across the bridge, Hiruko lured the pursuit party onto the bridge before blowing himself up as they surrounded him, taking out the bridge and most of the pursuit team. Without the pursuit team on her heels, Rei was able to make it into Kiba no Kuni safely and request asylum in Taki.

Rei had mourned for Hiruko for a few years as she poured herself into training and missions to make herself useful to her new home. When she tried to move on, however, it seemed like she had been cursed for abandoning her love. Despite her beauty, no man had shown any real interest in her besides casual flings or one night stands. It also didn't help that she was no longer considered "pure" in a country where purity was one of the most important aspects of worthy brides. After enough time had passed, Rei was convinced she would be trapped in empty relationships that only served to quench her physical needs until the time came for her to reunite with her beloved Hiruko.

When Naruto appeared in the village, he had piqued her interest immensely. Usually, the age difference would have been enough for her to ignore him. She had no intention of being considered a cradle robber, despite the fact that he was just as tall and built as most men her age. After running a few missions with the teen, however, Naruto had proven to be very mature for his age. She couldn't deny that she had been very attracted to the blond when she first saw him, and judging by the way he practically gawked at her at that first meeting, the feeling was mutual.

At first, she had only started flirting with him just so she could bask in the feeling of feminine pride that she gained from seeing him so affected by her beauty and charm. Naruto was still very young and his initial awkwardness had made her peg him as being an average or below average shinobi that needed a few years to grow into his own and be worthy of a true kunoichi's attention. That belief was quickly squashed as Naruto began going on missions as a replacement member of her team.

Naruto had proven his strength several times over in battle and she had to admit that he was effectively stronger than her already at such a young age. Even though most of the missions were only a day long and dealt with minor shinobi or bandits, Naruto showed immense skill with his combination jutsu and was fairly skilled with kenjutsu and taijutsu as well. He had also displayed an aptitude in combat strategy and overall intelligence despite his young age.

After such a short amount of time with him, she found herself falling for him and she stepped up her efforts in gaining his affection. She couldn't help but wonder if Hiruko had sent Naruto to her in order to bring her happiness if just for a little while. She knew Naruto would have to move on and return to whatever village he came from eventually. Even with the offers the Tsukikage had made to him, Naruto refused to go through the process of permanent integration into Tsukigakure, much to her dismay. At the very least she would get to enjoy the touch of a handsome young man once more before they both moved on with their lives. Maybe he would change his plans and decide to stay if she provided enough incentive.

Rei shook off that thought and decided that she would just let things flow naturally instead of trying to push the young man in a direction she wanted and risk alienating him. Instead, she would enjoy the jealous looks from all the young women in the village and since he was inexperienced she could train him just how to push all the right buttons. Whoever his wife would be in the future would be singing her praises once she was done with him, but she had to take it slow judging by that soft blush and the nervous smile that was on his face right now.

Her seductive smirk widened into a smile as she finally closed the distance and trailed a finger down his muscular chest. The way his breath hitched as she teased her way down the unzipped section of his hoodie was pleasing to her. It made her feel so empowered to affect him in such a way. She could probably get him to do just about anything for her.

Naruto, for his part, was taking in her lovely scent. To him, she smelled like wildflowers and honey. He had to suck in a quick breath when he felt her trail her finger down his chest to try and get his emotions under control. He couldn't afford to embarrass himself in front of her letting himself get too aroused from just a simple touch. Thinking quickly, Naruto fell back onto Jiraiya's teachings and decided to compliment her.

"You look amazing, Rei-chan." Naruto said breathlessly. "That dress only makes you look even more beautiful."

"Why, thank you, Naruto-kun." Rei said with a wink, "I had a feeling that you would like it since everything I have seen you wearing has some orange in it."

Naruto chuckled a bit. "So, you figured out my favorite color so easily." shaking his head he continued. "I don't know if it is a good thing that you noticed, or a bad thing because I was too obvious about it."

"I think it is a good thing that you don't let conformity override your sense of self." Rei said as she smoothed his hoodie out in an excuse to feel his chest once more. "I think the color suits you and you aren't so obvious about it to draw too much attention to yourself."

"You should have seen what I wore as a child." Naruto said with a laugh. "Anyways, are you ready to eat?"

"Ready when you are, Naruto-kun." Rei said before she twirled around and made her way towards the nearest table.

Naruto couldn't stop himself from looking down as Rei's dress rode up her thighs as the dress spun around with her movement. The dress had risen just enough that it was dangerously close to revealing her firm bottom. When he managed to peel his eyes off that tempting sight he saw her shoot him a quick mischievous glance over her shoulder. Naruto couldn't help but rub his head sheepishly at being caught but that quick glance was enough to settle his nerves. She had obviously intended for that to occur and wasn't upset that he was looking.

Naruto hustled quickly to catch up with her and took a seat next to her when she patted to chair next to her. The waitress arrived shortly afterward and they both placed their orders with Naruto getting his usual Miso chāshū with a side of fried rice and gyoza dumplings. While it would be considered only half a meal, at best, since he had absorbed Kurama's Yin chakra, he didn't want to seem like a glutton in front of Rin. This would be enough to tide him over for dinner. Rei ordered Shoyu ramen with chicken and extra nori (seaweed). Both had a glass of chilled umeshu (Plum liqueur) to go with their meal.

Their conversation was light and flirty as they ate and after the meal was concluded, Rei led Naruto to one of the smaller secluded parks in the village. They couple made their way towards a Gazebo that sat next to a small stream and sat to watch the sunset. As they talked about their past and plans for the future, the pair didn't notice that they had slowly moved closer to each other as they spoke or that their attention never deviated from each other as time elapsed. They continued to talk as night fell and the park lamps lit up, enthralled in each others company completely. It was only when Rei began to shiver from the cold that they were both snapped out of the daze they both fell into and realized how late it was.

Naruto quickly wrapped Rei up in his hoodie and escorted her home while he thought over everything that had happened on their date. Rei was everything that he had expected from a woman and more. When he had held her as she wept for her lost love, Naruto couldn't help but feel a little guilt. Here he was enjoying the fact that she was in his arms while she cried for her lost lover, but it just felt so right to him for her to be there. He wanted nothing more than to wipe her tears away and replace that pain with happiness.

Once they reached Rei's apartment she fidgeted with his hoodie for a bit before reluctantly removing it and giving it back to him. Swallowing his own nervousness, Naruto embraced her loosely and moved in to give her a chaste kiss. When she met his kiss eagerly, however, he couldn't stop himself from deepening the kiss further. Before Naruto knew what was happening, their tongues were tangling with each other passionately as their hands roamed across each other's bodies. Before things could get even more heated, however, the sound of a door closing nearby broke the moment and caused them to break apart out of embarrassment.

With her cheeks flaming from embarrassment and arousal, Rei thanked him for a wonderful evening before quickly pecking him on the lips and dashing into her apartment complex before she decided to ravish Naruto right there in the street. Naruto wasn't even able to respond as he stood there stunned at how powerful his desire for Rei was. It was like he had lost control of himself and someone else had taken over.

As Naruto made his way back to his hotel he tried to calm his heated body and analyze what he was feeling. He was familiar with lust, after all. No matter how much he tried to forget the incident with Makoto it was impossible to. The intense feeling of lust and desire had been so strong and overwhelming. What he felt with Rei right now was so similar but different at the same time. Was it possible that what he felt towards her was more than simple attraction? The feelings that Rei had stirred up within him were so strong and he knew that he wasn't under the influence of any drugs or aphrodisiacs.

Could it be possible for him to love someone after such a short time? It didn't seem possible, yet, she made him feel alive in ways he hadn't experienced before. His body practically ached for her touch and he couldn't erase that feeling of rightness when he had held her close. A quick peek into his mindscape revealed that Kurama was still happily slumbering, not wanting to intrude on him if things had become intimate with Rei. Naruto had doubted such a thing would be possible on the first date, but oh how his body yearned for her.

Naruto picked up his pace so he could take a very cold shower and calm himself down as his thoughts of Rei got carried away once more. He had another mission scheduled for tomorrow and would need to get his rest. Hopefully, he would be with Rei's team once more and could arrange to go out on another date. Hell, if he could skip the missions entirely and just spend the time with her, that would be even better but he promised Jiraiya that he would complete as many missions as possible before his return. He didn't know how long it would take Sasuke to complete the task for Hakuja or if they had even found the right entrance for Ryūchido so he couldn't know for certain when his time here would be done.

 **Two Months Later – Tsukigakure Mission Assignment Center**

* * *

Naruto stood with Arata, Souta, and Rei as they awaited their next assignment. Things had recently taken a sour turn with Hoshigakure taking a more aggressive stance towards Tsukigakure. Already there were several raids on border towns under the protection of Tsuki and resources had been strained to push out the raiding ninja. In addition to the Hoshi shinobi, the Hoshikage had taken to hiring mercenaries and bandits to cause trouble throughout the countryside in an attempt to make Tsuki lose face and sway those villages and mining companies to their side.

Naruto and Team Arata had already been involved in quite a few skirmishes with Hoshi shinobi directly, a few where they were forced to retreat against overwhelming odds. Naruto knew he could have easily eliminated them all with his chakra cloak, but he was trying to remain off the radar as much as possible. He would be very hard pressed to explain his true strength and a small part of him feared how Rei would react to the truth. He felt guilt for not revealing the truth to her, but he simply could not allow her to know about Kurama because she was a foreign ninja in a village that had no allegiance or ties to Konoha.

Besides that one little sticking point, his relationship with Rei had grown rapidly. They were always seen together when off duty at different places throughout the village and when they weren't all over each other, they could be found simply holding each other close without saying a word to each other. While they hadn't had sex just yet, they had come pretty close a few times in the recent past. Mostly they had spent time exploring each other's bodies and getting comfortable with each other but a part of the delay was mainly due to Naruto's own insecurity about his lack of experience. He knew Rei had been intimate with a few other men in the past but he was still a virgin without any experience beyond word of mouth.

The Tsukikage's voice drew Naruto out of his thoughts.

"Team Arata. I don't have any assignments for your team right now, however, I have two separate chakra crystal recovery missions that I think your team could make use of. While this is normally a D rank at best, the recent atmosphere with Hoshi makes it too dangerous to send Genin out to collect the crystals." The Tsukikage said.

Arata looked over at Souta and Rei who gave him shrugs of indifference, showing that they weren't opposed to accepting such a menial mission. As he turned his gaze to Naruto, Arata spoke. "What do you think, Naruto?"

Seeing an opportunity to collect the chakra crystals he needed for the plan, Naruto was quick to respond. "Actually, if you guys don't mind, I would like to see these chakra crystal mines. We don't make much use of them back in my home village and I am curious about them."

The Tsukikage spoke up. "Such mines are very rare on the western continent so there isn't much demand for them there. On this continent, however, not only do all the shinobi villages make use of them but the civilians use them to keep seals and some of the smaller jutsu active when shinobi aren't present to keep the effects going with chakra. Because of this, no one really desires to ship them overseas since there is a healthy demand for them here."

Naruto simply nodded. It made perfect sense to him since it was essentially a free chakra battery that could be used by anyone. There wasn't much need for such things in Hi no Kuni because of Konoha's large and highly active shinobi force. Even the smaller villages had the reserve or retired shinobi present who could recharge seals or use jutsu to improve the lives of their fellow villagers.

Rei decided to speak up and set her own plans into action. "I think I will take Naruto-kun to the larger cave system since he doesn't know what is required to harvest chakra crystals."

Souta gave Rei a smirk. He knew what she was really planning but before he could say something snide, he was silenced by her warning glare.

"It would make sense for us to take the lower yield cave for that reason. I'll take Souta with me to the Eastern caves since there will be less chance of attack." Arata said, missing the interplay between Souta and Rei.

"Excellent." The Tsukikage said, "Here are ten storage scrolls each for you to fill. If you don't report in or return after seven days, I will consider your mission a failure and send a replacement team.

"Yes, Tsukikage-sama!" The group said in unison before giving a quick bow.

Naruto picked up their bundle of scrolls before turning towards Rei. "Well, I am already set on supplies for at least a few weeks. How about you?"

"I am more than ready, Naruto-kun." Rei said with a wink. "Follow me and I will tell you all about how to collect the proper crystals."

As they left the village and made their way through the forest towards the cavern, Rei explained how chakra crystals grew and when to tell how they were ready to be harvested. Her summary was brief and to the point, but Kurama decided to add in his knowledge on how they functioned.

While people believed that they were crystals that were capable of storing chakra, in reality, the crystals were just a solid form of chakra. Like molten lava from the planetary core, there was a well of liquid chakra deep below the surface of the planet that the cycle could draw on in emergencies. Just like lava, in places where the planet's crust grew thin, the chakra could bleed out and solidify in order to remain in a dormant state to be drawn on later instead of dispersing into the air. If too much chakra leeched into the air it could become hazardous for all life.

When Naruto asked why the cycle didn't simply draw on the reserves underground instead of draining all the living creatures, Kurama explained how the world itself would become unstable and possibly fall apart if the well was tapped. Like when a volcano erupted and emptied all of its lava reserves, the ground would sink in and collapse on itself and the landscape could be fundamentally changed by the event if the eruption was large enough.

With the amount of damage in the cycle, Kurama estimated that the world would collapse on itself before the damage could be fixed entirely. That was the main reason it was considered a last resort. In the past when chakra was abundant and recycled properly, the reserves had managed to grow to the point where the well of chakra swelled and threatened to burst. The crystallization of chakra was the world's way of eliminating that threat.

One thing that Naruto wasn't aware of before was the Kurama had already taken into account the availability of chakra crystals and had included them in his calculations for the plan. He couldn't be entirely accurate because he didn't know the exact volume of crystals that were exposed, but including the process of drawing on and converting the crystals into chakra's default form would make a difference in how much damage is repaired and how much chakra will need to be drawn from another source to make up the difference. It was the main reason that chakra crystals were needed for the plan so that the seal knew to include them as a source to draw on.

In a few hours time, Rei and Naruto finally reached the caverns. After a quick sweep of the area, Rei bid Naruto set up several non-lethal trap and sensor seals to warn them of any potential visitors or trespassers and free them up to collect the crystals in peace.

Once the seals were in place, they entered the chakra cavern and made their way further down, lighting torches as they made their way further into the mine. Soon, they entered the first harvestable section and Naruto was in awe of the sight before him.

The first cavern was at least 40 feet tall, 60 feet long, and 30 feet wide. Sparkling from the torchlight were crystals of various sizes and colors covering the majority of the cavern walls, ceiling, and even most of the floor itself. Only a small path had been carved through the middle and Naruto could see small stems from crystals that had been removed or harvested from before.

Naruto could see all the different elements as well as Yin and Yang compositions that existed by the colors of the crystals themselves. Katon red, Fūton green, Suiton blue, Raiton yellow, Doton Brown. There were dark gray Yin crystals and pure white Yang crystals as well as various shades that were combinations of elements that Kurama identified as Hyōton (Ice), Mokuton (Wood), Yōton (Lava), Ranton (Storm), Futton (Boil), Jinton (Dust or Swift depending on color), Bakuton (Explosion), Shakuton (Scorch), Jiton (Magnet), Shōton (Crystal), Kōton (Steel), Kesshōn (Plasma*1), and Dōtekion (Kinetic*2).

The sparkle of the crystals and the dull glow that they emitted bathed the cavern in a fascinating light. Naruto wondered why they even bothered with the torches when it seemed that the crystals gave off enough light on their own. Kurama had to remind him about his low light vision, much to Naruto's embarrassment.

Naruto was now at a loss as to which crystals he should collect for the plan whenever Rei was distracted. Kurama said he should collect one of each base element, including yin and yang, and for the extra two crystals, he should select a Mokuton and a Yōton crystal. Kurama also pointed out a particularly large Dōtekion crystal that was ready for harvest and told Naruto to gather it as well. Naruto took a mental note of the crystal that Kurama pointed out since he had singled it out above all the others. It was very large so he would have to be careful on taking it down from the wall without Rei noticing.

Rei lead him towards the middle of the room and began pointing out the crystals that were ready to fall and be collected. If the crystal was not loose, it was not ideal for harvesting and should be left alone. Naruto was about to ask Rei which chakra natures they wanted to collect but was silenced by a mental smack on the back of the head by Kurama. Apparently it wasn't common knowledge that the crystals were nature aligned as well, and judging from how Rei was simply wiggling and collecting crystals with no real pattern, Naruto assumed she wasn't aware of that fact either.

It didn't take long for them to fill up five scrolls with chakra crystals and Naruto was expecting for them finish the mission and head back before evening fell. This would give them at least one day off before they could pick up another mission, and he could ask Rei out again. When Rei suddenly called a halt to the gathering, Naruto was perplexed but remained silent to see what she was planning. The increase in temperature and the scent of mineral water cleared Naruto's confusion up when he realized she was leading him to a hot spring.

An unoccupied hot spring with no one else around to disturb them.

Naruto started to feel that same nervousness creep up on him as his mind led him astray and dirty thoughts took priority in his mind. Rei led him into the next cavern to reveal a very large natural hot spring that had various different levels and pools. The water flowed from the top most pool into a larger second pool that was several feet lower than the first creating a small waterfall of heated water. From the second pool, the water flowed into a much smaller third pool that overflowed into a small passageway at the far end of the cavern. There were several clusters of chakra crystals in this cavern but they were scattered around the edges of the room and appeared untouched for the most part.

Rei led Naruto towards the far corner of the cavern where an old fire pit was created. Naruto could see the smoke marks that ran up the wall towards the small gap in the ceiling above them where he could see a small sliver of the afternoon sky above.

"Let's set up camp here, Naruto-kun." Rei said with a smirk before her voice took a seductive tone. "Then you can finally grant me my wish of bathing with you. This time, you can't use the excuse of being embarrassed around others."

"O-okay. Rei-chan." Naruto said with a gulp. While he had done this before in Tetsu no Kuni, it was far more difficult to do something like this in front of a woman you cared deeply for. Naruto knew that this time he couldn't make any excuses and would have to finally have sex with her.

Naruto had not been completely oblivious to her advances but his nervousness and desire not to rush into things had led him to try and progress into the act slowly. He knew he was being somewhat cowardly because his fear of disappointing her as well, but a larger part of him wanted to finally take her and experience how it felt to be intimate with a woman he longed for. A woman he might have fallen in love with.

As Naruto prepared his sleeping bag and unsealed some firewood to light, he heard the sound of splashing behind him. Naruto looked over his shoulder quickly to see Rei breaking the surface of the water to take a breath. Turning his focus back to setting up camp, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves and prepare himself.

Deciding to leave the firewood unlit for now, he stood and dusted himself off before he turned to make his way over towards the hot spring only to be caught by surprise as Rei emerged from the spring completely naked and stalked up to him with a predatory smirk on her face. Naruto stood frozen as Rei sauntered up to him, enraptured by her body slick with water that was glimmering from the ambient glow of the crystals and torchlight.

Without a word, Rei decided to start the process of undressing the object of her desire. Tucking her hands under his shirt, she began to slowly run her hands up his chest, drawing his shirt up along with them. Naruto's heart was pounding in his chest as he felt her hands running over his body. Without thought, he raised his arms and allowed her to lift his shirt over his head.

Next, she pulled his arm warmers off each of his arms and tossed them aside. As she began to run her hands over his bare chest once more, Naruto was drawn in by the look of desire in her eyes and the soft part in her luscious lips that enticed him to taste them. Naruto gave himself over to his emotions and leaned forward to claim her lips.

 **Lemon Warning**

* * *

As their tongues tangled together, their lust and need for each other grew rapidly. Naruto began to run his hands over her body before his right hand moved to tease her perky breast and his left hand reached down to squeeze her firm butt. Her soft moan of approval caused him to begin squeezing and caressing her more firmly, a longing to hear her vocalize her desire even louder spurring his actions on.

Rei continued to run her hands over his muscular chest before she slid them underneath his pants and boxers to fondle his package. Naruto gasped as she began to stroke him slowly while her other hand gently massaged his sack. He was already hard just from seeing her emerge from the hot spring so she was just building up his pleasure even quicker.

As both broke for air from their passionate kiss, Naruto began gently nipping his way down her neck towards her shoulder occasionally stopping to draw some of her soft skin into her mouth and suckle on it before continuing to move his way down to the next sensitive area. As her breath grew heavier and her moans became more prominent, he began to pull her in closer, wanting to feel her body pressed tightly against his.

Naruto couldn't believe this was really going to happen and he was praying to Kami that he didn't screw up. His desire for her had only grown since he had first laid eyes on her and he couldn't even muster up enough strength to resist her. He was completely at her mercy and couldn't be happier about it.

Naruto began sucking on the junction between her neck and shoulder as he applying more pressure to the sensitive tip of her voluptuous breast. His hand slid up her body from caressing her firm bottom to trail over her ribs before claiming her other breast. He began to flick and rub both of her sensitive peaks with his calloused fingers to draw even more of those delicious whimpers of pleasure from her. Every sound she made after he touched and teased her only drove his own excitement higher.

Rei began pulling Naruto back towards the hot spring by his waistband. She knew she had to be slow and gentle with him at first. It wouldn't be the first virgin she rode and the heat of the spring would make things feel so much better for both of them. Naruto stopped his ministrations when he felt her pulling away and looked at her with a silent question.

"Let's go into the water, Naruto-kun. It will feel so much better." Rei said as she pulled him closer to the spring.

Naruto only nodded dumbly before he began to strip off the rest of his clothing and step into the steamy water after her. The edge of the pool was still fairly deep, and he quickly found himself neck deep in the steaming waters. Some of his nervousness fled as the soothing waters relaxed him and he made his way over to one of the natural rock shelves to sit on with Rei following shortly afterward.

As soon as he sat down, Rei climbed into his lap and began to kiss him once more. Naruto moaned into the kiss as Rei began to grind her core against his length. His hands quickly gripped her waist to press her against him even tighter and began to match her movements to increase the friction. The feel of her breasts pressing into his firm chest while her silken core stroked the bottom of his manhood felt amazing to him, but Naruto felt that it wasn't enough. Squeezing his lover into his body even harder, he began grinding his hips into her vigorously. Rei tilted her head back and moaned as his adjustments caused his tip to begin rubbing against her sensitive clit.

"Mmm, Naruto-kun, I need you now." Rei called out, "I need you inside of me."

Naruto's nervousness flared up at her declaration and he paused in his ministrations before speaking up. "Rei-chan...I-" Naruto began but Rei put a finger over his lips.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun. Just relax and let me take care of you this time." Rei said before she lifted herself up and gripped his length firmly before guiding him inside of her. Rei began to sink down onto him slowly.

Naruto eyes closed tightly when Rei gripped him tightly, so he was unable to see what Rei was doing until she began to take him in slowly, inch by inch. Naruto gasped of the sensation of him being enveloped by her tight wet heat. The feel of him sliding into her silken flesh was beyond anything he had imagined.

It wasn't long before Rei had him completely inside of her and her head was thrown back in pleasure as his thick, hard length went far deeper than she imagined. He had stretched her almost to the point of pain even though she was far from being a virgin. She slowly rolled her hips and moaned at the delicious friction as she felt herself stretch even more to accommodate him. Naruto's answering moan brought a smile to her lips.

Yes. She was going to enjoy breaking him in for the first time.

His hands were already gripping her hips so he had good instincts, still it was best to guide him through his first time. It would make all their subsequent sessions that much better. But first, a compliment to bolster his confidence since he would no doubt start getting nervous when the initial pleasure died down.

"Oh, Naruto-kun you feel so good inside of me." Rei said before rolling her hips. "When I rise up, I want you to pull me down. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes. Rei-chan." Naruto said in a breathy tone as he opened his beautiful blue orbs to look into her eyes. Rei felt herself grow wetter just seeing the lust for her in his eyes.

Rei smiled at him before lifting her self up slowly. Just before she was going push herself back down, Naruto acted by pulling her down onto his length, driving it deep into her. The force that he used had been stronger that she expected and she cried out before encouraging him to repeat it.

Rei continued to ride him slowly letting Naruto pull her down each time and drawing out his pleasure as long as she could so he wouldn't feel embarrassed by cumming too soon.

"Rei-chan it feels so amazing." Naruto moaned as he grew more confident about moving inside of her. He had started to thrust his hips upward at the same time, much to Rei's pleasure. His timing was still off but he was starting to get into the rhythm.

"Faster, Naruto-kun. Do it faster and harder." Rei whispered into his ear before she lifted herself up once more. Just like she requested, Naruto pulled her down quicker while he surged upwards at the same time causing her to cry out as he inadvertently gouged her g-spot.

Naruto paused for a moment fearing that he had hurt her but Rei told him to do it again and faster. Rei gripped Naruto's shoulder and began pushing down on his member even faster, encouraging Naruto to match her movement with the same speed. The increase in speed proved to be too much for Naruto as he neared his first peak.

Naruto's head was thrown back and his moans grew louder as his climax approached. Rei sensed he was about to orgasm and picked up her pace to push him over the edge. It didn't take long for Naruto to cry out her name as he crested the peak and his body locked up. Rei kept him embedded into her warmth fully knowing it would only add to his pleasure. She wasn't close to peaking yet, but she was impressed with how long he had managed to hold out as a virgin. Once she felt him relax and felt him soften inside of her, she began to build him up once more by nibbling on that special spot on his neck while running her hands over his body. After several minutes of cuddling and tender kisses, Naruto made the next move, much to Rei's surprise.

Naruto had been in heaven after that first release, but he managed to catch his breath quickly and realized that Rei had not felt the same satisfaction that he had. Jiraiya had forced him to sit through so many embarrassing and quite graphic lectures on pleasing a woman and the sensations that came from being intimate with a woman so he knew that she had not reached her peak. He felt a twinge of guilt before determination set in. He might as well take advantage of that knowledge and put what he had learned into practice in order to help Rei feel the same pleasure he had.

Naruto pulled her close again for a long kiss and battled her for dominance with his tongue before he broke off and began nibbling on her neck. There was just something about that spot on her that he loved to kiss and suck on. It didn't hurt that it turned her on quite quickly. Her small sounds of pleasure began to cause him to harden inside of her.

He left his favored spot on her neck and pushed up her left breast so he could claim the nipple with his mouth. This was his next favorite spot on her body, he decided. The soft breast contrasted by her dark firm nipple was a wonderful thing to play with. Her hands gripped his hair and he found himself enjoying the slight tug on his scalp as she pressed his face even further into her magnificent bosom. Naruto felt like he could keep his face pressed into those succulent depths for days on end and still be satisfied.

He wrapped his tongue around her nipple and began to suck on the tip for a bit before taking it between his teeth gently and flicking at it with his tongue. Judging from the sounds Rei was making she loved feeling his tongue running over sensitive tip. Naruto continued to nip and tease at her breast as her moans of pleasure and her grinding against him aroused him further.

He quickly ran through all of the highly embarrassing talks he had with Jiraiya and chose one of the more interesting positions Jiraiya had mentioned. Jiraiya had mentioned that this position had the most potential to please a woman since it gave a man access to most erogenous zones during the act. Naruto released Rei's nipple and slowly stood up. Gripping onto her hips he began to nip at her neck before he slowly spun her around to move behind her.

He gripped her breast from behind while his other hand slid down to her slit and began to gingerly explore her womanhood. Rei could only smile as she ran the possibilities through her head. He was more adventurous then she thought if he was willing to take the lead so soon. She wouldn't complain if he wanted to explore even further. She gently stroked his arm and covered his fingers playing with her lower lips before guiding him to the right spots to press.

Naruto was quick to follow her lead and began to press and rub her sensitive bundle of nerves before rubbing around her slit in a teasing manner. Slowly he began to bend her over so he could move her into position for what he wanted to try. Rei picked up on his desires and quickly placed her hands on the edge of the hot spring before arching her back, looking over her shoulder with a sultry gaze and wiggling her hips.

"Take me, Naruto-kun, I'm ready for you now." Rei said enticingly.

Naruto was fully aroused at the sight gently guided his length into her before his hands claimed her hips and he pressed into her fully. He couldn't stop the moan from escaping his lips as he thrust fully into her once more. He paused for a moment to let the feeling settle before he began to withdraw slowly before pushing into her with a little more force.

Rei began to breathe heavily before calling out for Naruto to take her harder and faster.

Naruto gripped her breast with his left hand while his right hand snaked down and began to fondle her clit before he started to pick up his pace. Naruto began to thrust into her faster while his fingers teased sensitive spots. While this position was enjoyable, he still wanted to feel her body against his so he pulled her back up towards him and following his instincts, gently bit down onto the junction between her neck and shoulder. As he started to move once more, the new angle had her tight walls stroking his most sensitive spots causing him to grunt into her neck in pleasure.

Rei couldn't stop herself from crying out at the onslaught of pleasure. His left hand was twisting and rubbing her nipple while his right hand was stroking her clit, sending jolts of pleasure shooting through her. The slight pain of his teeth sinking gently into her neck only heightened her pleasure and her cries grew louder as this new angle had him grinding against her g-spot roughly. The growling grunts he was releasing into her neck were sending delicious shivers down her spine.

Rei's cries of ecstasy drove Naruto on and he gripped her tighter and began to pound into her harder. It was hard for him to clamp down on his own pleasure as he wanted to ensure that she reached her peak before him. When Rei finally reached her peak, Naruto was caught off guard by the feeling of her walls squeezing and tightening around him. His mind quickly connected the sensation to what Jiraiya had described and he was able to maintain his pace without losing his rhythm in order to chase his own release. Rei's long drawn out shouting of his name only confirmed his suspicion and he couldn't help but grin into her neck as he moved to reach his own end. With a few more quick thrusts he pushed himself over the edge and buried his length deep inside of her as he released his grip on her neck and threw his head back from the strength of the sensations that rushed through him.

He cried out her name as his seed shot into her, his voice husky with exertion and pleasure. The feeling was just as amazing as the first time and Naruto could finally understand why Jiraiya was such a pervert. Naruto clung to Rei as he gathered his breath before slipping out of her slowly and moving to settle down on the rock ledge beside her.

 **Lemon End**

* * *

Rei collapsed forward in exhaustion the minute Naruto released his grip on her. Naruto had worked all her spots so wonderfully and she was practically boneless. She was amazed that he had managed to make her climax, considering it was his first time.

The last time she had bedded a virgin it had taken the man several attempts to make her climax without her stroking her clit or teasing her breasts while he thrust into her. Eventually, he managed to learn all her spots and had improved his performance before he completed his time in Tsuki and returned home. They had parted on friendly terms and the man had been grateful for his time spent with her.

Her first time had been an awkward and messy affair only held in an endearing light because it was also Hiruko's first time. Like Naruto, however, Hiruko had learned quickly and had managed to rock her world the next time they managed to spend time with each other.

Rei couldn't help but smile when she felt Naruto gently lift her up before pulling her into his lap. She hummed in pleasure as he wrapped his arms around her and buried his nose into her hair. She cuddled up to his firm chest and listened as his rapid heartbeat began to slow back to its usual steady and calming pace. The warmth of the spring coupled with Naruto's embrace quickly lulled her to sleep.

Naruto could feel himself growing tired as well and quickly carried Rei out of the spring towards camp. Using Fūton chakra to dry them both off, he didn't bother with redressing. He slipped her into his sleeping bag before wrapping himself around her and pulling the cover over both of them. With his nose buried in her raven hair, he drifted off to sleep feeling more content than he ever had in his life.


	66. Year 4: Not Quite Unrequited

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be graphic depictions of violence and sexual content present in this chapter.

 **Chapter 65**

 **Year 4: Not Quite Unrequited**

 **Two days later – Hiroshi Chakra Caverns – Kiba no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto stirred awake as he felt Rei trailing her fingers over his bare chest gently. His arms gripped her tighter as he pulled her in for another passionate kiss. The last few days had been a blur of passion and ecstasy with small breaks for sustenance and answering the call of nature. Beyond that, Naruto and Rei were never apart for long as they gave into their desires and pleasured each other practically non-stop.

It still didn't seem to be enough for Naruto. He always wanted more of Rei and would often exhaust himself drawing out her cries of his name as he took her rough and fast or slow and long. He loved nothing more than to hear her shouting his name, the look of ecstasy on her face as she reached her climax and the way she clung to his body tightly as their bodies joined. The first day had been a lesson in each other's bodies, learning what turned their lover on and what killed the mood. After learning the intricacies of their partner, the last day was spent taking full advantage of their new found knowledge to drive each other wild.

Naruto never wanted this to end, but he knew reality would come calling soon. He still needed to collect the large Dōtekion (Kinetic) crystal and the nine other crystals required for the plan. On top of that, they had only a few more days to fill the remaining scrolls and return to the village.

Rei released a sigh of contentment as she trailed her fingers along his strongly defined abs. She had never been more convinced that Hiruko was watching over her from the afterlife than in this moment. None of her past flings had been so fulfilling and enjoyable as being with Naruto. What had been mere vanity and lust had slowly become something more. Now, Rei truly believed that Hiruko had sent Naruto to her so she could fully make peace with his death and have a brief moment of joy in her life.

If only she could fully return Naruto's own love for her completely. She could see it in his eyes and feel it in his touch, and while her heart called out to him, her love for Hiruko had still been stronger. The feeling of serene contentment when they cradled each other after a round of vigorous sex had been much more potent with Hiruko. That wasn't to say that she didn't feel strongly for Naruto, it was just not the same as she had felt with Hiruko, and that made her feel a bit guilty.

While she might be old enough to understand that sometimes things were only meant to last for the moment. Naruto, on the other hand, was still a young man just on the verge of true adulthood, and she was probably his first real love interest. She had to find a way to let him down gently so that when the time came for them to part, he would move on and find his true love. A small part of her wanted to be selfish and keep him to herself. He had proven himself to be a very caring and vigorous lover who sought out her satisfaction over his own.

It was his total devotion to her that made her determined to set their situation straight. She could tell that Naruto felt very strongly for her. That was why she had to create some distance from him now before she caused him traumatic pain that might turn him away from giving his heart to someone else. In her opinion, that would be a true sin as it was hard enough to find a caring and devoted man in their troubled world. Naruto deserved to find a woman whose heart belonged to him completely.

Naruto pressed his nose into her hair to take in the satisfying combination of their mingling scents. Her natural wildflower and honey scent mixed happily with his own woodsy musk, like a peaceful meadow found in the deepest woods. Holding her in his arms and feeling her body against his had been the greatest experience. Naruto had never felt so conflicted in his life than he did at this moment. He was ashamed to admit that the thought of abandoning everything just to remain at her side had crossed his mind more often than it should and that thought had been weighing his mind down with guilt.

The village certainly wouldn't miss him in the least, and he would be glad to be rid of those idiots. If Tsunade allowed him to keep his Sannin traveling rights, he would stay away from that hell hole as much as Jiraiya. Tsunade and the Sandaime would miss him, but he was certain that as long as he kept checking in and was there to help them when needed, they wouldn't have an issue.

Sasuke, Shikamaru, Choji, they might miss him, but it would be the same situation as Tsunade and the Sandaime. Besides Sasuke, missions had kept him pretty busy before he left for the training trip and he had only visited his oldest friends occasionally.

Hinata was a bit more challenging as there had been the potential for more with her. He had felt the start of something with her, but they had both been young at the time. She had her own obligations to her clan, and the more Naruto thought about their parting words, the more it sounded like she was warning him that it was highly unlikely anything more could develop between them. Even if she wasn't obligated to find and marry a suitable husband in a few years, her political standing in the village could be significantly harmed by the idiots who despised him. A major problem for someone who was slated to become the head of a highly influential and powerful clan. Neji's reaction to their kiss had been proof enough for him that he would only cause her more problems.

What he felt for Rei just had to be love. Hearing Tsunade and the Sandaime's descriptions and their stipulations that their words paled in comparison to the real feeling had made sense to him now that he had met Rei. It was so strong, so powerful what he felt for her. That only made it more painful for him knowing that she didn't know the truth about him. How would she react if she learned about Kurama? He had explained his troubled past as a bloodline that was looked down upon by his village and she had related to that because of her past with Hoshi. Would her feelings change if she learned the truth?

Oh, how he wanted to be completely honest with her but he knew that it would only cause more problems, regardless of her reaction. He had promised Jiraiya and Tsunade that he would keep his status hidden from any foreign ninja unless necessary. He knew that his love for Rei wouldn't qualify in their eyes, not unless they got to meet her first. Tsunade had demanded that he introduce any girlfriends to her before he shared such knowledge so it might be possible, but would Rei even want to leave Tsukigakure and relocate to Konoha?

Hell, _he_ didn't want her to. Those idiot villagers would only make things difficult for her and he knew, deep down, that leaving her home and the memories of her first love would be hard for her.

Naruto knew that Rei still loved Hiruko. He could tell by the way she spoke about him. The way she mourned for him on the anniversary of his sacrifice. While a part of him wished that he could take that place in her heart, ultimately, he knew it was just him being selfish. He couldn't help but envy the man who had claimed her first.

Then the final, very big, issue was Kurama himself. He couldn't abandon Kurama and leave the world to its fate for his own selfish desires. He couldn't betray Kurama like that, not after everything Kurama had done for him. In a way, it was better that Rei didn't truly love him because it would be easier for her to move on if he had to sacrifice himself to fix the cycle. It still didn't lessen the stab of pain he felt in his heart when he thought about it, though. Just the thought of her not loving him was like being stabbed by that kunai all over again. He didn't think he would ever feel this way about another woman.

Perhaps this was Kami's punishment for him murdering Makoto. It would make sense, given that a woman who couldn't fully love him had stolen his heart. Makoto probably loved him as he loved Rei, and just like Rei couldn't return his love fully, he hadn't been capable of returning Makoto's love. While she did take advantage of him, she might have been able to recover in time, like Sakura did.

Who knows? She might have actually been the woman for him once she spent time with the Yamanaka clan and had her mind healed. He couldn't dispute the fact that Rei and Makoto had very similar traits. Naruto was confident that Makoto would have looked very similar to Rei had she grown fully.

Naruto took in another deep breath of Rei's scent to calm his fluctuating emotions. If this was his penance for Makoto's death, then all he could do is embrace it. He would delve himself deeply into his love for Rei until it was time for them to part. Then he would keep his promise to Kurama and throw himself completely into the plan and fix the cycle so that his beautiful Rei could live on.

Naruto felt Rei's trailing fingers stop before she looked up at him with a sad smile.

"We have to talk, Naruto-kun," Rei murmured. "We have to talk about us."

Naruto merely grunted in agreement but remained silent as he continued to run his hand through her hair. His focus was entirely on her upturned face and in particular those beautiful green eyes of hers.

"Naruto-kun, I care for you deeply, but you know I can't let my love for Hiruko go completely," Rei said in a sad tone.

Naruto could see the fear in her eyes as they began to get watery. He raised his other hand to caress her cheek gently before he spoke.

"I know, Rei-chan," Naruto said with a sigh. "If you love him half as much as I love you, then I can understand it completely."

Rei's face took on a pained expression. "Oh, Naruto-kun...I feared you would say that."

"What? That I love you?" Naruto said as he began to wipe the tears that had started to fall from her face. "I know that I love you, Rei-chan. I've never felt this way about anyone."

Rei shook her head and looked away. "You are still young, Naruto-kun-"

"Don't question my feelings because of your own guilt." Naruto snapped before he sighed and took a softer tone. "I know what I feel for you Rei-chan. Trying to downplay or disregard my emotions won't make things any less difficult for either of us."

Rei looked up at him again with a look of surprise. "What do you mean, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto leaned towards her and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead before he spoke. "I know that you can't give me your heart completely. Even though it hurts me so much to admit that, I know it is the truth." Naruto wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly. "I know that our time here will come to an end and that we will have to go our separate ways, but I still won't stop loving you."

"You must," Rei said with a halfhearted punch to his chest. "Don't throw away your heart on me or I'll never forgive you. Save your love for someone else."

"But-" Naruto began, but Rei vehemently cut him off.

"No!" Rei cut him off loudly before lowering her voice. "I am not saying our time together isn't something special, but it wasn't meant to last," Rei said before she gave him a small kiss on his chest. "We were intended to come together just for this time so we could both learn, Naruto-kun. I will learn how to fully move on from Hiruko's death, and you will learn how to treat your true love by being with me."

Rei planted another kiss on Naruto's neck, earning a soft moan from him.

"I know you think you truly love me, but you are still young and don't have enough experience to understand," Rei said with a sad sigh. "Before I met Hiruko, I thought I was in love with another man. The feelings I had for that man were so intense at first but over time, they began to fade." Rei said before looking into Naruto's eyes. He was frowning, but she could tell he was considering what she was telling him.

"When I first met Hiruko, I wasn't even attracted to him at all. I only saw him as a close friend, maybe even my best friend. As time moved on, however, those feelings only continued to grow to the point where what I felt for my first love was nothing in comparison." Rei said before she reached up to cup his cheek gently. "You will always have a place in my heart, Naruto-kun but I know that you will find a woman that will make what we have seem pale in comparison." Rei finished before she began to gently stroke his whiskers, knowing it was a weakness of his.

Naruto closed his eyes and let out a low grumble of annoyance mixed with pleasure at the sensation. He was aware that she was trying to throw off his thoughts by taking advantage of one of his biggest erogenous zones, and she was quickly succeeding as his body began to react to the feel of her fingers running over his whiskers and her soft body pressed against his. After she draped her leg over his and used her foot to trail a path up his calf, he lost the battle to maintain his composure and let out a small growl before he seized her arms and rolled her onto her back before he mounted her.

Rei let out a squeak of surprise before her eyes grew mischievous and she began to grind herself against his arousal. Naruto let out a low growl and pressed his full weight down on her to make it more difficult for her to move.

"I know you think you are only saying what is best for me, Rei-chan," Naruto said as he leaned down and nipped at her neck. "You can't know for certain that my feelings might change." his lips moved lower down her neck, "What I do know is that my heart is yours and if another woman wants to take your place, she will have to fight for it." Naruto punctuated his sentence by kissing her deeply.

After a few minutes of their tongues dancing together, Naruto began attacking her sensitive spots on her neck once more. Rei gave into his ministrations for the moment as she was enjoying his initiative. At least, he hadn't ruled out opening his heart to another woman down the road and secretly she was pleased that he wouldn't throw his love for her aside so easily, even if it was selfish of her. Rei tried to cut Naruto off before they became too distracted but he was forcefully pinning her hands down above her head which caused her to squirm beneath him.

"Mmm, Naruto-kun we should complete our mission first," Rei said between her heavy breaths and soft moans as Naruto kept both of her hands pressed down above her head and let his free hand begin to roam her body. It grew harder for her to resist as his forcefulness was arousing her fully and she secretly loved it when he started to use his strength to dominate her.

Naruto lifted his head to look her in the eye with a devious smirk on his face. "You think I will let you get me all riled up and not have to pay, Rei-chan? I won't let you get away that easy."

 **Lemon Warning**

* * *

Naruto gripped her breast with his free hand before trailing kisses towards her other breast. As his hand massaged the underside of the breast and teased around her nipple, he used his tongue to trail a circle her other firming peak, just shy of rubbing the sensitive tips.

Rei arched her back wanting Naruto to touch those most sensitive parts, but he continued to avoid them. Rei tried to break free of his firm grasp in order to grab his head and push him to where she needed him most, but he was too strong for her. She let out a needy moan as he continued to tease her and drive her wild with his touch.

After a few minutes, Naruto hand trailed down her body to her womanhood where he continued his teasing assault by trailing just around her sensitive bundle and her now slick entrance. Rei cried out in frustration as Naruto continued to tease just around her erogenous zones, enough to get her wet for him but not enough to fully satisfy that longing.

With a vicious grin on his face, Naruto watched Rei squirm beneath him and found that he liked the feeling of dominance over her. He had never been this aggressive towards her during their two-day marathon as his confidence had needed to be built up, but now after their painful conversation, he decided on some pleasurable revenge. A part of him wanted her to cry his name out repeatedly and drive Hiruko out of her mind and heart completely, even if he knew it wouldn't be likely.

Naruto released her breast and trailed his tongue up her body and neck before he whispered in her ear. "Do you need me, Rei-chan? Do you want me inside of you?"

"I need you, Naruto-kun. I need you now." Rei cried out.

His fingers trailed dangerously close to her clit before they moved back down to tease her well-lubricated entrance.

Naruto let out a hum of mock uncertainty before stopping his motions and looking into her lust filled eyes. "That didn't sound very convincing to me, Rei-chan. You'll have to do better than that." Naruto said in a low tone that sent shivers up Rei's spine.

Rei met his gaze with a mock glare of defiance. Secretly she was thrilled at his newly found confidence, but she still had her feminine pride. She began moaning in a seductive tone while trailing kisses along his arm and neck to try and arouse him to the point where he would give in and take his pleasure, but Naruto was determined to make her submit. He began attacking her body once more, sucking on the most sensitive spot on her neck while his fingers continued to trail along the edge of her moist cavern before circling her clit and moving back down.

As the pressure built within her, Rei found herself losing control and began trying to break free of Naruto's firm grasp. Naruto only smirked in response before biting down on her neck, knowing how much Rei loved that feeling. When he started to brush gently against her sensitive bundle, Rei lost the battle and gave in.

"Please, Naruto-kun. I need you!" Rei cried out as she writhed beneath him. "Please, take me now."

Naruto gave her a victorious grin before he released her hands. He slid both of his hands under her thighs and spread them apart to reveal her opening to him. Shifting himself down, he ran his tongue along her entrance slowly to tease her one last time before grinding his tongue against her clit rapidly.

Rei cried out in pleasure as he began to alternate his attention between her clit and delving inside of her to stroke his tongue along her inner walls. It didn't take long for Rei to cry his name out loudly as he drove her to her first climax. Before she could come down from her orgasm, Naruto quickly hooked her legs over his shoulders and moved into position to thrust into her.

Rei called out his name loudly as he drove into her without warning and began pumping into her rapidly. His hardened shaft stroked her clit with each thrust, drawing out her orgasm even longer. Naruto didn't stop there, even as her walls tightened around him he continued to drive into her. He had to clench his teeth to hold back his peak as the feel of her rippling over him as he moved in her was beyond comparison.

Naruto grunted with exertion and pleasure as Rei's constant cries of pleasure and the feeling of her tight, wet, undulating heat continued to caress him, and Rei applied, even more, friction by meeting each of his thrusts with her own. He took in the look of ecstasy on her face as her cries grew even louder and her large breasts bounced wildly from the force of their coupling. The sight of her lost in pleasure, the sound of her voice crying out loudly as he surged forward and the feel of her tight channel milking him was almost too much for him, but he pushed his own desire back in favor of seeing how long he could draw her own climax out. Something deep inside of him enjoyed the fact that he was making her scream enough that her cries were echoing throughout the cavern and drowning out the sound of his hips smacking into her thighs.

Rei could hardly take a breath in between her cries of pleasure with how hard Naruto was taking her right now. His hard cock grinding against her clit before gouging her g-spot kept drawing out her climax to the point where her whole body began to shudder from the pleasure, and she almost felt like she was going to pass out completely.

It didn't take long for Rei to cry out his name once more, along with all the Kami, as he drove into her relentlessly. Just when she thought she couldn't take anymore, he pushed deep into her one last time and released his hot seed into her.

Naruto collapsed on top of her panting heavily as they both caught their breaths before he managed to pull out of her and roll to the side. After a few minutes of catching her breath and letting the aftershocks of pleasure roll through her body, Rei turned to the side to cling to him. Naruto happily wrapped his arms around her and drew her in close, still breathing heavily from the exertion.

 **Lemon End**

* * *

"Kami, Naruto-kun. I think I should piss you off more often." Rei said breathlessly.

Naruto chuckled before kissing her on the crown of her head. "Only if you don't mind the entire village hearing you scream my name."

Rei smacked him playfully. "This is going to be a thing for you, I can tell. Don't tell me you secretly want someone to watch us in action?"

Naruto snorted at the thought. He had no doubt that Jiraiya probably would watch them, given the chance. He would have to find a way to subtly thank his shishō for those detailed talks he had been loathed to listen to at the start of this journey. While most of the tales had suspended Naruto's belief, it seemed like the pervert truly knew what he was talking about when it came to women. Using one of the dirty sage's more descriptive techniques had been worth the sensations he was able to experience as a result of them. Rei obviously agreed with that sentiment.

Letting the old pervert watch him in such a position was out of the question, though. It was bad enough that Kurama had to share in his feelings during all this. Hopefully, his fox companion had managed to sleep through all of it, but the memories would always be there for him to view.

"I don't know about that," Naruto said before sighing reluctantly. "We should probably bathe and get the rest of those crystals sealed away."

Rei moaned a complaint before looking up at him and pouting cutely. "I think you need to carry me after how rough you were."

"Of course, Rei-hime, whatever you desire," Naruto replied before he sat up.

He quickly pulled together their bathing kits before lifting Rei up. Naruto made his way over to the third spring that was cooler and had more drainage, suitable for actual bathing instead of soaking. Settling them both down on the shallow shelf, he began to diligently wash Rei's body with a lathered up cloth. While running his hands over her body always served to arouse him a bit, he was remaining focused on finishing their task so they could return to the village soon.

He knew that the traps and sensor seals he had set up were reliable, but there was always the chance that one of the Hoshi-nin had managed to sneak around them. Any clones he had set up during the first day had long dispelled after their chakra levels faded, and he had been far too preoccupied to care at the time.

As Rei stepped into the deeper water to rinse, he began to scrub his body quickly, while Rei focused on washing her very long hair. Naruto was done washing his body and his hair before Rei completed her bath, and decided to take the opportunity to grab the crystals he would need for the seal.

"I'm going to go ahead and start collecting some crystals, Rei-hime," Naruto said before giving her a quick kiss on the lips. He stepped out of the water and dried himself off with Fūton chakra before strolling over to camp to unseal some clean clothes.

"Okay, Naruto-kun. I won't be long." Rei called out as she continued to untangle her knee length tresses. "Make sure you send a few clones to check the perimeter also, in case someone got trapped while we were distracted," Rei added with a giggle.

Naruto shook his head as he dressed and did a quick gear check. Gathering the sealing scrolls for the village, along with a smaller one of his own, he made his way back to the first chamber.

Summoning a few clones to check up on the traps, Naruto then turned his focus back to the Dōtekion crystal that Kurama had pointed out when they had first arrived. The lime green crystal was in a pentagon shape, just over one foot long and four inches in diameter at it's largest point. Naruto could feel the chakra radiating off the crystal as he neared it. Naruto gently gripped the crystal before slowly shuffling it up and down to break it off of the wall. It didn't take much effort for Naruto to pry it free from its perch. Naruto sealed it away into one of his thigh pocket seals before moving on to pick out the elemental and yin/yang crystals for the seal.

He was curious why Kurama wanted the Dōtekion crystal in the first place. Naruto had never heard of such a combination before. Not even in any of the advanced chakra books he had read back in the village library. He wasn't even certain what elements it comprised of, but he had to guess it was Fūton and Raiton judging by the colors. An unusual combination, considering they were both highly offensive in nature.

Naruto, for the sake of consistency, picked out crystals that were as close to the same size as possible. Also choosing the brightest ones which seemed to radiate more chakra from them. After sealing those away, he began the tedious task of plucking more crystals at random for the village scrolls before he received feedback from one of his clones and frowned.

It seemed a team of Hoshi ninjas had decided to come out and play.

Naruto quickly created a clone to bring the scrolls back to camp and give Rei a warning before he moved towards the entrance to drive the Hoshi ninjas off. Naruto was eager to face off against an experienced Kujaku Myōhō (Mysterious Peacock Method) user.

He had only run into a low-level Chūnin from Hoshi that was capable of using the signature technique of Hoshigakure. The chūnin had been taken down quite quickly by a different team that had been working in conjunction with them. The rest of their clashes had been against shinobi that had not reacted well to the Star chakra and used regular attacks or foreign ninjas and mercenaries that hired on to combat Tsuki's rising influence in the region.

From what his clones had reported, this group was a mix of chūnin and genin which was odd considering the traditional group makeups. Even if there was a jōnin in the mix, Naruto was confident that Rei and himself could handle the team with support from his clones.

Naruto quickly made his way towards the entrance before using Tōton Jutsu (Transparent Escape) to sneak closer to where the Hoshi ninjas were breaking camp. Naruto grimaced as he realized that it could have been dangerous for him and Rei if they had shown up a day or two earlier. He would need to keep his urges to himself more effectively on a mission or at the very least ensure that he made sentry clones stand guard instead of just relying on seals.

As Naruto met up with his scout clones, he could tell that there were no other stragglers from this group. The group sat around the campfire and appeared to have just finished their lunch if the smells were any indicator. There were high chūnin level kunoichi and shinobi that were speaking to each other while the other two shinobi were dousing the fire. One was obviously a rookie genin judging by his age while the last shinobi was an older chūnin.

Naruto could hear them discussing their mission to harvest several scrolls worth of crystals before rigging the caverns with traps for the next group of Tsuki ninja. Apparently they chose this cavern because of intelligence that led them to believe that Tsuki had not sent any shinobi to this particular mine in over a month.

The clone that had gone to warn Rei had dispelled after summoning an escort clone, causing him to prepare for Rei's arrival. He discreetly created two powered clones and had them move into a flanking position for a combination attack. Knowing Rei, she would layer a few genjutsu onto the group, and they would use a few combination jutsu to take the whole team out easily.

Rei showed up a few minutes later and with a short nod of her head began flipping through hand seals for her first Genjutsu. Genjutsu Shibari (Genjutsu Binding) before adding in Magen: Jigoku Kōka no Jutsu (Descending Hell Technique)

Naruto's clones then launched their combination jutsu down on the group, sending a wind-enhanced fire dragon speeding towards the unsuspecting Hoshi ninjas who were looking up and screaming in fear of the illusionary ball of fire that was quickly descending on them.

The high-level kunoichi and shinobi both managed to break free of the dual layer genjutsu and use Kawarimi to move away from the camp, replacing themselves with some spare pieces of firewood before the fire dragon struck. The genin and the older chūnin had no chance to escape and their screams only escalated before their bodies were incinerated from the heat.

"Kami damn you bastards! You'll pay for killing Sora!" the kunoichi yelled out into the woods as she spun around looking for Naruto and Rei.

The shinobi remained quiet with his eyes narrowed as he scanned the forest for Naruto and Rei. Naruto watched as he made a strange hand seal and pink chakra erupted from his back before it sent several volleys of pink chakra into the brush behind him, dispelling one of Naruto's clones that were unable to avoid the attack.

Naruto's face held a subtle grin as he studied the Kujaku Myōhō user in front of him. Naruto looked over to Rei, who had a flat look on her face before shaking her head. She could tell that Naruto wanted to face the man alone. Rei moved around to attack the kunoichi, leaving him to the shinobi below.

 **Naruto vs. Hoshi Shinobi**

* * *

Naruto decided to test the waters by having his clone send a volley of shuriken followed by Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone). The Hoshi ninja countered by forming a wolf shaped chakra cloak around his body that repelled all of the attacks before the wolf charged forward towards the clone.

Naruto flipped through his own hand seals for Doton: Yomi Numa (Swamp of the Underworld) while the shinobi was distracted, hoping to restrict his range of motion by bogging him down in the swampy mire. He followed that attack up by flipping through more hand seals and using Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet) to drill into the man's back.

The Hoshi ninja forced more chakra into the wolf cloak surrounding him, repelling the water attack before he formed a pair of chakra wings to escape from the clingy mud beneath his feet. As he took to the air, he began launching stabbing tendrils of chakra towards Naruto, forcing him to leap through the trees deftly to avoid the attacks while he moved around the clearing to get the shinobi back into his trap.

Flipping through more hand seals as he ran, Naruto sought to eliminate the Hoshi ninja's advantage by using Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden mist) to limit his visibility and force the shinobi to the ground. The chakra-enhanced mist wasn't as thick as it should be, due to Naruto's lack of mastering the technique just yet, but it was sufficient enough to cause the Hoshi ninja pause in the air as he searched for Naruto.

Naruto had managed to watch on the of the Kiri Chūnin practice the jutsu a few times before they had to leave for Uzushio. It was only after he focused on the Nidaime's Suiton chakra control exercise on Genbu that he finally began to recreate the jutsu on his own. He still had a lot of work to do before he could consider the exercise and the jutsu mastered, however.

As Naruto peered out of the mist and waited for the shinobi to make his next move, he debated trying on his original jutsu on the man. He wasn't certain how effective it would be with the Kujaku Myōhō active, but it might just work enough to drive him to the ground.

Naruto concentrated on where the Hoshi ninja was hovering. He quickly formed a Tiger seal to use Fūton: Chissoku (Suffocation). Naruto designed this jutsu after messing around with Suirō no Jutsu (Water Prison) and decided to make his version using Fūton instead.

Like the water prison jutsu, Naruto surrounded an area with a thin wall of wind that pulled the air out of the designated area. This not only drew the air out of the area but prevented any new air from entering since the wind was essentially pushing out from every direction. With all the air constantly being drawn out and no new air being allowed in, the chosen area essentially became a void that would result in suffocation if the person lingered too long.

The Hoshi ninja didn't even realize he was trapped until he began struggling to breathe. In desperation, the shinobi swooped down into the treeline and started lashing out with his chakra feathers in a wild attempt to find Naruto's hiding place and force him to cancel the jutsu.

The Hoshi ninja got lucky, and one of his star chakra feathers forced Naruto to dodge the attack before the branch he had perched on plummeted into the swampy ground below. Naruto ran up the tree trunk and used a smaller branch to spring himself over the Hoshi ninja as he tried to recover his breath. Using Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) with both palms directly into shinobi's back, Naruto drove his enemy back into the mucky swamp while propelling himself through the air towards another tree on the opposite side of the clearing.

Naruto had misjudged his landing, however, and was barely able to right himself as he flew through the air and cling to a passing branch with chakra covered hands. Naruto swung around the branch, using his momentum to propel him to a larger branch which he quickly latched onto before pulling himself up.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he looked around the clearing. The Doton: Yomi Numa was still active as he hadn't cut his chakra off from it yet, but he didn't see where the shinobi went because of his botched landing.

Reaching out with his senses, he caught the scent of the Hoshi ninja hiding inside of a tree approximately 15 feet to his left.

'He must have used Kawarimi to avoid being trapped in the muck.' Naruto thought. 'He doesn't seem to have any sensory abilities or he would have been able to keep track of me even with the mist in the air.'

" **So you finally stopped rutting with that vixen to toy around with this weakling?"** Kurama said with a yawn. **"I would have figured that you would end this fool quickly and return to your rutting judging by how much you were enjoying yourself."**

Naruto felt his face heat up in embarrassment, and his body became tense with guilt and trepidation. For the past few days, he had been lost in his passion for Rei and his focus completely averted from the plan. Not only that, but he had toyed with the idea of throwing it all away just to stay by her side. During that time, he barely thought about Kurama and his situation until just this morning when his lust had cooled a bit. Naruto knew deep down that he needed to stick with the plan, but he still felt torn between his love for Rei and his responsibilities.

Kurama simply huffed at the storm of conflicting emotions running through Naruto and sent a feeling of understanding through Naruto causing him to relax. Kurama knew how powerful these emotions were for Naruto as he could feel them just as Naruto could. He still had faith in the kit because of the heavy guilt Naruto felt as soon as his mind began to entertain such thoughts. Kurama knew it was only natural for Naruto to have these feelings as he still had a human spirit within him.

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he basked in the wave of reassurance and belief in him that Kurama felt. The bond with Kurama was still the most comforting thing for him. While he had felt a strong connection to Rei and his heart yearned to be in her embrace constantly, his connection to Kurama was still stronger. His partner was correct in the fact that he had to accept that his feelings would be conflicted and stop saddling himself with guilt, or his spirit would become restless once more.

It was his actions that mattered in the end. Right now, his spirit yearned to have Rei's heart, but that didn't mean he had to throw everything away because of it. Even Rei had continued with her life once Hiruko had died, he wouldn't be worthy of her if he couldn't do the same and move on without her when the time came.

" **Good,"** Kurama said in an approving tone. **"Now stop playing around with this fool and finish him off."**

Naruto's eyes snapped open, and he refocused his senses on his target. The shinobi still hadn't moved so Naruto quickly made two regular clones to circle around and form a loose triangle around the Hoshi-nin. He debated making use of the Doton: Yomi Numa in his plan but Kurama encouraged him to try out the other Fūton jutsu he created instead. With an internal nod, Naruto quickly canceled the swamp jutsu and funneled more chakra into the Kirigakure no Jutsu to make the mist denser and cover the clones movements.

Once the clones had formed up around the man, he sent the command for his clones to use a low powered Fūton: Reppūshō as a distraction while he flipped through a series of five hand seals for his custom jutsu Fūton: Kaze no Senjin (Thousand Blades of Wind).

Fūton: Kaze no Senjin had been created as a result of Naruto's attempts at creating a ranged version of the Fūton: Rasengan, the Fūton: Rasenshuriken. The damage to his arms and chakra network from the Fūton: Rasenshuriken would have been irreversible if he hadn't been using their chakra cloak at the time. Kurama had only taken notice of the damage much later when Naruto deactivated the chakra cloak and noticed a strange itching sensation on his arm. The microscopic blades of wind created by the Fūton: Rasenshuriken had been the focus of this new jutsu.

Using multiple gusts of wind as a distraction, Naruto could keep his position concealed and eliminate his opponent at the same time. The highly dense but invisible blades of wind would slice into their enemy without them realizing the damage had been done until they attempted to move or channel their chakra. Unlike the Fūton: Rasenshuriken the attack was subtle and silent at the cost of less destructive power over all. Ideally, Naruto intended to use this jutsu during infiltration missions or when striking behind enemy lines.

Naruto finished his hand seals and released the jutsu just as the clones used their Fūton: Reppūshō to stir the breeze around the unsuspecting shinobi. The Fūton: Kaze no Senjin struck with nothing more than a subtle stirring of leaves and a low whistling sound that was common for a windswept forest.

To the shinobi, if had felt like nothing more than a strong gust of wind wrapping its way around the trees as he scanned the surrounding forest. He had been grateful for the wind as it had lifted most of the mist away from the clearing and made his visual range much larger. He failed to notice the shredded leaves and bark falling around him when he spotted Naruto creeping into his line of sight. Thinking he had the upper hand, the shinobi began to channel his star chakra into an attack.

That was when the pain struck. The shinobi let out a strangled cry as he watched thousands of cuts opening up on his arms and felt the wounds opening up all over his body and his blood began to spray out. While not large enough to completely dismember the man, the tiny blades had effectively severed through every vein, muscle, and even some of his bones. By the time his body fell to the forest floor in a disheveled heap, he was long dead.

Naruto casually made his way through the clearing towards the shinobi as a cascade of sliced leaves and blood continued to rain down around him. Naruto studied the man's body with a frown as he took in the shredded appearance of the body. If the shinobi had any intelligence on him, it would be completely ruined by the jutsu. It was another limitation he would have to keep in mind for later.

This was the first time he had been able to use the jutsu on a living opponent, and it seemed to have met all the requirements he had thought of when he first created it. The man had no idea where the attack originated from, and his focus had been only on his clone. The man had also been alive for almost a minute after the jutsu struck before he attempted to move and opened all the cuts, ending his life.

It was an effective if _messy_ way to eliminate an opponent without drawing too much attention. The restrictions on ensuring that his allies were clear on top of the fact that any potential intelligence could be destroyed made the jutsu highly situational, though. He considered going back to the start and trying to change the way the jutsu functioned but after a brief internal debate, _they_ decided it wouldn't be worth it.

Naruto quickly burned the man's corpse with a quick Katon: Endan (Flame Bullet) before he moved away and began sniffing out Rei's scent. He doubted that Rei would need his help against the kunoichi, but he would enjoy watching his love in action. He quickly leaped into the trees and made his way towards her scent with a small smile on his face.

What man didn't enjoy a good vixen fight?

 **Rei vs. Hoshi Kunoichi**

* * *

Rei wasted no time confronting the kunoichi with a shower of shuriken and senbon to test her reflexes. Rei knew just who this woman was, and they had some business to settle with each other.

"I should have known it would be you, traitorous whore." the woman spat. "Now I can take revenge for what you did to my fiancee."

"Hiruko wasn't your fiancee, Kiyoko," Rei said with gritted teeth. "You only wished he would pay you a fraction of the attention he did to me."

Kiyoko laughed bitterly before responding with her own flurry of shuriken before she charged in with a kunai in both hands and engaged Rei in a taijutsu match. Rei only managed to pull one kunai out before Kiyoko was on her slashing and stabbing with a frenzy, forcing Rei to backpedal as she avoided the wild slashes and tried to deflect as many as she could.

When Kiyoko lunged forwards in an attempt to stab both of her kunai into Rei's chest, an opening was created. Rei was able to parry Kiyoko's attack with a hard block while side stepping to her left, throwing off Kiyoko's balance and causing her to stumble forwards and to the side away from Rei.

Rei quickly dropped an elbow down onto Kiyoko's spine to bring her face down towards her rising knee to the solar plexus. Kiyoko gave out a startled cough before throwing a wild slash at Rei forcing her to back off on her assault. Rei lashed out with a thrust kick as Kiyoko attempted to close the distance before following up with a round house kick to Kiyoko's face.

Rei dashed in quickly to finish Kiyoko off while she was stunned and grinned sadistically when her kunai sunk into Kiyoko's chest. The shocked expression on Kiyoko's face turned into a smirk as a cloud of smoke, and the sudden change of weight on her kunai revealed that Kiyoko had replaced herself with Kawarimi.

Rei cursed to herself silently before she looked around the clearing warily. The sound of brush moving behind her caused her to react out of instinct and roll out of the way of the group of shuriken that flew at her. As she turned to face that direction, however, more sounds came from behind her, and she was forced to turn and deflect a few more shuriken.

A brief sound of displaced air moving in from behind her was Rei's only warning that a jutsu was speeding towards her. With a few quick hand seals, she blocked the incoming fireball with a Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall). Bringing the wall down, she looked around to find any sign of Kiyoko, but it seemed her opponent was content to play the hide and seek game.

"You never were as skilled as me, Kiyoko. That is why Hiruko never accepted your engagement" Rei taunted.

"Don't try that shit on me, Rei; it won't work. Everyone knows how you enjoy playing with men's hearts before you rip them apart." Kiyoko's voice echoed around the clearing making Rei narrow her eyes. "You stole Tomoe's boyfriend in the Academy just for fun; then you took advantage of Keiji's heart just to make Hojo jealous!"

"Did you make this all up to feel better about the fact that Hiruko chose me over you?" Rei said with a snarl. "You can't stand it that Hiruko was willing to sacrifice himself for me when he wouldn't give you the time of day," Rei added with a smirk.

She had a general idea of Kiyoko's location, she just needed to enrage the bitch further, and she could put her down for good.

"Bullshit!" Kiyoko yelled out. "Hiruko was more than willing to accept our arranged marriage before you came along and seduced him away from me! All so you could escape your duty to the clan _knowing_ that Hiruko had access to the border patrol routes!" Kiyoko accused.

Rei flipped through the hand seals for Kori Shinchū no Jutsu (Sly Mind Affect) while Kiyoko taunted her in order to throw off her sense of direction.

"You used Hiruko just like all the other boys you used for your own advancement," Kiyoko shouted. "It's the whole reason no one would take you as a bride beside that old asshole! Everyone knew you were nothing but used goods. A pass-around party favor unworthy of being a good wife!"

Rei layered another genjutsu over Kiyoko using Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu (False Surroundings Technique) before she began to advance towards the tree that Kiyoko was using as cover. Rei quickly flared her chakra to dispel the minor genjutsu Kiyoko had used to conceal herself.

Flipping through the hand seals, she quickly prepared her strongest fire attack Katon: Kaen Senpū (Flame Whirlwind). As the fire swirled around her body, Rei continued to pour more chakra into the assault until the jutsu began to show signs of instability, then she sent the spinning vortex of flame directly into the tree where Kiyoko was perched.

Kiyoko sensed the buildup of chakra and attempted to leap away from the attack, but with the dual genjutsu altering her vision, she failed to avoid the attack altogether and was rewarded with second-degree burns on her legs and torso.

Kiyoko was quick to use Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm) on her burns before she glared at Rei, who had wasted no time in preparing her next attack. Several small fireballs flew towards Kiyoko, who waited until the last minute to use Kawarimi to appear a short distance behind Rei before she began flipping through hand seals quickly.

Kiyoko sent a Raiton: Sandāboruto (Thunderbolt) towards Rei. When Rei managed to raise another wall of mud to block the attack, Kiyoko began flipping through the second set of hand seals for Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder) hoping to lace the ground with Raiton chakra and stun Rei before she could escape.

Rei managed to use Shunshin up into the trees before throwing the last of her shuriken towards Kiyoko forcing her to cancel her jutsu and draw a kunai to deflect the sharpened metal stars flying towards her.

Kiyoko threw her own kunai before following up with another handful of shuriken, hoping to drive Rei into the air so she could use her Raiton: Sandāboruto to strike her in the air. Rei didn't take the bait, opting to deflect the projectiles before throwing her own kunai and flipping through hand seals.

Kiyoko quickly dashed to the side to dodge the kunai before she raced through her own hand seals hoping to beat Rei at her own jutsu. Both kunoichi managed to finish their hand seals and the same time and sent their jutsu towards each other. Kiyoko channeled lighting in her hands before sending a large bolt towards Rei. When Rei didn't even bother to move from her position and began flipping through hand seals again, Kiyoko realized that she had fallen under another genjutsu.

Kiyoko quickly dispelled the genjutsu just in time to see Rei's kunai in flight towards her. Before she could evade the attack entirely, however, Rei brought her hands up to her lips in a half ram seal and used the jutsu that Naruto taught her Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough).

Rei's kunai sped up from the force of the wind, tearing through the side of Kiyoko's chest as she was blasted back by the sharp cutting winds. The wind enhanced kunai tore through her ribs and shredded her lung before embedding deeply into the tree she was slammed into by the wind jutsu. Blood poured out of Kiyoko's mouth which was agape in shock as her body slid down the tree trunk landed in a heap at the base of the tree.

Rei leaped down from her branch and stood over Kiyoko's body with a cold expression on her face. Using a vicious kick to roll Kiyoko over onto her back, Rei stared into the dying woman's eyes before she spoke. "Hiruko never loved you. He chose to run away with me just to escape from you."

Kiyoko let out a gurgle as if trying to respond before her body went completely limp. Rei continued to stare down at Kiyoko's body for several minutes before Naruto decided to jump down from his perch and walk up next to her.

Rei gave him a sideways glance before she spoke. "How long were you watching?" she asked quietly.

"Not very long, but I heard what she said," Naruto said before he brought his hand up to caress her cheek tenderly. "It doesn't matter if what she said is true or not. I still love you, Rei-hime." Naruto said with a small smile on his face.

Rei couldn't look Naruto in the eye as her guilt overwhelmed her. It wasn't fair that she had managed to steal his heart so completely when she couldn't return his love on the same level.

"Naruto... I-" Rei started before Naruto cupped her face with his both of his hands and made her look up at him.

"We already discussed this Rei-hime." Naruto admonished her. "Just like you can't change the way you feel about Hiruko, I can't change the way I feel about you." Naruto began to stroke her cheeks with his thumbs.

Rei looked up at Naruto with teary eyes. "Oh, Naruto. You deserve so much better than that." She gently placed her hand over one of his own and leaned into his touch. "You deserve someone that can love you with her whole heart."

Naruto just shook his head. "We belong to each other in this moment, let's just embrace what we have." Naruto drew Rei into his arms and rested his chin on her shoulder before tightening his grip on her. "One of my closest friends once told me that I should live my life to the fullest so that I have no regrets." Naruto began to rub his hands over her back in a soothing manner. "Even if we aren't meant to last, and our feelings eventually fade, I don't want the memories of our time together to be diminished with regret."

Rei clung to Naruto tightly before she let out a sad laugh into his chest. "Here I thought I would be the one who would be trying to comfort you and convince you to move on," Rei said dryly. "I won't regret our time together, Naruto-kun. I will only regret that I couldn't love you completely as you deserve. As long as you promise to move on and leave me as just a memory, then I won't have any regrets." Rei cooed before leaning back and looking up into his eyes.

What she felt for Naruto was almost as strong as how she felt for Hiruko. It wouldn't be the first time she believed that Hiruko had sent Naruto to her, and it wouldn't be the first time she wished that she could let Hiruko go completely. She didn't deserve another dedicated and caring man, but if it made Naruto happy, she would give him everything that she could.

Naruto merely sighed as he debated making that promise to her. What he felt towards her was so powerful that he had doubts he could find another. Once more Hinata's image appeared in his mind. There had been a glimmer of something between them once, but he didn't know if the circumstances would ever be right between them to see if that could grow into something more. Plus there was the plan to think about which could cut off his chances of finding happiness before he started looking for them.

Still, he needed Rei to be free of the guilt and regret of showing him how it truly felt to love, even if that love wasn't entirely returned on her part. He wouldn't forgive himself if he left her to suffer like she did when Hiruko had died to earn her freedom.

Naruto looked back into Rei's eyes and made the promise.


	67. Year 4: The War of Moon and Star

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** There will be graphic depictions of violence in this chapter.

 **Chapter 66**

 **Year 4: The War of Moon and Star**

 **One Month Later – Tsukigakure Jōnin Standby Station**

* * *

Naruto and Rei entered the standby station and began pushing their way through the crowd as politely as possible. As a foreign shinobi working as a contractor for the village, Naruto was not required to attend the mustering of troops, but he wouldn't let Rei enter a war without him by her side. He would put his alias down on the registrar and offer his support.

While Naruto knew his involvement could cause some problems with Jiraiya, the experience would be necessary for him. Everyone knew that Konoha, Kumo, and Taki were on the verge of going to war with Iwa, Kiri, Kusa, Oto, and Suna. Even though it had been three years since the invasion of Konoha, the tension had only continued to rise as the Daimyō's bickered amongst each other. Jiraiya had already warned Naruto to be prepared to return to Konoha sooner rather than later and that his Sage mode training might be put on hold till later. It wasn't a major concern for him at this point.

Already three different mediators had failed to create a compromise between the Daimyō and small skirmishes had started to break out along the borders as each village reinforced their security and attempted to probe their enemies defenses. It wouldn't take long for an incident to occur that would push one of the Daimyō over the edge and trigger the Fourth Shinobi War.

Unlike in Yuki no Kuni, Naruto knew this war would be much closer to the types of battles he could expect once Konoha was embroiled in a war based on Jiraiya and the Sandaime's own descriptions of their battles during the Second and Third Shinobi wars. While some guerrilla tactics would be used to disrupt supply lines and gain territorial advantages, most of the battles would be fought against battalions of shinobi facing off against each other over key villages, travel routes, and secured bases.

The war would also provide him with the opportunity to infiltrate Hoshigakure and steal the fragments of the meteor he needed for the plan. Even if things didn't go in favor of Tsuki during this war, the chaos alone should allow him the opportunity to interrogate a few Hoshi ninjas and make use of the skills Jiraiya taught him to locate the meteor and take what he needed.

Naruto knew that as a foreign shinobi volunteering to assist in the war, he would likely be put on the front lines in order to spare Tsuki from losing more of their own shinobi. Naruto was surprised to find that he was more concerned about remaining by Rei's side instead of facing an enemy army head on. He would also have to be careful to hide any ties to Konoha or Kurama during the war so that nothing could be traced back to his home village and cause more problems for him.

Hopefully, the Tsukikage would consider all the time he had spent working with Team Arata and would allow him to continue working directly with them. There weren't many foreign volunteers joining in on the war so the Tsukikage might not be able to treat the ones that did stick around as expendable.

When Hoshi declared the formal war against Tsuki a few weeks ago there had been a large exodus of the usual mercenary and missing-nin contractors leaving the area. The only ones that stayed around were the ones who had a vested interest in joining one of the two villages involved in the war or were the bloodthirsty types who were just eager to kill and get paid for it.

While Tsuki had lost a good number of active shinobi with the exodus, Hoshi had also lost a decent amount of their mercenaries as well. Since both Tsuki and Hoshi had parts necessary for the plan, he had been gathering intelligence on both villages in order to plan on obtaining the jutsu he needed from Tsuki and the meteorite fragments from Hoshi. With the generous use of henged clones and planting micro spy seals he had created during his time in Kumo, he now had a decent understanding of the inner workings of both villages. In terms of manpower and strength, Tsuki and Hoshi were evenly matched.

While it wouldn't be as large scale as a war between the big five villages, Naruto was certain that the experience he would gain would still be useful for him when the main war broke out. Testing out tactics and theoretical assaults in a large scale war didn't always provide you with results immediately like they would in a small scale war. While destroying a single farming village or supply line would be easy for a village like Konoha to shrug off, Hoshi and Tsuki might actually lose a battle or two because of that loss. For Naruto, this war served as an opportunity for him to try some of the theories he had come up with before applying them on a larger scale when the real war broke out.

At the very least, the war would give him the perfect opportunity to copy the forbidden jutsu he needed from Tsuki's vault. He had already established the perfect plan to infiltrate the vault and copy the jutsu since the village had started to mobilize for war. His original plan had been to wait until he left for Konoha to make his move in order to give him plausible deniability if the worst should occur. Now, however, he had seen how guard duties around the village had been shifted from internal threats to external threats and his clones had been able to find several vulnerabilities he could exploit to access the vault and copy the jutsu within.

It was a good thing he had been stocking up on chakra storage seals since he arrived at the village. He would be able to make an overpowered clone and give him several seals to maintain its form while the rest of the groups deployed. Once Naruto was safely out on the battlefield, the clone would then infiltrate the vault and copy the Gisei Kōkan (Sacrifice Exchange) and hide it away in a safe spot until Naruto returned.

The Gisei Kōkan (Sacrifice Exchange) was an experimental jutsu designed to transfer the cost of Jisatsu gijutsu (Suicide techniques) to another target allowing the user of the suicide technique to avoid the cost. It was Kurama's hypothesis that the jutsu could be modified to target multiple different users instead of simply draining one target of their life and chakra to power the technique. Not only would the original jutsu become stronger with more chakra and life force added to power the jutsu, but if enough targets were selected the risk of the caster dying to the technique would theoretically be reduced as well.

Naruto did not want to get his hopes up on the matter, however. If he was not able to modify the jutsu and integrate it with the seal he had recovered in Uzushio, the cost would still be deadly to him. Not including the other side effects that would occur if their plans came to fruition. It would all depend on how the Gisei Kōkan worked and if he could modify the jutsu enough to power the Chijō sanpu Fuin (Ground Application seal) and repair the damage while ensuring that the other aspects of the seal took effect.

It would be pointless to fix the damage to the cycle if humanity was allowed to simply reseal the bijū after all his efforts. That was going to be the big key to fixing the problems, and the most likely thing that would turn humanity against him once they learned the truth. Naruto already had a few solid ideas on how to prevent humans from sealing the bijū away, but it would depend entirely on the Gisei Kōkan in order for him to make those adjustments to the seal.

As for the meteorite fragments, Naruto and Kurama had already formulated several plans to infiltrate Hoshi and take a chunk of the meteor as well. It would undoubtedly attract a lot of attention to them if they went with the simplest plan of breaking a piece off the main meteorite. An invasion would certainly provide a suitable distraction and cover for their actions. They hadn't been able to determine if there were any smaller pieces of the meteorite stored away elsewhere, but if Tsuki remained committed to eliminating Hoshi completely, they might have the opportunity to find what they needed when the village was being sacked. From what Naruto's clones had been able to pick up from the rumors in both villages, neither Hoshi or Tsuki were willing to back down this time. By the end of this war, one of the villages would no longer exist. Naruto just had to ensure that Tsuki was the victor or at least successful enough to give them the opportunity to steal a chunk of the meteorite.

Naruto felt Kurama's amusement at how determining the outcome of a war was almost an afterthought for them. While it was true that they could have a major impact if allowed to use their full power, it was simply not an option for them at this time. They needed to remain under the radar as much as possible in order to set up everything for the plan so that once ready, no one would be able to stop those plans from coming to fruition. Things would be so much simpler if they could just use a Bijūdama on the enemy forces and be done with it. It wasn't like Tsuki wanted Hoshi to remain on the map anyways.

There would be no way he could manage to cover _that_ up, though.

After Naruto signed his alias under the volunteer registrar, he made his way back over to Rei and they both situated themselves against a wall near the announcement podium. Naruto was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed with his usual stoic expression on his face. Rei was subtly leaning up against him as she stood to his right and scanned the crowd for her fellow teammates and friends from the village. She knew that it would probably be another hour or two before they received their battalion assignments but she couldn't help but feel nervous.

Releasing a sigh, she rested her head on Naruto's shoulder causing him to open an eye and look at her with a silent question in his gaze. Rei knew that she was technically being inappropriate in this situation but she couldn't help it. The prospect of fighting against her family and former friends was daunting and she wanted nothing more than to seek comfort in Naruto's strong arms. She just gave him a subtle shake of her head before closing her eyes and enjoying the warmth he radiated.

She knew that the relationship between the two villages had never been good, but she never imagined it would result in all out war. While she was confident in her skills, she was still afraid. This was going to be open warfare and even though both villages were considered small, there were still going to be hundreds if not thousands of deaths before this was all over. Not to mention the fact that either her former or current home would be burned to the ground by the time this was all over. Most of all, she was afraid that Naruto might die in this conflict simply because he refused to let her fight alone.

She knew Naruto was powerful in his own right, and she wasn't the only one that suspected he had been holding himself back immensely since he had arrived. It wasn't usual for someone from Konoha to offer their services to Tsuki given the status and wealth of their home village. While Jiraiya did travel through the area at least twice a year, it was still considered odd that he would allow his apprentice to work for them to gain mission experience instead using his strength and prestige to benefit their home. Not only that, but Naruto had to be much stronger than expected if the Toad Sannin was willing to leave him on his own without any form of supervision. Jiraiya was a highly deceptive individual so it only stood to reason that Naruto was similar to his master in some aspects.

Rei still remembered the stories she had heard about one of Jiraiya's battles against an A ranked missing ninja over 7 years ago. Apparently the missing ninja had stolen some vital intelligence from Konoha and had been attempting to sell the information to the highest bidder. The Toad Sage had managed to track the man down and fight with him in an epic battle that raged for almost the entire day. Several scouts from Hoshi had observed the battle from a distance and reported the battle in great detail to the village when they returned. Rei had been in disbelief about most of the stories until she began dating Naruto.

When Naruto introduced her to Gamakichi and Gamatatsu, she had been in awe. The two toads stood almost 8 feet tall and had consumed a few pounds of candy and chips that Naruto had brought for them. When Naruto told her they were still young children in the eyes of the Toad clan she had been stunned. Even Gamakichi had confirmed that he was still in the early stages of growth and would require several more years to reach the size of his father Gamabunta who stood over 70 feet tall.

Rei couldn't believe the power the toads had when they practiced with Naruto on their combination techniques. If these two were just children, she couldn't imagine how much damage the adults could cause. It was no wonder summoning contracts were so highly coveted and closely guarded. She herself hadn't even seen or known anyone with a summoning contract in Hoshi or Tsuki and Konoha had several of them.

Rei was certain that Naruto was hiding a lot more from her. She hadn't even seen what his bloodline could do. Naruto was still reticent to give her the full details about it and her own research on the issue hadn't garnered much. The only similar traits she had read about had been the Inuzuka clan. While Naruto had the slit pupils, he didn't have the claws and his facial markings were actual whiskers instead of the painted lines that the book on Konoha had described. None of the other famous clans had any traits that were remotely similar to what Naruto had, and the reserved blond had been reticent about revealing his secrets; only mentioning that a mob of villagers had attacked him because of his bloodline and that a majority of the village ostracized him or feared him because of it. Rei never pushed him for more information since she could tell it was a sore subject for him, but she couldn't help but be curious about her mysterious lover.

The crowd began to settle down as the Jōnin commander made his way to the podium and picked up the enlistment papers. After announcing assignments of several teams to different battalions, he instructed the rest of the shinobi to remain patient as he returned with the next group of assignments. Naruto recognized the groups as being high-level Jōnin and Chūnin teams that were usually assigned to the most difficult missions in the village. If his estimations were correct, those groups were likely to team up with Anbu and conduct covert operations while the remaining groups would be assigned to front-line duties.

Naruto could sense Rei's fear spike and it made him frown internally. Smelling her fear only made it harder for him to remain distant from her in public. His instincts demanding to pull her into his arms, hold her body against his tightly, and whisper soothing words into her ear. Displays of affection while on duty, however, were forbidden. Rei was also prideful, and she always tried to remain professional in the presence of others. Comforting her in this situation would only leave her flustered and embarrassed, implying that she needed someone to comfort her in stressful situations. It was better to wait until their assignments were given out then spirit her away to her apartment where he could relieve her stress in the most intimate way.

He was well aware of the fact that she had reservations about fighting against Hoshi. She had been born and raised in Hoshi, and the likelihood of her fighting against her family or friends was high. The fight outside of the chakra cavern had only served as a stark reminder of that fact. While Rei wasn't broken up about killing the shit talking kunoichi, the fact that they had killed the woman's uncle and little brother had caused her pain.

Naruto didn't press for details, only offering his shoulder to cry on and doting on her as best as he could until she recovered from her grief. Since their relationship had gotten physical, a small embrace had always led to something more intimate. Even in public, when off duty, the couple couldn't hold each other for long before their lips met and hands would begin roaming. While Rei had managed to awaken his appetite for sex, he found himself equally content to remain close and simply hold her in his arms.

He had to admit that Kurama had been right. That two-day binge on lust had gone a long way quenching his hormonal urges, and his inherent bashfulness as well. It was now a lot easier to keep his desire in check and avoid getting aroused by the simplest things. Now he could think clearly around Rei and his thoughts no longer revolved around her entirely. For Naruto, the best part of all was that his embarrassing dreams were at an end. Rei's thoroughness at fulfilling his every desire left him little room for imagination. She had even joked about needing to constantly drink her contraceptive tea because of how active they were in bed.

The din of conversation that had picked up throughout the room died down when the Jōnin commander re-entered the room. After a few minutes of reviewing the list in his hands, the volunteers were called into the next room. Rei shot him a concerned glance as Naruto pushed off the wall to join the rest of the volunteer mercenaries. Reaching out, Naruto squeezed her hand briefly before he followed the line of shinobi down the hall.

Naruto entered the room and posted himself in an empty corner so he could study the rest of mercenaries. As he suspected, the majority of the volunteers were shinobi who were in the process of joining the village. By Naruto's count, there were only two dozen temporary contractors that had signed on to fight. Naruto had been acquainted with most of them during his first month of working for the village and had personally had no issues with fighting along side of them. None of them had reeked of malice or foul intent besides the usual emotions that were stirred up during a fight or when something offended them.

Their reasons for fleeing their home villages were varied: Dereliction of duty, suspicion of espionage or betrayal, insubordination. While a few of them had been lying about their innocence regarding those charges, their lack of excess negative emotions made Naruto feel comfortable with relying on them in a dangerous situation. If Naruto had to guess, he would think these particular volunteers were more concerned about being dragged back to their home villages if they left Tsuki's service.

"I'll get straight to the point for you mercs." The Jōnin commander said gruffly. "You will all be assigned to different battalions based on the skills you documented in your enlistment forms when you first applied for service in the village. In order to make it easier for you to be accounted for on the battlefield, we will require you to wear an official Tsuki uniform fitting for your rank or skill level. This is non-negotiable."

There were a few grumbling complaints from the group but no one seemed to be adamant about refusing the stipulation. Since both villages made active use of mercenaries, the lack of a standard uniform would only open themselves up to infiltration and sabotage. On a more personal level, the chances of being caught by friendly fire would also be extremely high during the heat of battle, so it was logical that there were no objections.

"Second, since you are _volunteering_ to take part in the war effort, do not expect to receive any pay." The Jōnin commander said sternly as he looked over the group with a serious expression on his face. "You will be outfitted and supplied as regular members of our armed forces and entitled to the same amount of spoils, but there will be no tolerance for any crimes against civilians or the raping of kunoichi."

"We won't be receiving any pay at all?" one man shouted incredulously.

"No." The commander confirmed. "Instead, you will have a choice to pick from jutsu, ryō, or material goods claimed from Hoshi before it is added to Tsuki's coffers. In addition, any volunteer forces that are in the process of integration will be fully integrated into the village once the war is over."

Naruto's interest was piqued with that statement. It might be possible for him to acquire the pieces he needed as a simple reward.

" **I wouldn't rely on such promises. Too many people will want to claim it for their own just for power it promises."** Kurama warned.

 _'I guess it would depend on how far up on the list I would be.'_ Naruto replied as he scanned the rest of the mercenaries. _'Most of the men here are chūnin in rank so I could be placed anywhere when it comes to choosing my reward.'_

" **It's better to acquire it on our own if possible,"** Kurama said with a huff. **"It must be our priority if we take part in the battle."**

 _'Obviously.'_ Naruto replied sarcastically. _'I was just considering the reward as a way to gain what we need if we do not get assigned to that battle.'_

" **We can't afford to take that risk. We** _ **must**_ **take part in that battle to ensure our success."** Kurama said emphatically. **"There will never be another opportunity for us to acquire the fragments after this war."**

Naruto let out an internal sigh. He knew what Kurama was implying but he really didn't want to leave Rei to fend for herself. Logic dictated that acquiring the fragments was the main priority, but his heart didn't care for logic or reason. His heart wanted to ensure she was safe, even if it meant sacrificing the only chance to obtain the meteor fragments.

Kurama decided to back off for the moment and let Naruto deal with his inner turmoil. He projected his own feelings of confidence and reassurance to help Naruto settle his emotions. Kurama began to nudge his partner's mind from the emotional train of thought by calculating the probable postings he would receive based on his talents and comparing them with Rei's known skill set. As long as he continued to present his thoughts in a logical manner, he knew that Naruto's mind would follow along because of their tight-knit bond.

By using his alias, Minoru Nichirin, to enlist, his skill set practically assured his assignment to a front line assault or barrage squad. Only the Tsukikage knew Naruto's true affiliation with Konoha and his association with Jiraiya. And while the Toad Sannin had elicited a promise from the village leader that Naruto would not be involved in any major campaigns or missions with a high rate of exceeding his current skill level, Naruto doubted that the Kage would be paying that much attention to each mercenary assignment.

Unless the Tsukikage decided to step in and keep Naruto away from the real fight, Naruto would be assigned to front-line duty like the rest of the mercenaries. If he did decide to intervene, he would most likely place Naruto back with team Arata to ensure his safety, and Team Arata were all high chūnin level shinobi that would be involved in the thick of things.

As Naruto followed Kurama's thought process, he began to calm. It was pointless to get all worked up since nothing had been determined. While the Tsukikage also knew his alias, it wasn't likely he would notice it with all the other assignments, tasks, and reports the leader would be focused on. Either way, he would be close to his hime, or in a position to acquire what he needed. There was no reason for concern.

When Naruto heard the Jōnin commander begin listing off assignments, he shook himself from his thoughts and paid attention. It didn't take long for him to receive his assignment. 2nd Battalion Heavy Assault company Yon. It made sense considering his specialization in ninjutsu and fūinjutsu. If Tsuki followed the same structure as Konoha, then 2nd battalion would be the ideal assignment for him.

1st Battalion was always used to meet the enemy head on in the large scale assaults. 2nd battalion was typically a tactical group; used to support the 1st battalion by flanking the enemy or guarding the 1st battalion's flank and supply lines. If Tsuki managed to win their battles and being their assault on Hoshi itself, they would use the 1st and 2nd battalions to do so, once the special operations groups had softened the resistance for them of course.

Naruto picked up his Tsukigakure Chūnin outfit from the quartermaster and studied it closely. While it didn't have any orange, the golden waning crescents were close enough for his tastes. The outfit wasn't that different from Konoha's own uniform, surprisingly. Midnight blue long sleeve shirts with the waning crescent on the shoulders and standard issue combat pants. The tactical vest was a lighter shade of dark blue with gold stitching and a large golden yellow waning crescent embroidered on the back where the Uzumaki memorial spiral would be located on the Leaf version.

Naruto decided to forgo the standard issue shuriken pouch and kunai holster in favor of his own, but he did pick up the rolls of golden combat wrap provided. While he preferred his own arm warmers from Yuki, he didn't want to deviate too far from the standard uniform and risk taking friendly fire. It wouldn't take him long to apply all the necessary storage, repair and durability seals to this outfit anyways.

Naruto left the room to find Rei waiting for him near the entrance of the standby station with an anxious expression on her face. Judging from how deserted the previously crowded station was, Naruto deduced that the remaining assignments were handed out while the Commander dealt with them specifically.

Naruto gave her a soft smile as he approached her.

"What company did they assign you to?" Rei asked with a look of concern on her face.

"2nd battalion Heavy Assault Company Yon," Naruto stated before asking. "What about you?"

Rei frowned before responding. "I was assigned to 1st battalion Support Company Roku."

Naruto frowned at that thought. It didn't seem right that she would be in a support company in the first place. A support member of an assault squad was a more realistic posting for her skill set. Perhaps Tsuki's lack of genjutsu specialists was more severe than he originally thought.

"I'm sorry, Rei-hime," Naruto said softly. "At least 2nd battalion will remain close to yours during the war."

Rei grabbed Naruto's arm and began leading him back towards her apartment. She leaned against him in silence for a moment as they walked through the village before speaking again.

"I don't know how it works for a village like Konoha, but here they can't afford to keep two battalions together like that," Rei said with a sigh. "Most likely your group will support the special operations teams while the 1st battalion deals with the direct assault from Hoshi."

To Naruto, that didn't seem to add up but he couldn't question Rei about it as that would reveal he had been conducting espionage on the village itself. Naruto knew that Tsuki could field about four battalions worth of shinobi with a few extra companies remaining behind for defense. Was the Tsukikage really holding that many in reserve? Did he have some other strategy in mind?

"At least let me put more seals on your combat outfits tonight then," Naruto said sadly. "I know you are uneasy about having seals on you, but I won't be able to rest well or focus if I can't, at least, protect you in my own way."

"I'm more worried about you, baka," Rei said while poking him in the ribs. "You're the one who is going to be in more danger than me. I'm going to be in one of the furthest support teams while you are going to be one of the first assault teams for your battalion."

"Everything will be fine my hime. Don't worry." Naruto said in a comforting tone. "If things get really bad, I can always have Gamakichi reverse summon me out of danger." Naruto leaned his head against Rei's. "I know that you don't have that option so please just let me place the seals. They will only help you in the end."

Rei gave a reluctant sigh before she nodded. "I really don't trust having so many seals on me but if it will make you stop worrying about me and focus more on the war itself then I'll do it. Just don't go overboard, okay?"

"Okay. Just a few absorption seals and barrier seals would go a long way in making me feel better about this. Are you sure you don't want the durability and repair seals?" Naruto asked.

"No," Rei said vehemently. "I don't trust having those seals embedded into my body like that. If it's just on the cloth then I'll deal with it but nothing that gets applied on or inside of my body."

"Okay," Naruto replied simply. He had more than enough arguments with her about the safety of applying seals directly on the body but Rei had been adamant about refusing them. No matter how much he tried to convince her that nothing could happen to her in the end, she refused to accept any seals that had to be applied to her directly. Even applying storage seals on her clothing had been an uphill battle at first. It was only with his dogged persistence and a show of just how much equipment he could carry that made her relent in the end. After that, he had begun to whittle down her defenses on using other types of seals when she was in the right mood to be persuaded.

He couldn't blame her entirely, the fūinjutsu specialists in Tsuki were practically non-existent. The few that they had were, quite frankly, completely unskilled and _dangerous_. Not only were they overly arrogant about their skills, they constantly meddled with arrays that were far beyond their level. It came as no surprise to Naruto that there had been several high-profile disasters associated with faulty or downright malicious seals as a result of these so-called seal masters. Those disasters had firmly turned off most Tsuki ninja to fūinjutsu completely, which was understandable.

When Naruto had learned of Rei's vehement mistrust of seal in general, he was glad that he had kept Kurama a secret. He couldn't imagine what Rei would think if she learned about Kurama's seal on his stomach. In fact, she believed that particular seal was a part of the gravity seals he had placed on his body. Rei had been too frightened to channel chakra on his body and tried to convince him to remove the seals, but he refused. Not only had his endurance, strength, and speed increased because of those seals, but he had them on his body for _years_ now without any ill effects.

It was as good of an excuse as any to explain the complicated seal on his abdomen and he didn't even need to lie to her about his reasoning.

"How long until you have to deploy?" Naruto asked.

"Three days," Rei answered.

"Our company is ordered to deploy in two days time," Naruto replied.

"Well then, that means we only have two days to give each other a proper farewell," Rei said as she trailed a finger down his chest.

"Of course, my hime. Whatever you desire." Naruto replied before giving her a kiss on her temple.

 **Two Weeks Later – Noda Village – Kuma no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto's company crept through the woods towards the sleepy little craftsman village using the shadows of midnight to advance towards their objective. Yesterday had seen his clones scouting the village defenses and after reporting to their commander, a plan of attack had been created. Now the company was moving in to eliminate the token Hoshi force guarding the village as well as any militiamen stupid enough to resist.

At least they had orders to keep this village intact due to the popularity of the carpenters and metalworkers that resided in this village. The first two villages his team had struck, shortly after they deployed, had been less "important" to the hierarchy of Tsuki and were therefore fated to be put to the torch after being sacked. If the villages didn't have an abundance of resources or skilled workers, everything was pillaged or destroyed in order to bog down Hoshi's own resources by forcing them to feed and house the influx of refugees.

Naruto had thought that guerrilla warfare was despicable but was quickly learning that warfare, in general, wasn't much better. While some of these tactics were mentioned in the Academy back in Konoha, there was never any detail provided and the discussion was framed in a clinical or slanted point of view.

"Rebellious villages and areas no longer capable of supporting the previous population are targets for _removal_. In this way, we ensure that there is less danger, starvation, lawlessness, and desperation that comes from a lack of basic necessities. Removing all structures and valuables from the area also encourages the unfortunate victims to relocate to safer locations outside of the war zone reducing the amount of non-combatant casualties." was what Iruka had lectured.

Back then, he hadn't understood why Kurama had often scoffed at such lessons or opted to remain asleep instead but it certainly made sense to him now. The utter hypocrisy must have just grated on his nerves.

It disgusted Naruto to watch these simple villagers become crushed as everything they owned was taken, burned, or destroyed in front of them before they were driven away from their homes knowing that everything they had been familiar with would soon be nothing but ashes. Most of these people were just living simple lives, uninvolved in any way with the shadow wars of the shinobi. They didn't even provide goods or services to the rival village and were still targeted for destruction simply because they couldn't feed the war machine.

To alleviate some of his guilt at the situation, Naruto always volunteered to redistribute the _reclaimed_ food supplies to the newly created refugees in order to ensure they had enough to make the journey to Hoshi itself.

Not that it would be any good for them when the time came for Hoshi to fall as well.

Naruto had to wonder how this strategy would work out for Tsuki if they did completely sack Hoshi and took control over this land. Technically, they would become responsible for all the refugees they had created and there would obviously be a lot of animosity because of their actions. Did the Tsukikage even have any plans to deal with these people? Didn't they realize that the situation would only deteriorate if they didn't provide these people with a way to reestablish their lives?

If there was one person who knew the strength of animosity and how it could fester in people, it would be Naruto.

Kurama mused that there would be several years of uprisings against the village that would have to be put down in some manner. Even if Tsuki just left the people to their own devices to rebuild on their own without restrictions, there would be some conflict. If Tsuki eliminated Hoshi completely, however, he doubted that another shinobi village would be re-established.

What was more likely to occur was the surviving shinobi and rejected mercenaries would band together and rule the countryside like common bandits, raiding the villagers and picking off Tsuki ninja whenever they could. The remaining villages would be forced to support the bandits and risk Tsuki's wrath or pay Tsuki to protect their village against bandit raids. The constant conflict between the bandits, villagers, and Tsuki ninja would only serve to keep the region unstable, putting pressure on the Daimyō to settle the unrest or risk losing his position.

The Daimyō could use his samurai to quell the unrest and bring about stability, removing the threats to Tsuki at no cost to the hidden village. The only other option would be for the Daimyō to allow Tsuki to expand into the region legally, giving them land and compensation remove the instability from his lands. Either way, Tsuki comes out of the conflict with a better standing than before the war began.

Kurama was certain that the Tsukikage was most like relying on the Daimyōto take care of the situation on his own. Tsuki was quite cozy in their current position within Kiba no Kuni and had plenty of lands to grow and expand. With Hoshi out of the picture, the nearest shinobi village, besides Tsuki, was three countries away so their mission revenue would only increase with this outcome. In either situation, Tsuki would be generously compensated for their efforts and would come out of the conflict with a much stronger standing than before the war.

Naruto had thought highly of Tsuki before this whole mess but the orders to sack these small, defenseless villages had greatly lowered their esteem in his eyes. At first, he had equated the use of such tactics as a result of their inferior status as a village. As he thought about the situation more deeply, however, he recognized his initial contempt was because of the propaganda fed to him in the Academy.

The fact that Konoha had the wherewithal to dress up the issue in a more palatable form could only mean that they wanted their students to be capable of such tactics in the future, if necessary.

The hooting of an owl brought the company to a halt just 20 yards from the hastily erected defensive wall that surrounded the village. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto could see that the watchtowers were manned by a single militiaman paired with a shinobi overseer. A slight movement in the shadows drew his attention to the infiltration specialists who were quickly making their way to the base of the watch towers where they would quietly scale to the top and eliminate the guards as quietly as possible.

Once the tower guards fell, the infiltrators would make their way to the main gate for the next stage of the plan. Naruto would provide a diversion at the rear gate and lure the defenders towards him while the infiltration team opened the gate and let the rest of their company in to attack the defenders from behind.

Naruto watched the infiltrators being their climb in anticipation, waiting for the signal for him to move into position. Once the signal was given, Naruto quickly made his way through the darkened woods until the rear gate came into sight. Naruto could feel a spike of excitement from his fox companion as he created a high-powered clone for the diversion he wanted to accomplish. With none of the Tsuki ninjas around to watch what he was doing, he decided to have a little fun while completing his objective.

Once he used this particular jutsu, there was no way that anyone in the village wouldn't have their full attention on the rear gate.

Naruto saw the last infiltrator climb up the watchtower and move into position and began his favorite jutsu. Aiding his clone in channeling the chakra faster, he could only grin as the trademark high pitched screeching sound began to ring in his ears as the Fūton: Rasenshuriken sprung into life. Naruto backed off and let the clone finish adding the last bit of Fūton chakra into the attack in order to spare the damage to his arm. Naruto's clone had a vicious smirk on its face as it pumped almost all of its remaining chakra into the Rasenshuriken causing it to grow larger and louder.

Lights began turning on across the village and the watchtower guards were easily dispatched by the infiltrators, completely distracted by the ear piercing screech and mysterious bright light that was being emitted from the woods. When the last tower guard fell, Naruto gave the mental command and the clone threw the Rasenshuriken towards the grouping of guards that had started to form up at the rear gate to investigate.

The Rasenshuriken struck the gate before expanding and slicing apart everything within a 50-foot radius of the impact zone. The microscopic blades of wind easily tore apart the gate, the wall, the nearby barracks, a few storage sheds in addition to the 15 or so shinobi and militiamen that had gathered near the blast radius. When the jutsu finally faded away, there was a brief rain of debris, blood, and shredded bodies falling into the massive impact crater left behind by the force of the explosive jutsu.

Naruto had blocked his hearing as soon as the Rasenshuriken had taken shape in order to save his sensitive hearing. As soon as the blast wave hit, he let his hearing return to normal and picked up the sounds of frightened screams and battle ringing out through the village. It seemed that the Tsuki ninjas were able to regain their senses faster than he expected after witnessing his jutsu, so he quickly dashed toward the village and jumped over one of the, now toppling, walls to join in the assault.

Drawing Keikai in a smooth motion as he landed on a nearby house, Naruto jumped down into the street behind the line of scattered defenders impaling a Hoshi jōnin through the spine as he landed. Kicking the body off he quickly took advantage of his surprise attack and managed to sever the neck of a nearby militiaman before he was noticed. Another jōnin charged, slashing at him with dual katanas forcing Naruto on the defensive.

The jōnin used a strange form of kenjutsu that had a lot of confusing spins and twists using primarily angular cuts to make it more difficult for Naruto to parry his blades and create an opening. Naruto was barely able to keep up with the unorthodox kenjutsu style, earning a few slashes on his forearms and one dangerously close cut across his collarbone before he managed to spot an opening in his opponent's attack. Naruto ducked under a horizontal cut towards his neck from the Hoshi-nin's off hand before lunging forward with a stabbing thrust aimed for the enemy's lower abdomen as the man lashed out with a rising slash with his right hand.

Naruto's thrust attack was lifted up by the enemy's rising blade, causing Keikai to pierce his heart instead of his intestines. With a deft twist of the blade, Naruto shredded the jōnin's heart to finish him off before the battle cry of a charging militia man wielding a sword caught his attention. Naruto quickly shuffled backward to closer to the charging swordsman before lashing out with a mule kick into the man's his solar plexus. With his arms raised in preparation for a downward strike, the man had no guard against the kick and was sent stumbling back a few steps. As the man regained his feet, Naruto quickly drew a few shuriken from his pouch and threw them at the man. The cluster of shuriken proved too difficult for the man to deflect, however, and the man fell to a shuriken lodged in his throat.

Before Naruto could study his surroundings to find his next target, a warning from Kurama had him pivoting away from a driving thrust of a naginata that nearly impaled him before he was forced to deflect three rapid slashes with Keikai. The spearman was relentless and skilled with his attacks, lashing out with precision swipes followed by lighting fast thrust attacks that left Naruto with numerous flesh wounds. Naruto was forced to leap back out of range and use Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) to stagger the spear wielder and give himself some breathing room.

As soon as he landed, however, his senses tingled and Naruto quickly dropped into a reverse roll to avoid having his head removed by a katana-wielding militia man that had crept up behind him. Bringing up his blade in a horizontal block to stop the follow up downward slash, Naruto quickly channeled chakra into his blade and legs to power through the man's attempt to overpower him. Springing to his feet with a surge of strength, Naruto quickly pivoted before unleashing a Hadan (Rupture) into his target, cleaving through the man's sword, forearms, and torso with a bright blue chakra blade.

The naginata wielder had not been idle during the fight and had maneuvered into position to strike Naruto from behind while he was distracted with his partner. Naruto had no choice but to use Kawarimi to replace himself with a nearby chair to avoid being impaled just below his heart. Stabbing Keikai into the ground, the blond began flipping through hand seals quickly. The naginata wielder began to charge once more but was too slow to prevent the Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet) from being completed. The high pressured stream of water sent the spear wielder and a few more nearby militiamen flying backward at high speed, bowling over a few of their fellows.

With the influx of water on the battlefield, Naruto knew it was only a matter of time for his assigned company partner to take advantage of the situation. He pulled Keikai out of the ground and prepared to offer support to this teammate.

As the soaked defenders scrambled to get back to their feet and renew their attack, the chūnin that Naruto was partnered with finished his string of hand seals and slammed his hands down into the puddle of water, sending a surge of lightning through the water and into several of the defenders who had not managed to scramble out of the way.

As the man continued to electrocute the trapped defenders to death, Naruto used Shunshin to protect his partner. Appearing near his comrade in a whirl of leaves, Naruto lashed out with Keikai to deflect the hail of projectiles thrown by the more intrepid attackers who had leaped out of the water to avoid electrocution.

Naruto spotted a shinobi flipping through familiar hand seals in the distance and began racing through his own hoping to cut the man off or at least take advantage of the elemental nature of his attack. While he may not need to use hand seals for most of his Fūton jutsu anymore, he was intimately familiar with that particular series of seals.

The enemy shinobi finished his hand seals first and sent Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) towards Naruto and his partner hoping to save his friends from electrocution. Quickly finishing up his hand seals, Naruto channeled extra chakra into his attack and sent a Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu (Great Dragon Fire) speeding towards the enemy. The blue and black fire dragon took on an icy blue sheen as it drove through the funnel of chakra enhanced winds and roared towards the enemy. While the fire dragon grew in strength due because of the elemental advantage, the fact that it was flying against the current caused the attack to slow significantly allowing the enemy shinobi and militiamen to avoid the attack easily. The fire dragon slammed into the small house that the shinobi was perched on, causing the wooden structure to explode into a fireball while the ground shuddered slightly from the force.

Naruto was quick to follow up his attack with Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu), spitting several smaller fireballs towards the rival Fūton user and stopping his hand seals from being completed. As the rival ninja dodged and strafed the attacks, he gained support from one of his partners who sent a wave of earthen spears towards Naruto. Dive rolling away from the sharpened spears, the blond was quick to take advantage of the opportunity and reorient himself with the battlefield around him. Being constantly attacked had forced him to have tunnel vision on the direct threats, he needed to reassess the battlefield before he was caught unaware.

Using the momentum of his dive roll, Naruto quickly ducked behind a nearby building in order to catch his breath. Scanning over the field, he could see that most of the defenders had fallen and that the fight wouldn't go on much longer. His partner was engaged in a taijutsu battle with another militia member that had emerged from one of the nearby houses and wouldn't be able to assist him at the moment.

Kurama, who had been content to watch the battle, decided to issue Naruto a challenge to make things more interesting. Naruto couldn't keep the smirk off of his face as he accepted Kurama's challenge and quickly set up a plan to lure the two shinobi into a trap and use the jutsu that Kurama requested he attempt. Summoning three clones, the smirking blond gave them their orders and waited for his plan to unfold.

One clone was used to peek around the corner safely and act as a lure while the other clones used a quick Henge to fly up onto the roof and prepare a flanking attack.

His clone caught sight of the two shinobi advancing slowly towards their position where they were joined by two more militiamen. Flashing hand signals behind his back to keep Naruto updated of the situation, the clone waited until they moved into the ambush zone before giving the signal to commence the attack.

Naruto sent his clones the mental command to begin the combination attack and used Tōton Jutsu (Transparent Escape) to conceal himself. The blond quickly scaled up the building to look over the ambush zone below him, eager to see how effective his new jutsu was in a combat situation.

The peeking clone leaped out of cover and used Fūton: Daitoppa to halt the enemy's advance, pushing the shinobi back and forcing them to anchor themselves to the ground with chakra. The militiamen were sent flying back where they slammed into the defensive wall, shattering their bones before they landed in a heap on the ground. Without the ability to use chakra to reinforce their bodies on impact, it was highly unlikely that any of them could continue to fight after that attack if they survived the impact against the log wall. The shinobi were quick to react and use chakra to cling to the ground, but the strength of the winds were enough to send them skidding backward a few feet.

Right into the target zone.

The first rooftop clone finished his long sequence of hand seals and used Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon) sending a moderate sized water dragon crashing down on the pair of defenders. While smaller than usual, the water dragon was still powerful enough to drill the men into the muddy ground, breaking several bones and almost drowning the men in a deluge of water. The attack wasn't over yet, though, as the second clone quickly leaped down and trapped both of the men in Suirō no Jutsu (Water Prison). Both of the men struggled to break free of the water prison, but their efforts were fruitless.

Naruto scanned his surrounding, making sure the coast was clear before leaping down from the roof. He studied the trapped men's physical conditions before flipping through the required hand seals for the first Suiton jutsu he had created. He had only attempted this jutsu a few times so he wasn't certain if he would be successful but that was the point of the challenge. Once Naruto landed on the rat seal he quickly placed his hands onto the water prison next to where the clone was keeping the jutsu active and began channeling more chakra.

Suiton: Hasai Keimusho (Crushing prison) was designed to increase the compression of the water inside of the prison, acting similarly to the atmospheric pressure one would feel as they continued to dive deeper into the ocean. The more chakra that Naruto channeled into the attack, the more pressure was applied on the trapped shinobi giving them a brief sense of drunken euphoria from nitrogen narcosis before their lungs and organs imploded from an exponential increase in atmospheric pressure. The spheres of water began to turn a murky red color as the blood from the victims began to seep out of their orifices as the pressure continued to squeeze their bodies.

Naruto and his clone canceled the jutsu and with a splash of blood-tinged water, the corpses fell to the ground. While the rooftop clones kept a look out for any more attackers, Naruto studied the bodies carefully as the water receded, analyzing the damage done. It was apparent that the battle had died down, for the most part, and that Tsuki would claim the village.

Overall, Kurama and Naruto considered the new Suiton jutsu a success. By killing the enemy quickly, it eliminated the two major drawbacks of Suirō no Jutsu. Having to wait for your opponent to drown, which could take several minutes, and having to remain stationary and vulnerable to attack while maintaining the water prison.

Naruto wasn't certain why the men started to become complacent and almost happy as the pressure increased. Instead of thrashing about like most drowning victims were known to do they seemed to calmly accept their deaths before the pressure became too much for their bodies and caused their organs to implode.

When he created the jutsu, his intent had been to use the pressure of the water to force the prisoner's lungs to collapse decreasing the amount of time it took them to drown. It seemed that some other effect was causing the prisoners to die instead of simple suffocation. He hadn't had an opportunity to test the jutsu on his clones yet, only observing the results the jutsu had on any fish or animals he had managed to trap in his prison.

Perhaps he would try the jutsu out on a few clones so he could experience the results "first hand" so to speak.

The clone next to Naruto shot him a nervous glance as he heard Naruto's thoughts. He was directly in reach of the boss and conveniently standing on a water source. Usually, Naruto avoided using clones to test out jutsu unless absolutely necessary. It was not fun to receive the memories of failed seals or exploding tags. He had already experienced so many different ways to die because of his clones that it had continued to feed his fear of pain. Only with Tatsu's training in Tetsu no Kuni had he overcome that fear so that he could feel confident enough to engage an opponent directly.

The clone let out a sigh of relief when Naruto decided he didn't really need to know the details. He would just consider it a good thing that his targets would feel some peace or happiness before their death. There were more than enough jutsu available that ensured the enemy suffered a great deal of pain before they died. If his enemy deserved to suffer, he would just use one of those ones instead.

Naruto looked around for a moment before making his way towards the regrouping Tsuki shinobi near the front gate. He was probably going to get an earful for causing so much damage to the barracks and rear gate but he couldn't find it in himself to care. In a small way, it seemed proper that they are forced to pay for significant repairs after the destruction they caused to those innocent villages.

They asked for a distraction. To him, nothing said loud and distracting like the Rasenshuriken.

Maybe with this "screw up" they would reassign him to the 1st battalion so he could fight at Rei's side once more.

 **With Jiraiya, Sasuke, and Itachi**

* * *

Outside of Ryūchidō, the Uchiha brothers were finally reunited while the Sannin watched on with a small smile on his face. The wait had been long, but it appeared that Sasuke had been successful in stealing away the title of Snake summoner from Orochimaru completely.

If only he could see the look on Orochimaru's face when he realizes that the snakes had cut him off completely. Jiraiya snickered at the thought of Orochimaru's rage when he realized most of his escape techniques were now useless without the help of the snake clan.

The next time they met that bastard wouldn't be able to worm his way out of death anymore.

While the snake clan, in general, had not been pleased with the turn of events, Hakuja's word was law and they would obey. Orochimaru had been generous with his offerings to the greater snakes and often gave them the liberty to do as they pleased when they were called into the world. It was one of the few reasons they didn't outright reject him when he failed to survive Hakuja's venom in the first place.

Sasuke had managed to surpass their expectations and prove himself by defeating Manda and mastering his sage training shortly after his arrival. Even Jiraiya was impressed that the kid had managed to perfect working with Natural chakra in just over four months. He wondered how quickly Naruto would be able to master his own sage mode with the toads.

The training trip was due to end in just five months and the more mission experience his godson could accrue, the better. If Naruto could manage to master sage mode in less time, they might be able to return to Konoha sooner.

The group settled down for a quick lunch before breaking camp and making their way back to Tsukigakure. Sasuke was eager to show off for his blond brother before Naruto left for Myōbokuzan.

As the trio made their way back towards Tsuki, it became quite clear that war had broken out between the rival villages. In just a few hours time they had stumbled across three separate battlefields, been accosted by a dozen Hoshi-nin, and stopped by several groups of Tsuki ninja. If Jiraiya had not been so recognizable by the majority of the Tsuki forces, they might not have been able to make it to the village our out of the country without being harassed even further.

The more Jiraiya learned about the situation, the more worried he became. He had a gut feeling that Naruto had dome something foolish and had decided to get involved in this conflict, despite his warnings not to get involved in anything too serious. Knowing how Naruto thought, he would probably view this conflict as a small-scale war that would help prepare him for the larger war looming on the horizon.

He also couldn't rule out the fact that the Kyūbi would take advantage of this situation. If you wanted to expose the ugly side of humanity, war was the best answer. War seemed to showcase all the worst trait in humanity for some reason. It was like humanity sank further into depravity, relying on their most basic natures to survive. All of the most horrific atrocities in history occurred during warfare. At the time they were tolerated or even praised during the height of a conflict, only to be condemned or mourned once the war was over. If there were any witnesses to bring the atrocities to light at any rate.

It was the perfect way for that damn fox to convince Naruto to turn his back on humanity even further.

Then there was the fact that Tsunade would skin him alive for leaving her nephew unattended for so long. If she ever found out the truth about his time in Kumo, he probably wouldn't be able to leave the hospital for a month. He could only hope that the Tsukikage had assigned Naruto to a support team instead of an assault team.

From the information he had gathered each time they were stopped by a group of Tsuki ninja, all volunteers had been told to leave the village if they weren't going to get involved with the war. Jiraiya couldn't really hold that against the Tsukikage, having that many missing-nin and foreign ninja in your village was just asking for the enemy to infiltrate.

That meant that Jiraiya would have no idea where Naruto would be until he decided to summon one of the toads. So far, he hadn't deemed it necessary, which only made Jiraiya more concerned. If Naruto had opted to leave the village, he would have left a message with the toads so Jiraiya could find him easier. The only reason he wouldn't do so was because he decided to get involved for some reason.

'Damn brat, making things even more difficult for me.' Jiraiya thought sourly, 'The worst part about all this is I can't even reprimand him harshly or he might tell Tsunade about me leaving him alone for a year.'

Before they drew close to the village, Jiraiya ordered Itachi and Sasuke to break off and head back to Konoha. Jiraiya was certain that Itachi's current status would only cause them more problems in the long run, and it would be easier for one person to sneak around a country at war instead of a group.

Sasuke looked pretty upset with the decision but Itachi convinced him it was for the best. The Uchiha brothers had already spent more time outside of Konoha then they were technically allowed. If they got dragged into this mess it wouldn't work in their favor. Sasuke had argued with them for several minutes before relenting and following after the older men with a scowl firmly affixed on his face.

Once the Uchiha's were safely escorted to the nearest border, Jiraiya took off towards the main village at top speed. It only took Jiraiya another hour to make it back to the village. After a small argument with the gate security, he finally managed to gain entrance to the village itself and made his way to the Tsukikage.

The amount of internal security he saw within the village proper sent warning signals to the experienced spymaster. These security measures were more akin to some internal threat instead of an external one so either Hoshi had struck already, or something more sinister had occurred within the village walls.

Jiraiya was surprised to find himself admitted into the Tsukikage's office immediately but before he could begin badgering the man about Naruto's location, his keen eyes picked up the haphazard piling of reports scattered over the desk, and the stress lines surrounding the man's brow and mouth. It was obvious that things were quite hectic for the stressed out man so the Sannin forced himself to calm down.

If he remained cool and collected, it was more likely for him to receive what he wanted instead of badgering the man and trying his already frayed patience. Perhaps extending an olive branch of cooperation would be the best way to smooth the process of obtaining what he wanted. Then he could grab Naruto and hightail it out of this damn conflict.

"I'm sorry about your reception at the gate, Jiraiya-sama, but we have had an internal security breach and are trying to determine exactly what was lost." the Tsukikage said in an apologetic tone.

"I understand." Jiraiya said with sympathy while his mind raced through the possible items or jutsu that might have been compromised, "It must be even more difficult to deal with that sort of thing during the onset of war." Jiraiya leaned forward casually. "If I may ask, how did things come to this? It's quite a mess out there right now."

"Unfortunately, we have had several more defections from Hoshigakure. High-level defections that managed to push them over the edge, I'm afraid." the Kage said with a weary sigh. "I didn't expect things to escalate so quickly, but from what the defectors have told me things have gotten really bad inside of Hoshi."

"Really?" Jiraiya said in an interested tone. "I have heard that the Hoshi ninjas tend to be a little... eccentric, but beyond that, I haven't heard of things deteriorating to the point which would constitute an exodus of talent." Jiraiya added as he scratched his chin absentmindedly.

"I can't take everything they say at face value, of course, since they are disgruntled enough to risk being hunted." the Tsukikage said, "However, with the theft of our Gisei Kōkan (Sacrifice Exchange), I can't help but become concerned with the situation."

"Gisei Kōkan?" Jiraiya asked with a confused expression.

"Yes." The man said with an inflection of shame in his voice, "It was a vile jutsu created out of desperation during the founding of our village. During that time, the founders of the village were being hunted because they were declared heathens by the Daimyō of Kuma no Kuni. Being marked for death tends to lead people to desperation and desperation often breeds dangerous ideas, as you know." The Kage looked out of his window for a minute to gather his thoughts. "As you know, most Jisatsu gijutsu (Suicide techniques) come with a very high cost, the least of which is the sacrificing of one or many lives in order to complete the jutsu successfully."

Jiraiya nodded, it wasn't unusual for kinjutsus to fall into this category because of the high costs that they demanded, let alone their destructive or immoral effects.

"The Gisei Kōkan was an attempt to eliminate this cost so that they could utilize some very destructive techniques while avoiding the sacrifice, but it wasn't completely successful." The Tsukikage fixed Jiraiya with a stern gaze. "Even though it failed in its original intent, the jutsu is still extremely dangerous because it allows the user to divert the cost to a target of their own choice."

"I can understand why you are so concerned." Jiraiya said with a frown. "Anyone actively looking for that jutsu can only be up to no good." Looking up at the beleaguered Kage Jiraiya asked, "How did the thief manage to bypass your security and steal the jutsu? Did they take anything else or was it just that jutsu in particular?"

The Tsukikage looked at Jiraiya with an unreadable gaze for several minutes before responding. "Normally I wouldn't trust even you with such question, but this gives me some confidence that you aren't involved with this whole mess. Your apprentice is one of the only people I would suspect of being capable of such a feat since his skills are.. _uniquely_ suited for such a task." Jiraiya couldn't stop the scowl from showing on his face but before he could respond the Kage raised his hand to silence the Sannin.

"Please, I mean no disrespect, but you have to admit that the apprentice of a _spymaster_ should be the first suspect we look at, don't you agree?" the man asked with a raised eyebrow as if taunting Jiraiya to dispute the fact.

"No. No. You are right about having to look at such things first, but Naruto has no reason to seek out such things." Jiraiya said firmly. "Not only does he have no need for such a jutsu, it's just not in his nature to attempt such things. He never did take well to the lessons I gave him on infiltration and hates deception."

"Still, we are completely unable to determine how the thief infiltrated the vault in the first place. The only reason we know what was targeted was because of a pressure seal that was present on the shelf housing the scroll itself. If it wasn't for that seal, we wouldn't have known that the vault had been breached at all." the Tsukikage said before taking a sip of water from a glass.

"So as soon as the person lifted the scroll, your guards became aware. Did they catch sight of the suspect? What about any other seals that were present in the vault?" Jiraiya asked.

"I can't reveal such things to an outsider like you." The Tsukikage said a little tersely, "I will just say that all the other security measures were functioning as intended and just leave it at that. The guards didn't catch sight of the person at all. Nothing else was targeted so the thief was only interested in the stolen scroll."

"So, they wanted that jutsu and only that jutsu." Jiraiya leaned back in his chair and scratched his chin in thought some more. "That is definitely not welcome news."

"Indeed. We have the few foreigners, that were still in the village at the time, detained for questioning, but there were only six of them waiting for their mustering orders and our interrogators have found that they are all uninvolved. Searches of all foreigners' quarters have also turned up empty, so we have turned our efforts to internal threats for now." The Kage replied.

"So, I'm guessing that means that my apprentice decided to involve himself in this war then?" Jiraiya asked with resignation.

The Tsukikage smiled before answering, "Yes. He signed up under an alias and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion Heavy Assault company Yon. I am certain he wasn't very pleased with that assignment since I could tell he wanted to remain close to Rei."

"Is that so?" Jiraiya said with some surprise.

"Yes. Young Naruto has been seen in the company of Rei quite often. Word is that they have become quite close." The Tsukikage said with a hidden smirk.

While it wasn't planned on their part, it could only be viewed as a good thing if the young apprentice of the legendary Toad Sage fell in love with one of his loyal kunoichi; she might be capable of convincing the boy to abandon his village and settle in Tsuki instead. They would gain a very valuable asset and the Tsukikage doubted that Konoha would make that much of a fuss over one boy, even if he was the apprentice of a Sannin.

"Since Naruto signed up for this war, I am guessing you won't be pleased if I have to pull him out and return to Konoha then." Jiraiya said with a frown.

Inwardly his lecherous mind was spinning with the revelations of Naruto being with a woman and wondered how much of a bombshell she was. He had seen how the women had been starting to pay attention to his young apprentice since he left Kumo and it wouldn't be long before the kid provided him with all sorts of material for his books.

"I won't stop you if that is what you mean." The Tsukikage said with a chuckle, he knew he was nowhere in Jiraiya's league at all. "If it is absolutely necessary I will provide you with the latest movements of the 2nd battalion so that you can track him down and extract him, however, I don't think the war will go on for much longer than a month at this point." The kage said with a wave of his hand.

"Why is that, may I ask?" Jiraiya said with some suspicion.

"Our tactics will ensure that Hoshi will be brought to its knees for the final time. Once we are finished with them, Hoshi will cease to exist." The Kage said sternly.

"Is that really necessary?" Jiraiya asked with growing unease. Just what kinds of things were Naruto being forced to endure for this war.

"It's not like I wanted this to happen, but the reports we are receiving coupled with Hoshi's own actions towards us have left me with no choice. If we are to ever have peace in the future Hoshi must be eliminated completely." The Kage slid a folder towards Jiraiya for him to study. "At any rate, with how fast my forces are advancing, the first and second battalions will be at Hoshi's gates in two weeks tops, with an expected two-week siege being required to enter Hoshi and take it completely."

Jiraiya hummed absentmindedly to indicate that he had heard the Kage's words but his attention was primarily on the reports he was reading inside of the folder. The more he read, however, the more his face began to blanch. The actions of the Hoshikage and his followers were nothing short of atrocities. If these reports were true, Hoshi would deserve to be wiped off the map completely.

Jiraiya let out a sigh as he continued to read further. He wanted nothing more than to track down Naruto and drag him away from this mess, but the accusations coming out about Hoshi were too important to ignore, particularly the mention of Akatsuki having a presence in the village.

"While I would like to get involved with this mess, I can't commit to anything." Jiraiya said as he finished up the last report and closed the folder, "What I can do is infiltrate Hoshi and verify some of these things for you since a... _common interest_ has been revealed." Jiraiya said with a stern expression on his face.

If Akatsuki was active then Naruto would be in danger of capture. He needed to confirm these reports personally before he decided to let Naruto gain valuable war experience or pull him out completely for his own safety.

It was terrible that he would even consider letting Naruto take part in a war, but there was an even bigger and more dangerous war looming on the horizon. To Jiraiya, the most important thing was that Naruto would be able to _survive_. With time, all wounds would heal and while Jiraiya would like nothing more than to sequester Naruto someplace safe and relaxing, his status as a jinchūriki prevented that. In fact, Naruto would likely be at the forefront of the bloodiest encounters just because of the threat of the other jinchūriki being used in a similar fashion.

Nobody knew exactly the status of Iwa and Kiri's jinchūriki. While his contacts had been confident that Iwa had lost their jinchūriki completely, there was always the chance that the intelligence had been wrong. He also had to consider how the Akatsuki would react to all this as well. The main thing they were known for was being hired mercenaries, if anything, Iwa could have been forced to pay through the nose to reacquire their jinchūriki and were letting the rumors continue to circulate just to give them an edge.

The Tsukikage reached into his desk and pulled out a dark blue band with small golden crescents scattered on it. He tossed the band over to Jiraiya who caught it with a questioning look on his face.

"Wear that whenever you are in the presence of my troops and they _should_ stop confronting you. Just make sure it is somewhere prominent and you should have no problems. This won't help you deal with Hoshi and their complaints, but like I said, I don't expect Hoshi to survive past the month at least."

Jiraiya looped the band over his bicep ensuring that his green gi didn't cover the band before he stood. "I hope you manage to recover your stolen jutsu and catch whoever is responsible. I assume there is a reward if I manage to track it down when I am rooting around inside of Hoshi?" Jiraiya asked.

"Of course. S ranked pay to anyone who can recover the scroll any other copies will net A ranked pay." The Tsukikage said offhandedly.

"I'll keep my eyes peeled for you, but no guarantees," Jiraiya said before he left the office and made his way out of the village.

Jiraiya flashed through the hand seals for Kuchiyose and summoned Gamakichi.

" **Yo, Jiraiya. What's up?"** Gamakichi asked.

"Has Naruto summoned you recently?" Jiraiya asked.

" **Nope. It has been at least three weeks if I remember correctly."** Gamakichi said as he tapped his lip with a webbed hand.

"I need you to spread the word to everyone that the Akatsuki has been suspected of being active in Hoshigakure. It's important that they warn Naruto right away..." Jiraiya said before adding, "and tell that brat that I am looking for him also. I'll keep checking in with you guys every few days until I hear from Naruto himself." Jiraiya said.

" **Sure. That isn't a problem."** Gamakichi said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Once Gamakichi disappeared, Jiraiya set off towards Hoshi at top speed. With all the battles occurring throughout the region it would probably take him several days to reach the village and come up with a plan to infiltrate the village.


	68. Year 4: The War of Moon and Star Part 2

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

AN: I apologize for the delay but my schedule has been hectic for the past few weeks and is likely to continue for the rest of the month. I hope to be able to update at least every other week until my schedule lightens up.

 **Warning:** There will be graphic depictions of violence in this chapter.

Edit: 6/10/16

 **Chapter 67**

 **Year 4: The War of Moon and Star Part 2**

 **Two Weeks Later - Ussuri Bridge – Kuma no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto and his clones crouched low to the ground, hidden in some small berry bushes that lined one of the numerous canyons that were common for the rugged country of Kuma no Kuni. The whiskered blond was currently studying the target of his squadrons operation for the day: The Ussuri Bridge. This bridge was one of a handful of larger suspension bridges that was capable of supporting a full battalion of troops and their supply caravans at one time. Currently, the bridge was controlled by Hoshi forces and was a major artery for their supply lines and main forces movements into Tsuki occupied Kuma territory. If his squadron successfully took this bridge today, it would prove to be a major turning point in the war leaving Hoshi cut off from neutral countries aid and forcing them on the defensive.

Naruto was confident that Tsuki would have control of this bridge by late afternoon.

Cobalt blue eyes trailed after the guards patrolling the wide suspension bridge as he studied their patterns and plotted a way for him to cross undetected. It was easy to track their movements as they were all foolish enough to use torches as they moved across the 80-foot long bridge. The torches were like beacons on this moonless night, and Naruto wondered if the Hoshi ninja had any real skills besides the use of star chakra.

The Kyūbi jinchūriki had faced off against several chūnin and jōnin level Kujaku Myōhō (Mysterious Peacock Method) users and while the manipulations they were capable of were sophisticated, overall Naruto was not impressed. Even with a wider array of chakra manipulation at their disposal, more often than not, they would take to the sky with wings and try to rain down their feathery projectiles on him or bind him with chakra ropes.

It was more of an annoyance than a threat to him at this point.

Only two of the Hoshi ninja he had faced had been creative in their chakra manipulation skills to make things difficult for him, but in the end, he had been able to best them all without using even ¼ of his total chakra.

Certainly his ridiculously strong Fūton affinity gave him an advantage against flying opponents, but even the members of his company that had no wind attacks were able to knock them out of the sky quite easily with any conical jutsu and convincing bait. When you added his use of Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden mist) to the mix, their flying capabilities practically became useless.

At least he wasn't destroying helpless villages anymore; after the incident with his Rasenshuriken, his company had been reassigned to more destructive tasks. While he was glad to be supporting the 1st battalion's efforts in the war, he only had brief contact with Rei a few days ago, which had gone a long way in soothing his concerns for her safety. Sadly, they only had time to share a lingering kiss before they had to move out to different objectives. Hopefully, once this bridge was captured, he would be able to return to the recently captured village she was tasked with guarding. Given the fact that the village was being used to funnel supplies to the front line and housed the Forward Medical Corps, chances were high that his company will fall back to that position once this bridge was secured and allow the Heavy Assault squadrons of the 1st Battalion to deal with establishing control in the area.

The rustling of the bushes behind him indicated that the rest of the squadron was in position and awaiting his move. With his plan of action in place, Naruto sent out a series of hand signals to notify his squadron of his idea before springing into action. Creeping low as he advanced towards the cliff edge, his clones quickly slipped over the edge and began using chakra to scale down the walls. Using Fūton: Kiryū Ranbu Air Current Dance, they gently pushed the poisonous fumes, that choked the bottom of the canyon, away and cleared a path for Naruto to make his way down.

Two clones remained on the floor of the canyon, directing the fumes away while the remaining clones remained clinging to the walls on either side, pushing the toxic gas away with currents of air. Naruto quickly sprinted across the cleared section while holding his breath as an extra precaution. While his clones hadn't dissipated from the noxious fumes, he didn't want to chance to become disoriented or lightheaded from the toxic gas; even if Kurama could purge it before it caused any permanent damage. He quickly summoned another clone to guide the rest of his team to the path he created before making his way up the opposite side of the canyon to scout the enemy camp.

Using Tōton Jutsu (Transparent Escape) before he crested the canyon wall, he quickly made his way over the edge and dashed forwards into a cluster of trees that sat off to the side of the Hoshi camp. Naruto's eyes scanned the sleepy camp that had sprung up around, what used to be, a small guard post in the past.

Besides the small hut that housed two guards, there were the four patrolling the length of the bridge. Judging from the amount of tents and remnants of cook fires, Naruto determined that the intelligence they had received was mostly correct.

Four dozen Hoshi ninja were assigned to guard this bridge and ensure that the advancing Tsuki forces were prevented from crossing it at any cost. Usually, that would be more than enough to prevent any special operations elements or advanced recon teams from sneaking in to eliminate the guards and taking control of the bridge before it could be destroyed.

Tsuki had considered the bridge worth the risk, however, and had assigned both the San and Yon companies of the 2nd battalion to assist one of the SpecOps groups for the 1st battalion in this particular operation. Naruto's hand twitched as he waited for the rest of his team to arrive. A part of him wanted to simply use another Fūton: Rasenshuriken to obliterate the camp, but his orders at this point were to simply create a path for the rest of his squadron to meet up at the designated rendezvous point and await further orders. Plus, with all the members of his company falling in behind him, making the Rasenshuriken now would allow them to see how the attack was created, and some of them might be able to correlate the early stages of the attack with his father's well known Rasengan. That was something he couldn't allow to happen.

The Jōnin captain of his company had questioned him quite firmly after the events of Noda village, after the initial ass chewing for causing so much damage, of course. Since Naruto was technically a part of the mercenary forces, however, he wasn't required to reveal any details about his skills or abilities unless he felt like doing so. All Naruto told the man was that, if needed, he could level a very large area with some of his attacks, but they required a significant amount of set up time and that it was dangerous for anyone to be near him while he set the attack up. While those requirements were not completely true, it did convince the captain to give Naruto a lot more room to maneuver without supervision if such destruction became necessary. It only made sense considering the fact that their company had moved from low threat operations to a high threat ones.

Usually, the village preferred to have at least one of their shinobi lead or oversee the actions of their mercenary forces to protect the integrity and reputation of the village. If some of the more ruthless mercenaries slipped through their screening net and cause an incident while working as a shinobi for hire, their actions could be considered as a move endorsed by the village and stir up all sorts of trouble. In order to minimize the risk of such an event occurring, foreign shinobi that had not proven themselves were paired with Tsuki teams that were at least one rank higher when possible. If there wasn't a native Tsuki shinobi available that could meet the rank or skill level of the potential mercenary, they would be put on a team of Tsuki shinobi of equal strength in order to ensure they could control the situation.

With them being moved off of such a distasteful task of eliminating villages to generate a refugee drain on Hoshi's supplies, Naruto felt he wouldn't have an issue behaving. Even his use of the Rasenshuriken as a diversion had not threatened the success of their mission. He had enough integrity not to act in such a rash manner that his actions would become a threat to his own goals. It would be stupid to sabotage himself in such a manner and wouldn't change the situation at all. The last thing he needed at this point was to draw any more suspicion on himself.

As he waited for the rest of his company to scale the walls behind him, Naruto reached out with his senses and tried to gauge the situation. Wrinkling his nose as he filtered through the more unpleasant scents of a large campsite full of unwashed soldiers and poor sanitation, his delicate nose picked up the scent of re-hydrated meats and vegetables, a very light scent of water, and a noticeable lack of sake or other forms of alcohol that was usually present in large quantities wherever an army has been stationed for a long period of time. Taking a few more tentative sniffs of the air around him, Naruto then strained his ears towards the camp but couldn't pick up anything more than indistinct murmuring and footfalls of the weary and oddly heavy footed shinobi moving around the site.

Naruto frowned as he processed this information; it seemed their intelligence wasn't entirely accurate. Intelligence reports claimed that the bridge was mainly guarded by Genin teams with a handful of Jōnin commanders and a squad of Hoshi Demolition specialists. Taking a tentative sniff of the air once more, the blond studied the scents he was picking up and found a noticeable absence of paper and ink scent in the air. Either the Demolitions squads made use of powerful jutsu to destroy buildings and infrastructure or there was no demolition squad present.

Then there was the fact that the camp was too quiet and orderly for a force consisting mainly of genin. While the Jōnin had been likely to lay down several strict ground rules, genin, by in large, were bound to make simple mistakes. Their conversations would be slightly louder, even when they were whispering. When they removed items from their packs or moved about inside of their tents, they would make a great deal more noise than experienced Chūnin or Jōnin. The way that the tracks around the camp were swept were too neat for a simple genin, even experienced ones.

While the lack of alcohol could be written off due to the typically young ages of genin, a very skilled and experienced combat division would also have little to no alcoholic beverages with them. True warriors and combat veterans knew that it was folly to dull your senses and coordination in the midst of a war zone, especially when guarding a high-value target. Sadly, it seemed that most of the forces involved in this war weren't really coherent of that fact or just didn't care. Naruto had seen quite a few squads of soldiers drowning their sorrows or stress in a bottle of pillaged sake or wine just after a battle, regardless of how secure their current campsite was at the moment.

It wasn't just the Tsuki ninja partaking in the libations either, anytime their squad captured a village that had a noticeable presence of defenders, the lack of sake and wine in the village's markets and storehouses were just as noticeable. Naruto's company had also successfully ambushed several different campsites of Hoshi-nin when they were ordered to link up with the 1st battalion for reassignments. Each time Naruto had scouted a camp, the scent of liquor had been pretty strong, and the enemy easy to neutralize.

One of his company mates had made a snarky comment that the status of the Hoshi forces they had come across was indicative of their flagging morale. While Naruto could accept that there would be some rogue groups of ninja and mercenary deserters or survivors of a particularly harsh battle, there were just too many shinobi on both sides getting piss drunk to rule it out as simple acceptance of defeat.

Kurama had simply found it amusing that win or lose, humans would turn to drinking poisonous substances in large amounts to celebrate or cope with their current situation. Even Naruto had to admit that he would also probably drink a lot more if his fox partner wouldn't take the opportunity to complain _loudly_ about the foolishness of drinking toxic substances while the blond was nursing a hangover. It wasn't like he enjoyed getting black out drunk like that situation in Tanigakure, but his first experience in Konoha when they celebrated the Wave mission, and during the celebrations in Yuki were both enjoyable, even when he became only marginally aware of his actions as the night wore on.

When the rest of his company completed their climb, Naruto signaled to the commander about his suspicions and waited for the man to decide what course of action they would take. While Naruto wasn't adverse to taking orders from someone else, it would have been better to have a commander that was more in line with his own tactics. It seemed that this particular shinobi preferred more intricate yet low impact assaults that whittled away at the enemy. This was a direct contrast to Naruto's own high-powered combination assaults designed to quickly overwhelm and reduce the number of direct threats at the cost of exposure.

Perhaps it was due to his experiences with the hit and run tactics in Yuki which were designed to display a show of force to drive fear into the enemy. Naruto had believed that his tactics would have been just as preferable in open warfare, but apparently that wasn't entirely true. Naruto had been expecting a series of battles similar to that final stand in Fubuki Village when the rebels made the final push to remove Dotō from power.

Large forces meeting on a designated battlefield and clashing to determine which side was superior in opening tactics before the fight devolved into scattered skirmishes. Perhaps that was too noble for the brutish nature of war, but there had been a point in time where battlefields were decided on by both sides and each faction adhered to the agreed upon restrictions and boundaries. Only soldiers and their families were involved with the conflict and whichever force retreated or was defeated submitted to the victors with dignity. Naruto wondered what happened in the past to devolve from "civilized" warfare to the no holds barred, anything goes type of warfare that was now considered the normal means of settling irreconcilable differences.

Eventually, the operations leader signaled out a plan: Single pincer movement to push the defenders away from the bridge towards the canyon to the west, then encircle the survivors before they could scatter for reinforcements. Naruto wasn't particularly surprised by the commander's decision in the end; it was typical of his usual cautious approach, but this time there was valid reasoning behind his approach. The circumstances behind their false intelligence was likely due to a setup or ambush of some sort.

At least things would be interesting today.

Naruto fanned out with the rest of his squad, moving through the dense brush silently as they made their way into position. Their assignment was to block the southern road leading back towards Hoshi where the main army was stationed at the moment. The group had to move slowly through the fading shadows of twilight due to the lack of natural moonlight. It took the squad a few hours to make their way towards the rocky outcroppings and plateaus of sandstone and quartz that ringed the narrow valley. By the time they had slogged their way through the low brush that comprised the majority of flora in the valley, the light of the false dawn had already begun to illuminate the skies, signaling the approach of sunrise. As soon as they broke into the grove of deciduous trees at the base of the rock formations, the squad quickly picked up speed and began pushing closer towards the road, sticking to the very edge of the forest to conceal their movements till the last moment.

Hearing the warbling cry of a night owl, the genjutsu specialist began layering multiple Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu (False Surroundings) on the road and the surrounding rock formations to try and conceal any flares or jutsu that might alert the main army camped in the valley beyond. The rest of the group crept as close to the road as possible, waiting for the sun to peek over the horizon which would commence their operation.

Even with his suspicions about this whole mission being a setup, Naruto found himself lulled into a relaxed state by the sounds of the dawn chorus of birds, crickets, and other insects native to the area. Only the brisk early morning air kept him from entering a state of meditation he often used to cross into his mindscape. As the sky began to grow brighter and the first of the sun's rays peeked over the nearby mountain ridge, the blond's ears picked up the sound of kunai clashing in the distance. His whiskers twitched as a slight breeze of chakra laced wind blew in his direction, the result of numerous jutsu colliding from the opening salvo of attacks against the main camp.

Soon, the sound of footfalls heading in their direction grew louder and Naruto stole a glance over at his Squadron leader, a kunoichi that was a highly skilled sensor and genjutsu specialist. Seeing that the kunoichi was fully alert and preparing the signal to launch the attack, he let his gaze swing back over towards the road and scanned the road for movement. Even being tucked away in the shadows of the canyon as he was, it was easy for Naruto to spot the group of runners that had fled the battle in order to call for reinforcements from the main camp. The blond began a mental tally of the approaching enemies as his sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of heavy breathing and loud (by his standards) footsteps of the dozen or so Hoshi shinobi that were quickly entering the ambush zone. Judging by the size of the group and their inability to completely conceal their movements, Naruto estimated that their skill levels were low to mid chūnin level at best. There was no way any shinobi near Jōnin level would allow themselves to make this much noise, even if they were in full retreat.

Naruto popped the lid on his canteen and prepared for the signal to create a clone and being a particular attack sequence he had been interested in testing. Whenever he found himself assigned to operations that were considered low or moderately risky, Naruto took it upon himself to try out different combination jutsu or strategies that he or Kurama would come up with during the long and boring hours on watch. Today, Naruto felt like making more use of his Suiton library of jutsu. He was curious about how proficient he was with his second strongest affinity and just how useful it could be in combat.

While Naruto still hadn't completely mastered the Nidaime's exercise, he had made significant progress. At first, Naruto had only been practicing Suiton control in order to improve his overall chakra control, but as he studied the Nidaime's notes on Suiton manipulation, he found that it was easier for water to overcome its weaker points through sheer manipulation. If you controlled all the water on the battlefield and could command it effectively, you could avoid Doton walls or even redirect Raiton jutsu back to the person who had attacked you. Gaining that level of mastery over Suiton would only provide him with a new set of strategies to work with in combat, improve his overall control, and would likely provide him with better insight on how to manipulate his Fūton in more creative ways.

As soon as the Squadron leader gave the signal, Naruto created a single clone before he began flipping through hand seals rapidly, landing on the Tiger seal. An orb of water emerged from his canteen and began to swell above his head as he pumped more chakra into the growing globe. Ignoring the sounds of combat around him, the whiskered blond focused on channeling more chakra into the orb as it grew and pulsated. The Suiton: Suiryūben (Water Dragon Whip) was then pushed into the road by a low powered Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) by Naruto's clone who then took up a guard position while Naruto concentrated on controlling his jutsu. Numerous tracking whips of water emerged from the globe of water and began lashing out at the enemy forces, slashing and spearing through the group with ease.

As the small skirmish died down, Naruto dropped his concentration on the orb and let it splash to the ground. As Naruto rose from his spot to help push the remaining shinobi back towards the encirclement point, a massive surge of chakra caused him to freeze in his tracks out of shock. The large blast was enough to stir Kurama from his sleep and the kitsune quickly began scanning his container's memories to catch himself up to speed. Whirling around in preparation for an attack, Naruto's eyes widened when he saw a literal tsunami surging over the rock formations before bearing down on him and all the other stunned Tsuki shinobi. Even the remaining Hoshi shinobi seemed caught off guard by the massive wall of water that was rapidly sweeping away everything in its path.

Naruto quickly created three supercharged clones before slamming his palm on the ground and inscribing a barrier seal with his chakra. The clones fell into position behind him and began copying his actions while calling out to his allies to fall in behind him. Just before the tidal wave swamped the ambush squadron, a wedge-shaped barrier sprung to life, redirecting most of the water over or away from to the group towards the canyon or forest on either side.

Naruto gritted his teeth as he continued to pour more chakra into the barrier to strengthen the shield from the various boulders, tree trunks, and other debris that was hammering against the rudimentary shield from all sides. A few quick thinking shinobi saw the barrier beginning to waver and began reinforcing the flickering walls with Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall) or Doton: Rokkudōmu (Rock Dome) to shield the group from the deluge of water. After several minutes, the water settled and the group peeked their heads out warily, only to see the rock formations, forest, and most of the valley swept clean by the mysterious wave.

Naruto rose up from his kneeling position and studied the newcomers the battlefield. Inwardly he was impressed at the sheer volume of water that was produced by that attack. While kneeling, the water had almost submerged him completely. Even with a large amount of water draining into the nearby gorge, there was still enough water on the field to force everyone to use chakra to stay on the surface of the waist deep water.

Naruto quickly scanned the group of people that had arrived behind them, trying to identify the biggest threat. His posture tensed as his eyes locked with the person he believed was responsible for that massive jutsu.

Perched on one of the remains of the surrounding rock formations was a man that was easily recognizable across the entirety of the elemental nations. Swathed in the familiar black cloak with red clouds, his blue-grey skin, and spiky blue mohawk was distinctive enough for any shinobi to recognize. The large wrapped daitō (greatsword) strapped to the tall man's back was more than enough to dispel any doubt that this man was the strongest of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist: Kisame Hoshigaki.

While his stoic facade was firmly in place, inwardly Naruto was sweating. Beyond what Kiri had posted about the man in the bingo book, there wasn't much information available about this particular missing-nin. Everything that was listed, however, was enough to give anyone pause in facing this particular opponent.

Besides the fact that the man was considered a high S-ranked threat on par with a Kage level shinobi, he had an obscenely powerful affinity for Suiton jutsu. He was obviously extremely skilled in Kenjutsu and Taijutsu by virtue of being capable of earning the title of one of the Seven Swordsman. Finally, there was the fact that Kisame's chakra reserves were so massive that he had earned the moniker "The Tailless Bijū" by the lucky few who had managed to survive an encounter with the man.

On top of all that, there were the mysterious abilities of his sword itself. Not even the name of his blade was listed as Kiri refused to provide any information on the capabilities of their famous blades and very few survivors managed to escape their elite shinobi alive to leak that information. Even Jiraiya's network hadn't been able to pick up much information besides the rumors that the blade was sentient, and that the damage caused by the blade itself was highly unusual.

'Shit. Even if I had Kurama's help, I would have to take this guy seriously.' Naruto thought to himself.

" **Interesting. This one has come alone."** Kurama noted as he had run a sweep of the area with his own advanced chakra sensing ability. **"** **All the filth around him are far beneath his level of strength; even lower than the one who fled from combat in Yuki."**

Kurama ran another sweep of the area before accepting the sync with Naruto for the inevitable conflict that would take place shortly. **"** **None of the trash with you are capable enough to help you subdue him. Even if they could, this situation is not conducive to establishing a dialogue on neutral terms."** Kurama noted with a hint of annoyance bleeding through.

 _'Considering that he is obviously working with Hoshi, that could end badly.'_ Naruto replied as he eyed several Hoshi ninja moving into position behind the Akatsuki member.

The duo could sense the malicious emotions surging in Kisame even before his killing intent slammed into the Tsuki squadron. Naruto gulped at the heavy pressure bearing down on him. While not anywhere in the realm of Kurama's own deadly intent, Kisame's desire to kill was very strong. Naruto had no doubt that he would be forced to fight for his life against the man, regardless of Akatsuki's motives.

" **Then that leaves you no choice but to fight,"** Kurama replied in a strange tone that Naruto couldn't quite place.

Kurama was projecting a sense of neutrality but Naruto could detect a faint hint of displeasure combined with frustration at the situation. Naruto guessed that those emotions were due to the fact that the Akatsuki were constantly proving themselves to be hostile. He knew that Kurama had wanted to open some sort of dialogue with the group to learn the truth behind Saiken's desire to join with them, but Naruto's instincts to distrust them were consistently being validated by the group's actions.

" **Will you obey the toad fool and fight him without revealing our true strength?"** Kurama asked before a wave of amusement flooded their bond. **"** **You are more than capable of taking down this fish smelling fool if you ignore the trash around you of course."**

Kurama could sense Naruto's doubts beginning to build but, in truth, the fox believed that Naruto was skilled enough to face such an opponent. If he remained calm, collected, and used his intelligence to form a solid strategy, he could catch his opponent off guard and eliminate him quickly. It was obvious the man would underestimate his container due to his youth, which was a deadly mistake. Kurama knew that the kit would be hard pressed in a battle against this opponent, but he was confident that Naruto could pull off a victory against this opponent.

Naruto took a deep breath to steady himself as he continued to stare down the shark-like man who openly grinned at him, revealing a row of razor sharp shark-like teeth. It seemed as if the man could sense Naruto's nervousness and doubt or was just extremely confident in his own skills.

 _'If he is just trying to capture me like the others, then I might not need to reveal all of my abilities.'_ Naruto narrowed his eyes at Kisame. _'If he decides to get serious, however, I don't think I will have a choice but to go all out.'_

Kurama could only grin at Naruto's response before he sent a strong sense of approval and confidence to his container to help bolster the kit for what was certain to be a very tough fight. Kurama's tails swished wildly as he waited in anticipation for the battle that was to come. Already he could feel the adrenaline flowing through the kit's veins as their minds and senses were fully linked due to the, now completed, combat synchronization.

"That was a clever move there, brat, but it won't be enough to save you and the rest of your little friends." Kisame's voice rang out, causing many of the Tsuki ninjas to tense up.

The squad leader quickly signaled for the squadron to break up into multiple skirmisher formations as Kisame leaped down from his perch and casually sauntered towards the group as if he was taking a stroll through a garden instead of an active battlefield. The Akatsuki member was quickly flanked by two squads of Hoshi ninja who began to form up in a crescent formation to try and hem in the Tsuki squad.

The odds appeared to be against the Tsuki ninja at first glance, but there was a chance that the main attack squadrons would see signs of battle and come to reinforce them before it was too late. Naruto decided to try and prod the former Kiri ninja for questions in the hopes that he could stall the battle long enough for the main Tsuki force to arrive and provide them with backup.

Naruto flicked Keikai with his thumb to loosen her from the sheath in preparation for combat before asking. "Why is Akatsuki even involved with this whole mess? What do you gain by involving yourself in a war between two minor villages?"

Kisame chuckled at Naruto's actions before pulling his own massive sword off of his back and resting the bandaged daitō on his shoulder in a casual and relaxed manner.

"We do just about anything we damn well please," Kisame said before his grin grew, revealing his shark-like teeth in more detail. "As long as the target is strong enough, or the ryō is good enough to attract our attention, we are willing to do anything if our contractor is willing to pay the price for our efforts."

Naruto was about to respond when the squad leader decided to make her presence known.

"Enough with the chit-chat." the kunoichi snapped as she moved up next to Naruto and sent him a glare. "Fall back into position _merc_ or I will assume you are going to support your buddy here and turn against Tsuki."

"He's not my buddy." Naruto retorted before scowling at the squad leader. "You are a fool if you think that guy is just some two-bit mercenary. He's easily S-ranked and one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist." Naruto warned.

"I don't care if he was the Sage himself!" The kunoichi said with a scoff. "Right now, he is a threat to our objective and needs to be eliminated. So, fall into line or I will report you as a deserter."

Naruto merely huffed before taking his position. Naruto _knew_ the woman was a talented sensor and should be easily feeling the enormous presence that Kisame was giving off at the moment. They were obviously outnumbered and possibly overpowered in this situation; it would be prudent to try and delay any direct conflict as long as possible to buy themselves time.

Naruto scanned the Hoshi-nin out of the corner of his eye while subtly reaching out with his senses to try and detect the strength of the Hoshi squadrons they were facing. Naruto delicately sniffed the air to try and pick up any scents of weapon oils, explosive tags, or even soldier pills and medical herbs while his whiskers strained forward to pick up on the subtle nuances in the air. Now that he was synced with Kurama, it was easier to pick up the chakra levels of the Hoshi ninja surrounding Kisame. Most of the Hoshi support flanking Kisame were mid to high chūnin level shinobi, letting Naruto breathe a bit easier.

'At least this isn't quite a worst case scenario.' Naruto thought. 'If I can lure Kisame away from the group, then I won't need to restrict myself if things go badly.'

While his squadron was outnumbered, they were all mid to high jōnin level shinobi. If Kisame could be removed from the fight, the Tsuki squadron would be able to end the fight quickly and lend him support. He just needed to take Kisame out of the equation long enough for them to defeat them all.

Naruto began running through a few mental simulations while the Squad Leader kunoichi gave Kisame and the Hoshi-nin the standard ultimatum that was always ignored by the enemy. Naruto had never seen that speech work, even when the enemy was outnumbered 3 to 1.

Kisame was already at a large advantage since the vast amount of water, he had somehow manifested out of thin air, was saturating the battlefield completely. Given the fact that he was capable of generating that much water without any nearby water source only meant that this Suiton control was unparalleled or he simply used his massive chakra reserves to generate so much water and his control might not be that peerless. Naruto wasn't about to challenge him to a Suiton battle, however, but maybe with enough Katon jutsu, he could get a feel of his manipulation skills and go from there.

Naruto was also keenly aware that Kisame was, by in large, a kenjutsu specialist. While his ninjutsu skills might be high level, he was known for being a swordsman first and foremost. This meant that Naruto had to prevent him from closing the gap at all costs. He had no delusions of holding the man off with Keikai alone, she was merely a means to block Kisame's sword whenever the man finally managed to slip through his guard and enter striking range.

Kisame's boisterous laughing broke Naruto from his train of thought.

"Listen here, _little girl_ ," Kisame said in a mocking tone. "If you think you're going to stop me from reclaiming that bridge from your little gang of insects, then you are either delusional or have a death wish." Kisame hefted his sword off of his shoulder before leveling the point towards the squadron leader. "None of you pathetic fools are even worthy of feeding Samehada here, except for 'blondie' there, but I am only allowed to go so far with him."

Kisame moved his arm until the now named Samehada was pointing at Naruto. "I hope you give me a challenge _kitsune_ , maybe if you do, I will let the rest of this trash run back home alive."

The Tsuki ninja all bristled and growled at Kisame's rude dressing down of their skills and began preparing their weapons or hands for the start of the battle. Naruto, on the other hand, decided to take Kisame up on his offer. Kisame had given him the perfect opportunity to lure him away from the rest of the group. He would be an idiot to pass up the opportunity to set the tempo and stage for their battle.

"Your on, _cat food_." Naruto taunted before he dashed off towards the far end of the valley, ignoring the protests of his squad leader. He would probably face some trouble for his actions later, but at this point, he didn't really care. He knew he was saving all their lives by keeping Kisame at bay and if they couldn't accept that fact then they could simply discharge him from their service. Rei's opinion of him was the only one that mattered, he could care less about the glory of Tsuki or its shinobi.

It would probably make it easier for him to infiltrate Hoshi if he was discharged from Tsuki's service anyways, but now wasn't the right time to think about that.

Naruto peeked over his shoulder and found Kisame closing the distance with him rapidly. Naruto released his grip on Keikai and brought up his hand in a half ram seal to dispel his gravity seals. Now at his top speed, Naruto made his way towards the northern end of the valley where Kisame's water hadn't penetrated. As he entered the woods near the northern canyon, Naruto quickly created a dozen clones and had them circle around a large enough clearing to set up what he planned. As soon as the clones leaped off, Naruto spun around and drew Keikai; just in time to block a downward slash from Kisame.

'He's just as fast as I am without my gravity seals.' Naruto thought in shock as he struggled to push the massive sword back and create an opening. Naruto noticed that Kisame was not only perfectly at ease, but he was only using one hand to push through his guard 'He's much stronger than I am too! I have to get away from him.'

Sending a mental command to his clones, Naruto quickly pivoted to the side to redirect Samehada before using Kawarimi to replace himself with a clone that had a Rasengan charged.

He didn't expect Kisame to fall for such a simple trick or that the Rasengan would be capable of breaking the fabled sword so easily, but he could use it to gauge the strength of Samehada and try to gain some information on its abilities.

As he reappeared where his clone had been hidden, he relayed several more commands to his awaiting clones and studied his opponent carefully. Finding the man's vulnerability was key for him to survive this encounter and the best way to do that was to prod his defenses with his clones until he could form a strategy that worked.

Kisame managed to pull Samehada back and block the Rasengan quite easily. The grin on his face only grew as the orb collided with the chakra draining sword and faded away before the clone dispelled from having all of its chakra devoured. Before Kisame could focus on tracking down the real Naruto, he was forced to duck under a beheading slash while pivoting to block another clone who tried to stab him through his torso.

Kisame brought Samehada around to slash at the clones in a sweeping arc, but both clones had managed to replace themselves with another pair of clones who, much to his surprise, lashed out with chakra flow attacks that were uncommon for shinobi. The two clones, positioned in front and behind him, lashed out with Hadan (Rupture), causing an explosion of chakra that wasn't avoidable.

While Kisame was able to absorb one of the attacks by blocking with Samehada, the second Hadan ripped into his back causing a large gouge to appear as well as parts of his spine and ribs to become fractured. If it weren't for his toughened skin from his bloodline, and his close-knit bond with Samehada, that attack would have probably finished him off completely.

Kisame seemingly shook off the pain as a mere annoyance, quickly mule kicking the clone behind him while stabbing the clone in front of him with Samehada before the clones could evade or launch another attack. Samehada tried to being funneling the drained chakra back into healing his wounds but was forced to pause in the process as Kisame swung the blade up to block a giant white-hot fire dragon that came barreling down from the tree tops towards him. Kisame simply snorted at the sight, content in the knowledge that he would be fully restored with the amount of chakra that Samehada could drain from the incoming attack.

Naruto watched as his jutsu seemingly dispersed whenever it came in contact with the sword. He couldn't figure out what exactly was neutralizing his attacks so easily or that strange sensation he felt when his clones were struck with the bandaged sword. Instead of the typical stabbing or cutting sensation, it felt as if they were _absorbed_ somehow. Naruto watched as the jutsu disappeared completely and noticed a strange movement coming from the hilt of Samehada.

'The sword is moving on its own!' Naruto thought in astonishment.

" **That sword is feeding chakra to the fish fool and restoring his strength while healing his wounds,"** Kurama stated. **"** **Every time your chakra based attacks landed on that sword, I sensed the small chakra network begin to grow. Even now his chakra is returning back to normal while his wounds are healing."**

 _'So, the sword drains chakra and can restore his strength whenever it wants.'_ Naruto concluded. _'No wonder he is so dangerous, he is practically unstoppable with that sword.'_

" **Your best chance to defeat him is to separate him from the sword completely."** Kurama posited.

 _'That won't be so easy.'_ Naruto thought with a frown before sending the next grouping of clones in to attack. _'Since everyone knows he is a swordsman he probably has plenty of practice preventing that and likely has multiple ways to reclaim his sword easily during a fight.'_ Naruto lightly tugged on one of his side bangs in thought. ' _It won't hurt to try it once, but I think it will be better to bypass it completely, that way he won't be as guarded when I launch my final attack.'_

Kurama merely hummed in response, interested in seeing how Naruto planned to neutralize such a threat.

Naruto pushed all his chakra into creating four more clones, replacing the ones who were destroyed before using one of his full chakra scrolls to refill himself. He probably wouldn't have the time to use another one later in the fight as he was certain Kisame wouldn't allow him to continue with this strategy for long. Quickly slipping three small chakra seals under his arm wraps, he watched as his next group of clones launched their attack while sending a mental command to a certain pair of clones to prepare a special attack that would, hopefully, render the chakra draining ability of the sword useless.

Kisame was almost fully healed by the time another pair of clones appeared and charged at him. Kisame merely sneered before extending Samehada to clash with the clones and make his way towards the original who was hiding in a tree. Once again he was forced to duck and roll out of the way as two clones used Shunshin to appear above and behind him while using the frontal clones as cover.

One clone had tried to lock up Samehada with an angular slash towards his face, which he ducked under instead of blocking before he rolled away from the downward thrust of the aerial clone. Sending a lazy swing around his body, he forced the clones to leap back to avoid being dispelled only for Kisame to dash forward and dispel one of them before they could use Kawarimi to replace themselves once more. The other three clones managed to pull the replacement off, but Kisame followed through on his swing and dispelled one of the replacement clones before it could react. The other two managed to send him flying back with Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) but most of the winds were absorbed by Samehada, preventing him from taking any significant damage from the jutsu and making it easy for him to recover by flipping in the air and landing with a skid.

As soon as he stopped moving he was set upon by the blond who quickly used Shunshin to appear to his side before lashing out with a quick combination of slashes that alternated from high to low, followed by three lunging thrusts before the blonde lashed out with a spin kick to bring his guard up.

Samehada was unable to drain any chakra, for some reason, but before Kisame could identify why, the blond quickly replaced himself with another clone who was already crouched low and released another Hadan directly into his stomach, sending the swordsman flying back and coughing up a small bit of blood. Kisame didn't have time to heal just yet, as he was beset on all sides by attacks that were all highly coordinated to cover a different angle from each side.

Kisame wasn't one of the most powerful of the Seven swordsmen without reason, though, he quickly evaded, parried, and countered each attack with his more cumbersome sword with ease. Two of the four clones that had initiated the coordinated assault fell to his blade, providing him with another boost to his chakra and allowing Samehada to heal him while the Kyūbi jinchūriki encircled him with even more clones.

For a moment, Kisame stared down the one Samehada identified as the original before a flurry of movement started the battle anew. Two of the clones attempted to attack him from his blind spot, but a quick swing of his trusty sword pushed the back before he was forced to pivot and send a sidekick towards the original who attempted to charge in while he was distracted. As the blond brought up his guard to block the kick, Kisame used his momentum to bring Samehada forward to slash at Naruto while he was trapped in the air.

Before Samehada could strike, several clones wrapped his blade up with a strange, sticky, web-like substance and attempted to pull the blade back from coming in contact with their creator. Kisame was able to power through the strange webbing and still land a hit on the original, sending the boy flying back into a tree, but, once again, Samehada was unable to drain any chakra from the boy.

Kisame huffed in annoyance as he was forced to defend against a pair of clones that tried to attack him with their dinky little ninjato. Each time he lashed out with his daitō to try and dispel the clones, two more clones would continue to coat Samehada with that annoying webbing.

Samehada was wriggling its scales to try and clean itself of the sticky substance, but each time the sword managed to cut off a section of the web, the clones would recover the blade with another layer of the substance. And to make things worse, he had lost sight of the original once again, meaning he would have to put up with this hit and run bullshit once again.

Deciding he had enough of this cowardly hide and seek business, Kisame decided to clear the field and force the boy out into the open. Once the trees were wiped out by his Suiton: Bakusui Shōha (Exploding Water Shock Wave) the brat would be forced to fight him like a man and Kisame would be able to gauge his real strength as ordered by the Leader.

Kisame tossed Samehada into the air to flip through his own hand seals but realized his mistake when he noticed two clones (who were concealed as small rocks) drop their Henges and brought their hands up to their mouths to use a jutsu he was very familiar with: Fūton: Daitoppa.

Kisame cursed himself loudly for falling for such an obvious trick and began to crouch down in order to spring himself up towards his sword. Two more clones appeared out of a Shunshin and lashed out at him with another pair of Hadan to try and keep him on the ground away from his sword and for the first time in years, Kisame was forced to use Kawarimi to replace himself to avoid the attack. The swordsman looked up in frustration to watch as Samehada was sent flying off into the distance by a large gust of wind.

"Tch. Annoying brat." Kisame mumbled before he ducked under another slash and punched the clone in the abdomen, dispelling it. "You can't get rid of Samehada that easily," Kisame shouted before leaping up towards the tree tops and holding his hand out. Samehada corrected itself in mid-air before it, somehow, managed to fly towards Kisame as if attracted by a magnetic force.

Naruto wasn't about to make it easy for the sword to reconnect with its master, however, and ordered two more clones into the fray. The clones appeared on the tree tops directly in the path of Samehada and one used a jutsu Kisame had never heard of before Fūton: Chissoku (Suffocation) while the other entered a defensive stance between Kisame and the clone that was concentrating on the jutsu.

Kisame easily ducked and evaded another pair of chakra flow attacks as he slowly made his way closer to where Samehada was trying to return to him. The swordsman was unconcerned with whatever the pair of clones was doing, believing that it would be a simple matter for Samehada to drain the chakra from the attack and return to him. So he was completely shocked when he heard his sword screech in pain before it began flailing around, flapping its scales and wriggling in pain in a manner that Kisame had never seen before.

Kisame recovered from his shock quickly and charged towards the pair of clones, lashing out with a right cross at the one he suspected of using the jutsu, but his attack was deflected by the second clone who latched onto his arm and tried to use Kisame's forward momentum against him to drive a knee into his chest. Kisame was quick to lift his other knee to block the attack before he pivoted and swung at the other clone with a left hook.

The clone ducked under the attack and landed a left hook to Kisame's kidney while keeping the swordman's arm trapped under his right arm. The clone reared back to land another hook to the exposed flank, but Kisame wrenched his arm free with pure strength before dropping an elbow down onto the clones' back, dispelling it. A third clone leaped into the fray and seized his arm in an attempt to block the attack on the jutsu clone, but Kisame quickly jabbed the clone in the face, dispelling it before punching the clone that was keeping Samehada trapped. Samehada fall to the ground and Kisame was quick to leap down and try to reclaim his blade, which the clones tried to prevent by sending several volleys of shuriken and a few kunai after him. Kisame ignored the hail of sharpened projectiles in favor of seizing his blade before he spun around and twirled the massive blade around him expertly, deflecting and blocking the rest of the weapons being hurled at him.

Samehada let out a few wheezing coughs before draining Kisame of a small amount of chakra to replenish and heal itself. While his sword was restoring itself, Kisame took a moment to pluck the different shuriken embedded into his arms and back that he hadn't managed to deflect completely. Even if they were poisoned, which he doubted, Samehada would take care of that once the blade had recovered from whatever it had been injured by.

'What the hell did that little brat do to you, Samehada?' Kisame wondered before looking up and glaring at a pair of clones that were watching him from a distance. 'I may not be able to kill the bastard, but I can certainly make him pay.'

"I'm tired of your little games, brat. Now you are going to see what happens when Samehada and I get serious." Kisame snarled before he placed Samehada on his back and leaped into the air.

Running through hand seals quickly his mouth and chest bulged out before he began spitting out a gigantic wave of water knocking back two more clones before the wave grew in volume and strength. Kisame looked out over the tree tops as he held the colossal wave suspended with his chakra alone. Without Samehada, maintaining a wave of this size would drain his reserves fairly quickly, but his chakra pool was large enough that he could actively manipulate the wave for over 15 minutes before he needed to drain his opponent's chakra to sustain the attack.

Unfortunately, he had lost track of where the annoying little blond was hiding once again. With Samehada still trying to regain its bearings, it would take a few moments for the blade to sniff the annoying bastard out. The sword wielder had never needed to develop his own skill at sensing chakra since Samehada had always done the chakra sensing for him. While the sword wasn't as adept as a real sensor, it never failed to find him a challenging fight since the chakra eating blade only bothered paying attention to people with large or unique chakra types.

Now that Samehada was back in his possession, however, it would be easy to find the brat once he cleared the field of all these nuisances the Kyūbi jinchūriki was hiding behind. With his scowl morphing back to a grin he called out. "Ready or not kitsune, here I come!" before he directed the wave to crash down in the general direction of where Samehada had last sensed his target.

Kisame laughed maniacally as the forest was swept away by the power of his jutsu. Making another sweep in the opposite direction just to ensure he knocked down any remaining trees, he let the wave dwindle a bit, covering the area around him in water that was, at least, 10 feet deep. Keeping a sharp eye on all the floating debris, Kisame waited patiently for his opponent to float up, but as time elapsed he began to suspect that the blond was concealing himself underwater to think of a new plan. Not wanting to deal with anymore annoying clone attacks, Kisame flipped through hand seals rapidly before slamming his hand down on the surface of the wave. Using Suiton: Goshokuzame (Five Shark Frenzy) he sent a group of sharks to sweep through the water and track down the elusive brat.

Drawing Samehada, he narrowed his eyes as his sword tracked the movement of the sharks and sought out the chakra of the blond jinchūriki. Kisame tensed when both Samehada and his sharks didn't detect his target right away. If they couldn't sense the kid's chakra that meant that the kid had something up his sleeve. Suddenly, the water beneath him began to swirl violently, forcing Kisame to leap back away from the rapidly forming whirlpools. The vortexes began rising out of the water forming four large waterspouts that were arranged in a square around the jinchūriki. As the large funnels began draining the water away from the area, Kisame felt his wave begin to deconstruct from the force of the rapidly growing tornadoes and he was forced to pump more chakra into the water to prevent his jutsu from falling apart. Kisame watched as the boy began directing the waterspouts closer to the canyon while they carved giant furrows into the ground as they moved. If he were to reflood the area, the channels the waterspouts had carved would ensure that the water would continuously drain into the canyon anyways. He would be forced to constantly expend his chakra in order to keep the field flooded if he wanted to make use of his ultimate jutsu.

Kisame had to admit that he was impressed with the blond's ability to manipulate that much water. Even for a jinchūriki the cost to maintain those large waterspouts had to be enormous. Since that water was laced with his own chakra, that meant the kid had actively wrested control away from him by matching his own chakra levels in the water; all while maintaining a high level of shape manipulation and chakra control in the process.

Kisame looked down at the, now revealed, blond and could see that his opponent had paid a heavy price to maintain that jutsu, though. He could see the kid straining to control the massive waterspouts while he was breathing heavily from exertion. Not only that, but he was now completely vulnerable to attack because it was obvious that he needed to remain stationary in order to maintain his focus and concentration.

Kisame smirked as he clutched Samehada in preparation for his next attack. Now he could finally pay the brat back for whatever he did to Samehada and them some. While he couldn't outright kill or permanently injure him, as per Leaders orders, there was nothing wrong with leaving the kid with a scar or two.

The scars would give him more character and allow him to remember a valuable lesson: Never fuck with a swordsman's blade.

Kisame drew on even more chakra to stabilize his wave despite the, now massive, waterspouts that were rapidly eating away at his water reserves. On top of drawing away the water he needed to form the wave, the waterspouts were littered with rocks, tree trunks, and other debris that were being flung out of the funnel at extremely dangerous speeds. If he stayed above ground for much longer, it would be almost impossible for him to avoid being hit by the objects being flung about. Kisame drew Samehada and directed the wave to crash down on the blond.

As Kisame rode the speeding wave towards the blond, however, the waterspouts closed in around Naruto, forcing Kisame to abandon his wave as it began to break apart underneath him. Still, the swordsman used the forward momentum generated by the wave to launch himself forwards before lashing out at the kid's unprotected chest. Kisame cackled in glee as he felt Samehada rip through the boy's uniform before shaving a chunk of flesh off his pectorals and abs. Seeing the spray of blood and hearing the cry of pain from his enemy only drove the shark duo into a greater frenzy as they dashed forward and kicked the dazed jinchūriki before they slashed at him again with a backhand swing. The blond hastily managed to raise a sloppy cross block allowing Samehada to rend through a portion of his bicep and forearm.

Kisame was about to move in to follow up with another attack when a large tree trunk fell in between him and his target. Looking up, he realized that the jinchūriki had lost control of his jutsu and they were now both at ground zero for a large amount of debris and water to come crashing down around them. Kisame quickly sprinted away while slashing through logs and dodging boulders that were raining down on him.

The suspended water collapsed down before rushing out in a wave that almost swept him off his feet. Using a burst of chakra to launch himself high into the air, Kisame quickly formed a small disk of chakra beneath his feet so he could settle on the surface of the turbulent water.

As the water began to settle down, it quickly began to drain into the channels created by the large waterspouts before flowing into the canyon nearby. With the water level rapidly decreasing, Kisame switched his focus on sweeping the area for the jinchūriki.

The sound of coughing drew his attention to a small pile of boulders that the kid was using to shakily rise to his feet. It appeared that the boy couldn't avoid being swept into the boulders and was now winded from the impact. Kisame watched in amusement as the blond heaved a few heavy breaths to try and get his breathing under control before raising his head and locking eyes with him. A look of resignation appeared on his face before he drew his dinky little ninjato and entered a shaky defensive stance as if he was still capable of continuing the battle. Seeing the blond breathing heavily with his body shuddering in exhaustion, Kisame decided to test the brat's resolve by mocking him before leaving him to wallow in defeat. It would go a long way into forcing the kid to take the Akatsuki seriously.

Barking out a mocking laugh, Kisame swung Samehada onto his shoulder in a casual pose while reveling in the glare the blond was sending him.

"You really are pathetic, you know that?" Kisame mused with a chuckle. "The only impressive thing you did during our entire fight was to create those giant tornadoes, and even then you failed to utilize that power into a proper attack," Kisame said with a scoff.

When the jinchūriki remained silent, Kisame decided to push him further to try and get a response out of him.

"Seriously. Have you always hidden behind your clones your whole life?" Kisame shook his head as if disappointed. "To think that someone like you houses something as powerful as the Kyūbi and this is all you have to show for it. It's embarrassing."

Kisame studied the kid in front of him and was pleased to see nothing but the determination to fight to the end in his eyes. Perhaps the kid was worthy of Leader-sama's attention after all. Kisame slung Samehada off of his shoulder and pointed it at the kid, chuckling when he saw the boy flinch slightly.

"Don't worry, brat. I'll end this in under three moves so you can rethink how miserably you failed while I wipe out the rest of your squadron." Kisame said before putting a maniacal look on his face to drive more fear into the kid's heart. "I promise I won't shave off too much of your flesh in the process."

Kisame charged forward and brought Samehada down with his full strength, intending on either shattering the pitiful ninjato or the blond's wrists with a devastating blow. When he saw the kid smirk before easily rolling away from his attack, he knew he had been fooled once again. Kisame growled in anger and pivoted to try and catch the blond with a strike to his abs but it was already too late.

Before Kisame could move, the jinchūriki slammed his hand on the ground. At the same time, three more clones dropped their Henges and joined their creator in slamming their hands on the ground activating the trap that had been set up while they were submerged underwater. Kisame found himself surrounded by a four-point barrier that he could sense was slowly leeching chakra from him.

At that moment, his body was slammed into the ground with enough force to create a small crater and it felt like a massive weight had been dropped on his entire body. Struggling to lift up his head so he could see, Kisame noticed that even Samehada had been driven into the ground by the mysterious force and judging by the way the scales were twitching, even his sword was rendered immobile. Turning his head slowly, he saw the jinchūriki looking down at him with a smug expression on his face.

Kisame growled and continued to struggle to free himself from this mysterious force. While he didn't know much about seals, what he did know was that once Samehada came in contact with them, they always broke from a lack of chakra. If he could move Samehada close enough to the barrier, his sword would make short work of the barrier and whatever was pressing him into the ground would lose strength. After a few failed attempts to lift Samehada even a little, Kisame quickly learned that he could still slide his blade forward with a large amount of effort. It would take him several minutes and a great deal of stamina but he could break free of this trap. With the chakra that Samehada drained from the seal, he would be able to replenish himself enough to continue the fight. All he needed was to land a few more hits on the brat and he would be back to full strength again.

Kisame stared into the blond's eyes as he continued to inch Samehada closer to the barrier and his freedom. When he saw the boy's smirk fall and his eyes narrow, Kisame knew that he had guessed correctly and he redoubled his efforts to push Samehada towards the barrier before the brat could intervene and prevent him from breaking free. He continued to push forwards with all his strength, determined not to lose to a lowly chūnin like this kid.

Naruto watched Kisame struggle against his strongest area gravity seal and was impressed with the man's strength. While his ploy to act completely drained had been successful, if he was honest with himself, forming those tornadoes to clear the field of water had taken a good amount of his chakra. If Kisame were to break free now he would have no choice but to use their chakra cloak to defeat him. That was something he still wanted to avoid at this point considering he had already pissed off the Tsuki forces by bailing on them.

Still, it was apparent that Kisame would manage to break free shortly and he couldn't afford to end up in the same situation he had been in earlier. He had barely survived the series of waves that had wiped out the surrounding area by burrowing underground. If not for his Fūton affinity, he certainly would have run out of air long before he could form up enough chakra to use Fūton: Kamikaze (Divine Wind) and a modified version of Mizu Tatsumaki (Tornado of water) to clear enough space needed for his surviving clones to plant the seals for the final trap. If he hadn't used a mix of wind and water manipulation, he wouldn't have been successful in creating waterspouts large enough to redirect that much water.

Naruto had no doubt he would be in bad shape right now if Kisame hadn't bought his exhausted act and charged him carelessly. The man was definitely smart enough, fast enough, and strong enough to avoid or simply power through most of his techniques. If Kisame had decided to take him seriously from the start, he might not have managed to successfully trap him. While he wasn't dangerously low on chakra at this point, he was well aware of the fact that Kisame still had most of his reserves at his disposal as well.

Naruto had to admit that Chōmei's chakra strings had come in handy for this fight. It had been foolish of him to believe that chakra absorption techniques wouldn't ever be a threat to him. Samehada had quickly devoured a few of his supercharged clones with ease and was probably capable of draining his own vast reserves quite rapidly.

It had been a wise decision to wrap his body and limbs in the sticky threads before using a Henge to conceal their presence to prevent Kisame from catching on to their hidden ability. Assigning clones to focus primarily on wrapping Samehada with the sticky threads had also been a wise investment. While Samehada had been able to shave or shred through the webs easily, the sticky nature of the threads had ensured that there were still scattered scraps of threads caught between the scales of the sword to a degree that Samehada couldn't remove them completely. It was fortunate that even the scattered bits of thread entangled throughout the blade were enough to disrupt Samehada's absorption ability to a degree that it wasn't a major threat. While those two direct attacks on his person had managed to drain some of his chakra, it wasn't nearly as much as the sword had drained from his clones at the start of this fight.

He was more concerned about the amount of blood he was losing through the missing chunks of skin on his chest and arms. Kurama was working to heal the damage, but the nature of the cuts made it difficult for his partner to heal. It would probably take a few days to regrow the missing pieces of muscle and skin at this rate.

Naruto let lose a subtle sigh as he watched Samehada inching closer to the barrier and resigned himself to have to use their chakra cloak. The blond quickly formed another group of clones and ordered them to block off a large portion of the area with his specialized privacy/security barrier to try and keep sensors from picking up any flares of chakra from the upcoming battle. While his clones sped off to seal off the area, Naruto moved away from Kisame's prone form while tapping into a few of his chakra seals to refill his reserves. Slipping a few smaller seals under his arm wraps so he could access them easily in the midst of battle, he quickly ran through a few strategies to use against the formidable warrior.

While he would have an advantage in speed and strength when using their chakra, he couldn't rule out the major threat that Samehada still posed even with the chakra threads hampering its strength. He would have to continue with the hit and run strategy and allow his seals to continue their work until Kisame was drained enough to be finished off with a major attack.

He was relieved to know that Samehada hadn't been able to detect the few seals that his clones had planted while the pair were separated. At first, Naruto had planned to activate them right away, but Kisame had forced him underground by summoning that massive wave of water. As soon as Kisame had fallen into his trap, he had triggered the multiple chakra draining seals to assist the gravity seal in subduing the swordsman, but it seemed that he hadn't made any of his seals powerful enough to subdue someone of Kisame's strength.

Apparently he had been mistaken in his belief that making those seals any stronger would have been overkill. It might be prudent to make some even stronger versions in the future, but he would worry about that later.

Even if the chakra draining seals remained undetected or were still active once Kisame escaped, just having Samehada in his hands ensured that Kisame didn't need to worry about his chakra reserves dwindling. All Kisame needed to do to regain the chakra he had lost was to land a few significant attacks on him.

If he could separate the pair once again, he might be able to land a quick and powerful attack strong enough to cripple the Kiri-nin before the sword could return to his hand. Then he would have an easier time finishing the man off before he could recover from all the damage he had taken.

Naruto briefly considered using the Rasenshuriken against the blade since it attacked the chakra network directly but ultimately ruled it out since the sword might be capable using its chakra draining ability to reduce the amount of damage taken or it would simply use the chakra from the attack to heal the damage it incurred.

Finally, Naruto concluded that his best option was to blitz Kisame, the second Samehada was out of his hands, and nail him directly with a Fūton: Rasengan before the sentient blade could return to its owner and heal him. While the shark man was down, he would risk planting the reverse gravity seal on him to quickly drain the rest of his chakra reserves while he was too injured to retaliate.

It was a major risk to give Kisame such an increase in speed with that seal. Kisame had matched his speed without his gravity seals activated. With the reverse gravity seal active on him, the Kiri-nin might be capable of matching his speed with their chakra cloak active. What Naruto was counting on was the fact that Kisame would be sorely unprepared for the amount of speed and weightlessness granted to him by the reverse gravity seal.

Half of the tests he had conducted on trying to improve on that seal had resulted in his clones colliding into something at a high rate of speed and dispelling on impact. Naruto estimated that it had taken the loss of, at least, forty clones for him to adjust to just how fast and light he felt with that seal active.

Then there was the fact that the seal required a massive amount of chakra to remain active. Even if Kisame managed to readjust to his new level of gravity and land a few hits on him with Samehada, the sheer amount of chakra that the seal needed to remain active would guarantee that his opponent would be drained completely in less than four minutes.

Deciding that he had come up with a satisfactory plan to defeat the man in front of him, Naruto prepared to enter his cloaked state. His clones had successfully blocked the area off with the barrier, so they would remain undisturbed until this fight was finally over.

A flare of chakra above him caused the blond to pause in his actions. Looking up, he tensed as he saw another Akatsuki member floating down towards Kisame on a pair of angel wings.

The blue haired woman wore the standard Akatsuki cloak and had half of her hair done up in a small bun that was decorated with an origami rose. As she drew closer to the ground, Naruto could make out the sheets of paper that formed the large wings that held her aloft. Through his bond with Kurama, he could sense that the woman had high jōnin level chakra reserves and was not someone to take lightly. Knowing that he stood no chance of facing both Kisame and this mysterious woman, Naruto brought his hands together to summon Gamakichi for aid but paused when the woman raised her hands in a non-threatening manner and called out to him.

"Peace." She said in a calm and gentle voice. "We mean you no harm, bearer of the Kyūbi."

The woman landed gracefully next to Kisame, but she made no move to attack Naruto or even free Kisame from his prison. Naruto flashed through the last few seals needed to perform a summon, but instead of channeling his chakra and slamming his hand on the ground to complete the action, he stilled himself. He could feel the yearning in Kurama to know the truth about this group, and his own curiosity was growing because of it.

Jiraiya had always told him that if his enemy was willing to speak, it was wise to listen because even if they tried to feed you false information, you could always find some grain of truth within the lies.

Naruto quickly glanced over at Kisame and saw that he was still several minutes away from breaking free from the trap. Naruto took a few hesitant steps back to create more space between him and the woman before he reached out with his senses. While he could sense nothing negative from the woman, her stoic face led him to believe that she was probably actively suppressing her emotions to counter his ability. After a minute of silence, Naruto decided to press her for information until Kisame was free, then he would enact his escape plan.

"You really expect me to believe anything you say after what happened in Yuki?" Naruto said with a growl.

"Sasori and Deidara's actions were against our Leader's wishes, and while you delivered rightful punishment to Sasori, our Leader expressed his displeasure with Deidara personally." Konan slowly pulled out a scroll from her cloak before floating the scroll over towards Naruto on a blank piece of paper.

"In this scroll, you will find a message and a few _gifts_ from our organization," Konan explained. "Our Leader wishes to extend his apology for the misunderstanding that occurred and to extend an offer of cooperation," Konan said as she made a subtle nod toward the scroll that was now floating in front of Naruto.

"It is our hope we may become allies or maybe even comrades in the future," Konan said, allowing a small smile to grace her face. "Just as we hope to recruit all of the jinchūriki to our rightful cause: To free them all from their unjust fate of being mistreated weapons of war for ungrateful villages."

Naruto looked at the scroll warily before he looked back at the woman. "If that was even remotely true, Why would you make things even more difficult by turning the villages they call home against them? Why would you imprison Fū and Nanabi in that false mindscape and condemn her to a slow death? It seemed to me that you were trying to make sure she was out of the way so you could steal the hero water instead." Naruto accused.

"The Akatsuki only seeks to free the jinchūriki from their unlawful prisons and elevate them to the position they deserve," Konan replied calmly. "Unfortunately, the villages often tend to brainwash and manipulate the containers of the bijū from a very early age; forcing them to live a life of hardship and suffering while actively encouraging them to embrace the struggle of gaining the acceptance and recognition. The recognition they should have received the moment their burdens were forced upon them," Konan said sadly. "Instead of treating the jinchūriki with honor for their sacrifice, the ninja villages treat them as nothing more than weapons of mass destruction or as demons that deserve nothing but scorn and hatred. This all sounds very familiar to you, does it not?" Konan said in a knowing tone.

Naruto couldn't deny her words, but he wasn't about to let the woman dodge his questions so easily.

"While that may be true, that still doesn't explain why you would actively make our lives even more difficult. If you really wanted to help the jinchūriki you wouldn't stir up the hatred of the villagers. You also failed to answer how trying to kill Fū and Nanabi by imprisoning her in that false mindscape was helping her." Naruto shouted. "What you really wanted was the Hero Water for yourselves not to make her life any better!"

"Stirring up unrest is an unfortunate necessity if our plan is to succeed," Konan replied smoothly. "Most jinchūriki have been conditioned to accept their mistreatment as long as nothing overt is committed against them. Because of this conditioning, drastic actions are necessary to open their eyes to reality." Konan said sternly. "In many cases, the Kage of the village _allow_ people to commit hostile acts against their jinchūriki as a way ease the misplaced hatred and tension the villagers have against bijū. This allows the leaders to be viewed in a favorable light by the ignorant villagers and is used as a method to reduce the amount of unrest the village leader has to deal with by keeping a jinchūriki in their care. This act also allows them to manipulate the jinchūriki themselves." Konan said with disgust. "If the jinchūriki retaliates or attempts to defend themselves, the village views them as a threat that needs to be controlled and accepts any limits or restrictions placed on the jinchūriki, even things that would be considered inhumane if done to their most hated enemies. If the jinchūriki decides to stay their hand in an attempt to prove they aren't violent, they become dependent on the village and the Kage to protect them from the mobs. Being isolated and alone from most of the village because of their hatred, the jinchūriki have no choice but to turn to the Kage or the person in charge of managing them for acceptance and recognition. Things that should be granted to a jinchūriki naturally due to the burden they are forced to bear." Konan said passionately.

"You are still trying to dodge my questions," Naruto said in a warning tone.

"I was just about to answer both your questions," Konan said in a placating manner. "I just needed to ensure that you understood the reasoning behind our actions so you could better accept my answers as genuine," Konan said before clearing her throat.

"By stirring up unrest and fomenting both positive and negative views of the jinchūriki in the eyes of the villagers, we are breaking through the veil placed over their eyes by the Kages and showing them the reality of their situation," Konan explained. "Fostering the negative views of the jinchūriki exposes them to the true feelings the villagers house for them. Most Kage suppresses those feelings with laws that have harsh penalties so that can control the amount of unrest that occurs from the presence of a jinchūriki. Not only does this make the jinchūriki feel that the village tolerates their presence, but it also allows the Kages to foster that false sense of hope that eventually the villagers might accept them."

Naruto frowned a bit at Konan's explanation but remained silent as she continued with her answers.

"Next, we support and spread the positive views that are held for the jinchūriki. This allows the people who feared being ostracized and mistreated by the more hateful villagers to openly express their true feelings freely. This allows the jinchūriki to see that it _is_ possible for them to be treated with kindness and care. That even when their burden is common knowledge, people _can_ treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve. Only by taking these steps can the jinchūriki come to realize the secret truth behind why the Kages allow their lives to be a constant struggle of loneliness and hatred." Konan stated.

"And what secret truth would that be?" Naruto asked quietly.

"That the Kages intentionally make their jinchūriki suffer," Konan replied quickly. "It is a known fact that jinchūriki need to harness their emotions to tap into the power of their bijū, and it is common knowledge that negative emotions are the quickest way of ensuring that a jinchūriki learns to harness the powers granted to them by their tenants," Konan replied.

"Then there is the fact that it is easier to control a jinchūriki that has had a hard life. If their life is full of misery and loneliness all the leader needs to do is spend a few moments treating the jinchūriki with kindness or giving them small tokens of recognition and acceptance and the jinchūriki would naturally become devoutly loyal to them," Konan said pointedly. "Even if the rest of the village treats them with scorn and hatred, and another person comes along and offers that jinchūriki a much better life, those small acts of kindness spread throughout the life of the jinchūriki would make them feel inclined to remain in a village that hates them because they feel that they owe a debt to the person who treated them as a human being."

Naruto frown grew deeper as he listened to Konan. Her response was obviously framed in a way to strike a cord with him. The sad part was that it was an accurate assessment of his situation. Even with all that he had suffered and endured in Konoha, Kurama couldn't convince him to abandon the village. Even when he had begun to view the villagers with nothing but contempt and hatred, the kindness of the Sandaime and the sacrifice of his parents had been the primary factors of keeping him loyal to a village that would have celebrated his disappearance.

Was this due to the Sandaime conditioning him to be loyal to the village? Naruto couldn't deny the fact that the Sandaime had knowingly kept Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Tsunade in the dark about his survival until circumstances forced him to either reveal the truth or lie to them directly about his existence. Could it have really been possible to give him a normal, happy childhood even as a jinchūriki?

Naruto had to admit that it was _possible_ that the Sandaime could have done more to enforce his will, but as Hokage, the old man had to deal with the political and economic fallout from forcing his will on the populace that resided within its walls. While the shinobi would be accepting of following the Hokage's will without question, it was far more difficult to force the civilians to accept such things. If the Hokage pushed too hard, the unrest within the village could become dangerous to the stability and security of the village.

While Naruto had forgiven his jiji for making bad decisions when it came to his life, Naruto knew that politics had played a heavy role in the decisions the Sandaime had made. Despite his personal feelings, the Sandaime had _no choice_ but to view him as an asset important to the safety and security of Konoha because of his status as a jinchūriki. Any action or decision that would impact his life had to be weighed against the reactions of the council and the villagers as a whole because it was his job, as Hokage, to ensure the prosperity and security of Konoha first and foremost.

If he was just the son of the Yondaime, it was likely he could have still been adopted and raised under a pseudonym with his heritage kept secret. Because he was also a jinchūriki, however, the Sandaime had decided to take more drastic measures in keeping his existence a secret from everyone. The fact that he was a jinchūriki was also the primary reason why that bastard Danzō and the council of advisors had also gone out of their way to make his life difficult in an attempt to control him. If anyone was guilty of trying to make him suffer a troubled life it would be that old war hawk, not the Sandaime.

His jiji had only tried to make things easier once he could no longer keep his identity a secret, and Naruto was certain that the affection and care that he had shown him had been genuine. Naruto was certain that his actions were not a form of manipulation but a genuine attempt to foster the "Will of Fire" he often spoke about. Not as a weapon for Konoha, but as a son of one of its greatest heroes. If the Sandaime had really wanted him to be just a weapon, he would have simply handed him over to Danzō from the very start.

"What excuse do you have for trapping Fu and the Nanabi in that prison while attempting to steal the Hero Water?" Naruto asked.

"That was a case of placing our trust in individuals who were selfish and hasty," Konan said with regret. "It was a mistake to rely on a group that wasn't dedicated to our true cause. A mistake that we have taken steps to ensure never happens again." Konan shook her head. "We had no intention of claiming the Hero Water for ourselves and the seal that we gave to that group was misused," Konan said with a grimace.

Before she could continue with her explanation, Kisame had managed to use Samehada to break free from his prison and was now rising to his full height. Naruto tensed in preparation to summon Gamakichi, but Kisame merely gave him a disarming smile before placing Samehada on his back and crossing his arms over his chest. When Naruto relaxed a bit, Konan continued with her explanation.

"The seal was supposed to connect her to one of the other jinchūriki who had already joined our organization, but since the connecting seal wasn't activated according to plan, the Nanabi container was left trapped," Konan explained. "With our operatives either dead or having fled the village, we were unable to rectify the situation and free the Nanabi."

"Well, it's a good thing for Nanabi and Fū that I showed up to fix the mess you made." Naruto snapped as he continued to watch Kisame closely.

"Indeed, but by helping her out of that prison, you were also able to recruit her assistance in acquiring something that you needed as well, weren't you?" Konan said smugly.

"I don't know what you mean," Naruto said with a scowl as he leveled his glare on Konan instead.

"Please," Konan said with an elegant wave of her hand. "Our spy network is far more advanced than Jiraiya-sensei's," Naruto narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

Konan continued with her explanation before Naruto could demand she reveal her relationship with Jiraiya. She would reveal that knowledge only when it would serve to drive a wedge between Naruto and her former sensei and not a moment sooner.

"We know about your plans to fix our damaged world and, as I said before, our Leader wished to convey his desire to gain you as a potential ally, if not a comrade in arms." Konan flicked her wrist again to draw Naruto's attention to the scroll that was still floating next to him.

"In that scroll, you will find some important components that you need to complete the plan that you and _Kurama_ are working on to restore the chakra cycle to its natural state," Konan said confidently. "We have been observing your actions since you first entered the Academy and it didn't take us very long to figure out that you were working closely with _Kurama_ to enact this plan."

Naruto was stunned into silence. There was no way that the Akatsuki could know about his interactions with Kurama from that early on. No one in Konoha even knew that he was in contact with Kurama until after the Nami no Kuni mission. While it was possible they might have been able to guess at his actions from observing his movements during the training trip, the fact that they knew Kurama's name could only mean that they were receiving information from one of the bijū themselves.

Naruto and Kurama were both running through the list of bijū they had interacted with recently and it didn't seem possible for any of them to have revealed the plan to them at length. Matatabi and Gyūki wouldn't have aided Akatsuki since they were loyal to Kumo and if they Akatsuki were responsible for imprisoning Chōmei, it was highly unlikely that the kabutomushi would give them any information. While Isobu could have leaked that information, Kurama was certain that the three tailed turtle was still hidden out in the open ocean near the Bay of Fire. The only other person that might possibly know about Kurama's plan would be Son Gokū since Kurama never really interacted with Saiken to such an extent that he would reveal his own plans and desires to the six tailed slug.

"Even if you were correct about your observations, how do I know that you aren't trying to sabotage my efforts?" Naruto said with a stern expression on his face.

Konan merely smirked before responding. "I would say that once you opened the scroll and read the message, your partner would be able to confirm everything was legitimate. This is a good faith gesture on our part because the Akatsuki also want what you are working towards to come to fruition. Our goals would only be easier to accomplish should you succeed, and it is our hope that once you see that our desire to help you is genuine, that you would view us as comrades in arms when it comes to making our world a better place. Especially for the bijū who have been wrongfully imprisoned all for the sake of advancing the warmongering of mankind."

Naruto eyed the scroll once more before he grabbed it with reluctance. He still didn't want to trust anything this woman said, but Kurama was compelling him to at least accept the scroll and see what it contained. Even if it was a trap of some sort, it would be easy for them to avoid it by using a clone to open the scroll safely once they were in a secure area with no one around to disturb them.

Naruto tucked the scroll away into his back pocket before he looked over at Kisame. "If you were trying to convince me that you were allies, then why send Kisame to attack me?"

Kisame laughed and cut Konan off before she could answer. "Don't flatter yourself, kid. My presence here today is merely a coincidence. Leader-sama wanted me to keep an eye out for you while we were conducting business in the area, and if I did run into you, I was to put you through your paces to see if you were even worthy of our attention." Kisame said with a chuckle.

"While your tactics are annoying, I'll admit that you aren't half bad for a kid, but don't think for a moment that you have even seen a fraction of my true strength," Kisame warned.

"I'm not stupid, and I'm far too old to be considered a child anymore," Naruto said coolly. "If you continue to underestimate me, the next trap you fall into will be your last."

Kisame and Naruto stared each other down before Kisame began to laugh uproariously.

"You may fight like a coward, but I can see that you have more balls than I first thought. Perhaps you are worthy of the honor that Leader-sama is bestowing on you." Kisame said with a chuckle. "A word of advice for you, kid, don't take this offer lightly, it wouldn't be wise to make enemies of our organization."

"Kisame," Konan said in a warning tone before turning her attention back to Naruto. "I only ask that you keep an open mind when you read the message from our Leader, Naruto, and rest assured that we are not trying to pressure you into anything. When the time is right, we will contact you again and will aid you from the shadows as much as possible."

Konan and Kisame began to turn and walk away from Naruto, but Konan paused and looked over her shoulder to make one more statement.

"Regardless of your response to our invitation, we will not reveal your secrets to anyone. I can only hope that you will give us the same courtesy. The Akatsuki can only help you from the shadows if you do not shine the light on us." Konan said before she followed after Kisame.

Naruto stood and watched them depart while his mind raced with the information he had learned. Judging from the direction Konan and Kisame had taken, it was clear they had abandoned the mission to keep the bridge in Hoshi's hands. Naruto wasn't eager to return to the Tsuki ninja given the way he had departed from the battle, but at the moment, he was at a loss as to what he should do. After a few moments of trying to sort out his befuddled thoughts, Naruto decided to head back towards the bridge and face the music.

If he was discharged from service, then he would have plenty of time to think over what Konan had told him and to find an isolated spot to open the scroll she had given him.

If they accepted his reason for luring Kisame away before driving him off, then he was likely to receive time off anyways to think over what Konan said. While it would be some time before he could open the scroll in privacy, he would still be in a position to infiltrate Hoshi and acquire what he needed anyways.

The big question he was struggling with at the moment, however, was should he let Jiraiya know about what he had learned or honor Konan's request that he keep their dealings a secret. While a part of him thought he should reveal the truth, another part of him was concerned about the plan being exposed if he did let Jiraiya know about his meeting with them. Naruto knew what Kurama's opinion was, that was a no brainer in his mind, but he couldn't help but wonder if he was in over his head with all of this.


	69. Year 4: Enigmata

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

 **Warning:** Mild references to gore, violence, and sexual content are present in this chapter.

 **Chapter 68**

 **Year 4: Enigmata**

 **3 Days later – 1 mile from Hoshigakure**

* * *

Jiraiya sped towards Hoshi in a foul mood. He had wasted almost an entire week trying to track down his wayward apprentice due to bad intelligence he had received from one of the 2nd battalion commanders. While it was common for information to get mixed up during war, this particular misinformation could only mean that the man was extremely incompetent or the bastard had intentionally misled him for some reason. The fact that Naruto hadn't summoned any of the toads for quite some time was a bit concerning for him as well. He hadn't restricted Naruto from using the toads in combat, only the use of the Kyūbi's chakra.

When he had left Tsuki, his plan had been to head directly to Hoshi in order to gather intel on the Akatsuki's presence since he had no way of tracking down Naruto short of forcing the toads to reverse summon him. At this point in time, that option seemed a bit excessive; there was no solid proof that the Akatsuki were really active in the area. Jiraiya had never been one to act hasty, and if Naruto had truly involved himself in all this to protect a woman the last thing he wanted to do was rip him from her side.

As he neared the border, however, he ran into the staging area for the 2nd battalion. Knowing that Naruto had been assigned to this particular division, Jiraiya decided that he could track down Naruto and warn him about the Akatsuki's presence before completing his original plan to infiltrate Hoshi.

It didn't take him long to find the battalion commander, given his particular talents. With information on where the Yon company was supposed to be currently stationed, Jiraiya set off to meet up with Naruto. Unfortunately, for the Sannin, the information he received had been woefully outdated. Instead of catching up to Naruto as planned, valuable time was lost backtracking to a village Naruto had captured and left almost two weeks ago. Not only that but his entire company had been reassigned to work with the 1st battalion the day after they had captured Noda Village and were already advancing towards Hoshi with the main force.

Jiraiya grumbled under his breath as he leaped through the trees. That little slip up had not only sent him further away from where Naruto was at, but it also meant that if the Akatsuki _were_ active, the odds of Naruto coming into contact with them were much greater. For Jiraiya, that was an unsettling thought. Even with an entire company or squadron at his side, Jiraiya wasn't confident that the Tsuki ninja would be able to keep someone like Deidara at bay.

While Tsuki used the standard nomenclature that all villages used for forming their military, the actual numbers of shinobi and kunoichi did not truly correlate to the names given. A squadron would only have 15 – 20 soldiers instead of the usual 30 – 50 that the main villages would field. A company in Konoha would have, at a minimum, 80 shinobi assigned to it while Tsuki was only capable of capping out at 40 max. Even their battalions barely met the minimum requirements of having 300 active shinobi in its ranks.

Most of the S-ranked threats in the Bingo Book were capable of using jutsu of such power or wide scale damage that only a battalion of Tsuki ninja could be considered a threat to them. Sasori would have been more than capable of eliminating 300 B ranked threats with his puppet army and Jiraiya had no doubt that the mad bomber of Iwa could eliminate just as many in the blink of an eye.

From the scant amount of information he had gathered, he knew that the group chose to operate in pairs regardless of the mission parameters. Jiraiya was confident that eliminating Sasori had set their plans for Naruto back to some degree, but if they were capable of luring someone as infamous as the kugutsu user, then it wouldn't take the group long to recruit a replacement. Considering the list of missing-nin that were still confirmed to be alive as recent as 4 months ago, the chances were strong that they had acquired someone just as powerful.

Most of the information he had gathered on the group had come from the numerous contacts inside of Iwa and the bounty station near Taki. And while Jiraiya _did_ believe that coincidences were possible, he couldn't ignore the fact that both locations were close to villages that had been unsuccessful in keeping the identities of their jinchūriki a secret. It was also suspiciously convenient that all sightings of the group stopped a few months before something happened to the jinchūriki.

In fact, if it weren't for Ōnoki's penchant for being a tightwad, the Akatsuki wouldn't have appeared on his radar. There had been a great deal of dissent when the old codger had begun outsourcing some of the most lucrative A and S-ranked missions to the previously unknown group, but the bargain prices that the unproven mercenaries had offered had been too good to overlook. So good, that Jiraiya had suspected that Iwa was using the whole mercenary angle as a front for them to conceal establishing a Root like black ops organization.

It was only when the campaign for and against Rōshi and Han's presence within the village began that Jiraiya cast aside his previous suspicions. While Han had already been surly towards the village, at best, Rōshi had not been subjected to as much scorn due to his role in saving an entire division from being eliminated in a three-pronged attack by Konoha, Suna, and Taki during the Third Shinobi War.

Han had been kept in Iwa for most of the war to serve as a deterrent against surprise attacks on the village itself and allow Ōnoki to field more troops on the battlefront. This decision only made the young jinchūriki's status in the village worsen as mild distrust and fear grew into anger and resentment as the casualties mounted and the war grew bloodier. Not even the fact that Han was barely older than a typical genin at that time was enough to placate the masses. Instead of their friends and family dying on the battlefield, the demons should be suffering in their place.

Once the propaganda campaign kicked in, however, the village seemed to become polarized on their opinions of jinchūriki almost overnight. Even Rōshi, who had managed to raise his reputation to mild or moderate acceptance by the entire village, now had people protesting his presence in the village and actively calling for his death. Naturally, the people who had been saved by Rōshi and their supporters rose up to counter the protests with their own. The unrest grew so strong that a small riot broke out and Ōnoki was forced to relocate Rōshi outside of the village proper; something that he had been forced to do with Han shortly after Minato had eliminated the entire Boulder battalion on his own with just the Hiraishin and Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

Then, out of nowhere, the Akatsuki began taking on fewer missions until they eventually disappear from Iwa completely, apparently on good terms with Ōnoki. Two months later, Iwa withdraws a good portion of its forces from neighboring countries and Jiraiya is forced to switch his focus from Orochimaru's assassination of the Ta no Kuni Daimyō in favor of determining if Iwa was prepping for an invasion. Even with his full attention on the mud spitters, he wouldn't learn about Rōshi's disappearance for another three months with news about Han coming one month later.

That was when he began hearing mentions of the group operating around Taki, Kawa no Kuni, and Ame. There were even a few reported sightings around the capital of Hi no Kuni and some of the lesser villages around Konoha. The fact that they were poking around Taki and were starting to make inroads into Hi no Kuni had put him on full alert. Fū's identity was easy to come by due to the way the village had treated her, and Naruto's identity had been compromised after the Nami no Kuni incident.

Jiraiya wanted to switch his focus back onto the group then, but Orochimaru's movements in Ta no Kuni were becoming more suspicious and rumors that his former teammate was amassing manpower for his own village. Jiraiya couldn't let such an opportunity to establish his network in the new village go to waste. Orochimaru wouldn't be able to screen all of the people he was accepting into his village and Jiraiya knew that his old teammate had less than two dozen people he could rely on, at best. He wouldn't risk his assets unnecessarily, however, and put all his focus into establishing solid covers for his contacts and infiltrators so their chances of evading detection were even greater.

Jiraiya didn't regret his decision at all, the invasion could have been so much worse if he hadn't uncovered advanced knowledge of the plot. If he hadn't caught onto the plan to use Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei (Impure World Reincarnation) to resurrect the former Hokages, then the Ichibi would have been the least of their worries. Konoha might not have survived the invasion with Hashirama, Tobirama, and Minato rampaging through their forces with limitless chakra at their disposal and the ability to regenerate from any damage almost immediately.

What bothered him the most, however, was that he had no inkling as to what they were planning or how long their plans had actually been in motion; things that every spymaster tried to uncover first and foremost. He also had no idea just how far their reach extended and how many members the group had.

When they had left Kiri for Uzu, Naruto filled him in on the fact that the Sanbi had only recently reformed and that the Rokubi had been absent for some time. Where the Rokubi went wasn't really known.

Jiraiya had always had trouble infiltrating Kiri due to the location of the village. Their sensors were also skilled at using that annoying mist jutsu of theirs to extend their range and sensing capabilities; so Jiraiya didn't have much information on either jinchūriki. While it was possible the jinchūriki had simply fled during the chaos, Jiraiya didn't believe either side would let such an asset simply vanish. Either the Sanbi container was smart enough and strong enough to slip his handlers and flee or the Akatsuki had managed to capture/coerce him to leave during the midst of a civil war.

Hell, it was possible they had started the war itself. Kiri had always been a bloody and violent village. With an emphasis on being cutthroat and ruthless, it was only natural for resentment to build up against bloodline users who had an edge against the regular shinobi. Jiraiya could easily see them using their method of propaganda to stir up animosity within the village. The outbreak of a civil war would have been the perfect cover to move in and collect the jinchūriki without being discovered. The risk, of course, was the fact that their target would die, just like the Sanbi apparently had. If that were the case, which seemed more and more likely to him, their strange strategy of polarizing opinions of the villagers in Iwa against the jinchūriki began to make more sense.

People already disliked the jinchūriki, at best. Only Kumo was exempt to this fact, to his knowledge. This made them an easy target for propaganda, and since the Kage would still have control of the village they could prevent the untimely death of their jinchūriki. To settle the unrest they would have to remove the jinchūriki from the village to a safe house of some kind until things settled down. Theoretically, this would leave the jinchūriki exposed for the Akatsuki to move in and capture/coerce them with less risk.

That, of course, directed his thoughts onto the bigger question: Why were they targeting the jinchūriki in such a way? Was it a group of zealots who wanted to "kill the demons" or were they one of the typical world destruction/domination cults that rose up every few years? Did they only have plans for the bijū themselves or were the jinchūriki also a factor in their plans?

So many questions and absolutely no real answers. A situation that the Toad Sannin despised more than any other.

Jiraiya came to an abrupt halt when the dense forest he was leaping through suddenly became a barren, muddy field scattered with corpses and one very large crater. Not even his years of experience concealing and masking his emotions could prevent the old sage's mouth from hanging agape from the shock of seeing such concentrated destruction. It was as if one of the Kami themselves had simply reached down and obliterated everything; not even sparing the rocks and the trees in their wrath. As he scanned the devastation in front of him, Jiraiya noticed that there were civilian bodies mixed in along with the shinobi defenders. Even children weren't spared from this attack.

Jiraiya closed his eyes for a moment to calm the rising tide of emotions within him and offer a silent prayer for the dead. It was obvious from the level of destruction that the people responsible for this atrocity had been determined to eliminate every last man, woman, and child in the village. Seeing the bodies of murdered innocents had always been a sensitive point with him but at the moment, he couldn't allow himself to mourn or range at the injustice of it all. Right now he needed to be detached and analytical so he could find the bastards that did this and bury them.

Anyone who would condone devastation on this level was a serious threat to the world at large.

Jiraiya finished his prayer before opening his eyes and scanning the damaged area with a calculating eye. The damage was strangely localized to a specific area, which meant that there was a great deal of control involved. The state of the bodies scattered throughout the area ruled out any explosive or incendiary type jutsu which were usually the culprits you would expect to form a massive crater, but the suspicious lack of trees and debris is what really caught his attention.

The ground was _saturated_ with water but only in the area that was destroyed. The forest that remained intact around the outer edge was completely dry. There were quite a few Suiton jutsu that he knew of that could feasibly wipe out an area of this size, but all that water had to flow somewhere. Yet, there was no markings or sediment on the ground that indicated that the water had flowed in a certain direction. There were no piles of washed out debris piled against the trees or rocks that ringed the destroyed area, and, more importantly, no large bodies of water nearby to draw upon for a large scale jutsu.

Jiraiya moved away from the edge of the destroyed area and moved closer towards the crater in the center. As he picked his way through the bodies, he took note of the visible wounds and apparent cause of death for each. At the top of his tally were those who appeared to have been victims of drowning, of all things.

As he moved closer to the crater, however, the prominent cause of death changed dramatically. Instead of drowning, the bodies appeared to have been crushed by something. Not only were most of their bones fractured, but there were impact craters around their bodies suggesting that they had either fallen from a significant height or had been attacked from above by a force of great strength.

Some of the bodies looked just like some of the victims of Tsunade's incredible strength during the midst of the war. Shattered bones, massive internal injuries, and even limbs that had exploded from the sheer amount of force behind her powerful strikes.

Studying the blood stains of the bodies, however, made him rule out a shinobi with advanced strength augmentation techniques. Even when Tsunade had eliminated a bandit camp in a fit of rage, the only thing consistent about their wounds was the fact that they were fatal.

Even the most clumsy and unskilled bandit is capable of avoiding a direct hit with a bit of luck. Instead of having their head explode on impact, the bandit might be unfortunate enough to have all the bones in their arm shattered before Tsunade finished them off with a chakra scalpel to the jugular. Others would die from having their internal organs liquefied from a shot to the gut if they didn't know how to reinforce their bodies with chakra.

All of the bodies he had studied so far had all taken consistent damage. Damage that was far too consistent to be attributed to a person charging into close range to eliminate their opponent. It was statistically impossible for someone to strike every single person with such precision.

Every bone in the victim's body had been shattered upon impact with their blood forced out of their bodies. There were only a dozen or so jutsu that could cause such damage on a wide scale. When you took the massive crater into account, that number grew even smaller. Typically, a jutsu capable of causing such damage on a massive scale would leave behind some remnant or evidence of nature or shape manipulation that was used to form the attack. This crater was suspiciously absent of any clues or traces typically left behind.

Fūton was always sharp and cutting, even when the attack was designed to push instead of slice. To concentrate Fūton to such a degree would result in a sharper indentation with numerous cuts mixed in. Even if the person had managed to manipulate the wind to prevent the cutting factor, the force of such a jutsu would have blown more victims away instead of crushing them.

Katon would leave some evidence of scorching or ash behind. While it was possible to create a concussive blast with Katon, the excessive heat and the chaotic nature of explosions couldn't be removed from the equation. This damage was far too neat to be attributed to a remote explosion.

While Suiton could create such blunt damage with a large enough volume of water, the nature of Suiton was fluid in motion. There would have been drill marks in the crater and the victims would have been tumbled and smashed into the various debris caught up in the turbulent waters before being washed away entirely.

Doton was more feasible, but the crush damage would have been more abrasive. Rocks would have been left behind from the aftermath. Dense mud was also a possibility, but the bodies showed now signs of being buried and crushed beneath a wall/block of mud. If they had used such an attack, why bother uncovering and cleaning the bodies afterward? Even if it was to serve as a warning, the amount of time and effort it would take to uncover and clean every victim would have been pointless.

Raiton was simply out of the question. Lightning attacks simply weren't capable of causing such destruction without leaving behind substantial evidence.

The only remaining possibility was the vague and vastly undocumented bloodline abilities that were sprinkled throughout the world.

Most of the ones he knew of or had a vague knowledge of didn't seem to apply to this situation. Bloodlines were highly specialized in their focus, for the most part. Giving their bearers an advantage in one particular field of jutsu while strengthening their weaknesses. A ninjutsu based bloodline could have caused this, but most of the ones that he was aware of would have still left some remnant behind.

The only other possibility was that a jinchūriki or bijū had been involved. A Bijūdama (Tailed Beast Ball) could have caused such localized damage according to reports. He had never seen one in action, but the previous attacks by bijū always left ample evidence. Even after 13 years, the crater created by the Kyūbi's Bijūdama was still clearly present after Minato had deflected the massive bomb.

The forest around the site of impact had been pretty much vaporized from the blast, leaving a very similar type of destruction. While the Kyūbi's attack had been far more powerful than this attack, Jiraiya could see how a jinchūriki using a smaller scale version of the attack could leave behind such a crater. The only thing he wasn't certain of is why the bodies weren't burned or incinerated like the forest had been around the Kyūbi's attack.

What was confounding him was the combination of both blunt force trauma and drowning. Even taking into consideration the penchant for the black cloaked group to work in pairs, the damage combination was just odd. It was almost as if one person had kept the village trapped in some sort of giant water prison while the second person used their jutsu on the prison to finish off anyone who hadn't drowned. Even then, however, the bodies would have even been scorched from the heat of the final attack or the impact alone would have caused the bodies to scatter into the air at random.

The more he ran that line of thought through his head, the more it seemed plausible. With enough force, the water would have been scattered enough to fall back to the ground in a manner more like a strong rain instead of a displaced wave. The force required to launch a large mass of water in such a manner would also be enough to force the bodies to crater upon impact with the muddy ground, shattering all the bones upon impact.

It was a loose theory that could probably be debunked just as easily, but Jiraiya's gut told him it was a step in the right direction. His mind quickly ran through the list of S-ranked shinobi he knew were capable of Suiton manipulation on such levels: Suien of Taki and Kisame Hoshigaki of Kiri.

Suien wasn't on the same level as Kisame was in terms of raw power and chakra reserves, but his skill at shape manipulation was unrivaled. The former Taki ninja could form complicated shapes of all sizes and maintain them for long periods of time in the midst of combat. With enough time and concentration, it was likely he could maintain a water prison of significant size just long enough for the main attack to charge up. Suien was also involved in the attack on Taki to steal the Hero Water so the mysterious seal used to subdue Fū could have come from the Akatsuki taking advantage of the bitter man to subdue the Nanabi container for their own purposes.

Kisame was also skilled enough and had the reserves to maintain something of this size without any struggle. While there hadn't been very many sightings of the shark man recently, his infamous blood thirst and tendency to face strong opponents had likely put the missing Kiri-nin on the Akatsuki's radar. If he hadn't already been recruited or killed by someone in the group.

Jiraiya sat still and gathered natural energy to see if he could pick up any traces of chakra for him to analyze. He quickly decided not to summon Ma and Pa for something so trivial. He wouldn't need very long to scan the area. As he suspected, there were large amounts of Suiton chakra lingering in the air. He didn't pick up any bijū chakra, however, there hints of chakra that was vaguely familiar to him. For the life of him, he couldn't remember where he had felt chakra that was so similar to what he was sensing right now. Sifting through his memories in an attempt to recall this chakra came up with no real answers, much to his frustration. He knew he had encountered this chakra before, but for the life of him, the memory wouldn't come to him.

Before he could focus on recalling the distant memory, his senses detected a few teams of Hoshi shinobi converging on his location. Jiraiya let out a huff before quickly vanishing into the woods as three scouting teams arrived to discover their village was now nonexistent. Cloaked in the shadows with his patented invisibility jutsu, Jiraiya watched the men run through the various symptoms of grief before one of the scouts was sent back to the main army camp while the others went to work searching for clues or sorting through the dead.

Jiraiya leaned back against the tree he was concealed in and frowned in thought. If the scouting team was only finding out about this now, then the culprits had known exactly when to strike. Not only did they have advanced intelligence on the patrol patterns and troop movements of Hoshi, but they were capable of annihilating an entire village in just a few hours.

With the images of the ruins of Hoshi lingering in his head, the old sannin took off to track down his apprentice and cart him off to the safety of Myōbokuzan. It was time Naruto learned to master Sage mode, to even the odds against the group hunting him. With Sage mode active, seals would be less likely to work on him. If the Akatsuki still managed to cut off his access to the Kyūbi's chakra, at least he had the power increase from Sage mode to fall back on.

 **One day later - Forward Operations Center – Kuma no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto lied in an ornate canopy bed with one hand resting comfortably the black silk sheet that covered his naked form. His other hand idly stroked the skin on Rei's back as he debated which felt smoother to his touch. It didn't take long for him to consider the heat of Rei's flesh preferable to the mildly cool sheets. The rare and expensive cloth had gone unnoticed by him until this very moment, too caught up in the passionate dance with his lover to really care.

In fact, he had just managed to calm his breath and heart rate from his last climax. That pleasant blank state of mind that could only come from such euphoria was already fading away, giving way to the chaotic and stressful thoughts that had dominated his mind before Rei had demanded his utmost attention.

Typically when his mind was focused on a subject of importance, it was difficult to switch his complete attention onto something else. Rei, however, had become quite adept at pushing all the right buttons to stir him up into a literal frenzy for her. Naruto looked down at the woman who had ridden him until completion before collapsing on his chest. Judging from her slowing heart rate and deeper breathing, she was already drifting off to sleep. They had been going at each other for most of the evening, so her current state was understandable. He was quite weary himself from his efforts in pleasing her, but his current state of mind refused to let him rest.

Despite the hours of vigorous pleasure and stress relief he had just undergone, however, Naruto still found himself tense and wide awake. Briefly, he wondered if it was his uncharacteristic submission to her at the very end that had left him in such a state. Typically, he never let Rei dominate him for very long and it had been one of the few points of contention between them. Rei was a strong-willed and independent woman, which he admired, but whenever she wanted to take control in bed it cooled his libido a bit. Dictating the pace, length, and force behind their couplings seemed to play a heavy role in how satisfied he felt at the end. Even as she tried to hold him down and have her way with him, he wouldn't relax and allow her to please him unti he had left behind a few hickeys and bite marks to decorate her delicate flesh. Only when that feral desire was soothed would Naruto be able to reign in his instincts and let go of that need to dominate her.

Turning his gaze away from one of the deeper bite marks he had left behind, his eyes drifted towards the glass windows that overlooked one of the fancier gardens surrounding the Daimyō's resort palace. The transparent silver curtains that hung down from the crown of the bed weren't enough to obscure his vision of the early morning sky. Naruto repressed a sigh at the fact that it was earlier than he thought. Even though he had been lacking proper sleep for the past few days, his efforts to secure this room for himself and Rei and the resulting benefits had been worth the weariness. He wouldn't be able to rest properly until he finally settled the strange series of events that had plagued him recently and came to a final decision about how he should react to them.

His eyes left the window to scan over the lush, expansive room but at this hour, most of the room was cloaked in shadow. From what he could recall, there wasn't much in this room beside the bed he was currently resting in. The fact that it had been set on a raised platform made it feel strange to be lying prone so far above the ground. It was a far cry from a more traditional futon that he was accustomed to. And while the raised beds of the other continent were more prominent in these countries, Naruto had never seen anyone raise their bed above the ground to such an extent.

It seemed a little excessive to climb a small stairway just to settle into bed for the night.

Naruto recalled that there was a formal sitting room and small kitchenette when they had first entered the suite. Rei had made a comment about how it was likely that kitchenette had never seen use before, given the status of people who were likely to stay in a room like this.

Considering the fact that this "village" had been nothing more than a private retreat of the Daimyō and his court of nobles, it wasn't surprising that the place was nothing more than an ostentatious display of obscene wealth and opulence. Whoever owned the place was obviously trying to exude a sense of well-traveled nobility and intricate knowledge of things that were expensively rare and hard to acquire. Either the Daimyō was trying to seem more important than he really was or someone was going through all the steps to court said Daimyō in their favor. Despite the fact that the resort was only meant to house 500 people at most, there was a large arena for concerts or other events, multiple gymnasiums, and two banquet halls in addition to dozens of smaller estates that were scattered around the palace that the Daimyō claimed as his own.

The rooms on the upper floors of the palace itself were overly large and lavishly decorated with multiple closets, private bathrooms, and even formal sitting areas. Even the offices of the numerous bureaucrats and the servants quarters were unnecessarily expansive and ornate. The only positive thing to come from such extravagance was that all the battle-weary soldiers were able to relax in comfort before the final push on Hoshi itself. Considering that some soldiers had been forced to share a tent in the wilderness, it wasn't too difficult to convince that same group of soldiers to share a plush room with far more space. Even some of the lesser estates were large enough to house an entire company or two under their roof with a bit of creative reorganization and logistics management.

Typically, the best accommodations were reserved for battalion and company commanders, but Jiraiya had taught him much about greasing the wheels of opportunity. Naruto had used almost all of those lessons to secure the room they were currently residing in, despite the fact that he was still under investigation for the incident at the Ussuri Bridge.

Chief amongst those lessons had been how to identifying people who were susceptible to bribery, flattery, or was likely to be more pliable to your demands once you had fed them a certain amount of drinks. Next were the lessons on how to identify personality flaws and how to subtly prod those flaws in order to manipulate the person into acting or doing something in your favor. While Naruto had taken to those lessons with a great deal of reluctance and distaste, his experiences on his own in Kumo and Cha no Kuni made him realize just how valuable that knowledge had been. Naruto tried to avoid using those skills to manipulate people unless absolutely necessary; preferring only to use that knowledge to read the people he needed to interact with and to gauge the emotions of those around him to confirm what his senses were telling him.

It had proven especially useful around people who were proficient in suppressing their emotions mentally but had not mastered concealing their body language. Where his senses might have detected only a brief flicker of emotions, he could lock onto that signature and study their posture and body language to confirm what he had felt. It had restored a great deal of confidence in trusting his emotional sensing ever since the incident inside the Root base.

Jiraiya had taught him about a great deal about common personality flaws and how to exploit them for your own gain and Naruto had taken full advantage of those flaws to secure this fancy room and access for Rei to join him without incident.

If you wanted to manipulate a person full of pride or arrogance, all you had to do was doubt them and they would play right into your hands every single time. A person that was too lost in their pride of full of arrogance needed to feel superior to everyone and casting doubt on their perceived superiority was the easiest way to drive them into doing what you wanted. Even if it resulted in them spilling classified information or becoming a traitor in the process, their ego and temper would blind them to the reality until it was far too late for them.

When it came to lack of confidence or bashfulness, all you needed to do was exude a sense of confidence while feeding them a steady stream of compliments and they would become enamored with you to such a degree that they would even overlook most of your faults or spin them in a more positive light. They would become so blinded in their admiration of you that they would become willing to do anything just to ensure that you remained their friend/confidante/lover.

Loneliness was just as obvious to exploit as shyness. With enough kindness and attention, a lonely person would latch onto you with all of their being. Humans were inherently social creatures and a lack of social interaction caused numerous issues with mental and physical health that even the smallest interactions seemed to have a strong impact on a person. With enough time and effort, the lonely person would become utterly loyal to you and with that loyalty would come the benefit of being able to compel them to act on your behalf and rely on their services since their efforts were genuine.

That last example, in particular, had been a very poignant one for Naruto. While Naruto was certain that Jiraiya was eluding to Kurama when he mentioned that particular example, Naruto could just as easily apply that statement to everyone that was close to him. Since he had no living family, everyone who interacted with had needed a reason beyond simply enjoying his company. While they all had some level of care and consideration towards him, he couldn't forget the fact that they all had some kind of goal in mind when they looked at him.

The Sandaime wanted to honor the dying wishes of a man who had sacrificed everything for the village he loved, and to try and foster the dedication and devotion of the father into his son. While Naruto would always care for the first person who had shown him how it felt to receive true affection, deep down he knew that the old man had always been subtly trying to influence and guide his growth for the benefit of Konoha.

Shizune had been ordered by the Sandaime to care for him until he was able to care for himself. While the first apprentice of Tsunade was a kind and caring woman in general, she had followed the Sandaime's directive to the letter. As soon as he became completely self-reliant, the amount of time she spent with him tapered off until it became nothing more than brief visits to check in on how he was doing or to deliver a gift that she believed he would enjoy.

Tsunade saw him as the last remnant of the family she had watched dwindle to nonexistence as she grew older. When she had thought that she was alone in the world, she threw herself into her work to squash the feeling of despair she had felt knowing that she was the last of her clan. To Tsunade, he was another opportunity to feel a connection to the family that she had once lost.

Not that he considered her affection to be false in any way, Tsunade was technically a distant relative of his, but that wasn't the same as having close relatives. Naruto knew that Tsunade truly did care for him as family and he had selfishly reveled in that feeling just as much as she had. Perhaps it was in their blood since both of them had maintained a facade to cover up the fact that they feared the desolation of loneliness. Where Tsunade used the detached professionalism of a medic as her mask, he used stoicism and indifference.

Jiraiya's motivations were as simplistic as the plot lines in his Icha Icha books. The old sage wanted to pass on his knowledge and legacy so that some part of him lived on, even if it was just through his teachings. To Jiraiya, Naruto was the miraculous second chance that he had never expected. Another opportunity for someone to carry on in his footsteps once he was no longer in this world. Naruto knew that Jiraiya had been close to his father and mother, and if things had been different the Toad Sannin would have probably had a major influence in his life from the start.

While Naruto trusted his shishō to a certain extent, the only thing Naruto could truly rely on with the crafty sage was that he never truly knew what the man was really thinking at any given moment. After the first year of traveling with Jiraiya, the first thing that Naruto noticed was the Jiraiya was incredibly perceptive and calculating in all of his actions. His carefree, perverted and somewhat goofy demeanor was really just an exaggeration of his personality faults that he modified based on how he wanted the people around him to react to his presence.

When people saw him as one of the powerful Sannin, they were on guard, nervous, and fearful. All of those emotions were counter intuitive to his business of information gathering, so he got people open up to him or underestimate him by playing on his known personality flaws. It was hard to take a person seriously when they acted like a clown and were constantly taking severe beatings from women that weren't even trained to fight. So, if he picked up on the fact that people were on their best behavior out of respect, fear, or suspicion of him, all he needed to do was play up those parts of his personality to change everyone's perception of him. Since they were actual parts of his personality, none of the usual methods of detecting deception or acting falsely would work on him and he could slowly change the opinions of people around him to make his job easier.

Even with the ability to sense negative emotions in people, it was always difficult to read Jiraiya's feelings. Most of the time, Naruto and Kurama wouldn't be able to pick up any more than a small flicker before Jiraiya was able to mask or alter his feelings to prevent his true emotions from being read. The Sannin was also a master at covering up his body language so he was difficult to read through observation as well. Even with that knowledge, however, Naruto still found himself wanting to have faith in Jiraiya despite the risks it posed for the goals he was pursuing.

Whenever he spoke about interacting with Kurama to anyone else, there was always a small flicker of fear and distrust that he picked up on. It never failed to annoy him immeasurably. Jiraiya, however, had never reacted with that unbiased distrust even though Naruto knew he viewed Kurama as at threat. Jiraiya had also actively supported him in his effort to fully bond and harness Kurama's power while everyone else had expressed hesitation or outright refusal to support such a move.

Naruto knew that Jiraiya was genuine in wanting to fulfill his role as a shishō and a godfather and that Jiraiya truly only wanted what _he believed_ was best for him. But he could never forget what Jiraiya was fully capable of and that if the Sannin felt he was taking a dangerous path that he didn't approve of, the man wouldn't hesitate to do whatever was necessary to stop him.

Sasuke had only opened up to him when he realized they were both victims of the same warmongering jackass. While most of that could be attributed to his paranoia of all authority figures after the betrayal of his clan, it had still taken the Uchiha some time to fully open up to him.

Naruto couldn't hold that against his teammate as he had been of a similar mind, and he had to admit that all the circumstances surrounding their group had been coincidental beyond all the odds. Not only was he known to have a close relationship with the Hokage of all people, but the fact that Kakashi had suspected ties to Root made it understandable why Sasuke had been suspicious from the beginning. It was also natural to understand the boys rampant paranoia considering the way his clan had been massacred, so Naruto gave him a bit of leeway.

Naruto truly did see Sasuke as a brother, and he knew the feeling was mutual, but like Tsunade, Sasuke was only trying to recover what he had lost. Even then, Naruto suspected that Sasuke wouldn't ever care for him on the same level that he did Itachi. Itachi was his blood while Naruto was just a brother of circumstance.

As for Hinata, now that he was older and wiser, he could clearly see the signs that he hadn't understood in his younger years. While she did genuinely care for him on some level; in reality, what she really desired was freedom. The freedom to take action without having to gain the approval or acceptance of the elders in her clan. The freedom to choose the man she would tie herself to for the rest of her life.

His own thoughts on her were mixed at best. With how fast and furiously he had fallen for Rei, whatever budding feelings he had held for Hinata before he left Konoha had seemingly vanished to the wayside.

Yet, at the same time, she would still enter his thoughts quite often. In the still hours of the morning, he would often wonder how much she had grown these past few years. Every time something caught his eye in a shop or market stall, his first thought would be how it would look paired with her porcelain skin, blue hair, or lavender eyes. The only time she truly drifted out of his mind completely was during a mission or while he was focused on Rei entirely.

What feelings did he hold for her? It seemed wrong to think such thoughts while another woman lies in his arms, so he pushed them aside into the depths of his subconscious for now. Once he was out of Tsuki and all of this was over he would dedicate some time to thinking about how he would move forward after he left Rei behind. There would be plenty of time to reflect on everything while he was in Myōbokuzan learning how to enter Sage Mode for the first time.

The primary theme of all these thoughts, Naruto realized, was that everyone was out for themselves. Even he wasn't exempt to that fact as his motivations were subtly affected by his desires. Jiraiya had reinforced that fact numerous times during his lessons on how to coerce and manipulate people, but a small part of himself had been denying that truth stubbornly. When Naruto had actively voiced his disagreement, Jiraiya had pointed out that even the most selfless people were motivated by the peace and happiness they felt when they were aiding people in need. While their deeds were still noble and their kindness genuine, the motivation behind such deeds was still selfish by nature.

To be truly selfless someone would have to be willing to aid someone despite the fact that they would take no pleasure in helping that person. It would be like obtaining a knife for a bandit and giving it to the man freely; even with full knowledge that the bandit would be using that knife to murder an innocent person immediately afterward. If you had such knowledge before hand, your selfish desire to avoid the guilt of the situation would prevent you from giving the bandit the knife. Some would say the person was motivated by the fact that they were denying the bandit for the safety of the victim but deep down it would be more about knowing that they were responsible for an innocent person's death.

Naruto couldn't find a counter argument that didn't ring falsely hollow against Jiraiya's words.

Overall, most people were not so apparent about their own selfish nature. In an attempt to show that they weren't only thinking of themselves, those people would perform acts of kindness or generosity to reinforce the fact that they can, and did, think of others before themselves at times. Most of the people in that first group were genuine in their actions while a selfish few only committed such actions in order to fuel a reputation of kindness they could exploit for their own benefit.

Next, there was the group of people who were, shamelessly, only out for themselves. While they wouldn't actively go to any lengths to accomplish their desires, this group of people was not above bending the odds in their favor if they could. Sadly for most of the people in this group, it was easy for them to fall into the next category if the circumstances were just right: The group of people who would actively step on or over anyone in their way without a care for the consequences of their actions. The only thing that mattered to them was accomplishing whatever goal or desire they had their mind set on for the moment.

Far too many people fell into this category, and not only just out of desperation.

War seemed to exasperate the issue even further. People who might not have been as susceptible to bribery in a more hospitable environment were now easily tempted by the sight of hard currency. If Naruto wanted to acquire a commodity that had become rare because of the war, all he needed to do was slip the right person some of the jewelry, gold/silver coins, or even a small bar or two of the precious metal and he could pretty much get anything he desired.

He had seen, first hand, just how much the war had affected the overall morality of people. The desperate or those high on their own sense of superiority were more willing to throw their morals by the wayside in order to fix or maintain their situation for their own benefit.

The fact that he had managed to effectively bribe or coerce people to grant him access to the highest security area of the F.O.C was a testament to just how morals and discipline were flexible in the middle of a war. Even when the people he was dealing with knew that he was securing this room to break numerous regulations, as long as enough incentive was provided they were willing to look the other way.

While a part of him knew it had been a huge risk to run such an operation of bribery and manipulation while they were actively investigating him, he hadn't been in his right mind at the time. All the stress and pressure that had built up in him from recent events were weighing heavily on him. When coupled with Rei's distress after he had finally met up with her, Naruto couldn't think logically anymore.

A day after the events at the bridge, he had been put on temporary leave while the Operations commander and his squadron leader argued over whether to sanction him or expel him from service. He had been placed under watch and ordered to move with the rest of the Army when the elements of the 2nd battalion had secured the resort for their own use. While he had expected some form of punishment, he didn't realize just how zealously the Squadron leader would try to pursue him for even more severe charges. He had always sensed a slight bit of contempt from her towards mercenary forces like himself, but he had failed to realize that she had more deep-seated issues with anyone that wasn't completely loyal to the village.

If it weren't for the fact that most of his fight against Kisame had been observed by a nearby scout, the kunoichi might have gotten her way entirely. Fortunately for Naruto, when Kisame had used his massive water jutsu to level the combat field, the observer had been washed away and knocked unconscious, so his little conversation with Konan and Kisame remained a secret for now. The fact that Naruto had found the injured scout and quickly delivered him to a medic had only helped bolster his case against the accusations that were being leveled at him. The scout had remained unconscious for another day before delivering his report to the Operations leader. It was because of this report that the Ops leader had taken his side in this little dispute, but an investigation couldn't be avoided since the Squadron leader also had witnesses to write reports on her behalf.

When the army had arrived at the resort two days later, Naruto had been ordered to remain confined to his assigned quarters: an office in the west wing of the palace that had been converted into a room to house him and another mercenary that was accused of dereliction of duty. He was only allowed to leave the room with an escort and his movements were restricted to the bathhouses and the banquet hall turned mess hall. That evening, when he was escorted to dinner, he ran into Rei and learned that she was being given two weeks of leave after having been involved in a particularly nasty battle.

Apparently, Hoshi had made a major push to reclaim the village she was guarding and to make a difficult situation worse, she was forced to face a few of her former family members during the conflict. Rei was distraught because they had leveled some harsh words at her for "betraying her home and running from her duty". They then attacked her with full intent to end her life, forcing Rei to respond in kind. While she had come out of the battle physically unscathed, her emotional scars had been deep.

Seeing her so agitated and distressed had only spurred him into action. Despite the risk to himself, he needed to make her feel better in any way that he could. While he was confined and under watch, that would be an impossibility, so that night he came up with a plan of action. He would use all of Jiraiya's teachings to his advantage no matter how distasteful he thought they were. It was for the benefit of his hime after all, and she had made it clear that she needed him.

Despite his discomfort of using such methods, Naruto had been a dutiful student. In just three days he had managed to convince the operations leader to lift the orders of confinement and observation, convinced a company commander to exchange his fancy suite for a converted office for his quarters, and effectively bribed both the Day and Night shift watch commanders to allow a known mercenary access to the floor that contained all the commanders and leaders of the Army. All so he could actively commit fraternization with a female soldier, a fact he didn't even try to keep concealed.

Naruto eyes drifted over to the small nightstand by the side of his bed where he had set his messenger bag with all of his belongings down. In the top most seal on the strap was the scroll that was the source of all his stress and troubles.

He still hadn't had the privacy necessary to safely open the scroll and see what it contained. Besides a quick peek to verify that the scroll actually contained storage seals instead of concealed explosive tags or timed incendiary seals, he hadn't fully analyzed much beyond the brief message conveying an apology for the misunderstanding, and a plea to accept the gifts and message within the seals below. There were no other identifying markers or signs on the scroll to indicate who it came from or why they were apologizing, and the seals themselves were legitimate in their purpose of containing items that were moderate in size. The largest item that they could safely store would be no larger than the size of a large watermelon.

The scroll was laid out in a strange way. With the brief message written above a series of three seals that were arranged horizontally instead of vertically. Most people preferred the opposite layout when using a scroll of this particular shape (large in width, short in height). It seemed as if they designed the scroll in that way so he could cut off the message portion for disposal. He would then be able to keep and reuse the storage seals and roll the scroll up in the usual fashion to cover up the fact that a section of it had been removed.

The primary reason he was still struggling with his decision to leave Jiraiya in the dark or go to him for help was because of Konan's mention of him being her sensei at some point. Certainly, it was possible that she had only said that to throw him off, but at this stage in their "relationship", the Akatsuki seemed to have more to gain from the truth than they would with lies. It would also explain just how they were able to gather so much intelligence on him despite the fact that the Hokage kept him heavily guarded.

Jiraiya had never mentioned training anyone besides his father, and while the Sannin was certainly old enough to have trained more than one group of genin during his time, Jiraiya had never mentioned any other teams. Given Jiraiya's penchant for revealing his tales of adventure, debauchery, and action in his wilder past, Naruto would have expected that the old Sannin would have made some mention of another student.

Naruto did consider the fact that the circumstances around that woman's departure from Jiraiya's company might have been painful for his master to recount. The woman was essentially a rogue, involved with a questionable organization of mercenaries. However, the woman had not bore the crossed out hitai-ate of Konoha that Naruto had seen on all the other Akatsuki members he had run into. Kisame, Sasori, Deidara had all had their crossed off hitai-ate on them or their equipment, and reports of other members had also mentioned that prominent feature.

It was a sign of power and intimidation to wear a marked hitai-ate; a taunt to your former village and any hunter-nin. It was a universal symbol to publicly announce that you had cut all ties to your home village and had betrayed them in some way. A status symbol that you could care less if everyone around you was aware of that fact because you were confident you could destroy anyone who decided to confront you because of it.

Still, it only proved his suspicions that Jiraiya would always hide things from him regardless if they were benign. Whenever Jiraiya did delve into his past adventures or transgressions, he never failed to leave out any details or embellishments. Naruto had to quickly adapt to the outrageous, cringe-worthy, and downright lewd aspects of each tale since he would often be quizzed afterward. Not only did the story itself present a lesson or morale of interest to the Sannin, it was told in a way that required him to sort the truth from the fiction.

The fact that this woman, another apprentice, or another group of genin had never been mentioned before was either a result of Konan lying to him or because Jiraiya had avoided revealing the truth for a particular reason. If Naruto had to guess, it was because their parting had been something that was painful to his shishō. The old sage could barely recant tales about his father without grief becoming apparent in his face and body language. A very telling sign of his true feelings for his father since Jiraiya was a man that was constantly maintaining a facade in front of others.

Kurama's opinion was obvious. He didn't want Naruto to reveal _anything_ to the Toad Sage at all. The fox considered it too risky to the plan since Jiraiya was sharp enough to piece things together and he suspected that Jiraiya was already cluing in on the fact that they were planning _something_ in secret.

Putting the plan in danger was one thing, Kurama was relying on him and no matter how much his precious people trusted him, they would never trust Kurama. Not only that, but they would never accept granting the bijū the freedom to roam without any method of subduing or controlling them.

To anyone else, such a thought was ludicrous on it face. To release beings of such power and destruction that had, on more than one occasion, attacked and destroyed villages and countless lives throughout human history seemed foolish. There was far too much fear, mistrust, and hatred for the bijū for humanity to accept granting the bijū their freedom. The only way for humanity to accept such a concept was to force it upon them. Even then, there would be a massive effort to try and correct such a "transgression" until they learned, the hard way, that they would never be able to contain the bijū again.

No one in Konoha would have any sympathy or support for Kurama's plight. If they could find a way to kill the fox off permanently, most of them wouldn't hesitate to execute him for his attack on the village. The rest of the villages were not much better. On top of that hatred and fear for the bijū themselves, the village leaders viewed the bijū as weapons of entitlement. Weapons that were meant to serve and protect the villages they had been given to by Hashirama himself.

However, trying to deal with an organization like the Akatsuki on his own was overwhelming. Kurama might be willing to overlook their previous actions, but Naruto was reluctant to place his trust in them simply because a bijū had willingly joined their cause. Every instinct in him screamed that these people were a threat to him and everything he held dear.

Naruto felt that he had to rely on Jiraiya to help him with this because of the amount of danger he faced by being involved with these people.

The fact that there was a man capable of recruiting and commanding people as dangerous and infamously rebellious as Sasori and Kisame was worrying.

The fact that this "Leader-sama" had been apparently watching him for most of his life and was now actively focused on him, for some mysterious reason, was troubling.

The fact that they knew his deepest, darkest secrets and could easily ruin his life as quickly as they could probably end it was _frightening_.

Naruto still remembered that passive threat that Kisame had left as his parting words. If he were to refuse them outright, they were in a position to make his life very difficult. They seemed to know everything about him, and while it could be a bluff on some level, just the fact that they knew Kurama's _name_ meant that they knew a great deal more than he wanted anyone else to know. They had more than enough to convince Konoha that he was a danger to the safety of the village and forcing their hand. In truth, they could force him to bend to their whims and there wasn't much he could do to stop them at this point.

If he were to accept their invitation, he would be turning his back on everything his precious people cared for. He would be a traitor to Konoha and all those asshole villagers, who made his life hell, would feel justified and smug in the knowledge that they had pegged him as filth. The last thing he wanted to do was prove all those bastards right since their treatment of him had been completely unjustified. Despite the fact that he tried his hardest to ignore and disregard their thoughts about them, the thought of those idiots being vindicated for their stupid actions just made him fume.

Then there was the backlash that would affect all the people who had put their faith into him. Not only would they be deeply hurt by his actions, but that pain would only grow when the rest of the village turned on them and began accusing them of being traitors and for supporting the demon. He had seen how Anko was treated, regardless of how loyal she was to the village, the stain of being Orochimaru's apprentice still made her life difficult inside Konoha.

The thought of all his precious people being forced to endure more of that hatred and mistrust was painful to him.

Then he would have to accept the fact that not only would Konoha come after him with force. Regardless of how they felt, the Daimyō and clan heads would never willingly let their jinchūriki go free with war about to break out. If he wasn't fighting for them, they would want assurances that he wasn't fighting for their enemies. Assurances that would probably require him to be imprisoned with layers upon layers of chakra restraints in a secure facility. And that was only if they didn't demand another jinchūriki be made, one that was more loyal and accepting of his position in life.

Not only would he have to deal with the hunter-nin and regular forces, but he had no doubt that his friends would also try to confront him. Whether it was to force or convince him to return to the village would depend entirely on who he was speaking with, but it wouldn't really matter how they approached him. The Akatsuki would never allow him to leave once they had their claws into him, and the ones he cared about would be more than enough leverage to force him to remain with them. If his friends continued to pursue him, the Akatsuki would probably capture them or kill them to eliminate the threat.

Facing a group of S-ranked ninja that were used to working with each other would be difficult at best. Even with their chakra cloak, it was likely that the group had numerous way to subdue him if necessary. If they really had been keeping a close eye on him since he entered the Academy, they had probably already created several contingency plans for subduing him. Maybe they would even use that seal that had imprisoned Fū and Chōmei in that false mindscape.

Naruto groaned and ran his hand through his hair. He was beginning to develop a headache from all the thoughts running through his mind. Even his brain seemed to want to wander off on different lines of thought just to stop itself from falling into the same circular argument.

To tell Jiraiya or to not tell Jiraiya.

Last night had been the only time he had taken his mind off of things completely. Instead of helping to clear his mind, however, all he received was an evening of respite. While his stress levels had gone down significantly, his mind was still clouded and he couldn't look at his situation with a fresh perspective. Well, at least without revealing some uncomfortable truths to someone else.

Naruto rested his chin on top of Rei's head and closed his eyes, allowing her scent to wash over him in an attempt to still his overactive mind. He felt some of the tension leave his body as he forced himself to focus on her wildflower scent mixed with his own woodland musk. Tightening his grip on her allowed some of his worries to fade away. His respite was brief, however, as he could feel that nagging sensation in his mind that reminded him that he wouldn't have any peace until a decision was made. Naruto wasn't certain if it was his subconscious that was being so demanding or his spirit trying to warn him, but that wasn't important at the moment.

Taking a deep breath he ran through everything once more. Trying to hide everything would only draw Jiraiya's suspicion. Jiraiya was far too perceptive and the stress he was feeling from this mess was going to be far too noticeable, no matter how hard he tried to bury it. Revealing too much would put the plan into jeopardy and probably force him into the Akatsuki's arms. Even then, there was no guarantee that the Akatsuki wouldn't interfere or try and modify his plan to suit their own goals.

They say they want to free the bijū from the warmongering of mankind, but what did they really hope to accomplish with all of that? She had mentioned that they wanted to make the world a better place for everyone, but in what way?

There wasn't enough information on their goals to make a decision and until he had that information, he wouldn't actively seek to ally with them. If a situation came up where it was convenient for his own goals, he might form a _temporary_ alliance, but he would try his best to politely decline any further involvement unless he had no other choice. He was so close to completing his plan anyways that if he was able to stall them long enough, he wouldn't have to worry about them or anyone else interfering.

All he needed was time.

Opening his eyes once more, his gaze moved back to his bag. Konan claimed that it had components that he needed for his plan, but besides a chunk of the Hoshi meteorite, he had already acquired everything he had needed. Even Kurama was uncertain as to what else they could have provided beside a meteorite fragment. Given the fact that they had claimed to be in the employ of Hoshi in this war, it was plausible that they had managed to steal a piece for themselves while they were operating in the village, but for what purpose?

He had already "acquired" the secret jutsu from Tsuki's vaults some time ago, but in order to cast suspicion on someone else, he had come up with an elaborate plot to cover his tracks. From what his spy seals had recorded, his misdirection was working as he intended. The actual scroll was long destroyed; turned into an elaborate incendiary seal that was combined with a row of explosive tags designed for punching through even the most resilient walls and bunker entrances. The next time they needed to break through an enemy fortification, he had managed to complete his objective and eliminate the evidence of his theft in one fell swoop.

Naruto knew that because of his reported skills and relationship with Jiraiya, suspicion would have fallen heavily on him. His talent in Fūinjutsu, the ability to create Kage Bunshin in significant numbers, and the knowledge of how to infiltrate and conduct espionage were all skills needed to break into a secure vault and steal an item without being caught. So, Naruto had taken great pains to deprecate his true skills during all his missions with Tsuki ninja so they would purposely underestimate him.

Not even Rei or Jiraiya knew the full extent of his skill in Kage Bunshin or the fact that he could keep them active indefinitely with the use of chakra seals. As long as the clones weren't struck forcibly, they could keep refilling themselves with chakra until they ran out of seals.

Naruto had taken full advantage of his secret knowledge to come up with an ingenious plan to misdirect the suspicion from himself. He would break into the vault, steal the scroll, and see how long he could keep everyone clueless to the fact that the closely guarded scroll had been removed. It had required a great deal of investigation on his part, but with a handful of clones and a small network of spy seals, he was able to gather the information he needed and come up with a plan that should make it impossible to pin the blame on him for the theft.

A clone henged as a small insect was able to enter the vault and study all the security measures that he wasn't able to learn about from documentation or observation. While he had learned the hand seals to disable a majority of the security measures, there was still the pressure seals and the chakra recognition seals to contend with. Unfortunately, for Tsuki, whoever had been responsible for creating those seals had been a novice at best. There were so many exploitable flaws in the array that Naruto was surprised that none of them had failed, or exploded when the alarm seals they were linked to went off.

When Naruto had first found the vault a few weeks after his arrival in Tsuki, he had an insect clone trigger the alarms to gauge the response time and to test how sophisticated their security measures were. While the guards responded promptly each time, they didn't seem to be very tense or wary that their vault was seemingly breached. This led Naruto to believe that false alarms were somewhat common because of the instability of the seals being used. It was only because of these false alarms that he had managed to learn most of the hand seals to deactivate the security measures.

When the clone reported that they hadn't even tied any chakra suppression or barriers to their alarm seals, Naruto couldn't stop himself from scoffing out loud.

His own investigations of the vault had revealed the pressure seals under each seal, which would be more of a challenge since the person who had created the seals was definitely more skilled in Fūinjutsu. Not only was the seal tiny, and well concealed, but it was sturdy and had a few countermeasures in place to prevent it from being destroyed or subverted easily. While he could break the seal without triggering any of the alarm, such an action would be a dead giveaway. Only a person who was skilled in sealing would be capable of such a feat and he needed them to believe that someone who wasn't a fūinjutsu specialist had been involved in the theft.

So, Naruto had been forced to do a bit more infiltration than he would like, expanding his spy seal network and using a few clones to gather more information directly. It had taken him almost a month to gather what he needed, but he managed to learn that the pressure seal was classified to all but the Tsukikage and his closest confidantes. With that knowledge, Naruto knew that his best bet would be to use the pressure seal instead of circumventing it entirely. While it would be a challenge to fool the seal without leaving behind any evidence of tampering, he didn't need to worry about any of the other security measures since he had learned how to disable them all naturally.

With the plan in place, it had taken a bit of time for Naruto to complete the seal he needed to trick the pressure seal while still completing missions and, more importantly, spending time with Rei now that they had become an item. Once that was done, he waited for tensions with Hoshi to grow before putting his plan into action.

Entering the vault and disabling the seals during the swapping of guard shifts had been child's play. With a quick application of the small area gravity seal to the scroll stand, he was able to remove the scroll without triggering the alarms. Next, two henged clones were left behind to keep the true theft hidden. One clone remained hidden in the walls as an insect and had a supply of chakra seals to keep both clones active for as long as possible. The second clone remained henged as the scroll itself so that the nightly visual checks of the vault were completed without incident. When the clones began to run low on chakra, the insect clone would wait for the next guard shift to end before using hand seals to disable the security measures and refilling itself and the scroll clone with chakra.

Both clones had managed to keep up the facade for almost a month until Naruto was deployed into combat. After he was far from the village, he sent a mental command for the clones to remove all evidence of their presence before dispelling. Naruto had planned to keep his spy seals active for a few more weeks to listen in on the investigation, just in case they continued to suspect him. When he overheard the conversation between the Tsukikage and Jiraiya, however, he decided to deactivate all of his spy seals just to be on the safe side. If the Tsukikage became desperate enough to recruit Jiraiya into the investigation, there was no way he could conceal the truth from Jiraiya.

At the time of the theft, Naruto had been sorely tempted to take more than just the Gisei Kōkan (Sacrifice Exchange), but he decided it wouldn't fit in with the scenario he was trying to set up. He wanted the Tsukikage to believe that it was a traitor within his ranks that had infiltrated the vault. A traitor that had managed to acquire the hand seals needed to disable the vault's security, but did not have the clearance to learn about the pressure seal until it was too late. While they would be caught off guard by the alarms going off when they lifted the scroll, a traitor who had been casing the vault would have the knowledge necessary to avoid the incoming guards and flee the village undetected.

Naruto let out a sigh as he recalled his foray into thievery. A small part of him had enjoyed the thrill, and even though the security measures were laughable, it had still been an interesting challenge for him. The larger part of him felt shame and guilt for being no better than the common thugs he despised. While very few of those thieves would be as talented as he was, it was still a selfish and greedy action. He had to remind himself once more that it was necessary to save everyone from their foolish and self-destructive behavior.

Forcing his wandering mind back to the subject once more, Naruto realized that he couldn't make a valid decision without reading their message to him and seeing what "gifts" they had left for him in that scroll. Konan had mentioned that Kurama would know what she was talking about once he saw what they had given to him. In the past, Kurama had mentioned that there were numerous ways to complete the plan, but the jutsu and the seal were the best methods for ensuring what they desired came to pass. Naruto's curiosity began to grow as he wondered what those other methods could be and if he could use them to reduce the dangers from using the seal and jutsu combination.

The only way to find out was to open the scroll and see what was inside. Naruto was wary of falling into that false mindscape like Fū had been trapped in, but if they truly knew what he was capable of like they claimed, they would realize that he would use a clone to open the scroll and avoid the trap anyways. Naruto let out a resigned sigh as his weariness bore down on him. He wouldn't be able to relax or think properly until he settled this issue and until he opened that scroll, he wouldn't be able to decide on a course of action. So, he had no choice but to open the scroll.

Naruto carefully lifted his head before sliding his pillow out from underneath it. Raising Rei up gently so that she wouldn't wake, he slipped the pillow underneath her before extracting his arm from her underneath her body. Once she settled down on the pillow and Naruto was certain she wasn't awake, he slipped out of bed and drew the covers over her.

After a short debate, he opted to get fully dressed just in case something surprising was to happen and began gearing up like he normally would. Even if he wasn't going to be on active duty any time soon, he was still in the middle of a war zone. It would be prudent to remain ready for anything, especially since Hoshi was likely desperate to stop Tsuki's advance at this point. It wasn't like he was going to get any rest anytime soon anyways.

Once fully equipped, he picked unsealed the scroll and after checking that Rei was still asleep, he silently slipped out of his room. Making his way down the hall, Naruto opted to take the stairs that had access to the rooftop garden instead of heading down to one of the training grounds. Even at this hour, there was likely to be troops returning from patrol or early risers taking advantage of the empty fields to get their own workouts completed. The rooftop, however, was usually only used for lunch or smoke breaks.

After climbing four flights of stairs, he emerged onto the roof and took a moment to let the chill of the morning chase away his exhaustion. A slight shiver ran through his body, chasing away that heavy weariness that he felt, at least temporarily. The cold had always done wonders with keeping him wide awake and since he didn't have a cloak or sweater with him at the moment, he would be fully alert for what was to come.

Naruto scanned the rooftop and was satisfied to see that there was no one else up here at the moment. Naruto made his way towards the small hedge garden near the eastern corner of the roof. If someone else was to come up to the roof while he was opening the scroll, the manicured bushes would serve as effective cover. If they wanted to see what he was doing, they would have to make their way towards the center of the garden and he would be able to see their approach long before they could make out what he was doing.

Naruto sealed off the covered patio in the center of the garden with his privacy seal and added a barrier for extra measure. With that task completed, he set the scroll down on one side of the rectangular shaped patio before he created a clone and retreated away to the far side of the patio. With a brief nod to his clone, Naruto held his breath in anticipation as the clone unfurled the scroll and placed his hand over the first seal to release the first object.

Naruto remained tense as the cloud of smoke obscured his vision, but when the smoke finally dispersed he couldn't suppress his gasp of shock. Even his clone had reared back in surprise at what had been revealed.

The first seal had contained someone's head.

From the distance he was at, Naruto couldn't tell whose head it was and the baffled expression on his clone only made his curiosity grow. Tentatively he walked closer to his clone until the head became recognizable and Naruto understood why his clone had been so thrown off by the sight. He was utterly confused as to why the Akatsuki would actively eliminate this person and deliver the head to him.

There on the scroll was Deidara's head and from the looks on the man's face, his death had not been quick or painless. Instead, the Iwa bomber's face was frozen in a look of agony and fear that made both him and his clone flinch when they studied the head closely. With a grimace of disgust, Naruto leaned closer to try and find any details of what caused the man's death, but since there was only a head to look over, there wasn't much to go by.

Despite the expression on Deidara's face, there wasn't a great deal of bruises, blood, or cuts present. The neck had been severed cleanly and, once again, there was no blood staining the scroll or the wound itself. Naruto shivered at the realization that someone had gone through a great effort to clean and prepare this head for delivery to him. To go to such lengths to prepare a severed head could only mean that this person was adept at dealing with such unpleasantness. Probably a professional bounty hunter who actively hunted down missing-nin.

Since most bounty hunters were missing-nin, it wasn't safe for them to turn in bounties to the villages themselves. The Yakuza and various other criminal organizations took advantage of this fact by operating the small, discreet stations to pay out a lower rate on the bounties before turning them in for a profit. The major villages didn't exactly disapprove of this practice, but given the fact that they were operated by gangs and criminals it wasn't uncommon for a village to raid these offices to avoid paying out a significant amount of ryō or to seize the ryō and unclaimed bounties for their own.

Naruto looked away and made a brief motion to his clone to seal the head away. There was definitely much to take in from this particular "gift".

First, they were showing their displeasure for Deidara going against their wishes. Whether it was due to the fact that Deidara had failed to capture him and then fled or because Deidara and Sasori had exposed the organization to him in an unfriendly light, Naruto couldn't be certain of at this point.

The point they were trying to make was that Deidara had screwed up by attacking him and they were giving him his head to show that they didn't approve his actions.

The second lesson Naruto could take from this was that failure of any kind was, obviously, not tolerated very well. If he were to get involved with this group and they weren't satisfied with whatever they wanted from him. He was just as likely to suffer the same fate as Deidara.

It was a stark reminder not to take any of them lightly.

Finally, there was the fact that he had taken note of when he first studied the head. The fact that the Akatsuki had someone that was more of capable of hunting down and killing people that stood in the way of their goals. A professional bounty hunter who was likely S-ranked and had years of experience tracking down elusive shinobi and delivering their heads to whoever provided them with the incentive to do so.

A passive threat to underscore the fact that it was dangerous to stand in their way.

Looking back at the scroll, he was relieved to see the clone had sealed the head away and was now looking at him expectantly. Naruto gave the clone a subtle nod before backing away to a safe distance once again. This time, he didn't go so far as to the other side of the patio but chose to remain only a few paces away instead. Once the clone saw that the original wasn't going to move any further away, it unsealed the next object in the scroll.

A medium sized cloud of smoke emerged before Naruto and his clone were suddenly hit with a large chakra presence. It was only due to his experience battling with Kujaku Myōhō (Mysterious Peacock Method) users that Naruto was able to recognize what he felt. Sitting on the scroll was a large, claw-like, pedestal that held a beach ball sized rock. The strange rock looked and smelled completely foreign to him, and the surface was pockmarked with odd craters. What caught his attention most was the familiar pinkish-purple chakra that was radiating from the object. It was obvious that this orb was the Hoshi meteor that he needed for the plan.

Naruto cursed silently to himself. While he should be pleased that he wouldn't have to infiltrate Hoshi and put himself at risk to claim the item himself, he hadn't needed the entire thing. His plan had been to acquire a fragment large enough to suit their purpose. A few fragments would have been easy to conceal but not the entire fucking meteorite. Now Hoshi was _guaranteed_ to overreact to the situation and things were going to get worse. Not only that but Naruto had no idea if sealing the damn thing would prevent Hoshi ninja from sensing it. Who knows what kind of measures they had put in place to reclaim their most valued artifact. Hoshi had always taken pride in the fact that their chakra based abilities were unique to their village, and from what Rei had told him, the meteorite was directly attuned to their abilities.

The entire reason they named their village Hoshigakure was because of the fact that the meteorite had fallen from the sky directly into the center of the struggling village. The very meteorite that was currently radiating massive amounts of otherworldly chakra like a beacon in the early morning sky.

Fortunately for Naruto, his clone had shaken off its shock faster than the original and quickly resealed the orb before it had been exposed for too long. While the privacy barrier would have prevented anyone from sensing the output of chakra from the meteorite, the telltale purple and pink glow would have still been clearly visible. Given their current location, the glowing orb would have been highly visible all across the F.O.C and would have attracted a great deal of attention. Unwanted attention that he really couldn't afford at the moment.

Naruto let out an exasperated sigh as he ran his hand through his hair. The orb had stirred Kurama awake and he could already feel the excitement and anticipation his kitsune companion was feeling at the revelation. Not even his own distrust and unease at the situation was subduing the bij _ū_ 's mood, which was unusual since Kurama tried to keep any contradictory emotions subdued. Naruto knew his companion would only push harder for him to link up with the Akatsuki now that they had delivered him the final item he needed to complete the plan.

The last thing Naruto wanted to do was get involved with these people since it would mean abandoning Konoha and those he cared about. It would be harder to justify avoiding the Akatsuki if they were actively trying to aid him with the plan and he knew that Kurama would consider the outbreak of war a perfect time to defect so they could make the necessary adjustments to the seal and modify the jutsu in peace.

With all the villages actively distracted with the conflict, it would be easier to conceal the movements of himself and his clones. He could find a remote location and stock it with a lot of chakra seals; putting his full focus into making the final seal and fine tuning his modifications on the jutsu. Once the seal was in place and activated, the cycle would be fixed without anyone being the wiser for it. (besides the potential fallout of course)

What Naruto feared most was that he would be unable to fully mitigate the consequences of using such a vast seal/jutsu combination and that the most severe of side effects would manifest. In the midst of the confusion and devastation, humanity would lash out in fear and chaos would descend upon the world. The amount of death and destruction, as a result, would be enormous and Naruto didn't think he could live with the guilt of causing the descent of civilization as he knew it, even if it was for the better.

Secretly, Naruto had hoped to end the war quickly so that the shinobi and samurai forces would be available to restore order should the worst case scenario happen. With the help of Gyūki, Shukaku, and Matatabi, Naruto was confident they could bring the war to the doorstep of their enemies and force a surrender quickly.

Iwa's jinchūriki were missing and if the Akatsuki didn't involve themselves, Naruto was confident that Konoha and Kumo could end things in under a year. This would allow him plenty of time to let the world settle down into the calm that always came from the aftermath of a war. Humanity would be at peace and would be better able to deal with the consequences if the worst should happen.

With peace and order, humanity would be able to better adapt to the potential changes and the loss of life and destruction would be kept at a minimum. The world would be saved from destruction and the bijū would be free to live in peace knowing that the humans wouldn't have the ability to seal them away again.

With a resigned wave of his hand, he ordered the clone to unseal the final item in the scroll. He would remain cautiously guarded about this whole situation but he would give them an opportunity to prove that their motives weren't suspect. The one thing he refused to budge on was abandoning Konoha, however, unless they became a direct threat to him or the plan.

Naruto disregarded the grumbling sense of annoyed frustration coming from Kurama at his stubbornness, but Naruto wasn't upset or bothered by it since he could still pick up a hint of amusement from his tenant. The fact of the matter was there was no reason to join the group now that they had everything they needed, even if they could offer a better alternative. It was better to keep the status quo right now so they avoided drawing too much attention to themselves. Joining a terrorist organization would not be the best way of remaining off the radar. Even Kurama had to agree with that logic.

The most important thing was keeping the plan hidden from the village, Naruto rationalized. If he were to remain in Konoha and continue to act as he had before the training trip, there would be less suspicion on his actions. If he were to leave during the war, however, Konoha would be forced into tracking him down and investigating why he had disappeared. Tsunade would stop at nothing to find him and return him to the village, whether he had willingly run away or not. Jiraiya, Kakashi, Hinata, even Sasuke would all confront him in order to learn the truth and convince him to return to Konoha so he wouldn't be labeled as an enemy of the village.

The final seal revealed several scrolls that Naruto had his clone delicately pick through for any trap seals. With the all clear given, Naruto sat himself down on one of the nearby benches and began going through each of the scrolls while his clone stood watch over the entrance to the rooftop garden. The sun was starting to rise and soon, the army would begin stirring.

The first few scrolls were crude attempts at recreating the seal that he had discovered in Uzushio. Completely useless in his mind, but he would keep them to review them later on before he drew up the final seal. It never hurt to have another perspective, after all, and some of the changes might prove to be beneficial.

The next scroll turned out to be a larger missive from the Leader, which Naruto was puzzled to see was in a strange form of writing he had never seen before. The only words he could make out were his own name that had been written normally a few times. Naruto couldn't stop the suspicion from arising in him that the Leader would attempt to keep something for Kurama's eyes only.

 **"This is the writing of the primitive humans that used to live outside of my den in the early days of humanity. It will take me some time to recall the letters and translate."** Kurama informed him before adding. **"I will grant you this knowledge once I can recall it fully, it will serve as a useful countermeasure if some humans were to spy on us or intercept your sample works,"**

' _Okay, Kurama._ ' Naruto replied simply, letting some of the suspicions fade away. While he was completely bonded with Kurama and could sense and feel his inner emotions, it was still possible for both of them to keep things hidden from each other.

Naruto wanted to put his full faith in Kurama like he always had in the past, but he couldn't deny that lingering hatred for humanity that remained burning inside of the nine tailed fox. He might have earned the respect and trust of the bijū because of his actions, but Naruto was not so naive to believe that Kurama thought that humanity was redeemable because of that. In truth, Naruto was fully aware that Kurama felt the world would be better off without humanity entirely. It had been painfully obvious to Naruto when their bond first solidified that it would take a great deal of time to overcome the bias in his companion's mind, time that they simply did not have at the moment.

Naruto could only hope that it was just another countermeasure the secretive organization put into place to cover their tracks, but a part of him couldn't help but wonder if it was a sign of something more sinister being planned without their knowledge. An organization that had something to hide from its followers couldn't be trusted since it only meant that they were concealing their true goals under the cover of a false one that was more accepting to its recruits.

Naruto picked up the next scroll and was surprised to see a scroll that displayed a series of unfamiliar hand seals for a jutsu. The description behind this jutsu was also in that strange language, but Naruto could tell that the sequence was a series of modifications instead of a list of different jutsu.

 **"This jutsu is vaguely familiar to me as well. This comes from the time period that the toad fool spoke to you about in the ruined city."** Kurama said, **"The writing, however, does not match that same period."**

'So, whoever made this scroll made it specifically for you since that writing was obviously a tribe of humans you were familiar with.' Naruto deduced.

 **"Yes. They made that scroll for _us_."** Kurama emphasized. **"I will need to recede from our connection a bit to recall this primitive writing. You should focus on learning those hand seals, they may be useful in the future."** Kurama advised before his presence faded from his mind. To Naruto, it felt no different than when Kurama was asleep or giving him some privacy.

Naruto began slowly running through the hand seals to familiarize himself with them. He had to admit they were intriguing to him. The next time he had a training ground all to himself, he would allow chakra to flow into the seals while running through them. he would just have to take care not to follow a specific order or expel any chakra until he grew more familiar with how they functioned. It would be interesting to see how these seals changed or redirected the density, flow, or shape of the chakra they drew upon when compared with the seals he was familiar with. A part of him was excited about the possibilities of creating his own jutsu with these seals to throw off any of his enemies. It probably wouldn't work on Itachi or Sasuke for very long with their Sharingan, but it would be funny to Sasuke's face the first time he used them.

After a few minutes of working through the seals, he set them aside to practice later and moved onto the last few scrolls that were left. When he unrolled the next scroll, he couldn't stop his jaw from dropping entirely. While a good portion of the scroll was covered in that mysterious language, Naruto was easily able to decipher the complicated seal diagram that was prominently displayed in the middle of the page. Unlike the previous seal arrays he had looked at, this seal was a complicated masterpiece and, if what he surmised was accurate, gave him several new avenues to explore with his own seal.

Naruto finally felt most of his stress melt away as he looked upon what had been provided to him. With this, he could allow some of his suspicions about the Akatsuki's motives to die down. While he couldn't, and wouldn't trust them completely he had to display some gratitude for what they had just handed to him. This went a long way in dispelling some of his mistrust, but not enough to force him to abandon Konoha entirely.

Not yet at least.

With this new seal, a few modifications to the Chijō sanpu Fuin – (Ground Application seal), and the Gisei Kōkan (Sacrifice Exchange) he would have much greater control over the outcome and consequences of using such a combination of seals and jutsu. In fact, the materials he had gathered were almost unnecessary because of this new array, but it wouldn't hurt to take advantage of the reinforcing properties of those materials.

Naruto quickly unfurled the last scroll quickly and was surprised to find a different variation of the previous seal. It was just as complicated and intriguing as the first one, but there were a few elements he was unfamiliar with. He would need to study this one closely and refer to the notes his mother had left behind to try and decipher all the elements it controlled. This scroll was also covered with that indecipherable alphabet as well, so he would have to wait for Kurama to stir before he went through everything again.

Naruto quickly moved to reseal everything back into the original scroll before he sliced off the message and burnt it with Katon chakra. Rolling the scroll up lengthwise, this time, he sealed it away before dispersing his clone and the privacy/security seals he had set up.

With his decision now made about how to deal with the Akatsuki all he needed to do was settle how he would deal with Jiraiya. Given the knowledge that he had, plus the items he had received; it was probably safe to assume that the Akatsuki wouldn't be too angry with him if he revealed that they had tried to downplay their danger to his safety. They wouldn't have gone through this much effort to sway him to their side just to throw him under the bus for mentioning their interest in him. It became obvious that they were interested in him to some extent in Yuki no Kuni because of Sasori and Deidara. He just needed to decide if he would tell Jiraiya that they were interested in recruiting him outright or simply telling him that they claimed they weren't a threat.

At the moment, Naruto was leaning towards the latter option since it would bring less scrutiny on his own plans. He would work it out with Kurama more when he woke up because his exhaustion was finally catching up to him. With a massive yawn, he trudged across the rooftop towards the entrance to make his way back to his room.

By the time Naruto was slipping back into his room, his eyes were heavy and he was beginning to doze off completely. He barely managed to set his bag down on the nightstand and remove his clothing before climbing into bed. Snatching up the pillow on Rei's side of the bed instead of reclaiming his own from underneath her, Naruto set his head down and drifted off shortly afterward.


	70. Year 4: Hypernova

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

A/N: Sorry for the delay once more but my work schedule has picked up even more. Not only that, there was a great deal that needed to be conveyed this chapter in order to set things up for the future. When I tried breaking it up into two chapters, however, it just didn't seem right to me so I merged the two back together again and had to rewrite a few things.

As for those growing tired of the training trip, rejoice! This is the final chapter that will deal with Naruto's adventures outside of Konoha. When we meet back up with Naruto it will be for his triumphant return. Coming up after this will be a small arc (maybe three to five chapters at most) catching us up with Hinata and events in Konoha since the last general update I gave. Then the prelude to the war.

 **Chapter 69**

 **Year 4: Hypernova**

 **Two Days Later - Forward Operations Center – Kuma no Kuni**

* * *

Naruto sat at the elaborately carved oak desk in the sitting room of his suite. His left elbow was currently propping his head up as it rested in his palm. Currently, his focus was fixed on the current seal concept he was mapping out in pencil on the left side of the desk. Every few minutes his pencil would stop moving and his eyes would drift back over to the scroll with the unfamiliar writing that the Akatsuki had given to him. While his posture appeared bored and disinterested at the moment, in reality, Naruto was quite fascinated and excited by the process of translation that was currently taking place. It was interesting enough to draw his attention from the complicated seals that were currently fighting for priority when it came to his attention span.

While Rei was out enjoying the resorts amenities with her friends, Naruto had opted to use this time to finalize his modifications on the new seal that the Akatsuki had given him. The Tentai to Chijō no Seishin (Heavenly Body Terrestrial Spirit Seal).

His study on breaking down the seal and understanding the base components hadn't taken as long as he expected. Far less time than it would have taken him to come up with a solution to ensure that the bijū were immune from being resealed. The initial layout had been sloppy and inefficient, with a dangerous lack of stabilization and containment elements, but those were easy fixes. What was more difficult was ensuring that the people targeted by this seal weren't unnecessarily hurt or killed by the process. It wouldn't be easy considering that this seal would be targeting their soul, but the least he could do was make the process fast and efficient so their suffering was limited.

Kurama had decided it was pertinent to decipher the letter sooner rather than later and was piecing together his memories of that ancient tribe and applying his recollections to the writing in front of him. Naruto found it interesting to see how the arrangements of triangles, arrows, lines, and dots all shared characteristics with the kanji in use today. Each time Naruto looked over at the letter more and more the strange characters would become familiar to him and he was able to start deciphering words and sentences from the message.

A small part of Naruto had been worried that Kurama would have kept this knowledge from him. The bijū where very secretive about their accumulated knowledge and Kurama had kept things from him in the past. Things that the bijū deemed unimportant or too dangerous for a human to know about. Naruto could tell there was always some reluctance on Kurama's part whenever "forbidden" knowledge was shared with him, but the blond's unspoken concern and desire had bled through the bond enough for Kurama to pick up on it. Naruto had then felt that reluctance fade before Kurama suggested he leave the letter out so he could visually watch the translation take place. This would ensure that the knowledge took root in Naruto's mind permanently and he would be able to decipher the message along side Kurama.

While Kurama didn't need Naruto to focus on the letter, the bijū wanted to ensure Naruto witnessed the process so there could be no doubt about his intentions. By sharing this knowledge in real time, he was alleviating his container's concerns of misdirection or subterfuge.

They needed each other to succeed after all.

It just wasn't easy for the kitsune to forget centuries of bias so easily and on some level, Naruto understood that. Instead of making demands or accusations, however, the kit would simply relay his concern as a reminder that he was falling back into old habits once more.

Naruto glanced back at the letter to see how much progress was made and was surprised to see that he could understand most of the symbols now. He paused in his drawing to decipher the message, even with the untranslated characters remaining.

* * *

 _Kurama,_

 _If you have read this, then our pawns have managed to -/onta-/t your -/ontainer and re]|ayed their desire to ]|iberate you. I suppose I shou]|dn't have been surprised that you managed to -/ontro]| your f]|esh prison with su-/h ease and have been gathering the materia]|s for the p]|an despite the measures of the Hokage. I shou]|d have taken your warning about studying fūin|:|utsu serious]|y ba-/k then. If I had started my studies when you suggested, I might have been ab]|e to gain greater -/ontro]| of my -/ontainer ]|ike you have._

 _I am happy to report that on my end, I have a]|so been taking steps to advan-/e the p]|an we spoke of ]|ong ago. I have found a va]|uab]|e a]|]|y in our quest to purge the stain of humanity from our wor]|d and we set into motion a p]|an to ]|iberate our brethren or, if ne-/essary, ensure that they are safe]|y subdued so that they -/an't interfere with our goa]|s of fixing our damaged wor]|d and ensuring humanity re-/eives its |:|ust punishment._

 _When I first met our new a]|]|y, his p]|ans were unrefined. his on]|y goa]| was to ]|iberate us a]|]| and use our strength to for-/efu]|]|y subdue humanity. After he freed me from Iwa, however, I was ab]|e to -/onvin-/e him to redire-/t his organization into -/]|earing the way for our p]|ans. Whi]|e I wou]|dn't mind bringing righteous vengean-/e down upon their heads right now, there wi]|]| a]|ways be the threat of sea]|ing that needs to be addressed first. Fortunate]|y our a]|]|y has found promising sea]|s that you may be ab]|e to modify to suit our purposes. I have en-/]|osed -/opies of these sea]|s in this ]|etter as my know]|edge is not fu]|]|y up to par at the moment to -/hange them myse]|f. I wi]|]| ]|eave that to your expertise._

 _Fear not our a]|]|y, for he is ]|oya]| to our -/ause and it was his idea to use this organization as a -/over for our efforts and use humans to bring about their own downfa]|]|. ]|ike us, he has suffered from the inherent fou]|ness that humanity has p]|agued our wor]|d and ]|ike us he is dedi-/ated to sub|:|ugating the mutated apes for the safety of the wor]|d. ]|ike us, his eyes have witnessed the end]|ess destru-/tion that the noxious ra-/e of humanity has wrought upon our wor]|d. Under his wat-/h, his organization has set into motion a]|]| the events that has granted us the opportunity for ]|iberation in the near future and for that, I give him my fu]|]| -/onfiden-/e._

 _He is more ]|ike us than you -/an imagine but su-/h news isn't safe to share where f]|esh bag eyes may see them._

 _Whi]|e we have inte]|]|igen-/e on your movements, we aren't -/ertain if you have managed to -/o]|]|e-/t everything you needed for the p]|an. |:|ust know that if you -/an -/onvin-/e your -/ontainer to f]|ee Konoha and |:|oin us, we -/an keep you both safe unti]| the time -/omes. Our bases are numerous and we]|]| guarded to the extent that not even Kumo or Konoha wou]|d be ab]|e to assau]|t them easi]|y. Even if they were to a]|]|y before atta-/king us our servants are at the ]|eve]| where they -/an expe]| them or ho]|d them off ]|ong enough for us to re]|o-/ate to a safer ]|o-/ation._

 _I know you were a]|ways the -/autious type, however, so I have ensured that there wi]|]| be no reper-/ussions to you shou]|d you -/hoose to remain as you are now to avoid suspi-/ion. I on]|y ask that you ex-/hange information with us so that we -/an -/oordinate our efforts and a-/-/e]|erate our p]|ans. I wi]|]| ensure that you are treated as a trusted informant and se-/re-/y is maintained. One of our -/onta-/ts wi]|]| approa-/h you when you return to Konoha and the Toad Sage no ]|onger has eyes on you._

 _I wi]|]| be unab]|e to -/onta-/t you dire-/t]|y for some time sin-/e my -/ontainer -/an not be trusted with sensitive information. |:|ust so that you are aware, the organization's "goa]|s" are to e]|iminate the feuda]| system of government by removing the Daimyō, Kage, and other ]|ords from power. It is their be]|ief that the system wi]|]| be ]|ess -/orrupt and warmongering if -/ontro]| is handed over to the masses. As if they were any ]|ess -/orrupt or any more -/ompetent, but even fi]|th -/an have dreams._

 _When -/ommuni-/ating with any of our pawns, make sure your -/ontainer maintains this fa-/ade and on]|y re]|ays the true detai]|s of our p]|an using this or another dead ]|anguage of your -/hoi-/e. I -/an sti]|]| remember the writings of that -/ity I ]|aid waste to and that tribe of humans that on-/e worshiped a]|]| of us unti]| that massive vo]|-/ano erupted and e]|iminated them a]|]|. I -/an admit that was the on]|y tribe that I respe-/ted and that if we had fo]|]|owed Gyūki's advi-/e to try and spare them, perhaps we wou]|dn't be in this mess today. Sti]|]|, in my mind the on]|y good human is a dead or ens]|aved one._

 _The time for |:|usti-/e and our ]|iberation is -/oming soon!_

 _-Son Gokū_

* * *

Naruto reread the letter a few times before setting it down and leaning back in his chair. It would seem that the Akatsuki had been somewhat legitimate in their desire to help them, but Naruto couldn't help but shiver at the hatred and revulsion that Son Gokū put into his letter.

The fact that he was willing to "subdue" the other bijū just to ensure their plans succeeded was telling. It was obvious the Yonbi wouldn't settle for a compromise on any level. Nothing short of being resealed inside of someone with a pure soul could change Son Gokū's mind at this point. Even if they were to manage it, Naruto was certain it would still take Son Gokū a great deal of time to become tolerant of humanity.

Time that they just didn't have.

Naruto felt a pull on his mind so he closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall into his mindscape. Kurama was waiting patiently for him on the opposite side of the forest clearing he had created. Instead of his usual prone position, however, he was sitting up on his haunches with his tails slowly swaying behind him instead of tucked against his body. Right away Naruto knew this was going to be a major turning point in his future, the question was in which direction? All he was picking up from the bond was a muted sense of nervousness and anticipation from his companion.

As Naruto moved closer to Kurama, one of his tails came down to rest in front of him. Without a second thought, Naruto leaped onto the tail before clinging to the furry appendage with chakra. Naruto wasn't surprised when Kurama brought the tip of his tail up to rest directly in front of his right eye instead of depositing him on the top of his head like usual.

Whenever Kurama wanted to have a serious conversation with him, the kitsune had a tendency to move his eye as close as possible to him. Considering what he just read, this was going to be a very serious conversation. Naruto had a feeling that it was time to come out with everything and settle things once and for all. For the plan to succeed the plans needed to be finalized and lines drawn. There would be no room for big changes in the future, only adjustments or changes to ensure that everything went off without a hitch.

Certainly, contingency plans needed to be laid, but the overall goal and end result couldn't be modified unless there was no other choice. In the past, there had only been vague reassurances on both of their parts. Now that they had everything they needed in their hands, however, the final goal could no longer be obfuscated.

" **I will say this, Naruto, our agreement will not change even if Son Gokū does not agree with the end result."** Kurama stated firmly, **"Our bond has removed enough of my latent hatred from the past so that I can see** _ **somewhat**_ **objectively. I won't pretend that I care if humanity survives this event or not, but I won't hinder or prevent you from sparing them from the more fatalistic costs; as long as they shoulder the majority of the burden. Humanity is responsible for this mess we are in now, but as long as the damage is repaired and the risk to the world is eliminated, I will not press for them to suffer additional penalties."**

"I know, Kurama," Naruto said with a soft smile on his face. "I think you and I both know that we can only _try_ to make things better for everyone or else we would be no better than the ones we both look down on. Yet, I also accept the fact that we might not be able to prevent the worst from happening."

" **Indeed, fixing the damage takes precedence over all of us."** Kurama agreed. **"Now, We need to discuss the extent of chakra drain we are willing to accept for each target,"** Kurama stated firmly. **"Humanity must bear the brunt, followed by the bijū, then the chakra crystals and last is the ambient chakra."**

Naruto remained silent for a moment before responding in a quite tone.

"I know that humanity is technically the largest source of chakra to draw upon and they are mostly responsible for the state of the world, but can't we prioritize the chakra crystals instead?" Naruto proposed. "You said chakra crystals were a result of surplus chakra. Wouldn't it be prudent to use up the surplus first?"

" **It could destabilize many areas of the world if those crystals were to disappear and we don't know how the chakra well will react if they are no longer present,"** Kurama warned. **"Then there is the fact that those crystals will need to be converted, which could cause fluctuations. If the source being drained isn't stable in the beginning, the seal could fail completely."**

"I don't believe it will really be an issue, but I can understand your concern," Naruto replied as he stroked his chin. "The seal should avoid drawing on anything that isn't the same composition as the crystals we selected so there should be plenty of the various elemental combinations that we didn't select to keep enough of a reserve. If you are worried about the raw chakra being converted into crystallized form as the other crystals disappear, then I think we can reduce that risk by giving humans and crystals the same priority on the seal."

Kurama was silent for a moment as he considered Naruto's theory. **"That should work. While crystallization is not a slow process, it isn't instantaneous either. Allowing the seal to draw on both at the same time will ensure that no loop is established and the fluctuations should be reduced by drawing on humans at the same time. By then it should switch its focus onto us bijū and jinchūriki as the chakra from the crystals and humanity begins to falter. After we bijū and jinchūriki are targeted, the plants, animals, and ambient chakra will be drawn upon next as a last ditch effort to restore the cycle."** Kurama said approvingly. **"If that is not enough, then the world is already doomed and without any plant or animal life to sustain them, humanity will eventually devour itself into oblivion.**

 **A fitting form of justice if I do say so myself."** Kurama added with a grin.

Naruto merely shook his head in exasperation.

" **As for the preventative measures we have received, I can tell there isn't much you can modify with that particular seal, but as you have already begun, we can make the transition easier for the chosen sacrifices. I agree with your assessment about the possibilities that will arise from the effects of this seal."** Kurama replied. **"Knowing that you will also be subjected to its affects, are you willing to accept this method to ensure that the bijū will never be contained again?"**

"I think sacrifice is really a strong term to use, but you are correct in thinking that everyone will see it as that," Naruto said with a sigh. "You know it isn't a problem on my part, however, there is a major risk when it comes to the others. There aren't many humans with the right mindset or mentality for such a burden, and if we choose the wrong one it could be disastrous."

" **Even with the outcome you fear most, there is a clear vulnerability. "** Kurama replied easily. **"You can simply take advantage of this weakness to ensure that they don't survive long enough to become a threat. If it makes you feel better, you can create leave behind documentation on how to exploit that vulnerability. Both potential changes will ensure that us bijū will return to the cycle even if that vulnerability becomes common knowledge."**

"That is true," Naruto said with some reluctance. "While I am uneasy at the thought of potential immortality being granted to anyone, at least there is a way to defeat them. It will be challenging considering they could have the power of a jinchūriki, but at least they aren't invulnerable."

"Still, I can't imagine that anyone would want to live that long," Naruto said while shaking his head. "Only megalomaniacs or power hungry people bent on world domination seek to become immortal and I definitely don't want to give those people the opportunity to harness the power of a bijū. To live until the very world itself were to end, I would think most people would go mad before the end."

" **While it is true that monotony is a big challenge to overcome when you live as long as we have, there are still plenty of ways to overcome such boredom. The world is vast and its wonder, numerous. When you grow tired of exploring or studying everything around you, just simply hibernate for a decade or two and almost everything around will have changed by then."** Kurama said with a grin. **"Besides** **things would be far more entertaining for you if the world were to end. While nothing short of the total destruction of the planet would kill the chosen, all other life would be wiped clean. With enough time and effort, you could simply rebuild the world again. Maybe even make it better than it was before."**

"What, like recreating life with our chakra?" Naruto asked incredulously.

" **Such things are not impossible, they only require time and resources,"** Kurama said assuredly. **"Long ago there was one who understood chakra on such a level that creating living creatures from chakra was not impossible for him. These wouldn't even be chakra constructs like us bijū, but actual living creatures."**

Naruto's mouth was ajar at the thought. To be able to just create living beings with a simple thought seemed almost impossible to him. Even with his bond with Kurama, he could barely fathom the advanced chakra control the bijū used for their manifestations, but to actually take it a step further and create true life, in the same way, was unbelievable.

" **It's true,"** Kurama stated confidently. **"All it requires is in-depth knowledge of Yin and Yang chakra to recreate such abilities. With enough time and the right resources you could awaken the Mokuton within yourself if you felt like it."**

"Wait a minute! You're saying that you could have given me a bloodline like the Mokuton this whole time?" Naruto asked with a stunned expression.

Kurama gave him a huff before responding. **"I said, with the right time and resources, kit. Did you not witness first hand how advanced my chakra control was when we first merged?"**

Naruto opened his mouth to speak but Kurama, sensing what he was about to ask decided to cut him off first.

" **I could have done so as soon as we received the rest of my chakra. However, we would have needed a large enough Mokuton crystal, a great deal of time, and a large source of natural chakra to awaken such a bloodline"** Kurama stated. **"Besides you know how I feel about that foul bloodline, until my brethren are secure from the threat of humanity I will never allow the Mokuton to reemerge."**

Naruto frowned for a moment before he remembered that Kurama had him pick up that large Dōtekion crystal in the crystal cavern.

" **Yes. It was my plan to use that crystal to alleviate your horrendous vulnerability to Raiton by awakening the Dōtekion bloodline. This will reduce your Fūton affinity a bit, but you will finally be able to use Raiton attacks like a normal, non-aligned person would. Your Raiton attacks will still be inherently weaker and cost more chakra than normal, however, regardless of how much nature manipulation exercises you perform."** Kurama explained.

"I'm fine with that," Naruto said excitedly. "I can't wait to learn all the jutsu you have for Dōtekion. I don't think anyone has even seen or heard of such a bloodline! No one will know how to counter it!"

" **There aren't any real jutsu for Dōtekion since no one has ever expressed this particular combination before to my knowledge. Basically, Kinetic release involves the physics of motion and the forces and energy associated with motion. I will explain the concept in more detail if the process is successful."** Kurama explained.

"I see," Naruto said with a thoughtful expression on his face. "So, I will have to experiment and create my own jutsu based on those concepts." Naruto allowed a smile to spread on his face. "It will take a good deal of work but I still think it will be worth it. I kind of enjoy experimenting and creating my own jutsu."

" **I should warn you now, though, the imbalance between your Fūton and Raiton affinities will make it more difficult for you to stabilize any jutsu that are very powerful, or intended to affect a wide area,"** Kurama said seriously. **"If anything, you will only be able to augment existing jutsu of another nature because of this imbalance."**

Naruto nodded in understanding. "Makes sense to me, and while I might not be able to make anything flashy with it, being able to alter existing jutsu will still give me an edge in combat and it could help conceal the fact that I have a completely unknown school of jutsu at my disposal."

" **It will be interesting to see what you come up with."** Kurama said with a sinister grin, **"But for now, we must settle the details of the plan between us. If Son Gokū learns the truth about the modifications he will try to interfere. Not to mention that Konoha and the rest of the humans will try and stop us if they learn that you will prevent them from sealing us away for eternity."**

"With the Akatsuki keeping an eye on us, as well as shishō, things have gotten even more dangerous. I have a few ideas on how to keep things hidden from them, but I need to complete my father's jutsu for it to work." Naruto said as he paced on the elevated tail he stood on. "With the Hiraishin, it will be easier to misdirect people, but it won't solve all of our problems."

Naruto stopped his pacing and looked Kurama directly in the eye. "The only way I believe we can get away with all of this is to reveal the truth to one of those groups and use them to conceal the truth from the others. From what we have learned about the Akatsuki, our safest choice would be to reveal the truth to shishō." Naruto stated before crossing his arms over his chest in a symbol of his determination.

Kurama's large eye narrowed, his lip curled partially and a small growl erupted from his throat. The duo continued to stare each other down while probing the bond to get a sense of what they were both feeling before Kurama spoke again.

" **You not only want to recruit his aid, you actually believe the toad fool should be one of the chosen?!"** Kurama said in disbelief.

Kurama could pick up the sense of hope and loyalty that surged when Naruto mentioned Jiraiya. Seeing the determined look on his container's face coupled with a strong sense of confidence made it easy for the kitsune to pick up Naruto's inner most desire.

To put his full confidence in the Toad Sage.

"Look, I know he's a rampant pervert and does some questionable things, but the only way this will work is if we pick people with a different viewpoint and moral code than us. We need to find a balance, a broad representation of different mentalities to ensure that we don't fall victim to bias or corruption in the future." Naruto said adamantly. "If the better outcome occurs, none of this will matter, but if the worse should happen, I believe his moral code and mindset would be perfect to counterbalance a more extreme point of view."

" **The fool reeks of lust constantly."** Kurama snarled. **"And, as you admit, he is not above unscrupulous means to achieve his goals. How do we know that those traits will not grow as time progresses? If anything, the vixens of the world will never rest easy when they go to bathe."** Kurama added with a snort.

"Look, we both know that despite how suspect his character is, shishō's morals are still inherently good." Naruto said passionately, "He only wants to bring peace to the world and he has no tolerance for the same tainted traits of humanity that we despise. His goofy, perverted, sleazy personality is really just an act that he uses to take advantage of those traits."

" **I still believe that is the fool's true nature,"** Kurama said with contempt. **"I will admit he can be serious at times but no one can maintain such an act for as long as he has without those traits taking priority in their minds."**

"I don't entirely agree with that, Kurama." Naruto disputed. "I will admit that the stoic, indifferent facade I crafted to shield myself from the hatred of the villagers became an intrinsic part of my behavior, but I still longed for companionship. Every time I spent time with jiji, Shikamaru, Choji, and eventually Team 7, that persona began to fade. I believe the same is true with shishō as well."

Naruto began to pace again as he tried to make his case to his partner. "If we can convince him that our goal is the best way to save the world, I am certain he would put all of his efforts into assisting us. Once everything falls into place, I have no doubt that he will use his new found status to continue on with his work of establishing peace in the world." Naruto fixed his gaze on Kurama's eye. "You also can't deny that his skill set will be most helpful in reestablishing order in the aftermath."

Kurama merely huffed in disbelief. **"That fool admitted to you that he felt it was impossible for him to succeed in his goal. It was obvious he wanted to pass that goal onto someone else. First, it was your father, now, he tries to pass it onto you."**

"Only because he is growing old. Most shinobi don't ever make it to his age and he knew that he could die at any moment!" Naruto retorted before he continued pacing.

"He just wanted to ensure that someone will carry on his legacy once he dies because he felt it wouldn't be possible before his life ended," Naruto argued. "If his age was not a factor in him achieving peace in this world, I know for certain he would continue striving for that goal. All we need to do is provide the evidence that what we say is true and he _will_ believe."

" **The fool is too loyal to Konoha. He could never be objective."** Kurama countered.

"No. Shishō is a realist more than anything," Naruto said quickly before adding. "It's true that he is willing to tolerate underhanded deeds to serve the greater good. I also can't deny that his loyalty to Konoha makes him a bit biased towards the village as a whole. If we can prove that the entire world is in danger, however, I think he would be one of our greatest allies.

Naruto stopped his pacing to stand directly in front of Kurama's eye once more.

"If there is one thing we can rely on him for, it is the fact that he won't let prejudice blind him to reality; if there is convincing evidence to support our claims. Even you have to admit he has been more objective about me working with you than anyone else." Naruto stated firmly.

" **I think it would be foolish to reveal everything to him without some guarantee. You know that the old monkey goat has him observing you for signs of 'corruption' on my part."** Kurama said with a snort. **"What's to stop him from believing this is simply a ploy on my part to break free and prevent the village from resealing me."**

Naruto ran a hand through his hair before sighing. He really wanted to have Jiraiya's help in all this, but he couldn't deny that the reality would be hard for someone to take at face value. If they did reveal the truth about the seals it could serve as evidence in support of his claims, but it could also backfire badly as Kurama suggested.

After a few tense moments of silence, Naruto perked up, "I know, we start off slow and gauge his reaction each step of the way. First, the chakra cycle. If he sees our explanation as plausible in his mind then we move onto the Chijō Sanpu (Ground Application seal). The seal is something tangible he can study and understand."

" **He will simply argue that we can just reform at a later date. Humanity, on the other hand, might not survive or may lose their ability to use chakra in significant quantity."** Kurama pointed out.

Naruto shook his head. "I don't think so. Shishō understands that you are just chakra constructs. While it will be a question in his mind if you will be capable of reforming after the seal is used, we can then reveal the modified Gisei Kōkan (Sacrifice Exchange). Once he sees how the seal and the jutsu are tied together, he will not be able to deny that the risk is being spread amongst everyone in a fair manner." Naruto said emphatically. "By this point, he should see that the bijū have the most to lose from this whole scenario. Without any surplus chakra, you can't reform at all. Humanity can survive with very little chakra, they just need to adapt. As bijū, you will lose your ability to establish a form and possibly your sentience as well."

" **I do not feel comfortable revealing the knowledge about the chakra cycle to that fool. If he were to disagree with us, he would reveal everything to those fools in Konoha. This knowledge it far too dangerous to trust in the hands of humanity."** Kurama said with a growl.

"That is why we make sure the cost of revealing such a truth is too high for him to consider," Naruto replied dully. "If things are going badly during this discussion, if he casts this aside as nothing more than a plot on your behalf. I'll make it clear to him that I would flee to the Akatsuki. If we get to that point and he still doesn't believe us, such a threat will be a reality since we won't be able to safely return to the village. I believe he will tread carefully since the last thing any of them want is for me to leave and forcibly subduing me wouldn't help them in their cause."

Naruto closed his eyes as a twinge of guilt stabbed at his heart. "I hate to use his affection for me in such a way but I know that above all else he wants me to trust him. As long as I am willing to confide in him, then he will believe he has an opportunity to change my mind. If I cut all ties with him, he won't get that chance. I believe he won't take that risk and using force against us will be the absolute last resort for him."

Kurama let out a growl in agitation. The tails that weren't supporting Naruto swished about wildly as he was unsettled by Naruto's insistence. He didn't like feeling that guilt and pain in his kit, and his own paranoia and anxiety about the Toad Fool ruining everything was just as powerful.

On the other hand, he also knew he couldn't trust Son Gokū with their current plan. His old partner in crime had been far more traumatized by humanity than any of his brethren. There was no way Son Gokū would accept anything less than death or total enslavement of humanity. While the Yonbi would trust him with their plans, his hatred of humanity would ensure that the giant ape would keep extremely close tabs on Naruto and his movements. IT would be very difficult and dangerous for them if he were to learn the truth while in the grip of the Akatsuki.

There was also this mysterious ally to consider. Kurama's hackles rose as he thought of the masked man that had so easily taken control of him on the night of Naruto's birth. Kurama would never forget that vile chakra and cursed Sharingan that had enslaved him so easily. With the way that Son Gokū had made a point to mention "his eyes" in the letter when mentioning his ally, Kurama couldn't help but be suspicious.

While he was being controlled by the cursed Uchiha, he was still fully aware and partially in control of his actions. He still had to attack the village as instructed, but he was free to decide what attacks to use and which targets to pick. It is possible that Son Gokū was trying to subtly warn him that he is being manipulated or controlled by slipping that reference into the letter.

It would also explain how Saiken, who was decidedly passive and neutral in his position, would get involved in an organization that was keen on using force to change their status in the world. While it was possible that Saiken was using the opportunity to simply get free of Kiri, the fact that he was apparently convinced to join the organization was highly suspicious. Isobu had been certain that Saiken had willingly joined, but the Rokubi must have also had some suspicions about the group since he had told Isobu to remain concealed until he could return and provide more information.

It was a good thing he told Isobu to relocate and remain silent about what they discussed. If the Akatsuki had managed to track him down and learn the truth, things could go badly.

Kurama decided there were too many unknowns and risks to trust the Akatsuki. For now, it was best to remain in Konoha while placating and misleading the organization. He also, grudgingly, admitted that Naruto was right. If they were to advance the plan in Konoha without being discovered, they would need to recruit the Toad Fool to their cause. If anyone could run an effective counter intelligence campaign, it would be that lust-addled fool.

Kurama let out a sigh of resignation. **"I will only agree to this if you elicit a promise from him to keep all this information concealed from** _ **everyone**_ **. If we must reveal this information to others it will be us that does it, not him. If we learn that he has broken this confidence, you must flee the village immediately. We will just have to take our chances with the Akatsuki should that scenario arise."**

Naruto frowned before nodding reluctantly. Jiraiya probably wouldn't be very pleased with that condition, but considering everything else that they would be dropping on the old sage's head, that would be the least of his concerns.

Naruto cupped his chin in thought for a moment. "I think the best approach is to let him know about the Akatsuki approaching me to join or ally with them first. After that, I will start revealing small parts of the plan to see how he reacts to the news. I won't go into details or reveal the seal unless it seems like he is leaning towards trusting us. Beyond that, we will have to make an exit plan if things go badly."

Kurama growled his agreement. It was still reluctant but he wouldn't dispute that plan of action.

Kurama was about to speak before tensing up and looking up at the "sky" of the mindscape. **"Someone is knocking on the entrance to your den,"** he warned.

Naruto left his mindscape right away before hastily sweeping all the documents he had spread across the desk into a pile. As he began sealing away the documents into a storage scroll, a more insistent round of knocking rang out.

"Just a minute," Naruto called out as he stood from his desk before making his way into the sitting room where the entrance was located.

Naruto quickly sealed the scroll into one of the storage seals on his messenger bag before making his way towards the door. So flustered by the surprise visitor and the interruption of his important conversation with Kurama, Naruto didn't even bother using his senses to try and determine who the knocker was before throwing the door open.

"Shishō!?" Naruto exclaimed when he saw Jiraiya leaning against the awning in a casual manner.

The Sannin had his arms crossed over his chest with a look of amusement on his face.

Naruto knew he had failed to keep the surprised look off of his face. His heart started to beat faster at the thought of the upcoming conversation and the potential repercussions. His mind raced as he tried to envision how the conversation would play out in order to make Jiraiya accept his reasoning. It was far too soon for this conversation for his liking but he also knew that there was no better time than now.

He wanted, no _needed_ Jiraiya to believe him. Even if Jiraiya were to have suspicions about their motives with this plan, he hoped that Jiraiya wouldn't try to stop him. He hoped that Jiraiya would support him as he always had.

He hoped he wouldn't lose Jiraiya as one of his precious people.

"Imagine my surprise when I knock on the door to the office my apprentice is supposed to be confined to, only to find a company commander in his room," Jiraiya said with a glint of pride in his eye. "Then I find that my little apprentice has gone through quite the effort to secure such a fancy room just for his little lady." Jiraiya's smirk grew more lascivious. "So, how was she?"

Naruto groaned as he stepped back and motioned for Jiraiya to enter the room. He knew which direction this was going and while it was embarrassing for him at the moment, he was slightly relieved for the diversion. Maybe it would help him organize his thoughts better for the coming confrontation.

"So, whose the lucky lady?" Jiraiya asked in a teasing tone as he made his way over to one of the couches before plopping down.

Naruto closed the door and took a seat across from Jiraiya before he launched into the tale of how he first met Rei, how their relationship progressed, and, much to his embarrassment, just how far they had gone in terms of intimacy. All the while Jiraiya's perverted grin continued to grow and there was an excited twinkle in his master's eyes.

Next, he relayed an account of his actions during the war and his reason for bribing his way into this suite for Rei's benefit. Afterward, he was regaled with one of Jiraiya's goofy tirades about how the apprentice follows in the footsteps of his master before he began prodding Naruto for more _specific_ details about his most intimate moments with Rei.

"I'm not going to go into detail about what I did with Rei in bed, shishō," Naruto said with a flat expression on his face. "You will just have to find another source for new material."

"Fine, fine," Jiraiya said with mock disappointment before his tone became serious. "We've got more important things to discuss anyways. Like the fact that I have been trying to track you down for weeks, brat!" Jiraiya said with a scowl.

Naruto just looked away with a sheepish expression on his face.

Jiraiya shook his head in exasperation at his response. "Look, I'm not going to get on your back about joining this war. We both know you needed the experience, and I can't blame you for wanting to look out for your woman, but you should have at least summoned a toad to leave me a damn message!"

"I'm sorry, shishō. I thought that using the toads would have misled Hoshi into thinking Konoha was involved in this mess somehow. You told me to keep a low profile and pretty much everyone knows the toads are exclusive to the Leaf." Naruto said with a sigh. "Honestly, the fact that you might have problems tracking me down didn't even cross my mind.

Jiraiya made a sound of disapproval before responding. "You know better than to assume anything, but I'll let it slide because you aren't aware of the dangers. Not even someone of my talent can easily move around and find people in the middle of a war, though I am flattered that you have such faith in me." Jiraiya said smugly.

Naruto merely huffed in response.

"Naruto, it is important for you to realize that keeping a communication line open in the middle of a war is key to ensuring success in all aspects. Whether you are trying to keep safe or exploit a brief gap in your enemy's defenses, maintaining contact with HQ or your team will make the difference between success and defeat." Jiraiya emphasized. "It is one of the main reasons Konoha has managed to reduce the number of casualties we have suffered in the Second and Third wars. Ever since the Yamanaka clan has joined our village, we have been able to fall back or press our advantage at the right time because of their mental communication jutsu."

"You're right, shishō. I should have made an attempt to, at least, update you on the situation. Especially after what happened at Ussuri Bridge." Naruto said before taking a deep breath.

It was time for the first big reveal.

"Yes, I have heard some interesting things about what went down there, actually," Jiraiya said sternly. "What the hell were you thinking challenging someone like Kisame Hoshigaki to a fight like that?"

"I thought it would be safer for the mission and the rest of the Tsuki ninja if I lured him away. It was stupid and risky, I know-" Naruto said with a hand raised to stop Jiraiya from interjecting. "I was banking on the fact that the Akatsuki wanted me alive and it turned out to be the right move."

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya said with suspicion.

"First off, I will say that I only engaged him because both me and Kyūbi sensed he was alone, and if things got really bad I would have used a barrier to keep him away from me while I summoned Kichi and escaped to Myōbokuzan," Naruto emphasized.

Jiraiya's frown didn't change with that statement, but he gestured for Naruto to continue with his tale.

Naruto gave Jiraiya the play by play of his fight against Kisame. He made certain to include a thorough evaluation of the Kiri-nin's strengths, abilities, and vulnerabilities as well as all the information on Samehada that he had uncovered. Jiraiya kept silent through most of the explanation; probably mentally filing away the information to update his Konoha's databases or bingo books. It was only when Naruto got to the very end of his encounter with Kisame that Jiraiya interrupted.

"So then the partner showed up at that moment and didn't attack you?" Jiraiya said with a furrowed brow.

Naruto nodded "She claimed that there had been a _misunderstanding_ and that she wanted to clear the air between us." Naruto clarified.

Jiraiya raised an eye brow with an incredulous look on his face.

"I know it seems a little far-fetched, given what happened in Yuki, but she was adamant that Deidara and Sasori were acting against their leader's orders. She said that the last thing their Leader wanted was for me to be suspicious of them. In fact, she said their interest in me was of an entirely different nature; that the last thing they wanted was for me to distrust them." Naruto said before leaning over to pick up his messenger bag.

"And what kind of interest did they say they had in you?" Jiraiya asked in a steely tone.

Jiraiya did not like the sound of what Naruto was telling him so far.

"Apparently, they wanted me to view them as allies or as comrades. I think they wanted to recruit me." Naruto said seriously before unsealing a small scroll and tossing it at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya quickly unsealed the scroll to reveal Deidara's head. While his outward appearance didn't change at all, Naruto could tell that Jiraiya was just as shocked to see the head as he had been. Jiraiya closely studied the head in silence; obviously trying to pick up any clues if not to simply deduce how the Iwa bomber had died.

After studying the head for several minutes; Jiraiya sighed and resealed the head before staring at Naruto with an intense expression on his face. Naruto could see the silent question in his eyes and decided to press forward with the next step.

"I know what your thinking. That they want to recruit me because of the Kyūbi, but unfortunately, it isn't that simple." Naruto said with a sigh before bracing his elbows on his knees and steepling his fingers in front of his face. "In order for you to understand why they want to recruit me, I have to...reveal something that I have kept hidden from you..., from all of you, for some time," Naruto said sadly.

Jiraiya remained silent as he could tell that this was a difficult confession for the blond. While a part of him was a bit nervous about what was about to be revealed, a part of him was feeling excitement and anticipation. He knew that Naruto and the Kyūbi had been keeping things hidden from him because of Minato's warning. From what he had observed of Naruto these past few years, Jiraiya knew that his god son had been colluding with the Kyūbi on something, but he had been unable to figure out how it tied into Minato's warning.

The only thing he had been trying to do to counter whatever the Kyūbi had planned was to show Naruto that he was open minded about everything. That he could trust him as a confidante. That as his god father, he would guide him and help him with anything. No matter what Naruto and the fox were doing, he would listen and provide an objective point of view as long as it wasn't something that was an immediate threat or danger to Naruto's well being.

Not Konoha's well-being, but Naruto's.

While Jiraiya was loyal to Konoha, above all else, he was loyal to his god son even more. If the Sandaime hadn't kept Naruto's survival a secret, the circumstances might have been different. But, because his sensei kept Naruto's existence hidden from him, Jiraiya had been forced to wallow in grief and despair over Minato's death. For the old sage, it had been like a death knell for his dream of advancing peace in this war-torn world. Learning about Naruto's survival had been a beacon of light that guided him out of a dark and gloomy cave of regret and vengeance that he had been trapped in for over a decade.

Yet, as he learned more about Naruto's childhood and life within the village, Jiraiya couldn't help but become a bit resentful. His prized pupil sacrificed everything for those ignorant, ungrateful wretches and in return, they try to murder and spit on his legacy as thanks. While some leeway could be given for their ignorance as a whole, the fact that they would attack and abuse a child was inexcusable in his mind. The Konoha that he knew and loved wouldn't have ever condoned such behavior, regardless of the sins of that child's parents. No one in their right mind would punish a child because their father was a murderer. It just wasn't logical.

After receiving Minato's warning, Jiraiya thought it would be best if he taught Naruto to question everything. Even himself. If Naruto doubted him or challenged him about something, he never snapped at him or brushed off his concerns or questions. Instead, he would openly and honestly respond to each question or doubt that Naruto expressed. He never played the "because I said so" card with the young blond, knowing how much he hated that lame excuse when he was a teen. Instead, he tried to provide a logical and reasonable answer for all of Naruto's questions.

Jiraiya also tried to give Naruto a balanced and realistic view of humanity instead of the polarized one he experienced because of the Kyūbi and the morons in Konoha. To try and ignore or deny that there were corrupt people in this world would have been pointless. He knew better than anyone just how foul and corrupt the world was as a whole, and if he only tried to espouse the good aspects of humanity, it would be easy for the Kyūbi to point out the flaws and hypocrisy in his arguments. So, he did his best to show Naruto the reality of humanity and the world they lived in. He highlighted the good, bad, and the in-between. He took special care to emphasize that the majority of people fell into that gray area of morality despite the fact that everyone actively tried to categorize themselves as either black (bad) or white (good)

The people that were in that in that gray area couldn't be lumped into one category over the other so easily. Instead, these people were thrust into a situation where they had to make a choice. How they chose to react was primarily dictated by the current situation and the circumstances surrounding them as they made their way through life. Some people chose the wrong path for the right reasons while others chose the right path for the wrong reasons. Some people were simply dealt a bad hand early in their life and chose the wrong path because they didn't know any other way to live. In the right circumstances, those people could find a new life making the right choices, but that would never happen if you simply wrote them off as bad people from the start.

He had seen Naruto slowly rethinking his polarized view of humanity as the trip progressed, but he could never truly gauge just where his opinion truly lies. With the Kyūbi being actively present in his god son's mind, he could never know just what the fox was saying at any given time or if the bijū was even bothering to counter his arguments with its own.

It was like trying to win a debate when you weren't allowed to hear or read your opponent's counter arguments. A frustrating concept for him.

Judging from Naruto's facial expressions and body language, Jiraiya could tell this secret was something big. If he was willing to reveal something big that could only mean that circumstances had forced Naruto to confide in him despite the Kyūbi's protests. For Jiraiya, that meant progress had been made in stopping what the Kyūbi had planned. Jiraiya knew from this moment on his actions and reactions would be pivotal in maintaining Naruto's trust and if he screwed this up, he might lose his god son forever.

Naruto ran his hands through his hair before looking up at Jiraiya. His anxiety was clear on his face for he made no attempt to hide it. Jiraiya allowed his frown to soften in the hopes that it would make this confession easier on the blond. He was just as anxious to learn what they had been hiding from everyone and he had trained himself to keep his face unmovable in situations like this so that his thoughts remained concealed. If he relaxed a bit, Naruto would subconsciously follow his lead.

"Before I explain anything, I need to ask you how much the toads taught you about how chakra works in conjunction with the world itself?" Naruto queried.

Jiraiya was a little thrown off by that question as he couldn't see how it had anything to do with the Kyūbi's plans at first. Then he recalled that strange chakra during the purging of the cursed seal and realized that as a being of pure chakra, the Kyūbi would definitely have more tips and tricks on how chakra functioned. While he wasn't supposed to reveal the knowledge he learned about Sage Mode to anyone without Fukasaku or Shima present, he decided to humor Naruto for the moment. If everything went well with this conversation, Naruto would be learning the process from the elder toads after they left this place anyways.

"What the toads taught me was primarily focused on Natural chakra itself and how it is created but some of the concepts are similar to chakra in general," Jiraiya answered before he began reciting the lecture Fukasaku had given him. "Natural chakra is a combination of latent spiritual energy and physical energy from the plants and land itself. Latent spiritual energy comes from all the living creatures in the world that aren't actively harnessing that energy for creating regular chakra. You could say all the animals and civilians are a constant source of spiritual energy for the world." Jiraiya added before continuing.

"Physical energy comes from a mix of energy produced by the world itself like gravity, volcanic eruptions, storms; and the presence of creatures that do not have sentience like plants, bivalves, certain invertebrates, and microbes. These simple life forms create and provide the physical energy necessary for life. Like how plants use photosynthesis to create oxygen and provide nutrients to animals that eat them or how microbes break down dead plant and animal life so those nutrients can return to the soil for other plants and animals to use."

Jiraiya paused for a moment to study Naruto's reaction. Seeing that Naruto was listening attentively, he decided to conclude his lecture with an example he had created to help himself understand the concept easier.

"The way I would describe it; Natural chakra behaves in the same way that a person would when they want to mold chakra within themselves. A person will balance the Yin energy from their spirit and the Yang energy from their physical body to form regular chakra while nature itself combines the latent spiritual and physical energies of the world to form natural chakra." Jiraiya finished.

"I see." Naruto said with a nod before sighing, "It's not a bad theory, considering how much knowledge the toads have gathered over the years. Surprisingly, it isn't that far from the truth of how chakra actually works."

Jiraiya leaned forward with his eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed once more. It was not a look of wariness or suspicion, Naruto noted, but one of intense focus. At least, he wasn't picking up anything majorly negative from the body language or emotion sensing at the moment, but Naruto knew that he would have to catch the Sannin off guard completely for any major signs to become visible. Instead, he would have to focus intensely on any brief flickers or slight movements to try and gauge what Jiraiya was actually feeling at the moment.

"What are you trying to say? And what does this have to do with the Akatsuki?" Jiraiya prodded.

"I know it seems like we are going off track, shishō, but please trust me when I say it is all related." Naruto said softly, "If I don't explain all of this now you won't be able to understand what I have been hiding from everyone."

Jiraiya studied the blond's face for several moments without replying before giving him a nod and a grunt in affirmation.

"What the toads have gotten correct in their theory is that there is latent energy in all things, but it isn't energy that is latent but actual raw chakra. Plants, animals, _everything_ is intrinsically tied to chakra in some way, shape, or form." Naruto stated.

Seeing Jiraiya's look of incredulity, he provided an example that Kurama had given him in the past.

"Imagine, if you will, that chakra is like the ocean." Naruto began, "When the sun shines down on the ocean, some of the sea water is evaporated into the sky to form clouds. Through this process, salt water is converted into water vapor in those clouds which eventually rains down as purified water on the land. Plants, animals, and the ground itself absorb this water as it falls and either uses it or stores it for later use. Some of that converted water could remain trapped in its new state through various means such as snow, lakes, or underground aquifers, but most of it returns to the ocean and becomes salt water once more."

Jiraiya simply nodded in response.

"What people don't realize is that all the chakra in the world is exactly like the ocean. Instead of our spiritual energy mixing with our physical energy to create chakra, we are actually drawing on the ambient chakra or in this case the "salt water" for the "yin component" and absorbing the chakra in the foods we eat and water we drink for the "yang component". The yang component, in this case, is the purified water. Our body alters these raw forms of natural chakra into a form that we can use and manipulate." Naruto concluded.

"Some things don't add up for me," Jiraiya said bluntly. "If what you are saying is true, then how come not everyone has larger reserves or is capable of entering sage mode? If we really are just balancing natural chakra within ourselves to create our usual form of chakra then wouldn't we all have the same type of affinities? Wouldn't civilians be capable of producing more chakra?"

"Because, shishō, not everyone has evolved or adapted to handle that much chakra in such a way. You know better than anyone that sage mode training is dangerous for those who aren't strong in mind and body. Even people with excellent control might not be able to handle the pure potency of natural chakra once they have balanced it within their system." Naruto responded easily.

"Like people are diverse in hair, eye, and skin color, so too are people diverse in regards to how they interact and generate chakra. Just look at the various bloodlines that exist in the world and you can see evidence of the truth." Naruto pointed out, "Their bodies adapted and converted raw chakra into different manifestations that gave them an alternate means of manipulating chakra. Dojutsu were a result of people who had eyes that were more susceptible to alteration from raw chakra or its base components. Just like some people developed methods of combining certain components of chakra to make new natural releases, or their bodies were more geared towards certain base components like the Akimichi or Nara clans."

"You make a valid point," Jiraiya admitted. "Most things in this world are cyclical like you describe, so it would only make sense that chakra also has its own cycle. Even all the current diagrams on how chakra works represent a cycle. If people weren't inherently drawing on chakra around them to some extent, we would have never learned how to draw on chakra and enter sage mode. It also makes sense as to how bloodlines manifested and deviated in such radical ways. At some point, their ancestors had to be introduced to pure natural chakra or over time their bodies changed because of this "raw" chakra."

Naruto smiled in relief as he saw Jiraiya slowly heading towards the conclusion that he wanted.

"Now, as for what this all has to do with the Akatsuki and their interest in me. You must understand that the bijū, being beings of chakra are also a part of the cycle." Naruto stated.

"I know they are manifestations of chakra but aren't they outside of the cycle like the rest of the creatures?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto shook his head. "Only if you are still looking things from the wrong point of view, shishō. If we are drawing on chakra by our very presence, then we are also a part of the chakra cycle as well," he stated emphatically.

Jiraiya raised his hands up in a placating matter. "Alright, alright I get it. Please continue with the lecture, sensei."

Naruto merely snorted at Jiraiya's little dig but he knew the sannin was only trying to bring some levity to the moment, so he continued with his revelations.

"The bijū are an intrinsic part of the cycle itself. Before they manifested into their current forms they were simply raw chakra that was used and then recycled into the world. At some point, and even they can't recall, there was no more drain on the chakra itself. The plant and animal life were no longer utilizing chakra in the amounts that they were before so there was a build up of excess chakra that needed to be dealt with or the cycle would have broken." Naruto said gaining a nod from Jiraiya. "Most of that excess was locked away into solid forms like the bijū, chakra crystals, the summoning realms, and the different simple and complex elements that chakra can form into like dirt, sand, water, ice, lava, plant life, etc."

"That is plausible, I'll admit," Jiraiya replied. "But I doubt that such a surplus is the cause for concern. More people than ever are using chakra and even technology is being developed around its use."

"You are right about that. What is of more concern is our current situation." Naruto replied before extrapolating. "If we go back to our original example of viewing chakra as the ocean. What do you think would happen if we were to seal up all the water and snow that was stored on the land before it could return to the ocean?" Naruto posed.

"If such a feat were possible, at some point the oceans would begin to drop in water level if we constantly sealed up all the water on the land," Jiraiya answered readily.

Naruto took a deep breath. This was one of the first moments of truth.

"That is exactly what is happening to the chakra well of the world because we keep sealing the bijū away," Naruto said firmly while staring Jiraiya straight in the eyes. "More and more people are using chakra then ever before. We are more proficient in using chakra so that there is less waste for the cycle to recover and, at the same time, we are sealing away the natural reserves in the form of the bijū; forcing the well to diminish as time passes."

For Jiraiya, the alarm bells began going off inside of his head. It didn't take a genius to see which direction this was going and already his mind was shifting into a defensive stance. If the Kyūbi was convincing him that sealing the bijū was dangerous to the world, then the only logical conclusion was that the bijū needed to remain free in order to prevent what ever negative consequences that would arise once the world's chakra "well" was running out.

Jiraiya leaned back against the sofa while cupping his chin and closing his eyes in thought. He would have to be very, very careful about his next moves or he would lose all his progress in gaining Naruto's trust. His instincts were shouting to deny it all, knowing that releasing the Kyūbi would cause the death of his grandson, in all but blood, and massive destruction the world over until the beast could be contained. Yet, his logical mind had already drawn the conclusion that everything Naruto said was plausible to some extent.

"So, you are saying that by keeping the bijū sealed away, the world's chakra pool is being depleted in some fashion," Jiraiya asked as he opened his eyes and studied Naruto's face closely.

Naruto simply nodded, too nervous to do anything more than make a slight gesture at the moment. He couldn't read anything from Jiraiya at the moment and only for a brief moment did he sense a flicker of fear from his master.

"What exactly will happen once this pool is depleted?" Jiraiya questioned.

Naruto took another deep breath to calm his racing heart before answering. "If the chakra well drops below a certain point, then the world will seek to balance the cycle by drawing on chakra in any form to refill that well. That means that everything will be targeted until the world feels that its reserves are back at a safe level."

Jiraiya's expression grew grim at that statement. While shinobi might be able to handle being drained of a great deal of chakra, civilians, animals, and even plant life might not survive. The bijū held a great deal of chakra, that Jiraiya was certain of, but if they were sealed away then theoretically they would be safe from this supposed draining. Still, there were too many things that weren't adding up for him.

"How could sealing the bijū themselves cause such a massive impact on a global scale? Humanity hasn't been sealing away the bijū for nearly as long as they have existed, so why is it becoming a problem now?" Jiraiya asked cautiously.

He didn't want to make Naruto believe that he wasn't entertaining the thought that this whole scenario he presented was realistic. He just had his doubts like any other person would.

Naruto simply nodded before replying. "In the past, there were fewer chakra users overall. Those that were capable of using chakra in such a way used it feed plants and animals for food or heal wounds. This form of chakra is readily reabsorbed by the cycle since ancient humans didn't know how to convert the chakra into any other form. Not only did they leave the chakra unaltered as they manipulated it, they also lacked control exercises so a great deal of that chakra was "wasted" as they used it. The cycle was able to reabsorb this chakra with ease and maintain balance."

Seeing that Jiraiya was following along, Naruto pressed on. "As humanity grew and began settling down, they also began developing chakra control exercises and fostering the use of chakra amongst others in their tribes or clans. They also began learning how to convert and manipulate chakra into different forms. This increase of chakra users was offset by the invention of agriculture which increased plant life on the world exponentially. These plants were able to take raw Doton, Suiton, and Fūton chakra that had been stored away by the cycle and convert it into a form that was easily reabsorbed. The animals and humans ate those plants that were now rich in raw chakra and the cycle was able to adjust and compensate for the increased load on its reserves accordingly."

Jiraiya interrupted with a question. "If the cycle is responsible for all chakra, then why can't it simply break down elemental chakra?"

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment to confer with Kurama as that was a question he hadn't actually thought of before. After a few seconds, he reopened his eyes and replied.

"In order to reabsorb elemental chakra to that extent, the cycle would need to apply more chakra to the element in order to convert it back to its original state. If there is too much Suiton chakra, for example, the cycle would need to convert a great deal of raw chakra into Doton chakra to break it down to its base component form." Naruto paused for a moment with a blank expression on his face. Jiraiya assumed that the Kyūbi was providing more input and remained silent.

"It's like how elemental attacks counter each other, what is really happening is that converted chakra is being reverted back to raw form. Since raw chakra needs to be broken down to a base component in order for an element to manifest, the jutsu disperses since that component has been altered. If the balance isn't precise, however, the process of conversion won't trigger that is why a C-ranked Doton can be overcome by an A-ranked Suiton jutsu." Naruto explained. "If the chakra well wanted to draw on all the Doton chakra in the world to establish the balance it would need to reduce the reserve of raw chakra it has to create the right balance. This would leave the chakra well dangerously depleted of raw chakra, which would, in turn, draw on the easiest source of raw chakra it can find in order to complete the process instead of allowing the reserves to fall to dangerous levels." Naruto stated.

"And I'm guessing the chakra of least resistance is the unaltered chakra within people and animals?" Jiraiya said with a sigh.

Naruto nodded. "Humans more than animals and plants because if you combine all the people on in the world, the raw, untapped chakra stored within their bodies is greater than the bijū themselves. Even if the bijū were released at the onset of the draining event, the fact that the bijū are still in a solid form would mean that the cycle would naturally target humanity first."

"The most logical source to draw on would be the easiest and most abundant after all," Jiraiya mumbled before a thought came to his mind. "What if the bijū were forced to disperse like when their jinchūriki was killed, for example?"

Jiraiya wanted to kick himself when he saw a hurt expression flash across Naruto's face, but before he could retract his question and apologize, Naruto gave him an answer.

"The bijū have been contained outside of the cycle for so long because of sealing that even if they dispersed their forms entirely, it would still take a great deal of time for their basic forms to be reabsorbed. This is due to the fact that they were forced to convert themselves into different elemental forms of chakra to reduce the amount of corruption and taint they were subject to because of their removal. Raw chakra is highly vulnerable to corruption and taint, that is why Orochimaru's curse seals were able to power themselves because tainted chakra draws in and corrupts raw chakra with ease. Elemental chakra is a bit more resistant but since tainted chakra still contains all the base components needed to convert elemental chakra, it can eventually corrupt any chakra it comes in contact with. Even solid forms of chakra are susceptible to corruption, but it takes more tainted chakra and more time for the corruption to spread." Naruto said with a scowl.

"Look, Naruto, I didn't mean anything by mentioning the whole reformation thing. There is no way in hell I would sacrifice you like that for the whole greater good thing. You know that, right? I would always fight to ensure that every other method was exhausted before even considering something like that." Jiraiya said apologetically.

"I understand, shishō." Naruto said solemnly, "I just know that if this information became public knowledge that most people wouldn't hesitate to slit my throat if they thought it would save their own ass. They don't see me as a human, to begin with, so why shouldn't I die so that they can live."

"Not if I can help it," Jiraiya said adamantly. "I'd sooner let those bastards be drained then let something like that happen to you. You didn't deserve that kind of treatment and just because you were chosen to house the Kyūbi doesn't mean you have any fewer rights to live than they do. If anything, most of those idiots wouldn't be missed if they disappeared from the world but you, kid, you are something special. Don't you forget that."

Naruto merely nodded but his eyes began to water a bit. He could tell that Jiraiya was being genuine because he felt a strong surge of anger from his godfather when he made that comment.

"From what I can gather from all this, I am assuming that you and the Kyūbi have some kind of plan to solve all of this and the Akatsuki is involved in this whole mess somehow," Jiraiya said with a tired sigh.

"Yes," Naruto answered before looking down at the ground to try and hide his fear of being denied. "But before I reveal anything else to you I want you to promise me that you won't reveal any of this to Tsunade-bachan or Jiji or anyone really. Kyūbi was very reluctant to even reveal the truth of chakra to you because of the damage that can be done if the wrong people got their hands on this information. I don't want to risk sabotaging our efforts to fix this whole mess because people are too blinded by their fear and hatred of the bijū."

"I don't know about that, Naruto. I can't just easily make such a promise when such a threat is looming on the horizon." Jiraiya said with a sigh. "If everything you say is true, and I'm not saying I don't believe any of it." Jiraiya added quickly " _If_ everything you say is true, we would need a coordinated effort to fix everything without causing a lot of death and destruction."

"I already have the means to solve the problem, shishō," Naruto said firmly. "What I want from you is a promise to keep it silent because the more people learn the truth, the bigger the chances that the information will be leaked. Especially because of the Akatsuki and their spy network. They are the main reason that I am willing to risk telling you about this." Naruto ran his hand through his hair in nervousness before making his next statements. "I learned from them that they know everything about me, shishō. They have been watching my every move since I entered the Academy and they know things about both of us that they shouldn't know."

Jiraiya stiffened at that news and his frown became more pronounced. "What did they tell you?"

"The woman who contacted me and delivered Deidara's head told me that they knew I was in contact with the Kyūbi since the Academy. I didn't even let Kakashi-sensei or jiji know about that until after the Nami no Kuni incident. They also know specific details about the plan that I have been working on with Kyūbi to solve this whole mess." Naruto leaned back against the couch and allowed his gaze to meet Jiraiya's. "I don't know how, but they also knew about all of our movements for the past few years. It was the main reason they even took jobs from Hoshi because they knew we were coming to Tsuki. Somehow, they knew that you would leave me on my own; giving them a chance to meet up with me and establish contact." Naruto explained.

Jiraiya scowled at the news. There was no way anyone could have kept such close tabs on him without him noticing. Either there was a spy within Konoha that was reading the reports he sent to Tsunade or their network was just as extensive as his own. It was possible, given how they had infiltrated and manipulated the villagers in Iwa so easily, and how they managed to stage the events in Taki in such a short time frame.

"That isn't all, shishō," Naruto said grimly. "The woman who spoke to me said that you were her sensei at some point. She said her name was Konan and she used an odd form of jutsu that allowed her to manipulate paper. Even her body seemed to be made of paper."

"What? That's impossible!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "She was supposedly killed along with my other students! What did she look like?"

"She had blue hair and amber colored eyes. Her skin was kind of pale and she had a lip piercing. Beside the default Akatsuki uniform, she had an origami rose in her hair that was styled in a strange sort of half bun on her right side." Naruto answered.

"Damn. That definitely sounds like Konan." Jiraiya mumbled.

"Who is she, shishō?" Naruto asked quietly.

Jiraiya fell back against the sofa and covered his eyes with his forearm as the memories came back to him.

"It was during the Second Shinobi war that I met a group of orphans that caught my attention. We had fought the leader of Ame, Hanzō the Salamander, to a standstill but he was just too strong for us to defeat at the time. Even with the legendary teamwork myself, Tsunade, and Orochimaru were famous for, Hanzō was just too powerful."

Jiraiya removed his forearm and sat back up. "It was Hanzō that gave us the title of Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja) before he allowed us to flee from the battle. He claimed it was because we managed to _impress_ him." Jiraiya said with a snort. "As Konoha began to withdraw from Ame territory we ran into a trio of orphans who wanted to become strong enough to end all the violence and establish peace in Ame."

At this point, a fond smile spread across Jiraiya's face. "I couldn't turn them down since the one named Yahiko was so determined to bring peace. I saw in him the same fiery determination and willpower that I saw in your father as a genin. For me, it was another opportunity to spread my idea of peace in this world, so I stayed behind and trained them for three years despite the protests of Tsunade and Orochimaru." Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "They were very eager and exceptional students. Yahiko was full of energy and life, Konan, while somewhat shy and demure, was just as focused and determined to advance her unique bloodline of paper manipulation while the third was an Uzumaki just like you were."

Naruto looked surprised at that news but remained silent so that Jiraiya could continue with his story.

"Nagato Uzumaki was his name, he had the same red hair as your mother, but what made him special was his dojutsu the Rinnegan," Jiraiya said as his smile turned melancholy. "All three of them showed so much promise and after three years I felt they were ready to, at the very least, take care of themselves. So, I left to return to Konoha and started to establish my information network. I kept receiving news of their exploits from time to time; usually, it was about how they were helping people. I heard stories of them clearing out bandits, missing-nin, and eventually, fighting against the tyranny of Hanzō himself. In the end, however, I received news that Hanzō had finished off their fledgling group and ended their lives." Jiraiya said sadly.

Jiraiya took a moment to compose himself before continuing. "That was shortly before the outbreak of the Third Shinobi war so I didn't have time to go confirm their deaths. After that, Ame became extremely isolationist and it became impossible for me to infiltrate or establish contacts inside the country. Every time I tried to enter the village and learn the truth, I would have squads of their Anbu on me in minutes. The people were too frightened to speak with an outsider for fear of being executed and even the smaller villages around the country were heavily patrolled." Jiraiya said with a weary sigh.

"After that, the whole scandal with Orochimaru occurred followed by the Kyūbi attack and the thought of discovering the truth about them just left my mind. I felt bringing Orochimaru to justice and tracking down the masked man who was responsible for the Kyūbi attack was more important at the time. A quest I have been on until the very moment I learned the truth about you." Jiraiya said softly.

Naruto reached over to his bag and unsealed his sake scroll. He could tell that Jiraiya needed a drink after recounting that story and, to be honest, he could really use one himself. Unsealing a few of the smaller bottles, he tossed one to Jiraiya before unscrewing the lid on his own and taking a swig.

It wasn't the best, nor worst, that he had tasted but it would work, for now. Naruto could tell that Kurama was anxious to speak to him about something, but the bijū was opting to remain silent for the moment in favor of settling this issue with Jiraiya first. They hadn't established if Jiraiya would remain silent and help them or if he would become a roadblock that they would need to avoid or surpass in the future.

Jiraiya, for his part, thanked Naruto for the sake and took a drink of his own while he tried to settle his thoughts. His mind was racing with the news that Konan was alive and was a part of this organization. Not only that, the whole situation with this chakra cycle and the bijū was a lot of information to process. The fact that Naruto was practically radiating nervousness and fear wasn't making the situation any better.

If everything Naruto said was true, then there was a great deal of things he needed to learn and research if he was to help Naruto solve the problem.

Even if they had more than just the word of the bijū, even if they had solid evidence that the world was going to die because of the bijū being sealed in such a way; there would be too many people who would protest unsealing the bijū. Not just because of the loss of their "weapons of mass destruction" but because of fear that the bijū would retaliate. Jiraiya was certain that the Sandaime wouldn't believe a word of this for a second. Even with how intelligent his sensei was, the fact that it was the Kyūbi who was providing this knowledge would trigger too many warnings in the old man.

Not only that, the fact that Hashirama had distributed the bijū as a method to try and prevent war would automatically put Tsunade and Hiruzen into the position of maintaining the status quo. Not even the fact that keeping the bijū sealed had failed to prevent the outbreak of war would be enough to sway Tsunade or Hiruzen. Jiraiya was certain both of them would push to keep the bijū sealed for the safety of Konoha if not to keep Naruto alive at the very least.

It wouldn't be an illogical fear, considering the fact that they had no guarantee that the bijū wouldn't enact their revenge on the villages that imprisoned them once the cycle was fixed. All the stories and legends involving the bijū were a result of the conflict between the chakra beasts and humanity. If this was a simple ploy by the bijū to gain their freedom, it would be the perfect time for them to strike since humanity would be weakened and defenseless after the cycle was fixed. There was no way his old sensei or his teammate would be willing to bet on that kind of risk when it came to protecting the village.

The other part of this issue that concerned Jiraiya was the fact that the bijū themselves were likely to only choose a solution that prevented them from being resealed. It only made sense that if the cause of the problem was them being sealed away, the solution would have to include some sort of anti-fūinjutsu measure so that the world didn't simply end up in the same situation in the future.

Humanity as a whole would never stand for that and there would be massive loss of life as people launched attacks on the bijū to try and subdue them in some other fashion. If humanity did find another method of containing the bijū, the problem would rear its head once more. If they didn't manage to subdue the bijū, then the failed attempts would only resort to more retaliatory attacks by the bijū and the cycle of violence would continue once more. Instead of people fighting people, however, it would be people versus the bijū.

Without sealing, Jiraiya wasn't certain that was a battle that humanity could win.

What was certain at the moment, however, was that Naruto truly believed everything that the Kyūbi was telling him. If this was some elaborate ploy to gain its freedom, then the Kyūbi had succeeded in fooling Naruto completely and taking any steps against this plan would drive Naruto away for good. Jiraiya could tell that Naruto would fight with his very being to complete whatever plan they had in place. If he were to refute Naruto's beliefs, things would end badly between them. Jiraiya could already see that taking measures against this plan would result in him having to forcibly subdue Naruto at some point.

While Tsunade and the Sandaime might try to reason with Naruto, they would probably have no choice but to keep him restrained with his chakra sealed to prevent him from fleeing the village to fulfill the Kyūbi's goal. If that were to happen, Jiraiya would know that he had failed and the last thing he wanted to see was Naruto looking at him with hatred and betrayal in his eyes.

If Naruto were able to escape, then they would be forced to watch as the Kyūbi's plan succeeded anyways. The Kyūbi would likely rampage the village before himself or the Sandaime would have to reseal the bijū into another unfortunate child. Then he would be left with no other purpose in his life but to bury the remains of the last member of his family. Jiraiya didn't know if he could survive Naruto's death, and he knew that Tsunade would be just as broken from finding her last living relative only for him to be torn away once more.

Jiraiya couldn't go back to that empty existence he had been living before he learned that Naruto was alive. Only the desire to avenge Minato and put Orochimaru down had kept him moving forward. The sake, the women, even his writing had been nothing more than something to keep him occupied until he succeeded in gaining vengeance for Minato or died trying. A large part of him had planned to find that masked man and drag the bastard to hell with him. Even if it meant that he would rot in the Shinigami's stomach for eternity. At least he would share the same fate as his student at that point.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto after taking another deep swig of sake. He could see the trepidation on the young man's face clearly but there was also hope in his eyes. Hope that he could count on his mentor, his god father, to see him through this mess. Naruto must have been able to pick up on his inner turmoil because he began to speak once more.

"I'm not asking you to trust the Kyūbi, shishō. I'm asking you to trust _me_. I'm asking you to _believe_ _me_. If you make that promise, then I will reveal everything to you. I promise you, I will include you every step of the way so you know what I am saying is the truth. You might even be able to help me in ways that Kyūbi and myself haven't considered, ways that could reduce the potential consequences, I just need you to trust me." Naruto pleaded.

Jiraiya let out a sigh of exasperation. Even though Naruto was well-approaching adulthood now, it seemed that those big watery eyes of his still held some power over him. Even though Jiraiya feared that he was being duped, that they were both being duped, he couldn't ignore such a plea from Naruto. To deny him this would be to essentially cut himself out of Naruto's life. If this was all just a ploy then the only way he would be able to save Naruto from it was to be involved. If that meant keeping the others out of the loop, then so be it. It wouldn't be the first time he had kept secrets from everyone else.

"Alright, alright." Jiraiya relented. "I will promise to keep my mouth shut about all this but _only_ if you reveal the truth about everything to me _and_ if there is no unnecessary risk to anyone involved with whatever plan you have in place. I won't stand by if innocent people are going to suffer and die needlessly and I expect you both to put just as much effort in preventing that as well. If you can guarantee that to me and I sense that you are being completely honest then I won't say a word to anyone." Jiraiya said firmly.

Naruto simply nodded rapidly as a few tears escaped from his eyes. It was only the large smile on his face that showed Jiraiya just how relieved Naruto actually was. It was the largest show of emotion he had seen from Naruto since he failed to fight off those Yuki ninja commanded by Koyuki.

Jiraiya got up and moved to sit next to Naruto before wrapping his arm around the blond's trembling shoulders.

"Hey now, your too old to be crying like a baby." Jiraiya admonished him softly before squeezing his shoulders firmly.

Naruto let out a small chuckle before leaning against Jiraiya for comfort. It wasn't often that he had moments like this with the man who had quickly become a close, father like figure in his life. While most young adults his age would find such actions embarrassing or belittling, Naruto was far too relieved at the moment to really care. For him, Jiraiya's promise had relieved him of a great burden. A burden so overbearing and ever present in his life that he hadn't realized just how much it had been wearing him down until he found someone else to help him carry it.

The fear of the Akatsuki, the fear of Konoha turning against him, the fear of losing everything had been slowly weighing him down. While he was determined to see the plan through to the end, a part of him feared that he would screw everything up, that his sacrifice would be in vain, that it would all be for nothing.

For most of his life, he had felt that it was him and Kurama against the world. While meeting with the other bijū had given him some hope that others were standing with him, none of them were shouldering the burden of gathering and preparing everything that was necessary. All that they needed to do was be present when the seal was finally activated and allow their chakra to be absorbed. He was the only one that was responsible for making everything fall into place and while Kurama was supporting him as best as he could, the fox was still limited in how much he could do because he was sealed away.

Learning that there was a powerful group of individuals that could actively oppose his efforts in the future had been frightening and stressful for him. Without being able to reveal the truth to anyone, Naruto had never felt so weighed down and alone before.

While he had bonds in his life to try and alleviate that loneliness in his spirit, he never really knew if he could trust them with every aspect of his life because of their fear and mistrust of Kurama. Naruto feared that if those close to him had learned the truth about his plans, they would have turned against him. He could be imprisoned or worse, Kurama forcibly extracted to be sealed away into a more pliable host. His last moments in life would be the painful separation from the one he had relied on most in his life and the crushing realization that nothing would be solved.

Eventually, the world would die along with everyone in it because he had _failed_.

Now, at least, he knew that he could at least confide in Jiraiya as well. That there was someone else who could provide insight, knowledge, and aid in his goals. While Kurama was pissed off that Naruto was now planning to reveal everything to Jiraiya, Naruto could tell from the look on his godfather's face that it was either all or nothing at this point. When it came to this matter there could be no compromises or secrets between them. If he wanted Jiraiya to trust and have faith in him, he needed to return that same level of trust and faith in Jiraiya.

It was a big risk, certainly, but Naruto was confident that Jiraiya would come to the same realizations that he had and at least provide advice. Naruto knew that Jiraiya would keep his word and for that, the blond planned on keeping his. An even larger part of him was glad that he wouldn't have to hide things from Jiraiya anymore. He had always hated keeping secrets from people and while he had been trained to do so efficiently, it still left a bad feeling deep inside of him and a nasty taste in his mouth.

"Thank you, shishō, thank you for trusting me. I promise I won't let you down _ **!**_ " Naruto said softly before he started laughing at his verbal tick.

Jiraiya chuckled along with him before patting him on the back and reaching over the table to retrieve his forgotten sake bottle.

"It's been quite some time since you let that slip. This must have been really important to you." Jiraiya said before finishing off his sake bottle.

"You have no idea, shishō. At least, not yet." Naruto said quietly before wiping his face with his arm. Finishing off his own bottle of sake, he reached over and unsealed the scroll that contained his work on the plan and revealed everything for Jiraiya to study.

First, he handed him the original Chijō sanpu Fuin for him to look over before handing him a few of the rough drafts of the modifications he would make. After a brief explanation of how the seal would activate and work, he then revealed the modified Gisei Kōkan.

Jiraiya shook his head with a chuckle as he saw the pilfered jutsu in Naruto's hand.

"I find myself genuinely surprised that you were the one who stole this jutsu," Jiraiya said softly. "Yet, at the same time, I can also see how stupid of me it was to think that way given how much you take after your father."

"Kyūbi helped me modify it to make sure that the targets are spread more effectively. While there were some disagreements, we have come to a consensus that we can target the crystals and humanity at the same time without causing any massive destabilization. It only makes sense to target the surplus at the same time, and I have the crystals needed to make the seal recognize them as a source to draw upon." Naruto explained.

Jiraiya hummed in acknowledgment before looking over the rough drafts a bit more. "You know there is another step you can take to make sure that the drain is not as harmful on the chosen targets."

Naruto perked up at that statement. "How?"

"Resonance seals." Jiraiya said with a smirk before pulling a small slip of paper from his gi to let Naruto study it, "These seals are a little something I came up with on my own when I wanted to make use of spy seals from long distances. They are risky when it comes to espionage because sensors can pick up on the surge of chakra that comes from activation, but if you place these in remote locations you can effectively spread the effect of a single seal more efficiently."

"So we can plant these resonance seals in different areas and make sure that the master seal's effect impacts a greater area more efficiently," Naruto said in realization as he quickly committed the seal to memory.

Jiraiya nodded. "I'll show you how to make the basic ones, but it is better if you show me the final draft of your seal so I can fine tune them properly. We will probably have to link them with a chakra storage seal containing a sample of the chakra that you will be using to activate the master seal so that they can properly activate and resonate the seal effects." Jiraiya warned.

"You know, I never actually tried sealing our chakra while our cloak was activated." Naruto mused as he tapped his chin in thought. "I'll have to try that in a safer location since I was planning on using our cloak to activate the seal in the first place."

"I hope that it works because these resonance seals will make a huge difference in how efficiently the targets are drained for chakra. With fewer fluctuations, there will be less danger or waste and if we ensure that the seal utilizes every last drop of chakra effectively then I am certain that the damage could be reduced significantly." Jiraiya explained before he set the papers down and looked Naruto in the eye with a serious expression.

"Now that we have that part settled, how were you planning on preventing the bijū from being resealed?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto bit his lip in nervousness before handing Jiraiya the rough draft he had created for the Tentai to Chijō no Seishin.

Jiraiya scowled as he deciphered the seal before looking back at Naruto with a stern expression on his face.

"Naruto this-" he started before Naruto cut him off.

"Look, shishō. Even you understood that to prevent this from happening again that the bijū would have to be resistant to sealing. I believe this is the best method for everyone." Naruto said firmly.

"To sacrifice you soul to the bijū!? How is that best for you, huh? What about your friends? Your family?!" Jiraiya said with a raised voice.

"That is only a rough draft based on what the Akatsuki provided to me." Naruto snapped before calming himself. "I already know it needs a great deal of improvement but I have the changes in mind already."

"How is it going to be any different from... this foul thing," Jiraiya said while smacking the paper he held in his hand with the back of his other hand.

Naruto sighed before looking at Jiraiya with an expression of sorrow. "I can't say that there won't be any sacrifice made at all, but you an I both know the only realm that fūinjutsu can't change or alter is anything involving the divine realm. Only by invoking a Kami can seals or jutsu make such a change." Naruto said solemnly. "The only way to ensure that the bijū remain unaffected by jutsu or sealing is to give them a soul. This way the same restrictions will apply to them. Since we can't just create a soul to give them, we have to give a preexisting one to them. If we combine a human soul with the body of a bijū, they can no longer be sealed away and all of the problems will be solved."

"All of the problems?" Jiraiya said incredulously. "The bijū are already immortal. What is to stop them from wreaking havoc on humanity once they are immune to our only line of defense? What is to stop them from dominating or controlling everything in the world with such power at their disposal and no real vulnerabilities?"

Naruto opened his mouth to counter that the bijū weren't so petty, but he closed his mouth because he realized that some of them might actually be willing to. Kurama, for one, readily admitted to his belief that the world would be better off without humanity and that opinion hadn't really changed very much. Sure the fox was tolerant and willing to compromise because of Naruto's efforts, but the rest of humanity could rot for all the bijū would care.

He didn't know how Isobu, Saiken, or Kokuō truly felt, and while Gyūki and Matatabi were supporters of co-existence, Shukaku, and Son Gokū had plenty of reasons to hate humanity. Shukaku had only been supporting their efforts out of gratitude. Who was he to say that the tanuki wouldn't change his mind after a few decades or centuries? Especially since humans were stupid enough to push or test certain boundaries when there were clear and present warnings to deter them from trying in the first place.

He also couldn't deny the fact that if the worst should happen, humanity would immediately seek to hunt down and subdue the bijū because it was common practice for them at this point. When they failed to seal the bijū, they would probably resort to increasingly more violent means to force the bijū to reform if only to give them more time to find a new way to "retrieve their weapons". He would have to come up with a method to try and curtail that problem in case things didn't go exactly as he hoped, but he already knew there were only two possible outcomes that could come from his final seal at this point.

"If everything works like I believe it will, the bijū won't be a threat anymore," Naruto said firmly. "While the worst possible outcome could be dangerous, choosing the right people to bind the bijū to permanently should prevent the worst from coming to pass."

Jiraiya sighed before running his hand through his hair. "I don't like this at all, Naruto. I don't like the thought of you sacrificing yourself to let the Kyūbi go free."

"It won't work like that!" Naruto shouted before he lowered his voice. "We are practically one entity already anyways. The only thing keeping us apart at this point is the fact that I still have my spirit. My soul, for the most part, has been slowly integrating with Kyūbi since the night of the sealing."

"I know, Naruto. Your father warned me as much. He begged me to stop you from throwing your soul away for them." Jiraiya said emphatically.

"I'm not throwing my soul away for them!" Naruto said indignantly as he rose up from his seat. "I'm trying to fix the damn problem before everyone dies because of their fucking selfish greed and war mongering!"

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I just... I just don't want you to throw your life or soul away for anybody. Don't you understand that?" Jiraiya said with a pained expression on his face.

Naruto let out a sigh before running his hand through his hair in agitation. He should have known this would be a sticking point with Jiraiya and yelling at him wouldn't help change his mind or accept what needed to be done.

Kurama sent a wave of reassurance and calm before prodding Naruto to reveal the details. The bijū wasn't pleased with this turn of events but so far, the Toad sage didn't seem to be a danger to the overall plan. It was just Naruto's failure to explain properly that was making this issue a sticking point.

He wasn't certain the Toad fool would accept the final outcome once explained, but between the two possibilities, Kurama was certain the Sannin would at least accept the first one. Kurama was certain that the second option was the more likely possibility, however, and personally, the bijū hoped that it was the final outcome as well.

Naruto picked up on the bijū's thoughts and forced himself to calm down. He moved to sit back down next to Jiraiya before speaking up. "Look, shishō, If what I plan is successful, I won't be throwing it away. I'm not going to disappear or die because of this but I _might_ change into something else. If I am right about all this there are only two possibilities and both will fix the problem and prevent it from reoccurring in the future."

"And what would those be," Jiraiya asked warily.

"The first possibility will be that the bijū will merge with that selected person and become a part of their mortal body. Their sentience will be split between the soul and the spirit while their chakra will be tied to their physical body. When that person dies or is slain, the soul and spirit depart like normal while the bijū's chakra and that small part of its sentience return to the cycle as all chakra does when a person dies. When that soul reincarnates, the portion of the bijū's sentience tied to the soul will draw the other half into the child which will become bound with the new spirit residing in that body. This will ensure that the bijū's chakra will be drawn into the body as well. The amount of bijū chakra drawn to the child will be governed by how much excess chakra is remaining in the cycle but, at the very least, there will be a chūnin level amount of extra chakra granted to the child to ensure that the spiritual knowledge will continue to exist within the cycle." Naruto clarified before continuing. "Since the soul will house the memory and personality aspects of the bijū, when the person dies and is reincarnated it will be just like any other human. A completely clean slate that will be governed entirely on how the child is raised and what type of environment that child is exposed to as it grows.

Naruto paused to see if Jiraiya had any questions, but when the old sannin remained silent, Naruto pressed on. "There is the possibility of the spiritual knowledge of the bijū bleeding through on an instinctual level since that part of the bijū's sentience will remain intact, but at most the child will just gain an advanced level of chakra control and manipulation of their own reserves since that is the only portion of knowledge that will remain with the spirit. I think this won't really be likely since most people don't use their instinctual knowledge as their primary thought process." Naruto said confidently.

Jiraiya merely nodded to indicate he was following along.

"Like with anyone else in this world, there is a risk that the child could become an evil tyrant or something, but their power level will be restricted to the same attributes as an untrained jinchūriki. They will still be mortal and thus vulnerable to the same things that any other mortal would fall victim to. The cycle will remain stable since humans can't really live longer than a century at most." Naruto concluded.

"How would they gain the attributes of a jinchūriki if the bijū's knowledge is wiped out on reincarnation?" Jiraiya asked.

"Because the specific abilities that the bijū have chosen to manifest are actually just their form of advanced chakra control and shape manipulation," Naruto answered before providing an example. "Kyūbi's negative sensing emotion ability is a result of him creating a sensory system primarily out of chakra and fine tuning it to pick up on the subtlest chakra fluctuations that occur when a person experiences strong emotions. With enough time and examples, he was able to assign fluctuations to certain emotional responses."

"So the Kyūbi manifested that ability in you by altering your sensory organs in the same fashion as his own," Jiraiya stated.

Naruto shook his head. "That is actually a result of the seal itself. While it is true that Kyūbi has modified my sensory organs as I grew, as far back as I can remember I had felt the negative emotions in others." Naruto laughed bitterly, "It was the main reason I used to act out as a toddler since I was confused and had no idea how to block those feelings. Instead, I tried to purge them out of my system by venting and, well, since they were bad emotions I kinda did bad things. Obviously, this didn't help endear me to anyone so, in a way, I was just as responsible for pushing people away as my jinchūriki status was."

"I see," Jiraiya said with a look of guilt on his face. "If only myself or hime had known."

"Having one or both of you might have helped a bit, but when I started acting like a vicious brat both of you would have disciplined me because you wouldn't have known any better," Naruto said dismissively. "Later on, you guys might have been able to understand what was actually occurring and helped me to adjust my behavior accordingly, but we are getting off topic now."

"Right," Jiraiya said with a clap of his hands symbolizing that he was back to business. "So, you reviewed the first possibility and from what I have seen of your drafts, I agree that your hypothesis on the first outcome is the most likely to occur. What do you believe is the second outcome of your plan?"

"The second possibility is that the merger between the person and the bijū will result in a new life form that will be like a modified version of the two." Naruto scratched his head in thought for a moment. "I guess the best term to describe it would be some form of hybrid bijū or super jinchūriki," Naruto added with a shrug.

Jiraiya rested his right ankle on his left knee before using his right elbow as a brace for his head as he leaned forward. The mention of a new life form had piqued his curiosity and instead of his usual habit of running through his own theories as a person spoke, he began listening more intently.

"With this hybrid life form, the bijū's memories and personality traits will merge with the chosen human's. The spirit and soul of the person will simply be added to the chakra body of the bijū. The Law of Equilibrium will take affect and combine the two life forms into one. Since the soul and spirit dominate sentience a good portion of the bijū's own knowledge, memories, and persona will be suppressed or eliminated in the process making the human's persona the dominant one or they will exist on a similar level that me and the Kyūbi share currently; a sort of dual mentality that is closely knit through an emotional or spiritual bond." Naruto explained before chewing his lip a bit and looked up at the ceiling in thought. "As for the body, who knows how that would turn out since the bijū's bodies are comprised entirely of chakra. I suspect that they will simply maintain a human body and the amount of chakra and chakra control they would gain would be balanced out."

Jiraiya nodded in agreement, it seemed most likely considering how everything in the world sought to establish equilibrium on some level. Like how heat would flow to cold or how fluctuations in density or pressure would cause those forces to react to external stimuli until they reached a state of consistency, so to were chakra, jutsu, seals, and the after effects controlled by equilibrium.

"The risk of this outcome is that through the combination of bijū and human, there is a possibility that the new life form will be immortal just like the bijū originally were." Naruto said with a sigh, "The bijū have existed for thousands of years and can exist for eternity while the oldest human I know is jiji who is only 73 now. How do you balance eternity with such a small number in comparison?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

Jiraiya decided to answer anyways. "At the very least they would gain very long lifespans but you are right in thinking that immortality would still be a possibility. Then there is the fact that you have to consider just how invulnerable the bijū really are because they are made of chakra."

Naruto shook his head. "They aren't really invulnerable since they can be forced to disperse, but you bring up an interesting point. Would this new life form be able to reform after 'death' like the bijū could?" Naruto hummed in thought. "While I can't rule out that it could be possible, I believe that the restrictions on sealing and the modification of souls would actually prevent that from occurring."

"Ah, but technically you aren't modifying a soul," Jiraiya argued. "You are combining a soulless creature with a human soul. The restrictions might not necessarily apply in this case."

"I would think the whole immortality thing would count as a modification to the soul since it would no longer be able to take part in the cycle of reincarnation" Naruto retorted. "In any case, whether they become immortal or just extremely long-lived doesn't change the fact that we will need to be very careful in _who_ we select for these seals. The personality traits of that person will need to balance out the traits of the bijū they are bound with, and they must be capable of taking a neutral stance, if not a positive one, for the world itself. We can't have someone who is overly biased in favor of one or the other."

"Now I understand what you meant when you said the secondary aspect is vital to success." Jiraiya admitted with a nod. "I have to say that the first scenario is the best outcome in my opinion. There is an equal chance of good or bad happening and if things are going badly, there is still a way for people to protect themselves. I can get behind that scenario completely as it won't really stop you from having a full life. While things will still be tense in the aftermath, once humanity realizes that the bijū are out of the picture entirely things will go back to normal. As long as there are no identifiable traits in the reincarnated children, people will simply think they are new manifestations of bloodlines or simple prodigies."

Naruto hummed his agreement with Jiraiya's synopsis. The first possibility was what he had been hoping to achieve in the end. It had been Kurama that had pointed out that the second outcome was also possible In Naruto's opinion, the first outcome would be the best for everyone involved. The bijū would be free to live like everyone else and would be able to experience the good and bad aspects of a mortal life. Humanity would no longer have to worry about containing massive beings of destruction that might seek vengeance.

He also wouldn't be responsible for creating some super hybrid or demi-god type life form that could eventually go power mad and destroy everything.

However, he couldn't forget that all of this was theoretical. Unless he decided to start sacrificing a bunch of people like Orochimaru, he wouldn't be able to test the seal to see the actual end results. Fortunately, there weren't many different possibilities on how the seal could behave since there were very few limits to what fūinjutsu could do and those few limits were well documented. Some would think that would leave endless possibilities but in certain circumstances, that wasn't entirely true.

When it came to souls and sealing, the rules were very strict. You can't eliminate or trap a soul inside of a seal completely without the aid of a Kami or suitable compensation. Trying to do so would only release that soul from the body to return to the soul plane. For this reason, it was impossible to seal away people and unseal them while they were alive unless you wanted them to die.

The only exception to that rule were space-time seals, but not even a jinchūriki could afford the cost of keeping someone sealed for a long period of time so no one had really delved into the semantics of maintaining a pocket dimension outside of the normal flow of time.

You also couldn't modify or manipulate souls completely without divine interference or suitable compensation. Like how only the Shinigami could actually seal a person's soul for the cost of another with the Shiki Fūjin. In the case of the Edo Tensei, a sacrifice was needed solely to exchange one soul with another. Technically one could consider it a Kawarimi for souls with blood or tissue being used to select the target soul you were using to replace the sacrificed soul with. The jutsu could never be modified to do any more than that because of the limitations on how any school of jutsu could effect anything controlled by divine providence like a soul. The after results of the Edo Tensei were all due to the rules governing how a soul affects the body it resides in.

The body used for the technique was a simple chakra construct that would recreate the spiritual signature that lingered within the chosen soul before its previous life was cleared through the process of reincarnation. The sealing tags used to control the body were like an advanced form of genjutsu that controlled the false mind created by the construct. When Hashirama's soul entered a construct, for example, the construct recreated his original body from his spiritual signature, thus allowing the Mokuton to be expressed by the false body.

It was for this reason that Naruto suspected the second possibility had, at least, an equal chance of occurring. The Edo Tensei gave the chakra constructs invulnerability and immortality based on the chakra levels of the summoner. With him being already partially bound to Kurama, who was an intrinsic part of the chakra cycle itself; theoretically they could become potentially just as invulnerable and immortal as the constructs were. The only thing that could stop him in that situation was to be sealed away like the reincarnated kage's were and force his soul to reincarnate.

What concerned him about the second outcome the most, however, was the fact that someone with enough fūinjutsu knowledge could eventually make a counter for that vulnerability. With nothing but an endless amount of time on their hands, even a hybrid with no previous knowledge of sealing could learn enough to prevent that single weakness. If that life form were to become vengeful and destructive for some reason, they would become unstoppable.

Even worse was the thought that the Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Seal) would be the cause of him becoming this immortal hybrid. That he would have to live on while every person he cared for withered and died around him. Since Kurama would no longer technically exist in this new form, he would always have to face what he feared most.

Being alone.

Naruto couldn't help but think that he would lose his mind in time. Too afraid to reach out for bonds because of the painful severance that would come shortly afterwards, but too afraid to remain isolated and alone. He had to wonder how long it would take him to seal himself away once it became to much for him and if the Shinigami's seal would even allow that to happen.

The seal on his stomach was powered by the death god because of the deal brokered by his father using the Shiki Fūjin (Reaper Death Seal). For the cost of his soul, the Yondaime ensured that the seal's functionality was powered by the Shinigami itself. Since the seal had already been merging his soul with Kurama's, it was possible that the death god wouldn't allow that separation to occur.

The main question that plagued his mind, however, was would the Tentai to Chijō no seishin and the modified Gisei Kōkan behave in the same way that the Edo Tensei did?

A sacrifice was being provided, even if it was being spread through a great deal of targets. After the sacrifice was given, the seal would then be applying the soul of the target to a bijū, which was essentially a chakra construct in the eyes of the seal.

The last thing Naruto wanted to do was establish a method that would allow someone like Orochimaru the power to become invulnerable and immortal at the same time. Even if there was a chance of sealing the bastard away and removing his soul. With his cursed seals and reported soul transference jutsu, that one vulnerability might not even apply to the snake summoner. If Orochimaru ever learned about this method, Naruto knew the world would be subjected to a fate worse than destruction.

"Naruto?" Jiraiya's voice jolted Naruto out of his thoughts.

"I'm sorry, shishō, just running through the possibilities in my head again," Naruto said sheepishly.

"You looked worried," Jiraiya said with concern. "Is it the second possibility that has you bothered?"

"I guess you can say that," Naruto replied before he began vocalizing his thoughts from the last few minutes.

"I'm not surprised you considered the difference between your seal and the others." Jiraiya said with a soft chuckle. "I have to admit that your hypothesis on the similarities with this plan and the Edo Tensei is also interesting.

Jiraiya leaned back against the couch as he thought over what he had managed to learn about the forbidden summoning technique during the time he was preparing for the invasion.

"While I am no expert on the jutsu, I did scan over the basic theoretical notes left by the Nidaime when preparing for Orochimaru's invasion, and what you say has some merit, but you are forgetting the fact that all summoning techniques are space-time based. This plan we are working on doesn't fall into that category." Jiraiya stated.

Naruto let a soft smile spread on his face before nodding in response. While everything was still in the realm of hypothesis and the unknown, he had forgotten that little detail. Space-time jutsu were always more extreme in both cost and effects. Perhaps he was worrying himself over nothing and things would turn out as he hoped. What really brought the smile to Naruto's face, however, was the fact that Jiraiya had said _we_ instead of _you_ in his last statement. To Naruto, that was a confirmation that Jiraiya was fully on board.

"Well first things first, we need you to focus on getting strong enough to stand up to the Akatsuki when they discover that you are playing both sides, so to speak." Jiraiya said with a nod. "The best way to do that is to continue with my original plan to send you to Myōbokuzan to learn sage mode."

"I know sage mode makes jutsu and stuff more powerful, do you think it will make a big impact on the seal's functionality if I combine it with the sacrifice jutsu?" Naruto asked.

"It's hard to say." Jiraiya answered while he thought over the possibilities. "The jutsu would definitely be affected, but the seal itself and the resonance seals might not be able to handle such a dramatic increase in output. Not unless we reinforced them all with extra rings of control and stabilization around the master seal and each of the resonance seals."

"I'll try to work on it while I am in Myōbokuzan." Naruto said. "The heavy saturation of natural chakra in their realm will work as a good test to see how the seal stands up. I'll just have to use a smaller scale version to prevent the elder toads from catching on."

"You should keep your focus on making sure you don't turn into a statue brat!" Jiraiya said in a warning tone. "Besides, the elders are no fools. They know a great more about fūinjutsu than they let on. Even I know that they are keeping things from me, so don't underestimate their level of knowledge on such things. Fukasaku and Shima have been around for far longer than you would expect."

"Then I will just have to master sage mode quickly. It won't be as difficult for me to draw the chakra in because of my exposure from the time we removed the cursed seal. What would have been the challenging part for me would be the balancing aspect, but once I draw the chakra in, Kyūbi can handle the balancing aspect. I will just need to work on drawing the chakra in a consistent manner." Naruto said confidently.

"If you say so." Jiraiya said with a huff. "At any rate, you should prepare to leave tomorrow for the summoning realm. After what happened to Hoshi, the last thing we want is to stick around and get involved in the cleanup."

Why?" Naruto asked curiously. "What happened?"

"It was completely annihilated; as in gone, wiped completely off the face of the world as if it never existed. If my suspicions are correct, it was your Akatsuki buddies that were responsible."

Naruto's look of curiousity morphed into a horrified look as he plopped back into the couch in disbelief.

"You mean they destroyed the entire village?" he whispered in disbelief.

"When I say wiped off the face of the world, I meant it. There was nothing but a crater, a square mile of muddy ground, and a pile of bodies." Jiraiya said pointedly. "The Daimyō's are likely to lock down the area to try and find those responsible and, quite frankly, we can't spend any more time here. We are already a month over schedule and with the Akatsuki keeping a close eye on you it is best if you head to the summoning realm so I can... clean house, as it were."

"Shit. Rei is going to be devastated when she finds out." Naruto said before tugging on his side bangs in agitation. "Her whole family was in Hoshi. She was distraught when she was forced to fight and kill a few of her second cousins. When she learns that Hoshi and everyone in it was destroyed she might lose it." Naruto said sadly.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but we really can't stay any longer." Jiraiya said sincerely. "I would rather we leave right now to avoid getting dragged into this whole debacle, but I will give you tonight to tie things off with your girl. I'll use this time to speak to the Tsukikage and point him in the direction of the Akatsuki. I am certain that even their shitty spy network has learned the truth about Hoshi by now."

Naruto merely nodded with a stunned expression on his face. He couldn't believe that the Akatsuki had actually eliminated Hoshi completely. Did they have an ulterior motive in destroying that place or was it entirely to claim the meteorite in his bag?

Kami he hoped it wasn't for the meteorite alone or he was just as culpable for all those deaths as the Akatsuki were. True he hadn't wanted or asked the Akatsuki to help him acquire the meteorite, but he couldn't ignore the fact that they had wanted to give it to him in order to gain his trust. All he could hope for was that the meteorite was just a convenient bonus for their unwarranted slaughter of an entire village.

He would have to ask Jiraiya exactly when the Akatsuki struck the village, if only to ease his guilty conscious.

Then there was the realization that tonight would be the last time he would be with Rei. The last time he would hear her voice, smell her scent, taste her skin. While he had known their time together was going to end sooner rather than later, it still hurt to know that it was going to end. His attachment to her still held strong, even though they had both told themselves that it wouldn't last. The selfish part of him hoped that word hadn't spread already about Hoshi so his last evening with her would be pleasant, but that feeling was overwhelmed by the feeling of guilt.

Not only will she have to deal with his parting, but she would be all alone with her grief. He couldn't help but feel a sense of loss knowing that he would likely never see her again. For Rei, it would only be worse in the coming days. While she was a strong kunoichi in may aspects, she was also a woman with deep seated emotions. He could see it in the way she mourned for her lost love to this day, how she broke down when she told him about her encounter with her relatives. He knew she would be an absolute mess for some time after this, and he wouldn't be able to hold her or comfort her while she wept.

Jiraiya watched the emotions playing across Naruto's face with growing sorrow. It was a damn shame what the young man had to go through in his young life. His childhood had been bad enough and his early adulthood was turning out to be even worse. The whole mess with the bijū, a group of S-ranked mercenaries with their eyes on his every move. Even worse, in his opinion, was the loss of that first love.

At first, Jiraiya had thought that the Hyūga girl might have claimed Naruto's first crush. As the training trip progressed, however, he quickly realized that Naruto had been too immature to see her as anything more than a teammate and friend. Seeing how the boy lit up when he spoke about Rei, he realized that he had been totally infatuated with the older woman. It wasn't a surprise to him, really. Even after all the lessons in avoiding seduction, Jiraiya was certain he had been unable to resist the woman's charms. After all, there was nothing hotter to young adult males than a sexy, confident woman who knows exactly what she wants.

If Naruto hadn't been adamant that both of them were aware their relationship wasn't long term, then Jiraiya might have tracked the woman down to have words with her. At least he would get valuable life and relationship experience from his time with her. Plus he would know how to charm that little Hyūga hime when he returned to Konoha. A small grin spread on his face as he recalled the latest intelligence reports he had received on events in Konoha. From what his contacts have mentioned, the Hyūga heiress had become quite the bombshell. She had also been fending off quite a great deal of suitors while not "playing the field" as was common for most of the Hyūga elite.

The sound of the suite door opening drew both men out of their thoughts. Jiraiya quickly sealed away all the seal drafts and documents Naruto had given him to look at while Naruto stood up and moved to greet Rei at the door.

"Hello, hime." Naruto said softly as she entered the room.

"Hey handsome." She said with a large smile that began to dim.

She could tell immediately that Naruto was in a melancholy mood. Movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention onto Jiraiya who had also stood to get a first hand look at the woman who had caught Naruto in her net.

"I see. I guess the fact that Jiraiya is here means that you will be leaving soon, am I right?" Rei said sadly.

"I'm sorry, Rei-chan. It seems like I have to leave tomorrow." Naruto said as his eyes began to water again.

Naruto closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. He was almost 17, damn it! He had been through far worse and here he was about to cry like a baby. He should be stronger than this!

Rei huffed as she studied his tense form. It was obvious just how much he was stressing out about this, but it couldn't be helped. While it would have been best for him to have more time to adjust to the situation, she understood that sometimes things were best done quickly. He needed to learn how to deal with the heartache of breaking off a relationship and moving on.

Rei moved forward to cup his cheeks tenderly. Her thumbs began lightly grazing over his whiskers in an effort to force him to relax. She saw the tension in his body began to fade as she moved in closer to him. Naruto wrapped her up into his arms and held her tightly. He buried his nose into her hair and began to take in long, slow breaths to savor her scent.

"I'm sorry. I wish-" Naruto started but Rei simply shushed him before leaning back.

"We both knew it was going to happen, Naruto. In many ways, it is best to get this over quickly. I know it will be hard for you to let go, but remember your promise." Rei said as she looked up into his eyes. "Remember our vows after our time in the chakra caverns and everything will work out just fine."

Naruto merely nodded in response before pulling Rei back in closer to hold her once more.

"I remember, Rei." Naruto whispered. "I won't break my promise."

"Good." Rei said firmly before a smirk spread on her face. "Now, shouldn't you introduce me to your shishō before we give him a show?"

Naruto chuckled before letting her go while he shook his head. Peeking over his shoulder, he saw Jiraiya pretending to be far more interested in view from the picture glass windows. Naruto wasn't fooled though.

"Right." Naruto said before turning to Jiraiya. "Shishō, this is Rei. Rei, meet Jiraiya. Toad Sage of Myōbokuzan and one of the Densetsu no Sannin."

Jiraiya turned away from the windows to study the woman as Naruto began his introduction. It was easy to see how Naruto became so attached to her in a short period of time. She was quite the beauty and it was easy to see that she was also a talented kunoichi just from the way she carried herself. Her chakra levels were above average for a woman her age, which Jiraiya pegged in the early to mid twenties at most.

"It's nice to meet you, Rei." Jiraiya said politely with a small bow of his head before he turned to Naruto. "I'm should head out now and give the Tsukikage warning about me removing you from the field. Be ready to leave at dawn, tomorrow." Jiraiya stated before making his way out of the suite.

Rei simply gave Jiraiya a polite response and bow as he walked past her before she turned her attention back to Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

"Is he always this abrupt with people?" Rei asked curiously.

"No, not really." Naruto said with a frown. "He just found out some disturbing news before he came to collect me. I think he really wanted to leave today but pushed that back so I could spend one last night with you."

Neither he nor Kurama had failed to notice that Jiraiya had taken the scroll with him, but Naruto was trying not to worry about it at the moment. Kurama was still suspicious, but he was keeping it muted to a certain extent. He could feel Kurama retracting himself from the bond a bit to give him privacy with Rei, but there was a subtle prod to remind him that Kurama needed to speak with him about something important later on.

Rei merely nodded before she moved to sit down on the couch. Naruto took a seat next to her and simply studied her face in silence while he tried to gather his thoughts. He wondered if it was worth giving into his desires one last time or if that would only make the separation worse in the long run. They had been coupling almost constantly since he had secured this room. In fact, today was the first day where they hadn't had shared anything intimate beyond a kiss.

Rei leaned against him and let out a long sigh. Naruto merely wrapped his arm around her and rested his head on top of hers.

"I think I will miss this more than anything." Rei said as she closed her eyes. "Not that you are bad in bed or anything, after all I trained you to be good and you learned quite quickly."

Naruto snorted in amusement. "I had some help before hand but you gave me plenty of practical experience, I'll admit.

"I think what I will miss most will be waking up with you next to me in the morning. Not much different from what you said, I guess. Except for the fact that whenever we woke up together we were usually naked." Naruto added with a smirk.

Rei lightly smacked him on the stomach while she chuckled.

"Oh your next girlfriend is gonna have her hands full with you." Rei said with mirth. "Just remember whenever she sings your praises to give credit where it was due."

"I'm pretty sure my shishō warned me off of mentioning or making comparisons of my previous girlfriends to my current one." Naruto said while looking down at Rei's head. "At least not out loud."

"If she asks, will you tell?" Rei looked up at him with narrowed eyes.

Naruto gulped at the expression on her face. "He said it is always a bad idea to do so. While letting them know that I had been involved with someone is a good thing, mentioning any details beyond the most basic things automatically makes them try to surpass the previous woman." Naruto closed his eyes before continuing. "I know that when you first mentioned Hiruko, a part of me wanted to make you forget him; to hold only me in your heart. That thought has always lingered in the back of my mind since we have been together and it was painful at first." Naruto stated firmly before whispering. "The last thing I want to do is make someone I care about feel that way."

"I always say, honesty is the best policy." Rei argued. "Even omission is a form of lying and can cause even more problems for you in the long run. I understand keeping certain secrets, but sometimes it shows trust and consideration to reveal the truth. Besides, most of the time when a woman asks it is because they are secretly trying to find out more about you."

Rei poked him in the ribs making him flinch a bit. "Just like how you would get nervous when you take me somewhere, remember that for women it is the same. Most independent women would like to find new and exciting things to please their man with, but its hard to take that risk if they don't have a foundation to work off of. If you tell her about things you enjoyed most in past relationships, this gives her an idea of what she has to work with."

"I understand what you mean now." Naruto replied. "I just don't want to deal with unwarranted jealousy. If I like a certain place because my ex introduced me to it, I don't want to be forced into staying away from it due to some petty, nonexistent rivalry."

He remembered, clearly, how jealous Hinata had been when she learned that Sakura had introduced him to the finer points of tea. Even though it had been unintentional on Sakura's part, she had helped him to discover something that he greatly enjoyed. While Hinata had often made suggestions for team lunches, none of those places had been very different from the markets or restaurants he regularly attended. Back then, she had no way of knowing that very few places would actually treat him fairly and without disdain because of his tenant. She had probably wrongfully assumed that he was more of a creature of habit and decided to make safe suggestions to avoid putting him off of her company.

Sakura hadn't even been taking his own preferences into consideration when she chose the tea house to make her confession. She was simply following the guidance of her therapist to choose a location that was comforting, safe, and public so that Naruto would feel less threatened and be more inclined to listen. She had simply chosen her favorite establishment to keep her temper in check in case Naruto reacted badly. This way, she wouldn't lash out and risk getting herself banned from the one place she found solace in. It had only been a lucky coincidence that both Naruto and Kurama found themselves so intrigued by the unique teas and food served at the tea house.

Rei laughed. "That's going to happen anyways, no matter how faithful and loyal you are."

As if sensing Naruto's retort, Rei continued speaking before he could reply. "Yes, you should be able to trust your partner completely, but as long as you are not overbearing or constant with your jealousy, your partner will see it as an indication that you care for them deeply. Just don't blow up on someone unless you know their intentions run more towards romance instead of friendship."

"Like how you kept glaring at those women whenever we went swimming at the lake?" Naruto asked with amusement.

"Please, don't think I didn't notice how your chest would start rumbling whenever you caught a man staring at my boobs or ass." Rei said with a huff. "Glaring was more than enough, and what was the point of growling at them if they can't even hear it. In fact, I am glad they didn't hear it or I would have been embarrassed." Rei said in a teasing manner.

It was Naruto's turn to huff. He hadn't even realized that he had been doing that until she pointed it out to him. It was only when Kurama confirmed that he was emitting an inaudible growl that he realized she was telling the truth. Kurama had simply chalked it up to the presence of their bond and the natural chakra that had been in his system during their merger. Since Kurama had mimicked the traits and mannerisms of a fox, those had bled through and altered Naruto's body and subconscious mind to a certain degree. It was probably the reason why he liked biting in the height of passion so much as well.

Luckily for him, Rei had considered it a part of his mysterious, feralistic bloodline and left it at that. She even admitted that she liked some of his mannerisms because there were so different from most men she had dated. She was also surprised to learn that she also enjoyed biting as much as he did.

Naruto scowled at the reminder. "They weren't just thinking dirty things about you, they were also making lewd gestures behind your back. Filthy weaklings didn't even have the courage to look you in the eye while making such comments or noises. Hiding behind your back like a bunch of pathetic cowards."

"Well that doesn't matter now." Rei said with a chuckle. "Maybe when such an nice fine example of a male in his prime isn't around to intimidate them, they will have more courage to approach me. Then I can probably reward them with such behavior by kicking them in the balls."

Both of then shared a laugh for a few moments before quieting down and embracing each other tighter. The sun was beginning to set behind the local hills, reminding them that their time together was coming to a close.

"So, maybe I shouldn't be asking like this, but I really don't have any idea how we should handle this." Naruto said with a sigh. "I know that you have had some relationships after Hiruko, but you never told me if the break ups were bad or good. Hell, I don't even know if this classifies as a break up or a mutual separation or what."

Rei rubbed her hand up and down his chest in a soothing manner. Not going any lower than his abs because she wasn't trying to foster that type of mood. While she wouldn't mind once last roll in bed, it might be easier for him to let go of her if they avoided sex on this final night. Last night had been more than memorable enough for her to look back on fondly in the latter years of her life.

"I would say this is a friendly break up." Rei replied. "Instead of just being friends with exclusive rights, I would say our relationship was more of a short term relationship. We were just lucky enough to realize and accept the fact that we wouldn't last very long."

"Yea. I think with enough time, I might have come to resent the fact that you couldn't see me in the same way as Hiruko. Even if I tried to ignore it or accept it completely, it seems to me that the older we get the more such things seem to affect you." Naruto murmured. "I remember some things that didn't seem to really bother me as a child suddenly cause me a more pain when I remember them as an adult." Naruto shook his head. "It's kind of annoying."

"That's because you didn't have the right frame of mind to understand why that memory was so traumatic to you. Your brain simply pushed it aside so you could try and deal with it later. Looking back on it with a different view makes you realize why that moment stuck with you even though it didn't have a major emotional impact at the time." Rei surmised.

Naruto reached up with his other hand and cupped Rei's cheek tenderly. Softly stroking her smooth skin with his thumb before leaning in to plant a firm kiss on her forehead. After he pulled back, he rested his forehead against hers while staring into her eyes. Rei could see longing and resignation in his eyes, but the pain seemed to have dulled. After a few moments, He buried his head into her neck while Rei closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder.

The former lovers simply clung to each other, enjoying each other's warmth and remembering all the fond memories they had with each other until the sun set completely and the moon began to rise. When Naruto felt Rei's breathing even out, he gently lifted her off the couch and carried her to bed. Instead of removing all of her clothing like he usually would, he opted to simply remove her cheongsam and dress her in one of her oversized t-shirts. Removing his own pants, he slipped into bed behind her, holding her close to him for one last time. Burying his nose into her hair, he drifted off to sleep and locked this moment away in his memories.


	71. Hinata Hiden: Beguiling Lights Part 1

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Warning: Mild sexual references are present in this chapter.

 **Chapter 70**

 **Hinata Hiden: Beguiling Lights Hide Preying Shadows Part 1**

 **Early Morning – Hyūga Compound**

* * *

Small rays of sunlight began peeking through delicate white curtains that framed a small window. Besides those few small beams of light that shone through the thick forests surrounding Konoha, the room was cloaked in shadow.

The tranquil silence of the room was broken by the sound of a subtle moan that came from the long haired beauty that was resting in the bed that was pushed up against the wall beneath the small window. The figure slightly moaned again as her head rolled to the side. Her breath starting to increase in pace and her cheeks taking on a subtle red hue. The young woman murmured a few words before moaning again as her leg began to bend at the knee, raising the soft linen blanket that covered her sleeping form.

Soon the sound of an alarm rang out, forcing the woman to shoot up in surprise with an expression of shock on her sweaty face which soon turned into a disappointed look. Rubbing her hands over her face to wipe off the accumulated moisture and clean out her eyes, Hinata rolled over and hit the snooze button on her alarm before flopping back down on her bed with a big sigh.

While her morning training routine was important, she didn't think it was important enough to interrupt that wonderful dream she had been having. Her body was heated and her desires strong as she recalled how she and Naruto had begun making passionate love inside of the private hot springs in the Hyūga compound. He had caught her by surprise as she sought to relieve her tired muscles from a brutal training session with her father.

The dream had felt so real to her. She could still feel his lips and tongue as they danced with her own before blazing a trail down her neck. The feel of his firm muscles shifting beneath her arms while he drove himself deep inside of her. His grunts and moans of pleasure, his whispered words of love and desire for her driving her closer to her peak.

Only for the damn alarm to go off before she reached the finale so to speak.

Throwing her blanket off of her body, Hinata moved towards the bathroom to splash herself with cold water and cool herself off. While she had never pleasured herself before, that dream had her highly tempted to try it for the first time. The topic and methods had come up to her during her lengthy and thorough discussion about sex when she had started having her monthly periods with her aunts.

While the Academy had briefly touched upon the subject of sex in the final year, it was mainly from a biological perspective. How certain organs worked and the process of insemination resulting in new life.

The kunoichi required classes delved a little bit deeper when it came to using sexuality as a tool, the feelings and sensations one could be subjected to if certain erogenous zones were stimulated, and how to prepare for and deal with the trauma of rape should they be captured in the field. It was an unfortunate reality that at least 47% of kunoichi would face sexual assault to some extent before they reached Jōnin with 38% of those attacked becoming victims of rape. The odds of a jōnin level kunoichi avoiding assault and rape were only 12% and 17% lower, respectively, because they had enough experience to capitalize on any opportunity to escape such a fate. Often times lulling the attacker into a false sense of security in order to take advantage of their slackened defenses.

Her aunts, however, had expanded on exploring her sexuality through self-pleasure and utilizing the birth control teas and jutsu to gain valuable experience from willing, but temporary, partners. They had argued that it would make things easier for both her husband and herself on her wedding night, in addition to making it safer for her. The aunts had several horror stories of forceful husbands causing internal damage in their eagerness, rendering their wives barren or even causing them to bleed to death. Not to mention the fact that she would gain valuable experience in how to please her husband in many different ways. While there were plenty of scrolls, diagrams, and stories that her aunts could provide her with to learn from, they were adamant that nothing beat first-hand experience with a man.

Many of her aunts agreed it was vital to her happiness if she were forced to wed someone she loathed completely. By knowing how to target and trigger all of his erogenous zones quickly, she could end the encounter much faster and make her escape while he slept. She could simply trigger his orgasm as fast as possible until she was bearing an heir to fulfill her contract. Once pregnant, she could rid herself of contact from the man and leave him to please himself on concubines. Then she could find herself a consort to fulfill her needs. Once he was sworn to secrecy of course.

If there was one thing that Hinata was certain about, she would not be forced to bear anyone's child but Naruto's. The thought of learning how to pleasure him properly was intriguing, but she couldn't find it in herself to give herself to another man. Frankly, she hadn't been attracted to any boys around her age for quite some time. None of them held a candle to the blond in her heart when it came to appearance, and none of them had the right personality or attitude that she desired.

There had been some initial attraction to Kiba a year or two ago, but his mannerisms were too off-putting for her. Even now he was still brash, hot-tempered, and loud-mouthed. It had cooled to some extent, but Hinata doubted it would ever settle down to a reasonable rate. Once she had resolved herself to claiming Naruto at the Chūnin exams, she hadn't bothered trying to foster anything more than a cordial relationship with him.

Still, the thought of touching herself or using one of the various instruments of pleasure that could be made or purchased for her was quite embarrassing to her. The only reason she was considering it was the argument that it would make things easier for herself and Naruto when the finally did make love to each other. She wasn't certain how Naruto would feel about her remaining untouched, however. Most people looked down on "impure" marriages around the elemental nations, but Konoha was a bit more contemporary when it came to sexuality in general.

With the life of a shinobi being full of deception and violence, it wasn't uncommon to find relationships developing between same-sex couples who were either teammates or close friends in the academy. It was so common for a ninja to die without having a family or children to pass their savings or pension on to that there were no restrictions on who a person could assign their benefits too. This meant that regardless of marital status, the person you cared for could receive medical care or on the event of your death, your property, and pension. In fact, most benefits were typically paid out to friends/teammates, the orphanage, and the Academy in that order.

Hinata looked up from her wash basin and studied herself in the mirror for a bit before drying her face off with a nearby towel. She took down her sleeping braid and began brushing her long hair out. The two parts of her body that had grown immensely in the past three years were her hair and her breasts. Sadly, in her opinion, it seemed that her breasts were on track to beat her hair in growth rate this year. Already her D cup bras were becoming a bit tight and her aunts estimated that she would be a full DD if not a small E cup by the time she reached maturity in two years time.

Her hair now fell past her lower back by a few inches and she wasn't certain if she would let it grow any longer. She had only grown a few inches in height, now reaching 5' 3' total, and she was likely to only grow a few more inches in the next few years at most. Her weight had also topped out at 115 lbs, despite the massive growth of her breasts, and even with training, it was likely she wouldn't exceed 135 throughout her adulthood. Not much different from her mother, according to her aunts.

Tying her hair up into a loose bun so it would remain free of her face during her morning workout, she blew her hime cut bangs up with a puff of breath before making a mental note to get them trimmed soon before the fell into her eyes. Hinata turned her body from side to side, studying her reflection as she wondered if Naruto would find her attractive. Her arms and legs were toned and firm, her butt wasn't overly big but it wasn't flat either, her breasts were far larger than any of the other girls around her age. Since she couldn't do anything about that, they were a source of trepidation on her part. She had overheard some men arguing about breast sizes during a stake out on one of her recent missions with Team 8. The men seemed split pretty evenly between preferring large breasts over average or small ones.

Turning away from the mirror, she dressed in her practice gi and made her way out of her room. Sliding open the shoji door in the hall that lead to the central courtyard of the Main branch mansion, she followed the graveled path towards one of the more remote training grounds in the Hyūga compound. The sun's rays were now breaking through the thick canopy of trees surrounding the path with more ease as it climbed higher in the sky. The bright yellow orb once more reminding her of her vision of Naruto from that racy dream.

He had been as tall and handsome as his father, with some minor differences. His body was more muscular than lithe like his father, his eyes were larger and more round. Naruto's hair hadn't changed much from his youth in her dream, but his voice was slightly deeper and huskier than before. Of course, he was more expressive and warm in her dream, but she wasn't counting on that to be the reality. Naruto had been far too stoic and reserved in his youth to make such a dramatic change, but a girl could dream. Hopefully, he had opened up just a bit more so that radiant aura of his was even stronger and warmer.

Well, at least only when she was around at any rate.

She knew that once he returned, regardless of how much or little he had changed, the gold diggers and harlots would be out in force. There were rumors already spreading throughout the village of his possible heritage. She didn't know who had connected the dots or began spreading them, but Tsunade had been far more _furious_ than she should have been when the rumors started picking up steam. Hinata could still remember the few unfortunate desks that were vaporized by the Godaime's wrath when she began receiving inquiries from some of the more wealthy and influential merchants and nobles. One of them had been so bold as to confront her about it while Sakura and herself were practicing the poison extraction technique in her office last year. Needless to say that idiot's attempt at making demands didn't go over too well, and Tsunade had summoned the Sandaime and Kosuke for a private conference immediately afterward. For the heiress, it was all the confirmation that she needed.

She had been right to suspect that the Yondaime and Kushina Uzumaki were his parents and the elders would be hard pressed to disqualify him as a suitable choice for marriage. Senju, Uzumaki, Namikaze, all distinguished and influential bloodlines that had all the prestige and respect needed to force those blind old bastards on the elder council to recognize him as a viable candidate.

Hinata reached the training grounds and started on her warm up stretches. After that, she would begin her daily jog around the training ground before she began her work out. Normally she would move onto jutsu practice after her workout, but she would be training with Tsunade and Sakura today so she needed to conserve as much chakra.

While she still didn't get along very well with Tsunade, at least the Senju hime still included her on all the basic iryō-nin lessons she gave Sakura. Sakura still got most of the attention, and there were often times that Tsunade would dismiss her after a lesson before instructing Sakura to meet her elsewhere for more training. Hinata wasn't as bothered by that fact as she was a year or two ago.

At first, she had seen it as a viable method of gaining Naruto's admiration through Tsunade's respect. Now she realized how foolish of a thought that had been. She would have never succeeded in that goal because she couldn't fully dedicate her life to becoming the next Slug summoner like Sakura could. She also wasn't able to be as vested in becoming a true iryō-nin like Sakura because she still had to carry on the traditions of the Jūken style and create a few of her own variant jutsu to fulfill one of her requirements as the heiress.

That task had proven to be far more difficult than she had anticipated.

She also had to admit, grudgingly, that Sakura had been quicker to pick up and memorize the advanced medical and anatomical scrolls, books, and guides that Tsunade recommended. While she wasn't a slouch in terms of intelligence, she had far more to study than just medicine. She still was studying politics, economics, and management/leadership for the clan itself. Quite frankly, Hinata was beginning to see it as more of a nuisance than helpful. At this point, she was only interested in being able to patch up Sasuke and Naruto if the situation was dire. She had no desire to stay in the hospital and perform complex surgery or treating and diagnosing anything that wasn't directly combat related.

She wanted to stand by Naruto's side and fight with him, not stay behind waiting and worrying.

Hinata finished her jog and began her workout by running through all her basic kata. As she flowed through the stances and strikes, she recalled her match in the Chūnin exams last year.

 **Flashback**

* * *

Hinata watched as Neji finished off Kiba to secure his spot in the Semifinals. While Kiba had put up a surprisingly good fight. In the end, the Kaiten had been too much for the Inuzuka duo to break through. Hinata was confident that both of them would secure a promotion, this time around, because Kiba had shown a great deal more strategy than she had expected of him. Neji had also performed well, as expected, and while his talents hadn't been fully displayed during that fight, he had also managed to see through and counter Kiba's well-laid trap to secure his victory. Even if he were to lose in the next bracket, Hinata was certain he had also displayed enough talent for a promotion.

Hinata stood and prepared for her fight against Sakura. She still held a great deal of resentment and jealousy because of the unusual and sudden closeness she had with Naruto. After everything that bitch had done to Naruto during the Academy, she didn't deserve his kindness. So, she had trained long and hard the past month to put that harridan in her place. Hinata reviewed her plan as she made her way down to the center of the arena. Sakura had already leaped down from the box and took her position opposite from her.

This year the layout was a bit different than the previous exams. Instead of the center of the arena being plain flat lands, the terrain was rocky with a small "river" running through the middle. A strand of trees filled the sides of the arena giving the illusion of fighting within a mountain river valley. While the unstable terrain was a bit unfair to taijutsu specialists like herself and Sakura, it wouldn't change her plan too much. After all, she planned to beat Sakura using her weakest skill in order to prove her versatility while making a statement.

The referee called a start to the fight and Hinata quickly flipped through hand seals before gathering chakra in her mouth. Sakura was still charging in, as usual, but she couldn't rule out the fact that her dodging skills have likely increased dramatically the past month.

Hinata released the built up chakra in her mouth to shoot a stream of water in Sakura's direction using Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet). As Sakura dashed to the side, Hinata attempted to track her movements with the stream of water before cutting the jutsu off and building up more chakra for her next attack.

Hinata saw as Sakura took the bait and began to dash in quickly to pressure her into breaking off the jutsu and engage her in close combat. While most would think to close the distance on a Hyūga was foolish, Hinata knew that Sakura was equally as deadly in Taijutsu as she was. Where the pink haired apprentice lacked in grace and dexterity, she made up for in raw strength. Not even sealing off a few tenketsu would prevent that chakra enhancement technique since Sakura did have enough control to bypass the blockage and still deliver the precise amount of chakra to her muscles to generate that massive force behind each attack.

Hinata finished the fake hand seals and waited for Sakura to dodge as a reaction, but was surprised when Sakura opted to slam her fist into the ground and send a shock wave in her direction. With a scowl, Hinata leaped back from the unstable ground before being forced to roll to the side to avoid the numerous rocks and boulders that Sakura kicked in her direction. Hinata had made the mistake of taking her eyes off Sakura while avoiding the boulders and was now scanning the field around her in concern. By the time she caught sight of Sakura, she had no choice but to use the Kaiten to stop the massive axe kick that would likely put her in the hospital for quite some time.

Expelling the built up chakra for her failed technique through her tenketsu, Hinata began to spin in place rapidly to create the protective dome of chakra that would stop Sakura's attack. The pinkette's chakra enhanced kick collided with the barrier for a few seconds before Sakura was expelled from the force. Hinata slid back a few feet from the backlash but was otherwise unharmed. She looked up to see Sakura flip herself in the air before sending a volley of kunai and shuriken in her direction during her descent.

Hinata quickly sprinted to the side while drawing her own kunai to deflect any of the projectiles she couldn't avoid. Once she was clear of the volley, Hinata began flipping through hand seals again before sending another jet of water towards Sakura before she could land. Hinata dashed forward to close the gap between them, in case her jutsu hit successfully, but she wasn't surprised when Sakura used Kawarimi to replace herself. What did surprise Hinata, however, was the fact that Sakura had vanished from her sight. Studying her surroundings carefully, the bluenette was tempted to break her own promise by activating her Byakugan before she recalled who Sakura's first sensei was. Forming a half ram seal, Hinata quickly performed a genjutsu dispel, just in time to see Sakura right in front of her with her fist cocked back to land a devastating punch.

Hinata lashed out with a series of lightning-fast strikes to the tenketsu points in Sakura's arm and chest before she could land her attack, allowing Hinata to be able to safely parry the attack. Had she been a second slower, Sakura's strength would have easily overwhelmed her guard and sent her flying back.

Before Hinata could move in and seal off more tenketsu, however, Sakura was quick to raise her knee to her chest before stamping her foot down with all her weight and a significant burst of chakra. The impact caused the gravely ground near the river to liquefy into sand and dust, throwing Hinata off balance. Hinata managed to form a pillow of chakra beneath her feet and leap back out of the small pit of quicksand Sakura had created.

Hinata and Sakura settled into defensive stances while eyeing each other while they caught their breath. Hinata could see that Sakura was determined to win this fight, but she would never allow that. Even if she had to lower herself to use her Byakugan against the bitch.

For a Hyūga, refusing to activate your Byakugan when facing an opponent was the ultimate insult. It was a symbol that you deemed your competitor unworthy and weak. Couple that with the fact that Hinata was attempting to win this fight using Ninjutsu alone was sending a clear message to the proctors, audience, and Konoha at large.

That Hinata saw Sakura as worse than vermin, lower than trash, not fit to even lay a hand upon in battle. To not use the Byakugan mean that you weren't even worth to be seen by their eyes. To avoid using the Jūken meant you weren't even fit to die at their hands. An insult that not even their most hated rivals or enemies were subjected to in war. In fact, the insult was typically reserved for the foulest of crimes like pedophiles and traitors.

"I don't know what your problem with me is, Hyūga, but I am not a pushover anymore." Sakura's voice rang out laced with contempt. "If you keep failing to take me seriously, then I will knock that damn ego of yours down a peg or two so that your head isn't so far up your ass anymore."

Hinata smirked inwardly. It seemed that Sakura was far more riled up than she had first thought. If she could get that psycho bitch's temper to flare up, she would make a mistake. It wouldn't take much of a push since the harlot had a flash fire temper, to begin with. Hinata had seen it numerous times when they competed with each other to learn a jutsu faster, to beat each other in a spar, and even the snide backhanded insults they had traded between each other ever since Naruto first left the village.

It was a bit petty of her, given her status as one of the Hyūga elite, but she couldn't help the jealous rage that settled in whenever Sakura and Tsunade would talk about that tea house. It seemed like three times a week Sakura would bring in a tea sampler and sandwich tray from that place for herself and Tsunade. Hinata suspected this was because of her slightly derogatory comments towards that establishment when Sakura first mentioned the place to Tsunade. Naturally, the Godaime who seemed to live off of sake had shown disinterest until Sakura mentioned how much Naruto enjoyed the place. That changed the Senju's mind almost immediately and the pair of them went for lunch there the next day.

Like Naruto, Tsunade had been quite charmed with the foreign teas and exotic foods provided at the tea house and made a point of it to order out or dine in at least twice a week. Hinata was certain that it was partially due to her own disparaging remarks about the place. Since then, things had been tense between the two students of Tsunade. Hinata was actually surprised that Tsunade hadn't dismissed her out of hand because of the vicious and spiteful rivalry that had started to pick up between the two, but she knew better than anyone how the right motivation could drive someone to succeed. Perhaps this was Tsunade's way of testing her resolve and capabilities to be the right woman to stand with Naruto.

"I don't need to take you seriously. If it wasn't for Naruto-kun's pity for you, you would still be _nothing_." Hinata hissed. "I'll admit that you have a brain in that massive head of yours, but that doesn't make up for your lack of grace, poise, and dignity when it comes to, anything, really. It only shows that commoners really are _common_."

Hinata could see Sakura's fist clench even tighter and the tension in her jaw as she ground her teeth together. She had learned quickly that the best way to set Sakura off was to belittle her civilian heritage or skills. The second was to question her mental health or sanity, but everyone knew that Sakura was crazy so it wouldn't have as big of an impact on her reputation. It would also spawn more sympathy for Sakura in others since attacking something beyond a person's control was really low. While Hinata wanted to be petty and spiteful to her suspected rival, she didn't want to sink so low as to disgrace herself in the process.

"Shows how much you know you inbred noble bitch." Sakura spat. "You've done nothing but treat me with contempt and pettiness because of your own damn insecurity. Now I understand exactly what Naruto said when he called me strong and you, _weak_."

Hinata couldn't stop the gasp of indignation at that comment. Naruto would never call her weak!

"That's right," Sakura said triumphantly. "Naruto told me that I was stronger than you! That unlike you, I could truly understand him. Like him, I didn't live in a fancy mansion with expensive tutors and servants waiting on me hand and foot. Like him, I had to struggle and endure through pain and suffering just to survive. I had to fight for my place as one of the top kunoichi in the Academy. Despite all the advantages you had and the disadvantages I had to overcome, I still almost beat you in the end! If that makes me pathetic, then I wonder what that makes you, hmm?" Sakura said with a cocky smirk.

"How dare you compare yourself to him, you uncouth harlot!" Hinata growled. She would not lose her cool and start shouting. She. Would. Not.

"Naruto-kun has never been a vicious and hateful person like you. Even when you spewed your venomous insults and hatred on him, he tried to befriend you. You think you are strong?" Hinata laughed in a mocking tone. "If there is anyone who knows more about projecting insecurities on someone else, it would be you," Hinata stated with menace. "You did nothing but project your own shortcomings and failures onto him. Abusing him, tormenting him, blaming him because of your own petty need to make someone else suffer because of your lowly position in life. Now you dare try to take the high road in all this?!"

"I've already made my peace with Naruto about all that," Sakura said in a solemn tone. "I know what I did was wrong. I was more than cruel and nasty to him. I almost _killed_ him." Sakura whispered.

Hinata heard her voice quiver slightly and realized that she had made a mistake. Instead of heating her anger to the point it would boil over, her last words had given Sakura the needed push to calm herself and focus on her resolve instead.

"And what did he do in return? He saved my life." Sakura shook her head as if in disbelief. "I didn't ask for his forgiveness or friendship, but he gave it to me anyways. When it looked like my future was bleak, that everything was hopeless, he helped me up and made me realize that I was worth something. That I am not some lowly trash to be looked down upon by the likes of you." Sakura said as she raised her voice. "Because of that, I have worked harder than ever to earn his forgiveness. To earn the friendship he gave to me so freely despite everything that happened in the past. Because of that, I will prove my worth. I will prove to him that I deserved the chance he gave me. And I will not let you or anyone else stand in my way!" Sakura roared before charging in once more.

Hinata was caught off guard by the burst of speed Sakura put on. She was barely able to reinforce her body with chakra to reduce the impact and redirect the incoming blow away from her face. Sakura's cross glanced off her shoulder with enough force to fracture her collarbone and scapula while sending Hinata spinning from the impact. It was only through well-honed reflexes that Hinata managed to roll with the momentum and avoid impacting on the ground in a harmful manner. Hinata was forced to burn her Kawarimi as Sakura had been quick to try and finish her off while she was disabled on the ground.

Using Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm), Hinata quickly repaired the damage in her arm while Sakura tried to find her. She had just managed to fix most of the damage when a cry of "Shannaro!" alerted her that she had been discovered. Leaping off of the branch she took refuge in, she looked over her shoulder to watch the tree she had been hiding in burst into a shower of splinters, wood chunks, and a cloud of sawdust from the punch that Sakura landed. Hinata spun in the air and began flipping through hand seals to take advantage of the debris cloud. As soon as her feet landed, she used Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu) to send a scattered cluster of fireballs into the cloud to cover a looser area.

Hearing a cry of pain from Sakura, Hinata leaped on the advantage and used Shunshin (Body Flicker) to close the gap and send a charged palm thrust into Sakura's chest to end the match. At first, she thought she had been successful because of the look of shock on Sakura's face, but then the look of shock changed into a smirk before the image fell into a puddle of mud. It was then that Hinata heard Sakura activate the explosive tags surrounding the impact zone she had created while the dust hid her from view.

Something that could have easily been avoided if Hinata had her Byakugan activated, but her arrogance had blinded her in more ways than one.

Hinata bit back a scream when her world erupted in fire and pain. She felt a sense of weightlessness for a few moments before her back impacted with a tree with enough force to knock the wind out of her chest and almost rendered her unconscious. She took a moment to assess the damage done to her and found that the worst injury she had received were a few second-degree burns on her legs. Nothing was fractured or broken, but she might have a mild concussion.

How had she fallen for such a basic trap? How had she managed to get so injured while Sakura practically remained untouched? Sure she had managed to seal a few tenketsu in Sakura's arm early on, but Sakura had likely removed the blockages by now. She was supposed to humiliate that commoner trash and put her in her place. To make it clear that Naruto was hers! Instead, Sakura had humiliated her. Had played her like a fool in front of everyone.

And she only had herself to blame for all of it.

Had she really become so blinded by this petty jealousy and arrogance that she lost sight of what mattered? Hinata had to admit that it seemed likely. In any other situation, she would have never lost to someone like Sakura. Both of them used Taijutsu as their primary methods of attack and in a stand-up fight, she should be able to beat Sakura hands down. Yet, she had foolishly tried to limit herself as if she were facing an Academy student when Sakura had been training with a single-minded focus this whole time. To become a fearsome kunoichi like the sannin who trained her.

To become a fearsome kunoichi like the sannin who trained her.

Sure she had kept up with her training as required. She practiced every day, but she also had to study numerous other topics. She had to sit in on council meetings and sort through courtship offers, even if she was just going to turn them all down anyways. There were still responses that needed to be tailored to each request and written in careful language so that allies and business partners were not offended. Her day was full and scheduled for each different aspect and role she had to play as the heiress who would lead the clan in the future.

Sakura had nothing else to focus on but studying under Tsunade. She trained all day to improve her skills as a kunoichi. Her only focus was to grow stronger to prove herself worthy of the chance she was given. Because of that, the gap between them had closed far more than Hinata realized. She had underestimated Sakura's resolve and it had cost her.

Hinata stood on shaky feet before the referee could call an end to the match. Sakura was standing 10m away in the center of the arena with a look of determination on her face. Her stance was relaxed and her body ready to spring into action at a moments notice.

It was then that Hinata realized her biggest mistake of all. She wasn't fighting with all her strength and resolve. Wasn't it only a month ago that she swore to herself that she could not lose, would not lose? That she would fight and win for him? That she would put earning his love above everything else?

Sakura was giving it her all to prove herself to him, and if she didn't do the same, she would lose him. If she wanted to win Naruto's heart she needed to fight with everything she had, regardless of how minor the threat had seemed to be. That fighting with less than all of her strength made her unworthy to stand by his side. He deserved nothing less that her full attention, her full strength, her full heart because he was worth more than that in her eyes. He was worth more than anything in her eyes.

Hinata set her face into a stoic expression before activating her Byakugan and taking up her stance. She would fight anyone with everything she had in her because she would not lose him to anyone. Especially not this pink haired bitch in front of her. Naruto deserved far better.

"So you finally decided to take me seriously," Sakura said.

"I won't lose to you. I won't lose _him_ to you." Hinata said in an even tone.

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "We'll see about that," she said quietly before both girls charged in to attack once more.

Hinata met Sakura's chakra-enhanced fist with her own causing a shock wave to radiate from where their fists met in the center. Hinata could see the surprise in Sakura's face when her own punch was countered and negated with such ease. She could tell that the pinkette wasn't aware that Hinata had learned the strength enhancing technique long before she had even met Tsunade. Hinata just preferred to use her family's taijutsu in order to reserve her chakra for more important things like adding to a combination attack with Naruto and Sasuke, or healing wounds after the battle was over. Hinata's chakra control might not be as sophisticated as Sakura's but it was damn near close to it.

Sakura gripped Hinata's shoulders, trying to draw her into the rising knee, but Hinata dropped a chakra enhanced elbow into the middle of her thigh before the knee could strike, reducing her mobility in that leg severely. Hinata followed up that attack by launching a palm thrust into Sakura's solar plexus to create a small gap. Wasting no time, Hinata launched into her Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams 64 palms), pummeling Sakura with 15 lightning fast chakra enhanced palms before her rival managed to pull off a Kawarimi to save herself from the full force of the attack.

Hinata flipped through hand seals quickly as she whirled around to face the direction that Sakura had appeared in. Landing on the Tiger seal as soon as she saw Sakura within her sights, she launched a massive fireball at her opponent with Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball). The boulder-sized ball of fire flew towards Sakura fast enough that she wouldn't be able to dodge the attack without taking splash damage.

Hinata sprinted forward as she saw Sakura rapidly flip through familiar hand seals and knew that she was about to use Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Formation Wall) to block the fireball. Hinata flipped through hand seals as she ran closer to Sakura. She continued to close the distance while her hands rested on the final seal. She wasn't certain if this move would work as she planned, but she channeled the majority of her remaining chakra into the jutsu in the hopes that she would finish this fight. As soon as the fireball hit the wall of water and dispersed into the cloud of steam, Hinata unleashed her charged Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet). The jet of water shot through the weakened water wall and sent Sakura flying back away from the river and towards the tree line.

While she rolled across the ground and tried to recover, Hinata dashed forward before using a chakra seal to give her enough chakra for her final moves.

As soon as she felt the burn of Naruto's chakra entering her system she used Shunshin once more before holding the ram seal and quickly charging her body with Raiton chakra. Sakura sprung to her feet, slightly winded from the geyser of water she was hit with, but forced herself to charge forward and try to knock out Hinata before her jutsu completed. A second before her fist landed, however, Hinata completed the Raiton: Bakurai (Depth Charge) and lightning erupted from her body.

Sakura screamed in agony as the lightning ripped through her body, the damage and pain enhanced by her soaking wet clothing from Hinata's water bullet. Hinata canceled the jutsu after a few seconds before entering a ready stance in case Sakura was still able to fight after that.

Sakura collapsed face first on the ground, twitching ever so often, but didn't move to stand up at all. After 20 seconds had elapsed, the referee called the match in Hinata's favor and the crowd erupted into cheers.

 **End Flashback**

* * *

After that match, she had faced Neji and had managed to push him to his limit before losing because her stamina and chakra levels were simply not up to par with Neji's own. She wasn't too upset about it as she had put up a much better fight this time around. The elders grumbled a bit, but since both of them had been promoted, they couldn't find fault in her performance. It also helped that they were still narrow-minded misogynists who couldn't help but think that she only lost because she was a woman.

In reality, she knew it was because she had foolishly tried to play around with Sakura because of her arrogance.

She had done a lot of self-reflection after that match and realized just how low she had sunk. She should have seen the signs when Naruto had been upset with her about bad mouthing the tea house and how she made snide comments about his home because she was upset that she hadn't been the first to tour his home. It had been stupid of her to get upset about something so minor when it was obvious Naruto had probably been too excited to really think about anyone else in that moment.

She _knew_ that Naruto had no real experience with social decorum and probably only viewed her as a close friend and teammate. She also knew that it was likely that Sasuke had simply been in the right place at the right time. They had both been promoted that very evening and Naruto had received his inheritance right afterward.

It had been selfish of her to expect that Naruto wouldn't allow other people into his life as friends. She had often wished he would open up more, yet she then lashed out at him unreasonably when he finally did let someone in. Even though she still felt Sakura was a bad choice, for more reasons than her own fear of losing him to another woman, she knew that if it had been someone like Tenten or any other kunoichi, she wouldn't have acted any different. Sakura had simply been the first and most convenient target.

Hinata finished her kata and moved into her physical fitness routine. She started with her jumping jacks before moving on to her kicking exercises. Once those were done, she moved onto the various sit ups and crunches she had been taught to work her core muscles. She began running her schedule through her mind to make certain she didn't forget anything important.

* * *

6 am: Morning workout

7 am: Breakfast

8 am: review meeting and courting requests for the day with Father.

9 am: Medical training with Tsunade.

10 am: Meeting with Elders and courting request "discussions" aka rejections

12pm: Lunch

12:30 pm: Monthly budget review with father

1:30 pm: Economics tutoring

2:30 pm: Leadership tutoring

3:30 pm: Business tutoring.

4:30 pm: Tea

5 pm Evening Training with Father

7 pm Study and Work Assignments

8 pm: Dinner

9 pm: Free Time

10 pm: Bed time.

* * *

She was dreading the 8am meeting with her father for the past few weeks. Rumors had already been flying through the compound about the Ōtsutsuki clan having a suitor in the village and that an offer would be made for a marriage contract between the two clans. Her aunts had already been singing the man's praises as a handsome, respectable nobleman from a prestigious bloodline that can trace its ancestry back to the Rikudo Sennin himself. Though there were conflicting reports of his clan having a dispute with the Sage of Six Paths, the history from that era was inaccurate at best. The Ōtsutsuki clan certainly didn't fail to exploit the rumors of their ties to the founder of Ninjutsu, but there had been rumors contrary to their public praise for the sage.

Whispers amongst the Branch family spoke of servants, workers, and even smaller merchants being treated with disdain and disgust. Rumors had spread that the elders of the clan had spoken of their ancestor with malice and hatred and looked down on just about everyone as inferior and beneath them. Not even other noble clans or families were spared from their scorn, and the language they used while not in the presence of others had been filled with nothing but contempt.

Hinata wasn't surprised that the Hyūga elders seemed to hold them in high regard if that were the case. They followed that belief as well and it had begun to spread to the rest of the Main branch. Not even she had been immune from that rampant arrogance and pride that they had been trying to stuff down her throat since she took her first steps. She had tried to remain humble and above such pettiness, but the whole debacle with Sakura had forced her to realize just how insidious pride could really be.

It must be because she was constantly surrounded by that behavior now that Naruto and Sasuke were out of the village. She also had to spend far more time dealing with clan business than she had in the past because there was no team training at the moment. And whenever she had to deal with the elders, she had to put on her "clan face" as she called it. That mask of emotionless superiority that was considered proper for one of her station. Just reviewing her schedule made it clear that a majority of her time was spent in the presence of one or all of the elders during meetings, tutoring, and family meals in the compound. If it weren't for Tsunade's lessons every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, she would probably be forced to spend more time in their company.

They had also been seeking her out more often during training and free time to try and sway her towards accepting a suitor or marriage contract with various nobleman or businessman that had likely "granted them many favors" in the past year or two. It made her sick how the elders were constantly playing this shadow game of politics all the time. They would smile and try to gain favor with each other one minute before moving to strike them in the back the very next. Constantly jockeying for more power, prestige, or control over each other and the clan while filling their own pockets in the process.

It was, for this reason, that she was dreading the whole Ōtsutsuki offer. The elders had suddenly decided to unite in their efforts to bind her to this Toneri person. Not even the more shameless elders, who actively disputed and sabotaged their rivals at every turn, were speaking against each other like they usually did. It immediately put Hinata on the defense because this had to be a part of some larger plot for them to seize more power over the Clan head.

While the Clan head was, technically, the undisputed authority figure when it came to clan business and traditions, many of the elders had managed to ensure their power base by gaining control of key businesses, political contacts, and even other members of the council of elders. They used these contacts to provide a subtle threat to the Clan head by ensuring that going against their wishes would be detrimental to the clan as a whole. If the clan suffered too many setbacks that threatened the prosperity or safety of the clan, then tradition dictated that the council of elders remove the Clan head and let another family in the Main branch take over the position. In this way, the elders ensured that Hiashi couldn't do something that displeased the entire council or they would sabotage the clan until they had enough leverage to oust him from the position.

None of them would be affected by the decline in business or wealth since they had been stockpiling their personal reserves of ryō and goods through the various kickbacks and bribes they took on a yearly basis. In exchange for these bribes or kickbacks, they "recruited" unemployed Branch Family members to act as body guards for the politicians or serve the businesses or nobleman that provided them enough incentive. It sickened Hinata how these bastards exploited their family members in such a way, but the elders had long viewed the Branch as lower lifeforms that were only slightly above the average commoner because of the Byakugan they held.

That was the real reason why the elders feared the removal of the Caged Bird Seal. With the Branch family no longer having to deal with "strong encouragement" to do the elder's bidding; not only would they lose all their power and influence, but probably their lives as well. Most of the families that had managed to secure their position in the Main branch as overseers of the Clan head family had never worked a day in their lives. Other than being trained in politics and business management, they acted like most of the nobility in the land. Living off the hard work of others and acting as if they were superior to everyone else. In fact, none of them had even served the village as shinobi, which was the main reason they feared the Branch family gaining freedom.

Most of the Branch family served the village as shinobi. Those who weren't capable or had been injured in the line of duty became trainers, caretakers of the properties, or servants. If the seal on their heads was ever removed, not only would they have the advantage in strength and skill, but they would also have superior numbers as well. Sure the Main Branch families trained and learned the Jūken as a part of the tradition, but they never faced combat and very few of them advanced beyond the intermediate level that was required for all capable clan members.

The only reason her family had joined the Shinobi force was because of a village law. Any member sitting on the Shinobi council was required to serve as a Konoha shinobi for a period of no less than 10 years or 3 years if they attained the rank of Jōnin. Since the Clan head was chosen to sit on the seat of the Shinobi council when the clan joined the village, that became the standard for the clan going forward.

If it weren't for Hizashi's efforts to soothe tensions with the Branch family, the amount of shameless exploitation would have driven the Branch family to rebel. Even if it meant losing half of their number to a simple hand seal. Through Hiashi and Hizashi's efforts, they had managed to uncover enough evidence to turn the elder's petty rivalries against each other and exploit that rivalry to gain concessions and privileges previously denied to the Branch family.

Sadly, there wasn't much Hiashi could do to stop the exploitation completely. The elder council had always been responsible for the Branch Family members that weren't active shinobi. Only the bodyguards, the servants for the Clan Head's family, and the overall rules and traditions regarding the clan as a whole could be influenced by the Clan head himself. That rule had existed ever since the Caged Bird Seal had been put into use during the Clan wars era.

Hinata completed the last of her workout before making her way back to her room. She had just enough time for a quick shower before grabbing a quick breakfast and holding council with her father about the next batch of courting requests and marriage contracts. With the elders already putting so much pressure on her to choose Toneri, despite the fact that she hadn't even seen or met the man yet, she might be forced to consider one of the other random requests she had received only to buy her some time.

It had been three years since Naruto had left the village. If she could hold out for just one more, she could set her own plans in motion. Hopefully, she could catch them off guard before they could put up any roadblocks or retaliatory measures to try and force her to concede to their will. That was another reason she had been so upset about the leak of Naruto's parentage. If that news had come at the right time, the ground swell of support from the village, the politicians, and even the court of nobles and the Daimyō would have been impossible for them to deny. She would have forced their hand, gained valuable allies through her marriage to him, and best of all, she would be with the man that she loved.

It would be like a dream come true.

All she had to do was make it happen, but to do so she would have to dodge all these other fools seeking her hand, or more likely her wallet, and sidestep all the traps and landmines laid in her path by the elders themselves. Of course, she couldn't forget about her father either. He had made his displeasure in her selection _very_ clear. She would have to move very carefully when the time came to prevent him from siding with the elders for her "own good". Her father did have the ultimate say when it came down to approving a courtship request. And while she loved her father dearly, she wouldn't let him stand in the way of her goals. Even if it meant throwing his legitimacy as Clan head into question. She could only hope that it wouldn't come to that.

Hinata finished drying her hair before trying it up in a simple high pony tail. Usually, she preferred to keep her hair down, but Tsunade had made a point of requiring anyone in her class with hair longer than shoulder length to tie it up. Since long hair could introduce dirt or bacteria into a patient with open wounds, it needed to be tied back at the very least to prevent infection. It had become a habit to Hinata to simply tie up her hair on days that she trained with Tsunade. She also kept some ties, clips, and sticks in her medical pouch in case of emergencies.

She entered the dining room to see her father, Hanabi, and Neji seated at the table while a pair of servants were setting out bowls of steamed rice, grilled Tai (sea bream), small bowls of miso soup, and small plates of tsukemono (pickled daikon radish). She took her place at the table to the right of her father and waited for him to start eating. When one of the servants returned with a large pot of green tea and four cups, Hiashi took the first bite of his food and soon, the rest of them began tucking into their breakfast.

"Are you excited about your upcoming graduation, Hana-chan?" Hinata asked after taking a sip of tea.

Hanabi swallowed her bite of fish before answering. "Not really. None of the girls are any challenge. Even most of the boys are easy to beat in a spar so I am confident I will gain both top kunoichi and Rookie of the Year."

"Oh?" Hinata said in amusement. "What about Konohamaru-kun?"

Hanabi scowled at the mention of the young Sarutobi. "Hmph. I can still beat him most of the time. If it weren't for the fact that the Sandaime began helping him, he wouldn't stand a chance against me."

"I think someone is still mad about being knocked out of the Academy tournament so early on," Hinata said in a teasing tone of voice.

Hanabi merely crossed her arms before huffing and looking away from Hinata.

"It was an excellent move on the young Sarutobi's part." Hiashi mused. "If she had used her Byakugan from the beginning, she would have never fallen for such a clever trick."

"A lesson we all have learned early on and sometimes need to be reminded of," Hinata stated. Her own recollections of the last Chūnin exams still fresh in her mind.

Neji remained silent but he couldn't help but think it was the Main family's own arrogance that had caused such embarrassing displays. Even if Sakura had been the apprentice of Tsunade, Hinata also studied under the Sannin. In his mind, there had been no excuse for Hinata to toy with Sakura like she did. In the end, it nearly cost her the match. Luckily, she had made such a decisive comeback ensure her promotion. Otherwise, the elders would have made things really difficult for them all.

It was Hanabi's own growing arrogance that had forced her to dismiss the grandson of the Sandaime as insignificant. Thus she had been eliminated in the preliminary round of the Academy tournament because of her own faults. Considering the fact that Hanabi had been one of the few kunoichi candidates in history to have a true shot of claiming Rookie of the year, it was a major embarrassment. Hanabi had been forced to endure a three-hour lecture from the Elders who had vigorously debated marking her with the Cage Bird Seal for such a failure.

Fortunately, for Hanabi, Hinata had stepped in and pointed out that very few people attended the Academy tournament, and that Hanabi's talent should still be allowed to grow. Hiashi also reminded the elders that branding Hanabi with the seal now went against tradition. Since Hanabi was showing more promise in the Academy than Hinata had, that meant that Hanabi needed to be evaluated and given the right to challenge Hinata for the position of Heiress before being branded. A challenge that wouldn't come for quite some time since Hanabi really didn't want to deal with the wrinkly old bastards on the council.

The elders couldn't really put any significant pressure on branding Hanabi until she neared marriageable age. That gave them about 5 years before drastic measures had to be taken. It was everyone's hope that Hinata would take over by then. Hiashi would push his father off of the council of elders, as per tradition, and he could begin working behind the scenes to implement the changes Hinata wanted to make.

Hiashi rose from the table and told Hinata to meet him in his office once she was finished with her breakfast. After a bit of small talk with Neji and some more teasing of Hanabi, Hinata finished the last of her breakfast and made her way towards her father's office. Stopping outside of his door, she took a bracing breath before knocking lightly on the wooden frame of the shoji door.

"Enter." she heard her father say before sliding the door open and making her way in.

She saw her father seated at his tea table instead of his desk and settled down across from him on a small cushion. She had a bad feeling that this involved the Ōtsutsuki offer.

"Judging from the look on your face, I am guessing you have some idea about the offer we need to discuss," Hiashi stated before taking a sip of tea.

Hinata poured herself a cup to buy herself some time to respond. Putting a small amount of sugar into the tea, she stirred idly while gathering her thoughts.

"I'm guessing that all the other offers are either on hold or have been denied outright in favor of catering to the Ōtsutsuki clan," Hinata said.

"Correct. The elders have tabled the other offers for now since the offer from the Ōtsutsuki clan far outstrips them in terms of mutually beneficial arrangements." Hiashi said with a sneer. "In any case, you won't be able to outright deny this offer. While they pushed for a marriage contract quite heavily, I was at least able to convince a small group of elders to agree to an asset investigation of their clan."

Hinata looked confused so Hiashi clarified.

"An asset investigation can be conducted when there is evidence to suspect that the clan making an offer is not being entirely truthful," Hiashi explained. "We have it on good authority that a lot of their goods had been stolen by bandits while they traveled here to Konoha. A few of our branch members have spotted them making a great deal of purchases around town in regards to clothing and jewelry. In particular the types of gifts necessary for Yui-no." (Traditional gift exchange between bride and groom's family when the engagement is approved.)

Hinata frowned. "That is kind of presumptuous of them, isn't it?"

Hiashi shook his head in disagreement. "The male heir needs to get married eventually and all of the gifts necessary for Yui-no are dried or preserved to last for some time. The fact that they are needing to purchase them now is a sign that they had lost their previous gifts to the bandits."

"While I am grateful that the contract was denied outright, why are you telling me that I won't be able to deny this? I refuse to marry anyone else." Hinata said firmly.

"So you still have your mind set on that Uzumaki boy then?" Hiashi said with a frown.

"Don't start with this now, father. If I have to do something extreme to avoid all this, I will." Hinata said with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not trying to force you into anything, Hinata, otherwise I wouldn't have sacrifice as much as I have to ensure that we are conducting this asset investigation in the first place," Hiashi said sternly. "What I want you to do is take this courtship request seriously. You haven't even explored any real options and for all, you know the boy will take after his master. A shameless womanizer and pervert." Hiashi added with a sneer.

"I don't care what you think, I know Naruto-kun isn't going to end up like that," Hinata said with defiance. "Is it possible that Naruto-kun might have been involved with someone else? Certainly! But you of all people can't speak to me about that being inappropriate."

Hiashi sighed before rubbing his forehead in exasperation.

"I'm just trying to do what is best for you, Hinata. Choosing Uzumaki is going to mean concessions will have to be made. Big concessions. And I can't guarantee that you will even be allowed to remain the heiress or within the clan itself if you decide to stick with your current choice." Hiashi said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked with trepidation. "How could they even make that kind of decision?"

"I am sure you have heard some of the rumors about his heritage going around recently. So have the elders." Hiashi looked out the window with a frown. "The knowledge that you are his teammate isn't secret and some of the elders began entertaining the idea of you bringing him into our clan through marriage. The problem lies in the fact that he is technically the head of the Uzumaki clan. If we were to try to bring him into the clan, we would be essentially eliminating a clan that has a standing seat on the council. This is something the Hokage is likely to prevent from occurring."

"How could the Hokage interfere? The Hokage isn't able to interfere in clan business." Hinata said indignantly.

"When the village was first established and the rules for self-governance were created, there were certain rules that were agreed upon to ensure that each clan had equal representation on the council. These rules also included certain controls for the Hokage to use to ensure that certain clans couldn't use force or coercion to control smaller, less powerful clans." Hiashi explained. "If Naruto's heritage is confirmed, he will take the Uzumaki seat that was last occupied by Kushina."

"And because he is my husband, I can't sit in a different council seat as him because that could be seen as a move to gain more power for either the Hyūga or the Uzumaki clans," Hinata concluded.

"That means the Hokage has the right to block your union until one of you relinquishes your right to the council seat. For Naruto, that is impossible." Hiashi said with a solemn expression on his face.

"How can the Uzumaki clan even have a council seat when they weren't part of the village?" Hinata asked with suspicion. "They had an entire village of their own!"

"Because the Uzumaki seat was only added as a part of the deal brokered between Konoha and Uzushio shortly before their downfall," Hiashi said before taking another sip of tea. "Only the Sandaime really knows all the details, but there were rumors that it had something to do with Mito Uzumaki's last request before she died a few years later. All we were told was that Konoha had to pay a steep price to Uzushio in order to secure the village's safety and part of that price was a permanent council seat for the Uzumaki clan."

"Even for an ally? And everyone agreed with it?" Hinata asked in disbelief.

"No one disputed it at the time because the Uzumaki clan had been giving us a great deal of resources and seals for the defense of the village before they were eliminated. Most of our fish, konbu, and salt came from Uzushio and they also created the barrier system, reinforced our walls, and gave us improved sealing scrolls and explosive tag schematics for our use." Hiashi replied. "It also helped that they didn't have an active presence in the village at the time. For us, it just seemed to be more of a symbolic gesture of faith. The Sandaime never even set up a place inside of the chamber for them because he even believed they wouldn't make use of it."

Hinata sat back on her heels and rubbed her forehead. "What about Kushina? Wouldn't she have attended the meetings at some point to act in her clan's stead?"

"While she could have attended, she never really cared to. In the end, she ended up marrying the Yondaime in secret." Hiashi said quietly. "And if she were to attend while being the wife of the Hokage, she would have been breaking the rules. Even if no one knew any better it wasn't like Kushina or Minato to take advantage of that fact. Kushina would have been more than happy to stay away from the meetings because she found them boring."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this before!" Hinata said with gritted teeth. "Why didn't you tell me this back then when we were arguing about me going on a date with Naruto-kun!"

"Because in my mind, it was impossible for him to be their son!" Hiashi retorted. "The Sandaime told us all that Minato's son had perished. The Anbu reports on the crime scene, the autopsy reports, everything pointed to Kushina being slain before she gave birth."

"Yet now you believe that it wasn't true," Hinata whispered.

"I am still uncertain, I'll admit," Hiashi said sadly. "Though I don't know if that is simply denial for failing my closest friend by leaving his son to the wolves or not. It isn't just the rumors that have made me rethink the story the Sandaime had fed us. Jiraiya and Tsunade's involvement, like you pointed out, were just the start. I have received word that certain properties that had been held in trust were having their ownership deeds transferred. Properties that I had kept my eye on because they had belonged to Minato."

Hiashi stood up and made his way to his desk before pulling out a small folder and handing over to Hinata.

"This is to remain a secret, Hinata, for if the village were to learn to the true extent of our influence in the land management committee, the Hokage could sanction us quite severely," Hiashi warned.

When he received a nod from Hinata he continued. "I had my informants keep an eye on several deeds of land to wait for the unclaimed properties law to take effect. As you know if a tenant or inspector is unable to establish contact with the deed owner for 10 years, the land goes into public trust before being auctioned by the village. Sometimes the village may reclaim these buildings for its own purpose, but there is a limit that was imposed. The village can not reclaim property that was designated for civilian purposes without releasing certain lands for purchase by civilian companies or land holders. We have a few civilian holdings that were a result of marriages between the Main and Branch families that, on the surface, have no ties to the clan. Several of them are members of the Land Management committee and were planning to set aside these properties so we could reclaim them for the clan without drawing attention to us."

"What happened?" Hinata asked looking up from the documents she had been studying.

"The Sandaime happened," Hiashi said with a scowl. "My informants still don't know the details of how the Sandaime managed to skirt the laws, but he managed to purchase most of the land we had our eyes on using some secret clause in the village charter and authorize construction on it. Something he was likely taught by the Nidaime who laid out all the rules and regulations when it comes to Land Management. The rest of the land was locked up in a trust being held in the capital. Unless you have proof that you are a relative or heir presumptive with proof of death, the trust will not allow you access to any information about the contents of the trust or who the executor is."

Hiashi made his way back to the table and sat down before pouring himself a cup of tea. Taking a sip, he continued with his story. "Our agents in the capital reported that a portion of this trust had been transferred to the inheritor and the will declared fulfilled shortly before Naruto left the village. In particular, one plot of land that no one knew belonged to Minato and Kushina has been transferred over into his name."

"The house near the clan district," Hinata said with a gasp.

Hiashi nodded. "That title was in false name with no ties to Minato or Kushina whatsoever. So, when I learned the deed had been tied up in a trust, I was suspicious. Until the trust was fulfilled, however, I couldn't find out who had been able to tie that property up. It took some time for our agent to get access to the copy on file, which he sent over to me recently. That was when I realized that what you had guessed was true. The Sandaime was acting as the executor of the will which allowed him to make purchases and authorize construction on that land in good faith. Once Naruto attained the rank of Chūnin, he was granted the rest of the deeds and inheritance because of the partial will left by his mother."

Hinata shut the folder and placed it down gently on the desk. Her face didn't display any emotions at the moment but internally, she was a mess. All her hopes and dreams seemed to be crumbling into dust around her. If she were to pursue her dream of marrying Naruto, she would have to abandon her duty in freeing her clan from the traditions that were slowly strangling them. The Branch members that were all relying on her for their liberation would be left in chains with no hope of escape. If she were to follow her dreams, she would be burdening her sister with all the petty bickering, the back stabbing, the constant vigilance that slowly began to wear down your soul.

At the same time, she would slowly die on the inside if she were to abandon her dream and fulfill her duty. Bound to a man that had no love for her but only power and wealth. Forced to play nice and feign happiness when all she felt was desolation and hopelessness. Certainly, the freedom of the Branch family would help to alleviate some of that pain but once everything was done, there would be no one to comfort her in the late hours of the night. No one to lover her for who she was not what she represented.

For the first time in her life, Hinata was uncertain about what she wanted. It seemed like she had approached a crossroads in her life and once a path was chosen, there would be no going back. On one side was her own dreams and happiness. On the other the fate of her clan and family.

All of her life she had been driven towards fulfilling her duty and doing what was best for her clan. As soon as she learned to read and write, her training for the title of heiress began. Lessons on etiquette and behavior, on how to present herself inside of the clan and outside of the compound. Her education was centered around running the clan and interacting with village leadership. All her training and her enrollment in the Academy had not been due to her own desires, but because they were necessary for her success.

She needed to interact and establish some form of relationship with the future clan heirs since they would be her peers on the Shinobi council in 5 – 10 years. As head of the clan, she needed to be an exemplar of the Jūken and all its abilities. Even if she weren't the best in combat, she needed to be the best in show. Flawless and above reproach in her techniques while displaying the intelligence necessary to advance their style by displaying the capability to create techniques that would become staples in the future.

For her father, it was the Hakke Kūshō (Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm) and the knowledge of how to put an opponent into a false death state by striking a series of four tenketsu points in a particular order that had earned his ascension to the Clan head seat.

Since as far back as she could remember she had been trained to take his spot and advance the agendas he had failed to pass on his own. Elimination of the Caged Bird Seal, reduction of the Elder council's powers, and the commission of a new seal to protect the entire clan so that there were no more long and drawn out debates over allowing Hyūga members to marry outside of the clan.

Not many knew the truth, but the Hyūga clan was dangerously close to having genetic overlap in a few generations. It was the main reason the elders had been so upset about Hiashi having daughters instead of sons because it only highlighted the problem even further. It was a clear indication that traditions were causing more harm than good for the clan and that was causing some of the elders to rethink their policies. The Branch family didn't have such concerns because they were allowed to wed anyone they desired since their children would automatically be branded anyways. So while the Branch family was healthy and diverse, the Main families had been dwindling.

There were no eligible males for Hinata to wed that weren't related to her in some way within the clan and the same held true for Hanabi as well. Even Neji would have to look outside of the clan since all the eligible women around his age were 3rd or 4th cousins who were either once or twice removed at best. Since he was a Branch member, however, he had no restrictions on who he would wed beside the fact that his children would need to be branded if they were to inherit the Byakugan.

If Hizashi and Neji were never branded due to tradition, however, both of them could have safely introduced new blood into the Main Branch despite the fact that they weren't in line to become the clan head. Unfortunately, a similar situation had happened in the past and a bloody civil war had taken place when the twin sons of the last clan head began fighting for the position. The clan was divided practically down the middle on who they supported which caused almost 40% of the clan to die before the violence was curtailed. The winning side was forced to commission the Caged Bird Seal to keep the losing side from constantly trying to rebel against the victors.

For this reason, when a Clan head had more than once child capable of taking his position, they were both evaluated as they grew before one of them was branded to prevent causing unrest. The youngest was allowed one challenge before the heir or heiress ascended to claim that position before they were branded and pushed into the Branch Family.

The only exemptions to this rule were people who were deemed unsuitable for taking the Clan head position or were no danger to losing the secrets of the clan to outsiders. Which basically meant the children of elders who had been fortunate enough to avoid being branded because of their political pull, economic strength, or incapability to become shinobi because they were simply inept or unfit.

Hiashi could tell his daughter was having a major internal debate right now but he needed to make sure she stayed the course. She was the only hope to solving this problem and, sadly, she was the one that had to make sacrifices to ensure that their clan lived on and flourished. While Hanabi was smart and skilled, she hadn't been groomed properly for the position. Hanabi was a bit too blunt and hot headed for the spot in his opinion. Hanabi was too much like the elders, she would fall into their hands with ease and all the time, effort, and struggle he had endured would be set back or eliminated entirely.

Hinata was more like her mother; She held a demure, kind, gentle, and caring presence that concealed a cunning, determined, and calculating mind. Her threat was subtle but dangerous because she lured you in and made you believe the upper hand was yours, only revealing the truth once she had struck and you found yourself dying. Politically or literally. Already she had been making strides in reducing the influence of the elders. She had started playing them against each other before she even left the Academy. And all of her decisions had been sound and well thought out.

The only lesson she had yet to learn was that as the Head of the Hyūga clan was that you have to learn when to settle. There were no hopes or dreams for you at the top of this clan. There was only power, respect, and misery layered with fleeting happiness. Maybe with her efforts, her children would take the next step towards happiness, but for now, she had to fall in line like the rest. Just like his father and he had sacrificed when it came to matters of the heart. She would have to abandon her love and settle for something less.

It was the only way to steel her heart for what she must endure.

Only the heartless survived the constant machinations and scheming. Being emotional, caring, or gentle only meant that they could wear you down with time. If she didn't learn to shut that out or control it now, the elders would win and the clan would continue to suffocate on its own pride and arrogance.

"We have agreed to a courting request with this Toneri Ōtsutsuki for the time being, but it is only three weeks. After that, we should get the report and decide from there how we wish to proceed." Hiashi said quietly. "As per usual, there is no exclusivity contract so you may seek out others during this time if only to weigh your options further."

"I understand father," Hinata said in an emotionless tone.

"I'll leave the current offers on your desk while you are away with training. We can spend time reviewing them over lunch. The courtship will start next week, after that there will be a week of separation while the clan looks over the reports of the investigation. During that time you will need to look into accepting another courtship request if you wish to delay the decision any further." Hiashi stated with finality.

Hinata merely nodded before bowing and leaving the office. She said nothing further.

Hiashi sighed before rubbing his forehead again. This really was the right thing for her, so why did he feel like he had just strangled the very spirit from his daughter. That he had failed her somehow.

Shaking his head, he rose to return to the rest of his paperwork.

"It is for the good of the clan." he muttered to himself, but this time, it rang hollow in his ears.


	72. Hinata Hiden: Beguiling Lights Part 2

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Warning: Mild sexual content and abuse is present in this chapter.

 **Chapter 71**

 **Hinata Hiden: Beguiling Light Hides Preying Shadows Part 2**

 **2 Days Later – Diamondleaf Room - Tenrei Yubina Hotel**

* * *

The Ōtsutsuki Clan council were seated around a low table in the sitting room of their suite examining the different jewels and goods they had hastily purchased. While most of it wasn't up to their standards, there wasn't much they could do about that fact at the moment. They were positive that it would be more than enough for the Hyūga clan to be impressed, however.

Hitomi was turning her nose up at the kimono Toneri had chosen for Hinata. She was extremely jealous of all the gifts and attention being given to that Hyūga bitch. Hitomi had confronted that pale-eyed freak when she came across the slut in the market place. Despite the fact that she was ordered to stay away from Hinata, she had to try and put that man stealing whore in her place. While Hitomi was no fighter, she made up for it with enthusiasm and a lack of restrictions. Like she had suspected, Hinata had cowered away from her righteous onslaught before trying to flee to her bodyguards. If not for one of the elders catching up with her, Hitomi would have chased down that hussy and put her back in her place.

Then she remembered Toneri's warning and decided to bribe the elder with several bottles of shochu made from sweet potatoes. Fortunately for her, that particular elder had a severe weakness for the clear liquor and was willing to remain silent about the incident. Since then, Hitomi had decided to keep a low profile until she could come up with a plan to humiliate that Hyūga bitch. Hitomi looked back over at the arrayed goods and scowled as she saw Toneri studying the kimono closely.

If only her lover would give her such beautiful things. While he gave her plenty of personal attention, he had never given her traditional wedding gifts. In fact, he hadn't really given her anything beyond flowers and elaborate dinners. It pained her to see him going through all the motions of courting and betrothal with another woman when he had skipped straight to bedding her when they were introduced. She had also been hurt by the fact that he never gifted her with his seed, despite his constant expressions of wanting to bear suitable heirs with her. She was extremely loyal to him, and had been trained to please him by any means necessary. Even if it meant debasing herself to the level of a common whore in order to fulfill his sexual needs.

Toneri ignored Hitomi's fuming as he examined the stitching of his most symbolic gift to Hinata. The kimono was an ornate black silk kimono lined and trimmed in red silk. Along the hem line and the bottom of the traditional wide sleeves was a golden foil cloud motif with cranes soaring over them. Towards the middle of the kimono were scattered autumn maple leaves in light pink and red hues. Decorating the collar were clusters of plum blossoms in pale pink. Scattered throughout the length of the kimono were large blooming camellia and peonies in light yellow, soft pink, and off white.

For Toneri, it was the perfect gift to convey a message to the Hyūga heiress. The clouds to represent the heavens since he would elevate her from her earthly station. Maple leaves to display his determination to prove his worth. The different colors of the camellia conveyed his willingness to wait for her to accept him even as he longed for her. The peonies were symbols that represented his wealth, bravery, and his honorable nature. The cranes were a promise that their union would bring good fortune to them all and the plum blossoms to show he would ensure her happiness.

At least that was what he wanted her to think.

He had seen the heiress in the merchant district during one of his forays into town and had to admit her beauty was unrivaled. That long silky hair was blue-black like the twilight. Her skin was a flawless milky white and her Byakugan had a lovely lavender hue he had never seen before. Her bust and hips were perfect for personal pleasure and raising several healthy children to reintroduce the Byakugan back into their clan. It was _almost_ enough for him to forget her substandard blood. In fact, Toneri had rearranged some of his plans for the Hyūga heiress once he studied her carefully.

While Hitomi satisfied his carnal lusts, and was a true Ōtsutsuki female to bear him heirs, she had nothing on Hinata's lovely body. Hitomi's face was quite plain for an Ōtsutsuki and she was a simpering weakling that knew nothing more than how to keep a household running. With the numerous servants in his home, that made her talents practically useless. She was fortunate her grandfather had been one of the last people to manifest the Tenseigan, otherwise he would have ignored her in favor of the other non-related females in the clan. They had all been far more beautiful and skilled than Hitomi had been.

Hinata, on the other hand, had the complete package. She had a beautiful face to match her lovely body. She was poised, confident, and well mannered. He knew that the Hyūga trained all of their members in their Jūken style and his spies reported that she had been training under the Slug princess as a medic as well. He was actually looking forward to deflowering the heiress and he was certain she was strong enough to satisfy him in bed. He might not even need to submit her to the usual debasement and depravity he put Hitomi through in order for him to reach satisfaction. Though he had to admit seeing Hinata bound and trussed up in compromising positions while he used his various toys and implements of pleasure to tease and torture her body was a highly arousing thought.

Toneri pushed aside his thoughts before his arousal became too apparent. The last thing he wanted to deal with was another tantrum from Hitomi at the moment. While it was easy and pleasurable to put her in her place, he really didn't feel like dealing with that horribly screechy voice of hers at the moment. He couldn't afford to be in a foul mood when he met with the Hyūga tonight.

He scanned the various jewelry, silks, furs, and exotic goods they had gathered as part of their presentation of wealth. It was a pitiful display. A sign of how low they had fallen, but it should be enough to please those petty schemers on the Elder council.

He already had a few of them in his pocket from his name alone. The rest were put in line quite quickly. All it had taken was the promise of elevation to the Ōtsutsuki clan council. which essentially equated to being treated like royalty. The Hyūga clan would merge into the Ōtsutsuki clan with their businesses investments remaining under their control as long as the proper tithes were paid for the well-being of the clan. Their enemies and rivals within the Hyūga clan would be relegated to the serving class of the Ōtsutsuki clan and become servants to their betters.

The serving class wasn't treated much differently from how the Hyūga treated their branch family, but the Ōtsutsuki didn't need to lord the threat of a killer seal over the heads. Instead, they trained them _properly_ from birth to understand their station in life. The children were educated based upon their status with no opportunity to branch out beyond the position their parents held. It was another symbol of how inept the Hyūga really were if they needed a crutch to control their clan, even if they were clever enough to disguise it under the guise of protecting their bloodline.

His eyes trailed over the various necklaces that the servants had purchased at his instruction. He picked up an unusually large medallion and studied it carefully. While it was the most expensive one his servants had purchased, the design left much to be desired. It was a strange silver half circle with a rainbow moonstone carved in the shape of a waning crescent moon. The outer edge was lined with five gems and seemed to be arrayed by clarity. The topmost gem being almost transparent while the bottom one was completely opaque. He studied each of the gems carefully in order to identify and judge the ratings of each gem itself.

The first was a pale iolite that was almost clear white. Just below that was a perfect light blue aquamarine followed by a flawless royal blue garnet. Next came a cloudy blue fluorite with tinges of purple hidden in the depths. Not a perfect gem but the odd color combination made up for its flaws. The final stone was a solid dark blue aventurine of superior quality.

At least the gems were all high quality or had unique properties to them, and he couldn't deny that the symbolism behind the design of this medallion fit in perfectly with the traditional lore of the Ōtsutsuki clan. The moonstone being central as it _was_ the symbol of the Ōtsutsuki clan and the other gems provided spiritual energy suitable for fostering a healthy betrothal.

Clear thinking from the moonstone, iolite to help build a close relationship, aquamarine to bring inner peace, garnet to fuel sensuality and sexuality, fluorite to help find purpose and clarity, and prosperity from the aventurine.

The other necklaces were simple and decently made, comprised of mostly gold and diamonds with some of them made of pearls. Bland and typical but quantity was needed to impress the greedy old misers. They were under the impression that they were being integrated into a clan that was for more wealthy then their own, after all. It would be best to continued fostering that impression until it was too late for them to back out of the deal. There were also rubies, emeralds, and sapphires set into earrings, bracelets, and rings. He continued to study the craftsmanship of each piece to ensure that they were acceptable in his eyes before setting the final piece down and gesturing for one of his servants to pack them away.

The servants pulled out a medium sized jewelry box made of ebony. The jewelry box had double doors on the face and a flip open top that included a mirror. Toneri instructed the strange medallion be placed in the top compartment before he studied the box's decoration. The inlays were intricate and made of fine materials in a traditional layout of cherry blossoms in various stages of bloom. The branches and blossoms dominated the top of the box and the top left hand corner of double doors before tapering out to scattered blooms and even individual petals as they spread towards the lower right hand corner of the box. It gave the impression of a strong breeze blowing through a cherry blossom orchard, sending flowers and petals dancing in the wind.

The branches were made of reddish brown tortoise shell while the cherry blossoms were a mix of ivory, pink pearl, and red abalone. Toneri nodded approvingly and complimented the servant who had made the selection. Perhaps he would reward the man with a bottle of sake for making such an excellent pick.

Now that everything seemed in order, he moved to prepare himself for his first official meeting with the Hyūga heiress. They would present all the gifts for the clan and the heiress to inspect. After which he would have to endure a meager dinner with the insufferable fools before he could start wooing his future acquisition. He glanced over at Hitomi who was scowling at the servants as they packed the furs and silks into a large maple wood chest with dragons carved into the lid. His lip curled in disgust as he saw her plain face made even uglier by her failure to keep her petty jealousy under control.

Perhaps he would teach her a lesson and calm his libido in one fell swoop. It wouldn't do to let his urges get the best of him when he spent some alone time with the heiress tonight. Though he doubted it would take him longer than a week before he was pumping himself between her milky thighs. Toneri licked his lips at the thought of her tight virgin channel squeezing him as he pounded into her. Slapping her plump ass and watching it jiggle before the red hand print formed on her ivory skin. Watching those large, perky breasts bounce with each thrust while she cried out to the Kami as he pushed her to peak after peak.

The Ōtsutsuki head took a deep breath to cool himself off before calling out to Hitomi. He wasn't surprised when she trotted over to him like the obedient dog she was. He led Hitomi into his room before retrieving his favorite thick red ropes and leather gag so he didn't have to listen to Hitomi's screechy voice as he pleasured himself on her while thinking of Hinata.

 **Early Evening – Hyūga Compound**

* * *

Hinata sat in a seiza position with a emotionless expression on her face as the Ōtsutsuki clan were admitted into the entertainment hall. Her long hair was styled in a pair of coiled plaits that were then twisted into a pair of neat buns at the base of her skull. The buns were secured with light pink ribbons tied into a large bow at the bottom of each bun with a few trailing beads of white, pink, and red dangling from the ribbon tips. Besides her hime cut bangs, she left two longer segments of hair hanging in front of her ears. The bottom two inches of hair were wrapped up in matching pink ribbon that was tied off into a smaller bow with smaller strands of the same beads hanging from the bow. Her kimono was made of soft purple silk that had a pink organza outer layer embroidered with plum blossoms.

Hanabi sat next to her in a cream colored kimono with images of swallows in flight. Her hair was tied up into a traditional bun on the top of her head. Hanabi was stone faced, like her sister, as she eyed the strangers entering the room. She knew these guys were the reason for her sister's latest depression and it was also a glaring reminder of her own fate in the future. Not only did she have to fear being branded, but the odds of her being sold off to some businessman or nobleman's grandson were even higher with Hinata being the heiress.

Hanabi loved her sister with all her heart, but a part of her wished that Hinata would find some other clan leader to marry. If Hinata married into another clan, she would become the heiress and would no longer worry about being branded with the Caged Bird Seal. While it was true that she would have to put up with all the burdens of running the clan, it was better than being forced into servitude. Even if she would still be forced to marry some useless man to satisfy the greed of the Elder Council.

It was for this reason that Hanabi had begun to emulate her father's mannerisms and requested more political training from her tutors. She would have to challenge Hinata within four years if she were to avoid being branded or married off. The only other way to escape her fate would be for Hinata to marry into another clan or to be declared unfit for the position. Hanabi wasn't one to be ambitious for her own gains, but she did want to be prepared for any scenario. She knew her sister had her eye on the Uzumaki kid and anyone with half a brain would realize there was something more to Naruto.

Her sister had mentioned how Naruto had been watched over by the Sandaime, taken on as an apprentice by the Toad Sage Jiraiya, and declared a nephew by the Godaime. That was a great deal of attention for a simple orphan. If the elders didn't approve of the marriage and Hinata decided to pursue it against their wishes, she would either be exiled or branded and Hanabi would be forced to take over the role anyways.

If Hinata folded to their demands and married this guy to keep her position, or somehow managed to convince the elder council to accept the Uzumaki, then Hanabi would make her challenge on her 16th birthday. She would fight for her freedom from the seal with all that she had because to do otherwise wasn't in her nature. Even if she knew her father and sister were colluding with each other to eliminate the seal and erode the power of the elder council, to simply meekly accept her fate and leave it in the hands of others wasn't her style. If anything, it would only draw suspicion from the council if she didn't try to fight for the position.

A Hyūga never merely accepted their fate, they either fought with every thing they had. Otherwise, they manipulated, schemed, and plotted the demise of those who were forcing them to accept such a fate. She didn't have the resources or political pull to pull off the latter, so all she could do was train hard to prepare for her challenge. While that was going on, she would have to start searching for a suitable male to wed. It would have to be a clan heir of some renown in order to catch the eye of the elders. Hopefully, she would find someone suitable and tolerable to avoid being wedded off to some random weakling outside of the village.

The five members of the Ōtsutsuki and their servants/guards were directed towards the dais that the Hyūga clan was currently occupying. The eight members of the Elder council were seated on a higher tier behind Hiashi, Hinata, and Hanabi. To the sides were Hizashi and Neji acting as guards should trouble arise. The rest of the Branch guards surrounded the hall every few feet, mixed in with the servants that were standing by to wait on the guests and the prominent members of the clan.

Below the dais was a black lacquered long table with short clawed feet. There were five large red cushions arranged in a line for the visiting guests. Once Toneri and his company were seated, a pair of branch females entered the room carrying two trays filled with tea cups and four teapots. The branch members split up, one making her way to serve the Hyūga and the other to serve their guests. A branch male entered the room shortly afterward and began setting out various snacks and sweets to accompany the tea. Once their task was complete they bowed low before exiting the room.

With the refreshments set out, one of the female Hyūga elders decided to kick off the proceedings.

"We welcome the esteemed guests from the noble Ōtsutsuki clan of Ta no Kuni." the old lady said with a slight bow.

"I thank you for your kind welcome," Toneri replied with his own bow before he gestured to the servants carrying multiple wooden chests and boxes. "I bring before you an offering of wealth to prove myself as a worthy husband for your beautiful heiress," Toneri said with a smile and a bow of his head in acknowledgment to Hinata.

Hinata merely bowed her head politely before studying him with a blank face. She couldn't deny he was kind of handsome. His tousled ice blue hair matched his unusual light blue eyes. His face was very similar to Naruto's except his lips and nose were a bit larger. Even with his baggy and odd kimono, she could tell his build was slender. Yet, even with that smile on his face and softness in his eyes, Hinata could only feel coldness from him.

Where Naruto was the radiant sun filled with warmth, Toneri was the forlorn and icy moon. Naruto's skin was nicely tanned, his hair golden like the sun and his eyes like the summer sky. Toneri was pale. In fact, she might even consider him an albino with his icy blue eyes and winter frost hair. They were like complete opposites of each other and she had to wonder if that applied to Toneri's personality as well.

Hinata fought to stop the frown from showing on her face. She had to be polite at least, even if she didn't want anything to do with the man. Hopefully, the investigation would bring up something she could use against him. It was either that or entice him into acting untoward towards her and having Neji speak against his character afterward. It would be risky considering Neji's dislike of her pursuit of Naruto. If her father was also supporting this Toneri character, it was likely that Neji would go along with his opinion as well.

She didn't know if Toneri was trained or capable of defending himself, but she couldn't disqualify his character by attacking him and claiming it was to prevent molestation. Otherwise, every other Hyūga female would have simply attacked their unwanted husbands and claimed self-defense.

While the Ōtsutsuki clan were famous, there wasn't much known about their skills and abilities. The secrets of their dojutsu were well kept and very few members of their clan revealed or manifested the Reincarnation Eye, as it was nicknamed. Rumors stated it could control gravity, give someone powerful affinities in all five elements, and, of course, bring critically wounded people back to life. There were other reports of strange powers that would rival the bijū in destructive power, but there were no confirming accounts from outside of the Ōtsutsuki clan itself.

She also didn't know if those icy blue eyes that were staring at her like a predator were the fabled Tenseigan or not. Taking him lightly would be foolish, of course, but all the branch members and servants at the Hotel had labeled him as more arrogant than the worst of the Elder council.

Hinata could believe those rumors because she had been assailed by a woman in his entourage and she had been extremely condescending and prideful. Nothing physical occurred, but the woman, named Hitomi, had tried to antagonize her into a fight and verbally assaulted her. Hitomi had spat venomous words at her, claiming that she was plain, unworthy, and commoner filth. Hinata had simply turned her back on the furious woman, dismissing her as unworthy of her time and a waste of her breath to retort.

Naturally, this had led to Hitomi trying to lash out at her in retaliation, but another member of the clan had shown up and physically restrained the woman. Hinata never came across the woman again after that. If Hinata had to guess, Toneri had likely punished the woman severely for causing strife between their clans.

However, Hinata could tell that whole encounter had been born of something more personal than simple pride. It was obvious the woman had deep seated feelings for Toneri. That jealous rage had been so similar to her own, after all.

Just another complication that arose from arranged marriages of this sort. There was always the other man or woman to deal with and the scandals that arose from them. To marry a man without love and be forced to take consorts on the side in order to find happiness would only fuel that sort of behavior. It was either that or live a cold and lonely existence while putting on a show of being happily married when in public. Even in that scenario, there was still the fact that she would still need to have sex with her husband a few times to produce an heir and a "spare".

Then she would have to constantly put on a facade of happiness with her husband in public. While that wouldn't be a big problem for her, dealing with the jealousy and envy of her husband's mistresses would be. It wasn't like she wanted to marry the man or loved him in the first place, but that wouldn't matter to the women her husband selected. The cruel reality of this situation meant that they would always be the second woman and they were powerless to change that painful fact.

Hinata knew she could never be satisfied with being Naruto's mistress. To know that he would be spending time in the arms of another woman. To know that some other woman would be the one to bear his children instead of her. To be relegated to the shadows while some other woman was on his arm. That wasn't even considering the mistreatment and disgust that would be leveled at her for being that "other woman" in his life. No one looked upon mistresses in a favorable light and the only reason they weren't treated as badly as prostitutes was because they were usually kept by men of means and power. Once their patron was gone, mistresses were often worse off than whores.

The other annoying aspects of being in an arranged marriage would be dealing with the various scandals that came with being in a loveless marriage. Even if she were to remain faithful to her husband and not take a consort, the whispers and nasty rumors would still be spread. Like vultures seeking blood, the matrons of the Main family would be looking for any sign of discontent or disunity between herself and her husband so that they could have something entertaining to discuss over tea with the others. Even some of the women on the Elder council, who had been subjected to the same sort of painful arrangement, would gleefully gossip about her situation in a negative light.

It was almost as if they enjoyed the suffering of others.

Hinata wouldn't be surprised if some of those venomous women had tried to push her into a marriage that would bring her nothing but misery. Hinata knew that two of them had been forced to endure such arrangements in their youth. One would think that would garner some sympathy for her own situation, but most of the Main branch matrons were far too self-centered and petty to be concerned about others. Instead of trying to help her avoid that pain, they felt it was only right for others to suffer as they had.

She could almost see their joyful anticipation at revealing vicious and false rumors to others. Rumors that she was uninterested in men, that she was sleeping with her servants or keeping multiple consorts on the side.

They would whisper behind their fans and giggle as they spread their falsehoods, each one exceedingly worse than the first one. And every time she was required to attend a public function with her husband, those spiteful harridans would eagerly seek out any sign of discord or unhappiness between them to fuel further rumors. Stories of spousal abuse or depraved behavior being the cause of her marital troubles. No matter how false or outlandish they really were, the matrons would fan the flames of those rumors and complete with each other over how far their versions have spread.

Not even the fact that they had been subjected to the same exact situation would change how much they enjoyed reveling in her misery. All in an attempt to try and lower her position or status over them. It was like they were a group of hens in a hen house that were trying to establish dominance over each other. It was all a game for them; to try and ferret out the dirty secrets of those around them while keeping their own hidden safely away. They would go on about the shamelessness of such behaviors when committed by others, even if they were actively involved in the same exact type of behavior.

It was a situation in which she couldn't win. If she failed to stop this arrangement, she would be trapped, unable to gain what her heart desired. She had no doubt that she could win Naruto's heart but he would never accept being a simple consort and Hinata didn't want him to be forced into that position.

He deserved better.

Hinata looked on with disinterest as Toneri began the presentation process. There were the usual silks, furs, and simple accessories like hair combs, hair sticks, ribbons. She had to admit the black kimono was very nice and the wooden chests that the items came in were quite beautiful.

Next came the ebony jewelry box that was quite beautiful in her opinion. The inlays were tasteful and of quality craftsmanship. She liked the way the gemstone inlay caught and reflected the light, contrasting the midnight wood. What surprised her the most, however, was what she saw in the top compartment.

It was Naruto's medallion!

More importantly, it was the other half of Naruto's medallion. There were some differences between Naruto's half and the other half she was looking at, but she just knew that it would fit perfectly with Naruto's.

She couldn't stop the small gasp that escaped her lips when she spotted the necklace. Subconsciously she fingered the pendant Naruto had given her, an action she had been repeating constantly since that discussion with her father. It was the only thing keeping her from sinking into despair and keeping a strong front. The cool stone that, oddly, gave her a warm and comforting feeling every time she held it in her hand or ran her fingers along the delicate beads.

When the time came for her to accept or reject the offering, Hinata didn't hesitate to claim the medallion. Rejecting the offering wasn't really an option considering how the entire clan backed Toneri's suit at the moment. It was just a formality at this point. While she could have rejected it to make a point to the Ōtsutsuki clan, the elders would just accept it on her behalf anyways and take the goods for themselves. If she was to be forced into this whole arrangement, she might as well claim the goods that came from such an arrangement.

Especially the medallion.

As soon as she had it in her hand a foreign feeling washed over her. It was comforting, warm, and filled her with a vague sense of hope. Oddly enough, holding it gave her the same feelings she felt whenever Naruto had held her in his arms. Holding it cradled in her hands evoked all of the same feelings that stirred inside of her whenever she had spent time with her love. The longing she had felt when she first began crushing on him, the draw she felt towards him when she looked him in the eyes. The giddiness and the butterflies whenever Naruto had invited her out to eat or training without Sasuke because Naruto's full attention was always on her.

When dinner was served, Hinata had to tuck the medallion away or else she would be reprimanded by her father and the elders. She slid the medallion underneath her kimono and let it fall beneath her breasts where it came to rest inside of her bra. She was then resigned to enduring the fixated gaze of Toneri and his attempts to engage her in conversation for the rest of the meal.

Toneri could certainly be charming when he wanted to be, but she could tell it was a facade. That warmth on his face and soft tone of voice he used to speak to her didn't have any real warmth behind it. Even his chuckles and laughs were rehearsed.

He also was well educated in how to behave and manipulate prideful aristocrats like the Elder council. When he wasn't trying to draw something more than a clipped response from her, he was plying his skills in charming the older women and sharing jokes with the men. From her observations, a few of them were genuinely pleased to be conversing with him on some level instead of using their usual masks to hide their over inflated sense of superiority.

The rest of his entourage were remarkably subdued in comparison. They only entered a conversation once Toneri had entered it, and followed his lead on every discussion. There was never any dissension, no contrary opinions, and they went out of their way to compliment his statements while subtly putting down any contrary opinions.

For Hinata, it was a stark indicator of how controlling the man was; which made it even more confusing to her that all the elders were in support of this man. It was obvious he wouldn't be satisfied with simply allowing her to run the Hyūga clan outside of the Ōtsutsuki clan. If anything, this was a bid to make a take over of some sort.

Not only would she have to clash with his dominant behavior constantly, but the elders would likely be subjected to it as well. For this reason, she couldn't see what he was offering to get them to submit so easily. Either he was offering an obscene amount of money or a controlling stake in the Ōtsutsuki clan's business.

Hinata eyed the other elders closely during dinner. Trying to pick out those who were obviously in league with Toneri and those who were being forced, or paid off, to accept his bid as her husband. That was the only way it was possible to gain a unanimous decision from the elders.

It would take some work on her part to subtly maneuver a few of the more loyal Branch servants into their households so she could gather some intelligence of her own. Most of the elder families ignored the servants as if they were nonexistent, so they made the best spies. While there were a great portion of the servants that were loyal to her father and Hizashi, she couldn't really trust her father at the moment since he seemed to be supporting Toneri as well.

Fortunately for her, many of the younger branch servants were loyal to her alone because she treated them fairly with kindness and respect. She liked to pick up after herself as much as she could and she didn't make outlandish requests. She accepted whatever meals and refreshments they had made for that day and complimented them regardless if they were suitable to her preferences.

Most of the time it wasn't her simply maneuvering to get their loyalty either. The servants were generally well trained in cooking, cleaning, and they were highly skilled tailors and craftsman. They had skills passed down from generation to generation since the clan settled in Konoha. Because of this, the goods and services they provided were always top quality. And since she treated them fairly, the servants were more than willing to slant the meal plans and other services in her favor.

With the branch members having no real options to advance beyond their current situation, there was really only two options for them. Follow in the footsteps of their parents or become shinobi for the village. Most opted to join the village to get some semblance of freedom, but others preferred more domestic lives away from danger.

There was also a subset of the Branch family that gathered information and documented all the actions of the Main family. Some of them were commissioned by the Elder Council to gain dirt on each other but there were many that simply compiled a list of atrocities committed by the Main branch in an effort to get the village to intervene on their behalf. Sadly, their movements were always restricted and, so far, the elders hadn't crossed a line that would allow the Hokage to move in on the elders.

Two of the Elders that seemed to be colluding with the Ōtsutsuki were very controlling of their servants; even down to their wardrobe and hair dressings. Without her father's help, it would be extremely difficult for her to move servants loyal to her into their households without attracting suspicion. She would have to hide them from her father or cover up the switches in some way. She would have to look into which servants they made use of the least and try to stroke their ego by requesting them for herself as some sort of "favor" to her. One of them was partial to having a group of seamstresses on hand but she hadn't seen him with a new kimono for weeks. Perhaps she would request some of his seamstresses to make her a few kimono from the silks she had received today. She would have to order a few of them made for him as a sort of appeasement, but she didn't really care for a few of the patterns she had seen. She would give all of those away to the elders to curry more favor.

Hinata sighed as she saw dessert being served. Since this was the start of her three week courting period, she would have to conclude dinner by taking a walk with him through the gardens. Her hand drifted up towards the teardrop gem that gave her comfort only to stop over that large medallion that was now tucked neatly into her cleavage. Not even the unusual size of the medallion or the numerous gems could make that necklace feel uncomfortable against her sensitive breasts. She caught Toneri leering at her with a subtle smirk on his face and quickly dropped her hand. The last thing she wanted him to think was that she had any genuine interest in him.

She looked down at her plate and picked up one of her Dorayaki (sponge cake sandwich). Taking a bite, she slowly savored the mix of chopped hazelnuts in a chocolate cream. She ate the rest of the dessert slowly before finishing up her black milk tea. Keeping the tea cup in front of her lips, she took a deep breath before setting her cup down and releasing her breath slowly. She set the cup down and folded her hands in her lap demurely while waiting for the servants to clear the table. She sent a wary glance at Toneri, not surprised to see his gaze locking on to her own.

'Ugh. Can that man be any more obvious.' she thought with disgust. 'This is going to be the worst three weeks of my life.'

She saw her father look over to her with a pointed stare as everyone rose to their feet. She gave him a subtle nod but inwardly was fuming. Did he really think she was going to throw some kind of tantrum in front of everyone? She was 16 years old! She was beyond that kind of behavior, had been since she was, at least, 8 years old.

At least she knew now that her father was truly invested in pushing this through. She had never felt so betrayed and her fists clenched in her lap before she stood. Now she was questioning everything she knew about her father and if he had been truly genuine about her happiness. To encourage her to pursue her own path all of her life only to falter at the end and throw her to the wolves.

What did it matter, though? Even if he were in bed with the elders about all of this, there was nothing she could do. With Naruto having that seat on the council, he was out of her reach. Even if she managed to get all the Elders under her control and clear the way for them to be happy together, she would be abandoning the Branch members to their fate.

She had no idea how Hanabi really felt about the Caged Bird Seal. Though she was young, Hanabi was very good at masking her true emotions. Sure Hinata saw her as happy and carefree when she was younger, but ever since Hanabi had started at the Academy, her personality had changed dramatically. Certainly, some of it would be due to the other lessons she was required to take on clan politics but there was also her attitude towards the other students in her class. Her cheerful and innocent little sister had suddenly grown quite the arrogant streak. In fact, Hanabi was suddenly starting to take after her father very much.

If Hinata didn't know any better, she would think they were subtly planning to oust her from her position and give Hanabi the title of heiress.

She pushed those thoughts aside for later as Toneri approached her with that insufferable smile on his face. It was time for her to play nice, for now. Until she could find some kind of escape from all of this she would have to play along.

"Good evening, my dear," Toneri said smoothly. "Would you like to join me on an evening stroll."

"Of course," Hinata said with a polite bow of her head. "How about I show you through the central gardens. There are always plenty of clan members enjoying the cool spring air with a nice hot cup of tea."

"I would prefer to get to know you better in private," Toneri stated with a small frown. "You don't think me roguish enough to take advantage of you so soon, do you?"

"Forgive me, but I am unaccustomed to being in the company of strange males without a chaperon _close_ by." Hinata countered. "Especially those who have not earned the privilege of my trust."

"I see," Toneri said before letting his smirk drop. "I didn't think it would be a problem considering you have spent a great deal of time in the company of your teammates and sensei. I would think you would be quite familiar in the company of men." Toneri said before a smirk spread across his lips. "Unless you fear to be in my company for other reasons," he added in a sultry tone.

"Well, I can trust my teammates with my life and my virtue," Hinata said primly.

"Is that so?" Toneri replied quickly before his brow furrowed. "From what I heard, one of your teammates is quite a threat to your virtue. Unless, of course, that is no longer something you need to be concerned about."

Hinata could see him fighting to keep the sneer off of his face. She was equally having trouble to maintain her composure after that subtle insult to her. Perhaps she could make use of this in some way.

Hinata allowed a blush and a smile to spread on her face as she thought of that lovely date and passionate kiss she had received from Naruto.

"Oh, there is nothing for me to be concerned about with him. I guess if I wanted to use your terms, he would always be a threat when it comes to that matter." Hinata said slyly.

"I would have thought someone as beautiful and cultured as you would have been above such things. I guess I was wrong about the status of your clan." Toneri said lowly.

"Well, if it displeases you, I am certain you have plenty of other options at your disposal," Hinata said smugly. "Perhaps that woman Hitomi? You know, the one who accosted me in the market district before."

Toneri's lips thinned and his nostrils flared a bit before he responded.

"What can I say, I am a kind and _very generous_ man who likes to see his clansmen happy," Toneri said with a slight shrug before relaxing his face of all tension. "At this moment my clan wants nothing more than to reestablish ties with our wayward kin. I am also quite taken with your beauty and intellect which has been highly praised by your father and the elder council. I think we can both work towards an understanding considering your options are simply just too _common_ for someone extraordinary such as yourself." Toneri replied with a bit of venom. "Why should either of us lower ourselves when we both deserve the best?"

"Of course." Hinata agreed. "People like us would only aim for those worthy of our company which is why I value my teammates immensely. At any rate, how about we walk through the koi garden instead."

"I would like that," Toneri said with a false smile.

Hinata shot a glance over at Neji and gave him a subtle nod. Afterward, she made a gesture towards one of the side doors leading out of the hall before making her way out. Toneri fell into step beside her quickly while Neji followed behind the duo at a discreet distance. As they stepped out into the cool evening air, Hinata wished she had brought along her coat or a sweater, but she stopped herself from shivering.

As they walked along the wooden walkway, Hinata pointed out some of the flower gardens that were made to compliment the large system of false streams and large ponds that housed the Koi. Not only did these ponds and streams house the ornamental carp, but they served as a fish farm for sturgeon and catfish. Two species of fish that often graced the lunch and dinner plates of the clan. The sturgeon were so successful in the pond that the clan had begun to sell the caviar and flesh from the fish when they grew far too large to fit into their aquaculture system.

Toneri remained silent, for the most part. Sometimes he would ask a question to show he was still paying attention to her, even if it was painfully obvious she was boring him with talk of horticulture. After they reached the end of the garden, Toneri began to ask her personal questions. Mainly about how her teammates, the missions she had completed, and her own skills and talents. Hinata indulged his curiosity with carefully edited versions of Team 7's exploits, not including those that were still classified.

Toneri had tried to dig for more information on Naruto, confirming her suspicions that the Ōtsutsuki clan had been watching her for some time. It would be even more difficult to find a way out of this mess if that was the case since it meant he also had resources to keep an eye on her movements and counter them for his own benefit.

At least Naruto was out of his reach for now. She knew that Toneri wasn't above using dirty tricks to secure his interests and while she had faith that Naruto would be able to survive anything this man could throw at him, she didn't want to drag him into this mess. She wanted to eliminate all obstacles and clear the way before he returned. It was the best way to ensure that things went smoothly between them.

 _If_ she managed to find a way out of this mess.

Hinata led Toneri back to the main hall before announcing that she was going to retire for the evening. She rebuffed Toneri's attempt to kiss her by simply bowing her head quickly before turning away from him and walking rapidly back to her room. She kept her head held high as she made her way through the halls and until she slid the shoji door to her room shut behind her. That was when Hinata allowed all the tension and stress to weigh down her shoulders and soften the stony mask on her face.

Making her way towards the bed, she began shedding her kimono layers bit by bit before laying them neatly over her hamper. Slipping on a pair of cotton pajamas, Hinata settled herself down before her vanity mirror and let her hair down.

Next, she unclasped the three strand necklace Naruto gave her and placed it in her new jewelry box. Setting the necklace in the previous slot where the medallion was located, she trailed her fingers over it one more time before reaching back to unclasp the medallion as well.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she saw the gems sparkling in soft light inside her room. She picked up the medallion again before looking down at it and running her fingers over the face of it. After a few moments of drawing on the comforting feeling the medallion gave her, she decided to leave it on.

Picking up her brush, she ran it through her hair while gazing into the mirror. Her thoughts were once more on solving the problems at hand.

First, she needed to know why the elders were united on this courtship. It was _never_ that easy for them to be united. The fact that her father was pushing this as well meant that the pressure on him had been extreme. The whole investigation was likely a ploy to lull her into a sense of complacency so they could solidify their plans. After three weeks of time, she would have little to no recourse in stopping this marriage from going through. The courtship period would end and they would be united in pressuring her to accept Toneri's suit. So, she would play this game for now, but it was time to set things in motion. She needed information and she needed it quickly.

Second, she had to find some way to delay or cancel this courtship so that it wouldn't progress to the betrothal phase. Once it got to that point, it would be too late for her to stop the marriage. Once that happened, she had a feeling it would be the end of her clan. There was no way that a clan as storied of the Ōtsutsuki would make a move on the Hyūga unless there was a very big benefit on their behalf.

Was it wealth? Fame? Survival?

That would have to go under the list of information she needed gathered by her Branch loyalists. She needed more dirt on the elders and her father. She needed to take special care of who she sent to gather this information so it couldn't be intercepted or traced back to her. Before she would have made an effort to ensure that her loyalists would be safe from mistreatment, but these were desperate times. If she were to fail on ending this threat, their lives would turn out for the worst as well. She could already tell that Toneri was cold and ruthless and when that attitude was coupled with the major sense of superiority he held, it was only natural for those he held in contempt to be mistreated in the worst way.

The last item on her agenda was to see if she could find some loophole or work around for bypassing the whole issue of Naruto's seat on the council. Without that, her father would simply shoot down any of her attempts to toss aside the Ōtsutsuki's offer. She would work on that tomorrow before heading to her training with Tsunade.

There was no way she would be able to convince Tsunade to help her, considering how much the Sannin seemed to despise her. If the Godaime learned that she was also involved in a courtship, her relationship with the Senju hime would only grow worse. No, it was best if she kept silent about the whole thing until she had the information she needed. Only after she had the information she needed and had removed Toneri from the equation would she focus on figuring out the rules.

Hinata slipped into bed and drew the sheets up to her chest. As she began to drift off to sleep, a warm sensation covered her body and she was sent into dreamland with a vision of Naruto holding her in his arms while smiling down at her. Too focused on soaking in his warm embrace, she didn't even notice that the Naruto in this dream looked different from the one she had created in her dreams.

 **Diamondleaf Room - Tenrei Yubina Hotel**

* * *

Toneri and his advisers returned to their room at the inn before ordering tea service. While the meal had been somewhat satisfactory, the company had left much to be desired. Toneri could tell that Hinata was planning on being difficult and it irked him to no end. While he was certain that she would come around to him in time, she had proven to be far quicker on the uptake then he suspected. There was also the fact that she was still set on debasing herself with that clanless orphan of a teammate.

If she hadn't done so already, which she was certainly eluding to in their conversation with each other.

The whole situation just didn't make any sense to him. How could someone of her intelligence and breeding be caught up by a common orphan? What was it about this boy that made him such a mystery?

Typically, commoners were easy to figure out. Their simple minds made them have simple needs and their lowly blood ensured they were weak and dependent on their betters for survival. From what reports he had received on the boy, however, the blond was a complete contradiction of that logic.

It was vexing how everyone seemed so eager to dish out the dirt on the boy while at the same time refusing any bribes, services, or any other incentives he offered. Even amounts that were far too exorbitant for simple information were rejected and Toneri could sense fear when he tried to push them to reveal more. Not fear of him, but fear of the consequences should they spill whatever secret lie with the boy.

All he had managed to learn was the boy was pretty much despised across the village, but no one would tell him why. No one knew who his parents had been, but the boy held the name of Uzumaki. It made no sense how a child from a clan that had been as famous as the Uzumaki could be forgotten and disregarded so easily. In most other situations, a child of the Uzumaki clan would be treated with deference if he wasn't simply executed for the threat he could pose.

At first, Toneri had considered that Naruto wasn't truly an Uzumaki by birth. It wouldn't be too far-fetched for a village to assign such a name to an orphan with the potential to form a new clan. Konoha could claim that they had found an Uzumaki survivor to rebuild the clan as a method of attracting more missions and prestige for the village.

This theory was disproved, however, when he learned just how close the boy was to the Sandaime, the Godaime, and Jiraiya of the Sannin. Something that was mind boggling to Toneri considering the fact that everyone still treated the boy as a clanless orphan and a lowly commoner. There were just too many things that didn't add up and it made him uncomfortable. If this boy was to become his rival, he needed to know every last detail about him so he could remain ahead of the game. His clan had too much invested in the take over of the Hyūga clan to risk things to chance.

The Uzumaki was apparently a very skilled shinobi, getting his promotion on his first attempt at the Chūnin exam. Trying to learn his specialties have been even more of a challenge. It made no sense considering the fact that he had passed the Chūnin exams. There should have been more people willing to discuss his talents and skills, but it seems his ostracism was working against Toneri's favor.

All he knew about the annoyance was that this "Naruto" character was known for using a solid clone technique to test his opponents and find a weakness to exploit. Other than that, the boy was known to use combination attacks with his teammates or clones. It didn't sound like much to Toneri, so the Ōtsutsuki clan head felt he could easily dominate his competition in a fight if it came down to it. It was that lingering fear behind the villager's hatred for the blond that made Toneri nervous.

People only displayed that level of fear because the consequences were _dire_. That could only mean that whatever secret surrounded the boy had to be major. That was the only possible explanation for the Hokage and the Sannin to pay so much attention to an orphan. It had to be something more than his heritage.

Toneri finished his tea before leveling his stern gaze on Hitomi. He had warned that bitch to keep her petty jealously to herself. He had warned her to stay away from Hinata and to do nothing to sabotage his efforts but the stupid, brainless, moron had openly defied him. Perhaps his earlier attention had not been enough to remind her of her place. He would need to be more forceful with her this time.

Toneri stood up and made his way over to Hitomi. When she stood up and began to smile at him, he backhanded her fiercely. Hitomi cried out in shock as she crumpled to the floor. She looked up at Toneri in shock and a sliver of fear before opening her mouth to speak.

Toneri backhanded her once more before gripping her by the hair tightly. Lifting her off the ground by the roots of her hair, Toneri wrenched her head back so she was forced to look up at him.

"Shut up, you simpering little rat." Toneri snapped. "I warned you not to sabotage my efforts but you defied me and foolishly approached my future bride because of petty jealousy."

"But she doesn't deserve you! She isn't worthy of you and needed to know her place." Hitomi cried out in between sobs. She had never been treated this badly in her life before and she never expected Toneri, of all people, to be the one to do so.

"So you think you know better than I do?" Toneri snarled before jerking her hair tightly and gripping her jaw with his other hand. "You think you are superior to me in knowledge when it comes to what is best for our clan?"

"No my lord." Hitomi whimpered.

"That is not how it seems to me with you taking matters into your own fucking hands," Toneri said with narrowed eyes. "By approaching her against my wishes you have insulted my plans and proven that you are untrustworthy. In fact, I am starting to believe you are unworthy of being my true bride." Toneri growled. "I can guarantee that Hinata would not have lowered herself like some filthy commoner to berate and insult someone out of jealousy."

Hitomi's sobbing grew louder and Toneri was tempted to smack her ugly, tear stained face once more because she was so pathetically weak. Instead, he decided to take his time with the bitch and get some enjoyment out of punishing her.

Toneri dragged Hitomi into his room before dropping her onto the bed. He quickly ripped off her kimono, leaving her naked before him. He flipped her over onto her stomach and drove his knee into her back forcing her to arch her back as she cried out in pain. He quickly pulled her arms behind her back to the point that she was almost over extended before binding each wrist to one of her ankles. He pulled the ropes over her naked skin tightly, ensuring that she received plenty of rope burn as he wrapped her body, arms, and thighs with the chafing rope.

He looped a bit of the length around her neck and throttled her with it for a bit out of rage before letting it loose. A part of him wanted to listen to her cries of torment but she could be quite loud, so he turned away from her and picked up the leather gag he had used earlier.

He pulled up on her arms to force her to cry out in pain once more before stuffing the leather into her mouth and binding it tightly. He then gripped her hair once more and pulled her head up so he could look her in the eye.

"You have tried my patience for the last time. I have been merciful and forgiving of your faults since you were first presented to me. I have elevated you beyond your low position and given you a place of honor; I granted you the privilege of lying in my bed and knowing my touch, but you spat on my good graces for the last time." Toneri said coldly. "I will not be lenient with your garish behavior anymore. If you fail to uphold the standards set out for the noblest of our clan then I will be forced to take severe action against you."

Hitomi nodded with a whimper, tears still pouring down her face. For the first time in her life, she knew fear. Looking into his eyes, she saw something dark in Toneri and realized that she never really knew the man at all. She should have known that something was wrong with the man considering his more eccentric tastes, but she had simply disregarded his proclivities as part of his unique character and a test of loyalty.

Now she knew that Toneri truly was just as sadistic and demented as his sexual tastes were. She braced herself for what was to come, knowing that he wouldn't rest until her voice had grown hoarse and her body covered in welts or whip marks. Only when that was completed would he begin to fuck her until she climaxed a few times.

She had to wonder if he only granted her that pleasure because it was intrinsic to his own. She had heard him comment more than once that he enjoyed the way she squeezed him when she was crying out her release. It wasn't usually long afterward that she would feel his hot seed landing on her backside or belly. She would remain bound and sticky until he woke up and decided to untie her if he didn't desire another round on her body first.

The one thing she did know was that she would stay away from that Hyūga bitch no matter what. She couldn't lose Toneri's favor or else her family would disown or kill her for screwing this up. Hitomi had been their last hope for remaining in the noble family since everyone else had failed to manifest the Tenseigan since her grandfather. As long as she was wed to Toneri and bore him an heir, her family would be secure in their status instead of thrust into servitude.

Her mother and father had made it clear that she had to succeed at all costs. While she truly loved Toneri, she realized now that pushing him on this would only force him to cast her aside. It hurt to know he might be losing interest in her in favor of the heiress, but being tossed out of his life completely would likely be the end of her life. She had to endure no matter what.

Hitomi whimpered when she saw Toneri dump his entire bag of tricks on the bed. She wasn't looking forward to facing the clamps and the whips at the same time. The ropes were already biting into her skin painfully and she was certain that no part of her would be unmarked in the morning. He might not even give her pleasure after all of this since he was very upset with her at the moment.

Hitomi bit down on her gag and shut her eyes to prepare for the pain that was to come.


	73. Hinata Hiden: Beguiling Lights Part 3

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

A/N: I apologize for the massive delay on this chapter, but work and travel have prevented me from updating regularly. Unfortunately, I am not free and clear of those obligations just yet, so I won't be able to return to a weekly updating schedule for this story for at least a few months. I hope to update at least every other week, but if I am sent overseas again, that may be even more difficult to guarantee. As for the Hinata Hiden series, I hope to wrap things up in a chapter or two at most.

 **Chapter 72**

 **Hinata Hiden: Beguiling Light Hides Preying Shadows Part 3**

 **Two weeks later – Hokage's Office**

* * *

Tsunade took another sip of her tea as she watched Sakura and Hinata both attempt to detect and isolate the poison she had left behind in the kidneys of two large Izumidai (Tilapia). Well, they didn't know it was a poison that had been introduced into the fish, but this was a test to see if they had been diligent in their studies for the past year. Diagnostics, symptom analysis, and poison extraction.

She knew that Sakura would be likely to complete the task first, given the girl's amazing ability to retain information. Even the most obscure references and outdated information remained in that big head of hers. While her chakra reserves were still terrible, at least now she was diligently working on correcting that problem.

Tsunade had to admit that Naruto had been right about the pink haired civilian girl. Sakura had proven to be an excellent candidate for replacing her as the next legendary combat medic and slug summoner. Not even Shizune had demonstrated this level of skill as a genin and she had been teaching Shizune from a much younger age. At first, Tsunade had thought she would continue trying to pass on all her knowledge to Shizune before her time came, leaving the rest documented for her adopted niece to try and pass on to her children in the future. Sakura, however, was learning at a much faster rate than Shizune ever had. Tsunade was confident that Sakura would learn everything she had to offer and potentially surpass her.

Tsunade had been reluctant to accept the mentally unstable civilian girl because you needed to be capable of handling a great deal of stress and pressure as a medic. Kami knows she had almost snapped under pressure numerous times when watching those she loved die around her. If a medic was mentally unstable, they didn't tend to last long in the field. Tsunade had believed her efforts would be wasted on the girl, but the pinkette had proven her wrong. She had shown nothing but determination and resolve to succeed and had met every challenge without wavering once.

All to prove a point to her beloved nephew, Naruto.

Tsunade had been extra harsh on the girl to test her mental fortitude; playing her two current students against each other to see how they adapted to stress, pressure, and competition. In the medical world, you needed to prove yourself while under fire. You needed to be quick, confident, and unyielding or people wouldn't respect you. If people didn't respect you, they hesitated or second guessed you and that hesitation, that pause to question your directives was all it took to make the difference between life or death for a patient.

While Tsunade knew Hinata could handle the pressure, the Byakugan wielder would never reach the proper level of control to utilize the advanced techniques of iryōjutsu. Despite the advantages their all seeing eyes gave them, there were very few Hyūga that became successful doctors or surgeons. This was mainly due to the variances in chakra manipulation and control that were taught to the children of the clan in order to prepare them for the Jūken.

Iryōjutsu required the user to have thin and unobtrusive chakra; almost like a sheer fabric or mist. If the chakra was too thick or intrusive, the body could respond in a variety of unhealthy ways. The best case being a simple stretching, burning, or slight tearing of chakra system or organs while the worst case would be an allergic reaction resulting in anaphylaxis.

The Jūken trained a person to harden their chakra in order to damage the internal organs or clog the tenketsu with chakra blockers. Even with Hinata's excellent chakra control, her chakra system had been too conditioned towards efficiency with the Jūken. This forced Hinata to exert too much energy and chakra to perform anything besides Chakura no Mesu (Chakra Scalpel) and Saikan Chūshutsu no Jutsu (Poison Extraction Technique).

It was a shame. The Hyūga had the right fortitude for the job and the Byakugan would have given her a major advantage when running diagnostic jutsu. Not only could she pinpoint injuries instantly without running a scan, she could even visually detect tears and holes in the patient's chakra system. A feat that was impossible with current diagnostic jutsu. Tsunade had only managed to teach herself how to identify those injuries by using a combination of common symptoms in conjunction with the type of injury and area of injury.

A patient reporting hypersensitivity, dizziness, nausea, and fatigue after being struck with a Raiton or Fūton jutsu was sixty-five percent likely to be suffering from a chakra system injury. While sixty-five percent wouldn't be considered a very high percentage by most, an untreated chakra system injury had the fastest rate of deterioration leading to death for a patient. All the other undetectable causes of such symptoms were nowhere near as fatal, so it was only logical to rule out a tear or perforation to the chakra pathways first. Unfortunately, this method of diagnosis often caused a great deal of pressure and stress on the attending physician since the wrong diagnosis could result in further pain, damage, or even death if the wrong treatment was administered.

Tsunade knew better than most the stress and pressure affected a person's mind. The life of a medic was constant work with little relaxation time and a great deal of grief. Sure there were the times that you pulled off a miracle and saved a life. Sure it felt great every time you succeeded, but for every success, there were, at least, 5 failures where someone died. 5 lives that you had to apologize for at the end of the day and watch as the families mourned. 2 of those families would blame you for the death and likely spit at your feet because of their loss. Even if there was nothing more that you could have done. Even if it had been hopeless the moment they called you into the operating room.

The better you got as a medic, the worse those odds became because you were expected to pull out that miracle more and more. The cases you received were always the direst because you were supposed to be the best. That was why she sought to leverage any and all pressure on her students because no matter where the stress or problems were coming from, you still needed to perform. You couldn't carry in baggage from home or your social life when you stepped into the hospital because a simple mistake born from fatigue or carelessness would come with a heavy price.

The cost of knowing that your failure resulted in the crippling or death of your patient. Knowing that the friends and family of that patient would look to you to cast blame for shattering their lives and that no matter what you did to make amends, it would never be enough. It was a burden that you would carry to your grave and the afterlife beyond. Tsunade knew many medics and doctors had committed seppuku after being forced to endure such a burden because they couldn't live with the accusations or guilt.

So when she noticed Hinata had been faltering recently, she had at first chalked it up to the pressure finally getting to the pampered heiress. While Hinata's attitude problem had taken a back seat in the months after the Chūnin exams, the Hyūga hime was still barely cordial with Sakura. They still exchanged backhanded insults and competed with each other on every task like rivals would, but the insults were less petty, less personal in nature.

Yet, these past few weeks Hinata had been remarkably subdued. Oh, she kept that noble facade of hers up very well, but Tsunade wasn't fooled. She knew that kind of depressed aura all too well. For the first time since she learned of Hinata's interest in Naruto, she felt pity for the girl for that aura was the same one she had felt when the man that she loved had been betrothed to another woman. It was the same aura she had when Dan had _happily_ married the woman so he could leave the shinobi force. Dan then took his new wife and moved out of the village to live a simple life somewhere in Cha no Kuni, if she remembered correctly. After that, she had never heard from him again, only leaving Shizune behind as a reminder of what they once had.

Shizune had never forgiven her uncle for what he had done and to this day she had never returned any of his letters.

Tsunade had tried her best to dissuade Shizune from cutting her uncle off like that. Dan had never really promised her anything but Tsunade had fully believed that what they had together was real. They had been really close but the war had prevented them from taking their relationship to the next level. Once the war was ended, Dan was a changed man. He was tired of the bloody life and wanted a change but Tsunade refused to leave Konoha. She was the last of the Senju and Konoha was her home but Dan couldn't accept being involved with a shinobi village any longer. When the opportunity came to sever his ties to Konoha through a betrothal to a merchant clan heiress, Dan leapt at the opportunity. With a hastily written letter left in her mailbox, their fledgling relationship was ended.

Tsunade had lost herself in her vices for some time after that, drinking and gambling to try and smother the pain of rejection. The pain of knowing that the man she loved had been so quick to toss her aside for a woman he had never even met before. It was a major sting to her pride on top of the emotional pain of knowing that her feelings had never been fully returned. That Dan had never truly loved her as much as she had loved him and that her goals of finding a lovely family and restoring her clan had slipped through her fingers.

It was only after a few years of excessive gambling and debauchery that circumstances forced her out of her depression and spurred her into fulfilling her second dream: Standardizing health care across Hi no Kuni, and hopefully, the rest of the Elemental Nations.

Tsunade's wake up call came when the debt collectors chasing her decided to make the ultimate mistake in going after Shizune instead of approaching her directly. The fear of her last remaining precious person being killed because of her actions had quickly sobered her up before her infamous temper kicked in and an unbridled fury rose up in the Sannin.

After shattering the skulls of the thugs that dared to lay their hands on Shizune, Tsunade left a trail of wreckage in her path as she tore through a Yakuza stronghold in search of the audacious loan shark. Once the man was in her grasp, she proceeded to shatter every bone in his body before rattling off the costs for repairing each bone. By the end of it, her debt was cleared and the Yakuza bosses made an oath to never cross the Senju princess ever again.

With the debt collectors now off her back, Tsunade gathered up her things and returned to Konoha before laying down an ultimatum to her sensei. She _would_ be given leave and resources to establish a medical network in every large city and population center around Konoha. Since there were shinobi garrisons and outposts near most of the villages and cities she wanted to set up in, the land was already there. All he had to do was authorize construction of a suitable facility size based on the local population.

Tsunade would send a missive detailing the appropriate size for a clinic or hospital to be built based on the size of the local population and the number of nearby cities or villages. Konoha would pay for the costs and materials to build said clinic or hospital and local construction workers were hired to build the center.

The local garrisons usually had a handful of medics or doctors on hand, so Tsunade didn't have to do much in terms of recruiting or training competent nurses and physicians. Once the local medic-nin or doctors were vetted thoroughly by herself, she often left a series of scrolls dictating medical procedure for a variety of injuries and ailments along with instructional scrolls for learning advanced techniques.

Once the staff was properly in place, Tsunade would visit the local villages and cities to promote the nearby clinic. Her legendary status as the last Senju and her renowned skills of healing any ailment always guaranteed a large following wherever she went. Within a few months, a repertoire between the villagers and the closest clinic/hospital. The fees charged to the villagers for services and treatment kept their local medical center funded and supplied. Once that relationship was established, Tsunade would move on to the next area and start over again.

Through Tsunade's efforts for the past decade, there were now enough clinics and hospitals scattered throughout Hi no Kuni to ensure that medical help was never more than a handful of miles away. The amount of permanent injury or death to shinobi dropped by forty-two percent while civilian deaths and crippling injuries decreased by sixty-two percent. Local villages began to grow as common diseases and illnesses were practically eradicated. Flu and plague rates dropped as more people were educated on avoiding and preventing the spread of such diseases.

In addition to the reduced rates of death and permanent injury, the stockpiles of various medicines also began to grow. Before, most of the medical herbs had to be found in the wild or grown in greenhouses while very few were cultivated by farmers. With only a few hospitals being willing to purchase the herbs, the cost of transporting the herbs to the hospitals made the profit margin very small. Now that there were local clinics/hospitals willing to pay top ryō for every type of herb, more farmers began to cultivate the various herbs needed for medicine. As a result, Konoha now had a healthy surplus of every type of medicine they could produce and was able to sell the excess medicine for a healthy profit.

With each little clinic, hospital, or treatment center that was successful, that pain and emptiness inside of her began to heal. It still took years for Tsunade to get over her loss to the point where she could think or talk about Dan without breaking down into tears, but that vacant, empty expression had been the last thing to fade from her eyes. She would recognize that look on anyone since she had been seeing it every morning for the past twelve years when she looked in the mirror. It was a look that had only faded once she learned the truth about Naruto. And while she loved Shizune like her own daughter, she was also a painful connection to her former lover.

Now she saw that same look in Hinata's eyes and had to wonder. Just what had happened to the heiress that had stood up to her so defiantly in trying to prove her worth? Where was the little hime who had endured hell to gain her approval when she really didn't need to in the first place?

Like the Slug Sannin expected, Sakura and Hinata both determined the cause of the problem in the fish and began treatment immediately. Tsunade could already tell that Sakura would win this round because she had, cleverly, managed to isolate the poison and start the extraction process at the same time. Sakura knew when to bend the rules to benefit the patient, even if it put more of a strain on her own reserves to do so.

Hinata always followed procedure. _Always_. While there was nothing wrong with doing so, that action only helped to further cement her within the realm of being a good medic instead of a great one. Sometimes it was worth the waste of chakra to expedite a procedure and sometimes you had to push your limits to succeed where all others would fail. Hinata's mindset was too stuck in the traditional Hyūga doctrine of precision over strength. Even each Jūken strike was tested for the amount of chakra expended, which was the primary reason her control was so good despite her larger reserves.

Sure she was only five seconds behind Sakura in completing the procedure, but when it came to saving lives that five seconds made all the difference.

"Excellent work you two." Tsunade complimented after scanning the fish with her own diagnostic jutsu. There were no traces of lingering poison remaining in the flesh of the fish and there was no extraneous damage caused by their efforts to remove it.

"Sakura, bring these down to the kitchens and have them grill them up for you both. You and Hinata will have to eat these fish without getting sick in order to receive a passing grade." Tsunade said with a smirk.

"Yes, shishō," Sakura said obediently before she picked up both fish by their tails and made her way out of the office.

Hinata remained silent as she cleaned up her station before she began rinsing her tools and hands in the large bowl of clean water nearby.

"So, Hyūga, who has been pissing in your miso every morning?" Tsunade asked bluntly.

"Excuse me?" Hinata asked with a start as she looked up from the water bowl.

"You have been moping around for the past few weeks. You haven't made a single snide comment to Sakura or even bothered trying to stress yourself in an effort to beat her. So, what gives?" Tsunade asked.

Hinata rubbed her forehead for a minute before releasing a sigh.

"It's nothing, really, just clan business." she said quietly.

"Don't give me that nonsense. I _know_ that look in your eye all too well." Tsunade snapped. "The elders catch onto your plans with my nephew? Did they forbid you from pursing Naruto as anything more than a fling?" Tsunade asked with a stern expression.

Hinata's shoulders seemed to slump letting Tsunade know that she was dangerously close to hitting the mark.

After a moment of silence, Hinata scowled at Tsunade and clenched her fists. "Why do you want to know? Are you happy to hear that my dreams have been crushed? That this Hyūga slut can't pursue the man she loves because my father had been free and loose with his affection?"

Hinata stomped over towards Tsunade before growling out, "Where you laughing behind my back the whole time knowing that I never stood a chance with him?!"

"Watch your tone with me, missy. You may have handled Sakura quite well but you are still 100 years too early to take me on in a fight." Tsunade warned before her expression softened.

"Judging from your reaction I'm guessing one of the elders or your father told you about the Uzumaki seat then?" Tsunade said with sympathy.

"It was my father," Hinata replied tersely. "Were you ever planning on telling me or was this knowledge just going to be another one of your tests."

"Honestly, I had no idea," Tsunade said with a shrug. "When your father brought it up to me in private after the last council meeting, I had to speak to the Sandaime to learn the truth," Tsunade said before fixing her with a level stare. "And quite frankly, I don't see how this news affects you in any way if you are serious about Naruto."

Hinata couldn't stop the look of confusion from crossing her face before masking her expression once more. "If I were to wed Naruto and try to bring him into the clan, you would have to block our union because we would be upsetting the power balance in the council."

"Is that what they told you?" Tsunade said incredulously before she shook her head and chuckled to herself.

"Isn't that the truth, though? As the last Uzumaki, he would have to sit on that seat. If I was to become his wife, he can't sit on the council along side me because that would be a conflict of interest. I also can't integrate him into the Hyūga clan because that would eliminate a seat!" Hinata exclaimed.

"You could always join the Uzumaki clan instead." Tsunade pointed out.

Hinata deflated once more. "I know I could do that but then everything I have worked for in my life up to this moment would have been a complete waste. I would be abandoning my duty to my clan." Hinata said with a sniffle as she failed to hold back her tears. "I would be leaving my sister and the branch family to suffer just for my own happiness! I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing they are suffering while I live my dream with Naruto-kun."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes as she watched Hinata struggle not to break down in front of her. She wasn't certain if this was all just an act to fool her or if the little schemer was actually being genuine. It was a good excuse, not one she would expect from a Hyūga, but at the same time, their pride dictated that they wouldn't debase themselves like this in front of anyone.

In the end, Tsunade decided that she was being honest and decided to give her a helping hand for once.

"Well its a good thing for you that Naruto won't be taking that seat then, isn't it?" Tsunade said casually.

"What?" Hinata snapped her head towards Tsunade while trying to hide the evidence of her tears. "What do you mean by that?"

"The Uzumaki seat was only granted to the Uzukage or a chosen diplomat. That is why the Sandaime had never set out a place for them in the council." Tsunade explained. "The last person the Uzukage assigned to take his place was Kushina Uzumaki. Once Uzushio fell and Kushina married Minato, that seat became defunct."

"Father said that Naruto would have to reclaim that seat because of the deal brokered between Uzushio and Konoha," Hinata argued. "That such a deal ensured that the seat was permanent."

"Oh did he now?" Tsunade said with some amusement. "How interesting."

Hinata nervously clasped her hands over her heart as hope began to bloom in her one more.

"Is what he said untrue?" Hinata said desperately. "Was my father wrong about that?"

Tsunade strolled back to her desk casually before plopping down in her seat. Pulling open a drawer, she took out a bottle of sake and a pair of small cups before gesturing to Hinata to join her. Pouring herself and Hinata a drink, she handed one cup off to the nervous heiress before taking a sip of her own.

"What I told your father was that a deal was struck to ensure that the Uzumaki members in Konoha had a seat on the council because of... _special_ circumstances. There was concern that Kushina would be subjected to unfair treatment or even abuse because she was an outsider and for other... more nebulous reasons. Those reasons were classified but it doesn't take a genius to figure out what those reasons were when you know all the circumstances." Tsunade said vaguely.

Hinata furrowed her brow in thought as she tried to figure out what circumstances Tsunade was talking about when it suddenly became clear to her.

"It was because of Mito Uzumaki's _legacy_ , right?" Hinata murmured.

Tsunade pointed at Hinata with her hand that was holding her sake cup before nodding. She swallowed the sake in her mouth before pouring herself another cup.

"So one _could_ say that those circumstances also apply to Naruto because he carries that legacy as well, but that isn't entirely true," Tsunade said before taking another sip. "The Uzukage and the Sandaime had also foreseen that Kushina would likely marry and bear children for a Konoha shinobi. In fact, it was expected that she would. So, certain stipulations were made in case Kushina were to marry with different outcomes based on if she married into a clan with a council seat or not."

"What kind of stipulations were made if she were to marry into a clan with a council seat?" Hinata asked.

"The seat would remain open to her and her children unless a specific conflict of interest arose. If a conflict of interest were to arise, she or her children would be added to the advisory council instead but be given full rights to vote as an acting council member when it came to topics relating to that legacy alone. For any other topic, they would have no more influence than an adviser." Tsunade said with a grin.

"I thought only the Daimyō and his council could appoint advisers," Hinata said with a frown.

"The Daimyō either approves or doesn't approve and more often than not he doesn't care." Tsunade said with a dismissive wave, "Besides, this agreement was agreed upon by the current Daimyō. He might have forgotten since he was quite young at the time but it is written in his hand and signed with his official seal and everything."

Hinata took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. It seemed that hope wasn't completely lost after all. She still had a chance to fulfill all of her dreams and, even better, this arrangement that had been made by the Daimyō had given her, even more, ammunition to counter anything the elders or her father might throw up as roadblocks.

None of them could dispute the advantage of her husband being on the advisory council. The Hyūga had been trying for decades to claim a spot on that council, but since it was a life appointment, there had never been an opportunity. The Hokage was the one who made the recommendations to the Daimyō and there had never been a Hyūga close enough to gain that position. Her father might have had the chance if one of the Sandaime's appointed advisers had died or been caught committing treason sooner, but that didn't happen until after Tsunade had been selected as the next Hokage.

Not that Hinata actually planned on trying to exploit Naruto in any fashion, but it was leverage she could use against the elders. It was another kunai in her pouch in the battle for her future and she needed every weapon in her arsenal to fight off their attempts to control her. Now all she needed to do was find a way to end Toneri's bid and she was home free.

"So, that is why you never appointed the third adviser. You were planning on saving that position for Naruto-kun." Hinata stated after taking a sip of her sake for the first time.

"It was either that or give him the Senju chair," Tsunade said as studied the sake she was swirling around in her cup. "It would be a stretch to make him the Senju heir, but he isn't so far removed from me genetically that I couldn't pull it off. It might take some incentive, but I think restoring that name would be more than enough to get the council to agree." Tsunade downed the contents of her cup before adding. "I don't know how Naruto would feel about that, however. He seems really keen on carrying on the Uzumaki name instead and with Uzushio being eliminated, Naruto could restart the clan here in Konoha. If he decides to take his father's name instead, he might not be able to establish a clan, but the final adviser spot will be his upon his promotion to Jōnin because of the legacy he bears."

Hinata merely nodded in response before taking another sip of her sake. After a few minutes of silence, Hinata decided to ask the question that was currently burning in her mind. "I have to ask, why did you even tell me any of this? Why return my hope to me when you seemed so adamant to stop me at every turn?"

Tsunade leaned forward to match her gaze without hesitation. "Because I want what is best for Naruto and despite my suspicions about your motives, Naruto cares for you greatly. If it becomes something more, if he genuinely loves you, then I will not let anything stand in the way of his happiness." Tsunade said firmly before she poured herself another cup of sake and downed it just as quickly.

"Politics already ruined his life and kept me away from him when I should have been there to raise him." She said with sorrow before a sneer spread over her face. "I'll be damned if I let politics ruin his chances at love because some manipulative, power hungry bitches and their fathers only see him as an opportunity to gain more power or money for themselves." Tsunade turned her gaze back towards Hinata and her expression was firm.

"Naruto is already in a fragile state when it comes to this village and those idiots will only make things worse when his heritage eventually comes out. The only way to ensure we don't lose him completely is for him to have genuine bonds with those inside of the village."

Tsunade crossed her arms on top of her desk and leaned forward until her face was only a few inches from Hinata's. "So if you do decide to pursue him, you better make damn sure you are ready to go the distance with him. You better be damn sure you are willing to do whatever it takes to keep him content. If you hurt him, if you drive him off because this is all just some fucking ploy of yours to gain power, then not even the Kami will be able to save you from my wrath. I will find you and I. Will. Kill. You. Even if I have to take your whole fucking clan down to do so." Tsunade said with a snarl.

"I assure you this is no game," Hinata said coldly, refusing to flinch at the killing intent Tsunade was leaking. "Do you really think I would have lost my composure around that harlot so easily if it were? That my jealousy was false? I admit that my pride and arrogance had been getting the better of me recently but that is only because of my determination to win him."

Hinata set the cup down on the desk before looking back at Tsunade. "Even if you never approved, I would have _never_ stopped my pursuit of Naruto-kun. I love him more than anything!"

"Except for your clan," Tsunade said with a snort before she leaned back and went to pour herself another cup of sake. "You weren't willing to give up _everything_ for him."

"How can I just abandon those who are depending on me?" Hinata shouted before mastering her emotions. "You have no idea what types of things the Branch family are subjected to or how long my family has been trying to change things for the better. You have no idea what it is like dealing with the elders to try and save our clan because of their damn arrogance and pride!" Hinata hissed.

Tsunade simply laughed at her. A full laugh that had her wiping tears from her eyes as if it were the funniest thing she had ever heard. Hinata clenched her fists in anger and was about to ask her what she thought was so funny but Tsunade settled down.

"I'll let you in on a little secret, _hime_. Your clan isn't as subtle as it thinks." Tsunade said with a chuckle. "The village has long known about the dirty machinations and double-dealing your clan has been involved in. It was the main reason that I didn't trust you for a second." Tsunade said as she shook the empty sake bottle. Tossing it aside, she reached down towards her sake drawer and pulled it open.

"I still don't trust you, to be honest. I still think you see Naruto as this ideal husband instead of truly loving him for who he is." Tsunade stated as she trailed her fingers through the different brands of sake before deciding on a pink bottle filled with a milky white sake. "Let's face it, none of the other candidates your age will be half as handsome or caring as him. You'll be lucky if the guy they try to shack you up with isn't a complete imbecile or a backstabbing snake." Tsunade added with amusement as she ripped off the cap and poured herself another cup.

Hinata couldn't argue the point because it was all true. Most of the betrothal requests she had received were at the very limit of the age restrictions the clan imposed and there were still several that tried to "convince" the elders to overlook that restriction.

"The only reason the village hasn't begun to impose sanctions on your clan is because you aren't enough of a threat to do so, despite what your elders believe," Tsunade said with a chuckle. "In fact, the only threat your clan presents at the moment is to itself, really. It's kind of amusing to me to see a clan so actively out to destroy itself because of their overwhelming sense of arrogance and greed." Tsunade took a slow sip to taste the sake before adding. "It's kind of fitting in my opinion."

"Which is why I couldn't sacrifice their happiness for my own." Hinata snapped. "My father and the others are all counting on me to succeed."

"Please," Tsunade said with a scoff. "If your father _really_ wanted to succeed, he wouldn't have buckled under the pressure your grandfather placed on him. Your father could have implemented the changes he wanted and let those bastards make their power play. They would never go through with it because they would lose so much face politically and economically that your clan's reputation would be ruined completely. Even with all their surplus wealth, they would be viewed with such disgust and contempt that they wouldn't be able to live with themselves."

"But they would have taken all the Branch members with them," Hinata said with a shake of her head. "If they felt their control slipping they would eliminate the greatest threat to them which is the Branch Family."

"I don't think they would, honestly." Tsunade retorted. "Do you really see those old bastards dying for their beliefs? Do you see them being willing to throw away their wealth, prestige, and reputation just to ensure the Branch Family is kept down?" Tsunade asked before taking another sip. "Oh I am sure in a fit of anger they would kill a few, but when it became clear their cause was lost, I would bet big ryō they would fall to their knees begging and pleading for mercy. They would offer everything and anything to spare their lives because you and I both know they are a bunch of useless, entitled, cowards."

"You would be right about most of them, but there are enough of them that would kill off as many of the Branch members as they could until they were put down," Hinata said sadly. "Even if they are arrogant and manipulative they are all still my family. I don't want to be forced into killing off parts of my family to make peace when I can beat them at their own game. I feel like I have to fight for what I want as well."

Hinata took the cup of sake that Tsunade filled for her while she was speaking and took another sip.

"If I can beat them at their own game and earn the right to wed Naruto-kun like I have always dreamed of, then that means I am on track to end their foolish policies without bloodshed. That I can prove to them that I am strong enough to take my clan down the right path in the future." Hinata said confidently.

She took another sip of sake before looking at Tsunade with curiosity.

"You know, I thought you were pushing for Sakura to get together with Naruto-kun instead of me. You seemed to support her efforts and side with her every chance that you got." Hinata said with a bit of bitterness.

Tsunade laughed at Hinata's latent jealously before replying. "Are you kidding? I just love playing you two against each other to see if you can handle the pressure." Tsunade said before finishing her cup of sake. She eyed the bottle for a moment but decided to hold off until after lunch. While she could drink a lot more before getting inebriated, she decided that she wanted to save this particular brand for later.

As Tsunade resealed the sake bottle and moved to put it back in her sake drawer, she began to expand on her previous statement. "I'll admit I didn't expect much from Sakura, given her recent history, but she has proven that she is stable and determined enough to succeed me. If she can keep her _condition_ under control like she has been, then I see no problems with her carrying on the Slug legacy." Tsunade said with a shrug. "I know that Naruto does care for her on some level but I can't be certain just how much he cares for her. His relationship with her was quite sudden, after all."

Tsunade looked out the window in silence before speaking again. "To be honest, I don't think she really likes him romantically like you do. What I think she feels for him right now is a strong sense of admiration mixed with obligation. She needs to gain his recognition and acceptance because of the opportunities he has given her. Add a dash of teenage hormones and it is easy to see why she has become infatuated with him."

Tsunade returned her focus back to Hinata. "Don't get me wrong, though. I am not choosing anyone for him. Naruto-kun will make that decision on his own. All I care about is that the woman he does choose is genuine."

Hinata drained the last of her sake before setting the cup down on the table.

"I am genuine, but I am certain you won't just take my word for it," Hinata said firmly.

"No. I don't think you really are." Tsunade stated bluntly. "If you really loved him then you would have never agreed to submit to this courtship. You are torn between your duty and 'love'," Tsunade said while making a quoting gesture with her fingers. "If your care for Naruto was genuine, you wouldn't be so blind to reality."

"I already told you tha-" Hinata began to argue but Tsunade slammed her fist on the desk.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Hyūga!" Tsunade snapped. "You try to act like you aren't a spoiled brat but your actions only prove otherwise. You sit here and try to pull the sympathy card with me about the problems of the Branch family and that your hands are tied, but I have news for you Hinata, you're hands aren't tied." Tsunade said firmly.

"How can you possibly say that?" Hinata said indignantly. "I _don't_ have a choice in this mess! The council is united and my father is backing them. If I don't find a way to stop whatever Toneri is planning, I will have to wed him. This can happen as early as next week!"

"Wrong! You do have a choice, you just refuse to accept it." Tsunade said with a shake of her head. "Maybe it was a mistake to reveal the truth about Naruto's seat to you because you still foolishly believe that you can have it all."

"And why not? Why can't I have it all after having my entire childhood stolen from me?" Hinata shot up from her seat. "I have worked hard and sacrificed everything to try and end the tyranny of the elder council. My entire life has been devoted to gaining the power and skills to beat them at their own game so I can effect real change."

Tsunade gave Hinata a deadpan stare. "You said it yourself, Hinata, your father and the council are all united on this decision. Have you even considered that you were never intended to succeed in this goal? Have you forgotten that there is someone else whose life if affected by the decisions you make?"

Hinata's brow furrowed for a moment before her eyes widened.

"You are talking about Hanabi?" she said quietly. "What does she have to do with all of this?"

"Don't act stupid with me, Hinata. You know as well as I do that your marriage to Toneri seals her fate." Tsunade said pointedly. "Have you even considered what she wants in this life? Did you really think you could do anything to spare her from being sold off or branded before it is too late?"

"But Hanabi hasn't been prepared for the burdens of leadership," Hinata said with a shake of her head. "She was allowed to live a happy and carefree childhood and only recently began to take an interest in running the clan. My father never forced anything on her so she is years behind in training."

Tsunade sighed and rubbed her forehead in frustration. A part of her hoped Naruto had fallen in love with someone else already since it was clear that Hinata was too caught up with taking the mantle of the Hyūga clan. Hiashi had done a damn good job of controlling every aspect of Hinata's life to the point that she couldn't see anything else but her duty. She might truly care for Naruto but he would always come second when it came to matters of her clan.

"Have you ever considered that there is a difference between performing a duty and wanting that duty?" Tsunade asked.

"I... of course I want the duty!" Hinata said weakly. "It is my responsibility!"

"Do you really?" Tsunade said with a raised eyebrow. "Or is it the fact that you know nothing else because your father has led you by the nose since you could stand?"

"Of course my training had to start early. That was the only way to prepare me for what was to come. To prepare me to handle the clan business on every front so there could be no mistakes, no vulnerability on my part. If I fail, if I make a single mistake then the elders would leap on the opportunity." Hinata snapped.

"I still don't think you truly want this. I think your mind is so conditioned to following your father's plan that you fail to realize there is another choice." Tsunade said before crossing her arms over her chest. "All you see is your duty and you try to justify your blindness by narrowing your gaze too far. You fail to realize, as I said before, that you have other options."

"And what options do I have?" Hinata growled. "If I don't stop Toneri's plan, our clan is likely to disappear in less than two generations, if it even takes that long. If I reject the plan, I will be removed from my position and branded. The branch loses their only hope at the abolishment of the Caged Bird Seal."

Tsunade huffed in disbelief. "You can announce your intention to pursue Naruto to your council. I gave you that information about his seat and my relation to him for a reason, you know."

"They already have a deal in place with Toneri for courtship. At the end of next week, that courtship will end and they will likely force through the betrothal. Without another offer on the table, they will just view it as a delaying tactic and push their changes through." Hinata said with gritted teeth.

"Trust me, that won't matter if you swallow your damn pride and renounce your position as the heiress. I guarantee that you will ruin Toneri's plans and ensure your safety from the Caged Bird Seal in one fell swoop." Tsunade said firmly.

"And leave Hanabi to the wolves?" Hinata asked incredulously. "I won't pass off my responsibility off to her just so I can live happily!"

"Have you even asked her what she wants?" Tsunade roared. The Sannin was at the end of her patience with Hinata's obtuseness. "Have you even considered that she might actually want a shot at the title instead of being branded and married off? If you move to secure your position as heiress already, you increase the chances of her life ending before she even gets a shot!"

"I didn't want her to be forced into such a life," Hinata said with a sigh before sitting down. All her righteous indignation had left her when Tsunade brought up Hanabi.

Hinata knew that there would be no salvation for Hanabi. Her father would still be fully in charge of the clan for the next 15 years at least. By then, Hanabi would be branded and wedded off to some random person. As the second daughter of the Clan head, Hanabi wasn't considered worthy enough for a premium marriage contract. The clan would likely sell her off to some merchant or nobleman to further their own political or business ties. It would also help the elders reduce the direct influence Hiashi and herself held over the Branch family by ensuring that they had less emotional ties to them.

Ever since Hizashi had been branded, the Branch family had become consolidated in their interests and the Elder council had been slowly losing control over them. If Hanabi were to remain within the clan, that subtle shift in control would only continue to spread. This was especially true now that Hanabi had taken an interest in training for the heiress position. With formal training in leadership and politics, Hanabi could become another subtle manipulator within the Branch Family, eroding their power base even further.

"But have you asked her what she wants?" Tsunade prodded.

"No... I haven't." Hinata said sadly.

Tsunade folded her hands in her lap before studying Hinata carefully.

"What would you do if Hanabi were to tell you that she wanted the heiress position and was serious about challenging you for it?" Tsunade queried.

Hinata chewed her lip in thought for several minutes. If she were, to be honest with herself, she wasn't certain that she wanted to hand off her title to her little sister. There was that all-consuming fear that if Hanabi were made the heiress, she would be branded immediately because the Elders viewed her as a major threat. They would also try to marry her off to someone who lived as far away from Konoha as possible. She might be handed off to Toneri immediately and shipped off to Ta no Kuni before Naruto even returned to the village.

On the other hand, she could see Tsunade's point. If she were to step aside and let Hanabi take over, Toneri's plans could be ruined completely if he only wanted to wed the heiress. Toneri was almost twenty-one, at the upper limit of the age restrictions when it came to marriage contracts. Hanabi was only twelve, making Toneri almost a decade her senior. That would put him outside of the marriageable range for an heiress and even if he tried to press the issue, he couldn't really take any official action until Hanabi was sixteen years old. Hanabi would be safe from him for four years, giving her plenty of time to find someone more suitable.

Hanabi would also have the advantage of enacting her own plans before the elders could counteract them. The Elder council would never suspect her of abdicating her position to Hanabi so suddenly. Any long term plans and machinations would be thoroughly disrupted if she did give up her position.

"I want my sister to be happy, no matter what." Hinata finally answered. "I have pushed myself so hard to try and spare her from dealing with all this dirty dealing and manipulation. I want to protect her from all of it."

"And yet you didn't even consider that by doing so you were condemning her to a life that she didn't want." Tsunade pointed out. "While you were able to spare her the unnecessary stress and pressure as a young child, now she is beginning to realize her reality. Now she is consciously able to make a decision about her future. Something that you never had, no matter how much you want to pretend otherwise. You never had a choice in being the heiress, Hanabi does."

Hinata looked down at the ground. "I was hoping my father would make an arrangement that would give her a happy life. Now I know that I can't count on him to protect her like I counted on him to protect me." Hinata stood from her seat and made her way over to the window.

"He promised me that he would support my choice for a husband, that he would back me on rejecting anything the Elders arranged. Yet, I learn now that he has sold us all out to the Ōtsutsuki. I still haven't learned what he has to gain from all of this, but I know he is in league with them all." Hinata said with a shaky voice. "I have used all my resources and tapped every contact I have to try and learn the truth but Toneri has covered his tracks too thoroughly."

Hinata turned to face Tsunade and the Sannin could see the vulnerability in the Hyūga hime's eyes.

"I've looked at this arrangement from every angle and I looked for any vulnerability to exploit but I can't find anything," Hinata said with a sigh. "The so-called investigation my father has started on their finances hasn't turned up anything that would disqualify his bid either. At least, that is what my father claims but I have no possible way to disprove his statement."

Tsunade sighed. "Don't you get it yet? Why do you think you were blindsided by this whole affair? Why do you think your whole damn clan was backing this move? Do you really believe that Toneri and company just rolled into town and charmed your greedy and selfish elders while simultaneously trapping your father at the same time?" Tsunade slammed her hand on her desk after asking each question to emphasize her point. "Your clan and the Ōtsutsuki clan have planned this for _years,_ maybe since shortly after you were born."

"How do you know that is the truth?" Hinata shouted. "How do you know they didn't just offer them an exorbitant amount of ryō or promises to secure their position?"

Tsunade looked at her with an inscrutable gaze for a few moments before pulling a small scroll out of her gi top and tossing it to Hinata.

"Because Jiraiya has had his eye on them ever since our former teammate drove them out of their lands," Tsunade said coolly. "Those idiots don't know the meaning of discrete and it was easy for Jiraiya to learn of their plans to take over your clan in order to secure their faltering bloodline."

"So you knew that this was going to happen?!" Hinata said with gritted teeth.

"We knew _something_ was going to happen," Tsunade said in a nonchalant tone. "The how and when wasn't known since they have been talking about it for _years_. I wasn't even briefed on it until we confirmed that Toneri and his little gang had entered the village and began entering negotiations with your clan." Tsunade said as she looked down at her desk and grimaced at how disorganized it appeared.

After lunch, she had a few important meetings to tend to and she didn't want to spend her free time cleaning up. As she stacked and put away the various scrolls and loose leaf papers she continued with her explanation. "Jiraiya had been confident that they would wait until after the war was over to make their move since the outcome would make a big difference in how they would likely approach your clan."

Hinata nodded at that information as she looked at the scroll in her hand warily. It would be harder for the Ōtsutsuki clan to impress the Elder council if they were well off and well situated. Having their lands stolen from them would make them appear weak in the eyes of the Hyūga elders. Regardless of how much prestige the name of Ōtsutsuki name could give them if they didn't have the land, money, or political pull needed to "convince" the elders of their superiority, any offers they made would have been snubbed. Especially if they planned to situate themselves in a position to gain control over the Hyūga clan in a few generations.

"If we won the war, it was likely they would move to reclaim their lands before approaching your clan. This would allow them to bargain with your elders from a position of greater strength. If we lost, however, they would have to cancel those plans, move to join the village before they began absorbing your clan through less forceful means." Tsunade explained as she stuffed a few scrolls into a drawer and slid it shut. Turning her attention back onto Hinata directly, she collected her thoughts for a moment before revealing her own thoughts on their movements.

"For Toneri to make his move now can only mean one of two things." Tsunade raised a finger as she spoke. "Toneri's clan has lost or is about to lose whatever power, prestige, or leverage they were using to bargain with your elders,"

Tsunade raised a second finger to join the first one. "The Ōtsutsuki clan was given some form of guarantee that their plans would succeed regardless of the outcome of the war. With this guarantee, they could simply bide their time in Konoha until the war was over. Once the dust finally settled, Toneri and his clan would then adjust their plans depending on which side was victorious. Either way, the Ōtsutsuki would have the Hyūga securely in their grasp." Tsunade concluded.

Hinata frowned as she considered Tsunade's opinion. Once she was certain the Senju was finished speaking, she unfurled the scroll and began to study the information within. She was disturbed to see that it detailed secret meetings between the Ōtsutsuki clan representative and her father as far back as 8 years ago; shortly after she had just entered the Academy. What was even more disturbing was that Jiraiya indicated that the likelihood of the Hyūga's having been in contact with Toneri for even longer was very high. In fact, there was some indication that the clans had been formulating their plans to merge since shortly after the failed kidnapping attempt by Kumo.

"Why would the village be so interested in all this?" Hinata asked quietly, she was devastated at the depths of her father's betrayal but a small part of her was extremely suspicious at the level of surveillance the village was conducting on her clan. "What does Konoha gain by watching our clan so closely?"

"Did you really think that Konoha would simply sit by while a foreign clan tries to usurp control of one of our largest clans?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow. "We know that the Ōtsutsuki _think_ they are Kami's greatest gift to the world. They have no interest in maintaining ties with Konoha because they will never be capable of gaining control over the council, the Daimyō, and the Hokage." Tsunade said with a scoff. "If there is one thing they can't stand, it is the fact that anyone else has power or control over them. Why else would a clan with such a prestigious name risk staying in a defenseless and backward province like Ta no Kuni?" Tsunade said pointedly.

"It was obvious to us that they planned to take over your clan at some point. Toneri will bide his time behind the safety of our wall, waiting to see how the war turns out. Once the war ends, the Ōtsutsuki will break all ties with Konoha, liquidate all of your clan's assets, and use that to either purchase new lands or restore their old homelands." Tsunade concluded.

"So you are taking steps to prevent the Hyūga from leaving the village!? Isn't that against the village charter law?" Hinata said with indignation. "You can't force us to remain in the village with threats!"

Hinata was expecting a few different types of reactions from the volatile Tsunade after making that statement. Anger being chief amongst them. What she never expected was to be _laughed_ at.

"Look at you so blinded by your loyalty to your clan that you have already tossed aside all your so called dreams and determination just so you can shout at me about the injustice towards your clan." Tsunade said with amusement. "If I didn't know any better, that statement would confirm to me that you want nothing more than to marry Toneri and usher in your clan's exit from the village."

Hinata opened her mouth as if to retort before shutting it and looking away from Tsunade with shame. She had simply reacted without thinking and reviewing her hasty statement made Hinata's mind freeze in shock. By default, her mind had immediately gone on the defensive for her clan's rights, not even caring that she had been supporting the desertion of the village that had given her clan a home and protected them for over a century.

It made Hinata start to consider just how much her father had conditioned her thought process. Numerous times in the past had she been called out for her blind devotion to the Hyūga clan above everything else. She had simply cast aside such declarations as nothing more than an innate contempt for her clan's infamous pride and strict adherence to presenting an aristocratic image in public. Now she was starting to wonder if those criticisms had some merit to them.

She was supposed to be training to see these types of subtle machinations and political moves, but she couldn't dispute that everything Tsunade had pointed out was accurate. She _had_ been blindsided by this courtship request and how united the clan had been in pushing it through. While it might seem like her father was buying her time and supporting her choice, it was obvious to her now that he had never intended for her to marry anyone else besides Toneri.

While she had considered the possibility after their introduction dinner, she had still been partially in denial that her father had been playing her this entire time. Even then she had admitted that uniting the Elder Council was almost an impossibility, yet all of the sudden they were all in support of this plan. Now it all made sense why they had such a united front behind all this.

They had been planning this for most of her life.

Hinata felt sick at that revelation. Sure she had some suspicions about her father's involvement in all this, but now that it was undeniably confirmed, that sense of betrayal came back seven fold.

"What does the village get for interfering with all of this," Hinata asked quietly after a few minutes of silence.

"Despite my personal opinion about your clan and its practices, it is in Konoha's best interest that the Hyūga clan remains in the village," Tsunade replied. "The Hyūga clan have been an intrinsic part of this village since the early days of its founding. To let a clan with that much knowledge about our village operations leave is a major security risk. That is excluding how many major business ties your clan has with the Daimyō and the rest of the village. Your exit from the village wouldn't be fatal, but it would be very detrimental."

Tsunade tapped her fingers on the desk reconsidering her decision to hold off on drinking before she continued. "To be honest, we weren't entirely certain if we should delay or speed up the Ōtsutsuki clan's efforts. On one hand, helping them acquire their goals faster would give us more time into forcing them to become integrated into Konoha. On the other hand, driving them out would ensure that the Hyūga remained loyal to Konoha."

"And what do you plan to do now that their plans have all but succeeded at this point," Hinata said dully.

"Konoha will take any steps necessary, short of using force, to ensure that your clan realizes the benefits of remaining in Konoha outweigh the benefits of leaving," Tsunade said firmly before she pulled open another drawer and retrieved a pair of scrolls. Setting the scrolls on top of the desk, she sent Hinata a smirk before tossing one of them to the confused Hyūga.

"I'm afraid you will have to cancel your courtship period with the lovely Toneri; the village needs your expertise on a long-term mission immediately," Tsunade said with a tone of false sadness.

Hinata opened the scroll and read it quickly. "A long-term scouting mission in Ta no Kuni? My father would simply cite clan business to prevent me from going and send Neji in my place." Hinata said with a frown.

"That won't be possible since we are also deploying Neji and the rest of the active Hyūga shinobi in this operation as well," Tsunade said with a smirk. "We will need those eyes while scouting our borders and some of the enemy's territory as well."

"Why such the large-scale mobilization?" Hinata asked in a curious tone of voice.

Tsunade looked at Hinata in disbelief. "Have you forgotten that war is coming? The only reason fighting hasn't started yet is because the Wind Daimyō begged for intervention from the Samurai General Mifune. In six months time, there will be a meeting between the Daimyō in Tetsu no Kuni to try and reestablish the treaty signed after the Third Shinobi War. If terms aren't met, war will break out shortly afterward."

"I haven't forgotten, it just seems to be a bit soon to start scouting and mobilizing now," Hinata said with irritation.

"Trust me, it isn't, " Tsunade said dismissively. "The enemy is already scouting the terrain to account for any changes or added fortifications since the last war. Even with Iwa's numerous Doton specialists, it would take them several months to construct fortresses, bunkers, and secure roads for supply lines. We need to start mapping the potential battlefields now so we can start setting up our own infrastructure for war."

Tsunade gave Hinata a pointed glance. "Besides, I heard that a certain clan you have been recently acquainted with had been driven out of the same area of Ta no Kuni that you just happen to be assigned to scout."

"You mean-" Hinata started before Tsunade cut her off.

"You'll be taking Sakura's place in this task force because I just started teaching her something very complicated and time-consuming. Since this mission will be two months long, _at least,_ I can't afford to send her." Tsunade said in her Hokage voice. "You will be on a task force with Kakashi, Anko, Kurenai, Kiba and Shino to scout certain border areas of Ta no Kuni and the borders along Hi no Kuni and Yu no Kuni." Tsunade made a gesture for Hinata to hand over the scroll.

Hinata stepped closer and rolled the scroll up before handing it over to Tsunade.

"Don't mention anything about this mission until I summon you in for it. Technically the mission doesn't exist yet since I haven't submitted it to the Mission assignment desk." Tsunade said with a serious expression on her face.

Hinata merely bowed her head in affirmation.

"The mission will start in two days time. Just play dumb until then and no matter what Hiashi or the elders try to pull, you _will_ go on that mission and I have ensured that you will get a chance to investigate the former home lands of the Ōtsutsuki clan as well." Tsunade said as she put the scrolls away in her desk.

Hinata bowed low to Tsunade to hide her watery eyes. It seemed almost too good to be true that the Hokage was helping her so much. Especially after everything Tsunade had put her through in the beginning.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama for this opportunity. If I find what I need to end Toneri's suit not only will I be in your debt but the Hyūga clan as well." Hinata said sincerely.

"Don't thank me yet," Tsunade said flatly. "I doubt anything you find will stop Toneri's plans for you."

"What makes you say that?" Hinata asked as she stood.

"Because you still haven't accepted reality," Tsunade said with a shrug. "I've already pointed out to you the easier way to end this whole mess but you are stubbornly refusing to accept the truth. You will _never_ marry Naruto while you are the heiress. That is an indisputable fact."

"Then why send me on this mission at all if it is already too late?" Hinata growled.

"Because I want you to use that foolish denial of yours to thoroughly search the Ōtsutsuki clan compound for any leverage we can use against them," Tsunade said bluntly. "And while you search their compound, you can search yourself and decide what is really important to you. I want this whole mess settled before Naruto returns so that you can't toy with his heart or drag him into this whole mess because you refuse to accept reality."

"And why should I bother if everything is hopeless as you say?" Hinata snapped. "Why should I put any effort into helping you when this is only delaying my fate?"

"If you succeed in finding us dirt that we can use against the Ōtsutsuki clan, I will order sanctions to be placed on your clan for violation of the Village Charter. While the charges may not hold up in front of the Daimyō's court, it will prevent your clan from notarizing any contracts until the investigation is concluded." Tsunade said with a grin.

"That would prevent them from signing off on my betrothal to Toneri and block the Ōtsutsuki clan's attempts to make any further deals," Hinata concluded.

"If you find something juicy enough, I will even back date the investigation process by a month," Tsunade added smugly. "That would wipe out whatever contract they signed for your courting period as well."

Hinata was quiet for a moment as she thought over the possible angles or loopholes that Tsunade or the Elders could use to prevent this possibility from occurring. Satisfied that the results of a successful mission couldn't be negated through any trickery or bribery, Hinata turned her focus on the consequences of failing the mission.

"And if I fail to find something that you would consider 'juicy' enough to suit your purposes, what happens then?" Hinata asked.

"Then you are on your own," Tsunade said bluntly. "Without any valid evidence, there isn't much we can do besides try to endear the Ōtsutsuki clan to the village so they don't relocate the Hyūga to Ta no Kuni once Orochimaru is cleaned out."

Tsunade studied Hinata's face for a moment before a mischievous glint entered her eyes.

"I'll make you a one time offer, here and now. You have to agree to this offer before you leave for the mission or else I will retract the offer and leave you to your fate." Tsunade said with a small smirk on her face.

Hinata frowned at the predatory look on Tsunade's face but her curiosity was aroused.

"What kind of deal?" she asked warily.

"If you fail to find anything of use, you renounce your position as heiress to the Hyūga clan. In exchange, I will provide you with a betrothal contract between you and Naruto, pending a successful courting period of course." Tsunade said before leaning back in her chair. "I'll even give you a nice long courting period to earn his heart. Let's say two months."

Hinata took a deep breath to slow her racing heart. A betrothal contract with Naruto was beyond her wildest dreams. With Tsunade's backing, the elders would be very hard pressed to ignore such a contract. Even if they were firmly in Toneri's court, ignoring such a contract would be a major slight against the village. Especially if she mentioned Naruto as the Senju heir, which Hinata was certain she would do just to put more weight behind the contract. Even if it wasn't true or Naruto refused, the contract wouldn't be voided if Tsunade played her cards right.

If Tsunade made that type of power play, the elders could not afford to snub her contract out of hand. Even if they were planning to leave the village after merging with the Ōtsutsuki, it wouldn't do to piss off the current Hokage until they were safely out of her reach. This would force the elders to formally take her contract into consideration. At the very least, she would be allowed to spend the two-month courting period free to pursue Naruto until they, politely, turned the contract down. That meant she would not only have time to wait for Naruto's return to foil Toneri's plans, she would also have time to help prepare Hanabi for her entrance into the lion's den.

All it would cost her was her ties to her clan and family.

Hinata had no doubt that such a move would likely infuriate her father. He had been against her pursuit of Naruto from the start, despite his promise to support her choice in a husband. At the time it seemed that his protests were merely for the threat that association with a jinchūriki could pose for her reputation.

Now she knew it was more than that.

Sure he might have been worried about her status in getting close to a "demon container", but the reality was that he was likely planning for her to run the clan at Toneri's side. Why? She didn't know, but it was becoming apparent that all of her training had been for that very purpose.

Toneri would retain control over the Ōtsutsuki and leave her to run the Hyūga for him until the clans were successfully merged together. After that was completed, she wasn't certain what they had planned. It wouldn't matter to her at that point because she was certain that her life was likely to be forfeit once Toneri had achieved his ultimate goal. For all she knew, Toneri would simply sire a few brats on her out of obligation. Then she would be cast aside for his other lover and left to waste away until death came for her.

Hinata opened and closed her mouth a few times, her throat seeming to close as she fought with herself to both accept and deny the offer. Most of her wanted to deny this deal as her pride attributed acceptance of such a deal to admitting she was defeated. She wanted to continue to fight and trust in her skills and training to see her through all this crap. If she was to succeed, she would come out of this mission with the world at her feet and all that she desired within her grasp.

The pessimistic realist in her, however, had pointed out that accepting the deal was the best course of action. Even if she was technically admitting defeat by accepting the deal, she had nothing substantial to lose besides her pride. Why bother to maintain such pride when it had done nothing but cause her grief for most of her life? Why bother to fight for a clan that was so hidebound and flawed that its destruction could only be seen as a benefit to the village and the world at large?

It was only natural that things that were unable to adapt to the world around them died out if they weren't devoured by their predators first. In a small way, the Ōtsutsuki clan was just another predator that was using the cover of greed to draw closer towards the Hyūga clan's neck for the fatal strike. And the elders were only stretching the head of her clan backward to give Toneri a better shot at striking their jugular.

Before Hinata could master herself and provide her final answer to Tsunade, the office door opened abruptly and Sakura announced her return. She entered the office with two bento boxes balanced in her right palm while her left hand gripped a pair of water bottles by their necks. The pinkette stopped her cheerful chatter when she noticed the tense stare off between Hinata and Tsunade, her gaze drifting between the two with a look of confusion on her face.

"Just remember everything that I have told you today, Hyūga. I want your final answer by Mokuyōbi (Thursday)." Tsunade said before she abruptly stood from her desk.

Tsunade quickly made her way into the small kitchenette attached to her office. She opened the small fridge kept inside and pulled out her own bento box and a small vial of anti-toxin in case Sakura or Hinata had failed to remove all the poison from their fish, Tsunade made her way back into the office and sat down at her desk once more.

"Now, both of you eat up," Tsunade said with a grin. "Let's see how confident you are in your skill for removing the poison from your fish," she added while shaking the bottle of anti-toxin in her hand. "I hope your scans were thorough, who knows what other kinds of nasty surprises I might have left behind in those fish," Tsunade added with a snicker.

Hinata and Sakura both chose a bento box and opened it up. With a silent "Itadakimasu" they both began digging into their fried izumidai with rice, pickled radish, and steamed vegetables.

Sakura ate confidently, assured in her own success at removing the poison. Even if she wasn't certain if she was eating her own fish instead of Hinata's, she knew that the bluenette wouldn't have failed such a simple task.

While Sakura did not like Hinata in the least bit, she wasn't stupid enough to deny the Hyūga's talent. Hinata was still capable as a medic despite her numerous shortcomings and Sakura would not deny her that respect.

But that was the very limit of respect she would offer that stuck up bitch.

Sakura had seen her true side during the time leading up the last Chūnin exams. Hinata had been petty, vindictive, and spoiled. Her sense of entitlement had only been dwarfed by her arrogance and it pissed Sakura off to no end.

Hinata was a prime example of the clan kids that used to talk down to her and all the other civilian children in the Academy. They were the ones who made it hard for the civilians to succeed since their parents handed down jutsu and training to them from a very early age.

A civilian shinobi or kunoichi had to perform twice as well as a clan child to get recognition. When they did manage to excel and beat a clan child, half of the time the clan child was berated for under performing instead of the civilian child receiving praise. It was like the instructors had believed that the only way a civilian could succeed was because the clan child was being lazy or had failed to study properly.

It was insulting to think that it was impossible for her to excel or succeed because she didn't have the fortune to emerge from the vagina of a noblewoman. The clan kids always looked down on them like they were scum or vermin yet they didn't have to struggle or work as hard for what they earned. If anything, the clan children were inferior because they needed to have everything handed to them on a sliver platter in order for them to succeed.

Sakura had always been known for her intelligence and despite what most thought, she wasn't a fool. She knew that the only reason she was amounting to something in her life now was because of Naruto. Naruto had put her on a path to succeed and surpass that limitation placed on her. While she still didn't know why Naruto held so much sway with the higher ups in the village, she didn't really care. Naruto had accepted her apology and extended his hand in friendship to her. Naruto had saved her life twice and given her the means to lift herself up from her troubled past and gave her a path to a bright future.

Because of that, she would do _anything_ for Naruto. She would remain loyal to him no matter what and would give her life for him if necessary. If he had been a clan head, she wouldn't have hesitated to swear herself to him as a vassal, even if she knew he wouldn't be likely to accept her as a servant.

Did that mean she loved him?

Sakura didn't think so. She didn't know him well enough to say that she did. She would admit that there had been a hidden warmth and exuberance in Naruto that she had been attracted to. His love of tea and the exotic foods she had introduced to him had revealed a side to him she knew very few had seen. It was for that reason that she knew his words to her in the tea room had been genuine. It was because of that warmth that she knew his intent to befriend her had been genuine and that belief was further reinforced when Tsunade announced that she would be accepted as her apprentice.

One thing that Sakura was certain of, however, is she would not make it easy for that Hyūga slut to sink her claws into Naruto. He deserved better than an underhanded, manipulative and self-centered bitch that would likely only use him for his money or influence. Naruto was far too good for most of the women in the village in her opinion. He deserved someone that was truly genuine and not looking for someone that was deemed "politically acceptable" for the heiress of the most arrogant clan in Konoha.

So she would continue to press the uptight Hyūga's buttons and not bother to deny Hinata's mistaken belief that she was competing for his love. Sakura did want to get close to him, but she wasn't foolish enough to lead him on just to get Hinata out of her way. The best part of all of this was that she wouldn't really need to pretend. Hinata was jealous enough with Sakura just trying to be _friends_ with him, just a little more effort on her part and Hinata's true nature would do all of the work for her.

Once Naruto saw just how ugly Hinata truly was inside, he would be safe for her manipulative charms. Then Sakura would be free to remain by Naruto's side in any role he desired of her.

 **Early Evening - Hyūga Compound**

* * *

Hinata left the study hall and made her way towards the family dining room. Her mind had been running through the various pros and cons of accepting Tsunade's deal and she still hadn't come to a decision.

What was even more difficult for her to consider was whether or not she should try to confront her father in some manner. She knew, from her own sources, that he had pushed her into accepting the courtship of Toneri with a series of half-truths and stalling tactics designed to prevent her from wriggling free of their trap.

The Uzumaki clan seat information, the so-called asset investigation, even his pressure to take other courtship requests seriously, despite her emphatic belief in waiting for Naruto, should have been clear signs of his complacency or involvement with this whole scheme.

Hinata had no doubt now that if she had expressed an interest in any of the other clan heirs, her father would have come up with some other excuse to rule them out before pressing forward with Toneri's suit even further.

A small part of her still wanted to believe in her father. To believe that the man that had raised her had truly cared for her as a daughter instead of an asset. For most of her life, it had certainly seemed that her father was doing his best to shelter from the worst until she was prepared to deal with it all, but now she had to wonder if he was keeping her blind to her impending fate.

When Hinata entered the dining room she saw Neji and Hanabi were already seated and waiting for her. Her father was at the head of the table, as usual, and was sitting with his usual stone-faced expression, sipping on a cup of green tea. Hinata took her place at the table and bowed her head in acknowledgment of her cousin and sister before sitting quietly to await the meal to be served.

Hinata saw her father's eyebrow slightly rise at her intentional snub towards him, but he made no comment to her lack of proper greeting towards him. She kept her face completely neutral despite Hanabi's inquisitive stare and Neji's questioning gaze towards her. She had never before failed to greet her father when she entered the dining room so it was obvious she was displeased with him in some way.

The Branch members emerged from the kitchen and set down that evening's dinner: Takenoko gohan (bamboo rice) served with some yakitori chicken skewers and a side of kinpira gobo (burdock root sauteed with marinated chicken thighs and carrots). Once the meal was arranged and fresh tea set on the table, Hiashi started off the meal by taking the first bite.

The meal was eaten in silence with little more than soft requests to pass the teapot for a refill or calling a branch member to provide a second helping of the meal. It was rare that her family ever spoke during dinner, reserving conversation for the after dinner tea service instead. Plus it was often difficult to carry on a discussion while people were eating and drinking, often needing to wait for someone to finish chewing and swallowing their food in order to respond. While most people preferred conversation over dinner, the Hyūga's often used this time to ponder topics of discussion that could arise and prepare to formulate their answers to any potential questions that would come their way.

It was a sign of just how ingrained the political mindset was for any Hyūga. Perhaps there was some merit to Tsunade's suppositions about her being groomed to view topics through a narrow lens. It would certainly make it difficult for her to subvert any of his plans, should she disagree with them. The first lesson she had learned in her political studies was that one needed to be capable of viewing things from all possible perspectives if you wanted to get an edge over your opponent. Knowing how to counter their arguments and plan for their moves was the best way to ensure that your agenda was moved forward smoothly. The longer it took for you to push your agenda forward, the easier it was for your opponents to identify any drawbacks and vulnerabilities in your position. Once that happened, you were forced to compromise or set aside your goals for several years, at least, before you tried to push your plans ahead under the guise of a different agenda.

As she ate, Hinata took advantage of the silence to formulate how she was going to approach her upcoming confrontation with her father. She would have to be delicate, lest she reveals too much information and allows her father to begin preparing any countermeasures. If he found out that Tsunade was now getting involved with this mess, she had no doubt he would bring his considerable power and political ties down to bear on her. If that were to happen, her chances of escaping this betrothal would be less than zero.

Hinata's eyes drifted over towards her younger sister as she recalled Tsunade's words. True, Hanabi had only recently expressed any interest in the political and economic studies that she, herself, had been mandated to endure. However, she had heard the tutors complimenting Hanabi's aptitude for the subjects on top of her capabilities with the Jūken. Already the tutors were declaring her a prodigy in her lessons, and Hinata had to admit that her sister was advancing faster through the beginning levels of their prized taijutsu style.

Hanabi had already mastered the Hakke Sanjūni Shō (Eight Trigrams 32 Palms) technique during her second year at the Academy, a full two years before she, herself, had managed. Hanabi was also proving more efficient at blocking tenketsu and cutting internal organs with her Jūken strikes. Hinata attributed this discrepancy more to her training in iryōjutsu than Hanabi's innate talent, but she would still give her sister credit where it was due. With her focus being divided, it wouldn't be long until Hanabi was just as proficient as she was with their family taijutsu style, and it was highly likely that her sister would be capable of excelling beyond her current level by the time Hanabi was able to enter the Chūnin exams on her own genin team.

Hinata was certain that her father and the elders had been taking this into account recently and suspected that they were planning on having Hanabi become their fail safe should the merger with the Ōtsutsuki clan fall through. If worse came to worse, they would have herself placed highly up in the Ōtsutsuki clan and would try to use her position as Toneri's wife to gain more influence in that clan. All the while, they would start grooming the younger, more impressionable Hanabi to suit their purposes and maintain the status quo. Hinata doubted that the elders would allow their plans to fall through so easily, however, since they all seemed to be quite keen on ensuring this marriage went through.

Hinata quietly sighed into her cup of tea as she reconsidered her previous plan to confront her father tonight. Now that she was calmer and had thought her actions over more thoroughly, it seemed rather rash to try and prod her father for details at this point. She couldn't find a reasonable excuse for knowing that the rest of the elders were behind this contract. True, a few had openly approached her to make their opinions known, but the rest were far too slippery to tip their hands in such an obvious way. Instead, they let their desires slip to a few of the more chatty branch servants, knowing that the news would get back to her eventually. This allowed them to have plausible deniability should their plans backfire on them in the end.

She also had no way to guarantee that her father wouldn't realize that she was onto his machinations should she try to subtly call him out on his double-dealing. He was far more experienced and clever when it came to reading between the lines, and he had taught her everything she had known about delusory speech. It was quite likely he had left out a great deal of knowledge or tricks so he could maintain an edge over her should she seek to rebel against him. After all, he _had_ tried to rebel against grandfather's wishes in the past. In fact, if she remembered correctly, her father's rebellion had come around the same age and circumstances that she was in now. It would only make sense for him to ensure that he had some method of suppressing any bellicose actions on her part, given his own experiences.

Her grandfather had used Hizashi's brand as a way to curtail her father's defiance against the elders, but she didn't have to fear that with Hanabi. Instead, it was likely her father had used her "training" to groom her to suit his purposes since they had to leave both herself and Hanabi unbranded until their future husbands were determined. Herself because she was the heiress and because Toneri was likely to refuse a bride that was able to be eliminated with a single hand seal by one of the elders. Hanabi, because there were a few eligible males within the Main branch that she could potentially wed and bear children for in the future. Hizashi had been unfortunate that there had been no females within eligibility range for him so as soon as her grandfather had decided to focus on Hiashi entirely, Hizashi was branded right away.

Studying her father out of the corner of her eye, Hinata could tell that he was still suspicious about her snub earlier. Hinata inwardly rebuked herself for acting in such a childish manner, She was 16 years old! Far too old to behave with such petulance. If she hadn't blundered at the start of the evening, it might have been possible to try and probe her father for information without revealing her knowledge of his complicity. Now, however, he was likely to connect the dots too quickly.

She would have to back down for now and hope that she found some evidence for Tsunade to use against Toneri during her scouting mission. On her return, evidence or no, she would confront her father about this whole mess and hopefully get the answers she wanted.


	74. Hinata Hiden: Beguiling Lights Part 4

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

AN: I apologize for the very long delay for this chapter but I had been forced to travel quite a bit for work these past few months. My schedule is only beginning to settle down, but I still won't be capable of updating regularly, unfortunately. For those of you who are still following, I thank you for your patience. I'll admit it is difficult to get back into the swing of things, especially when my muse had latched onto a new story idea quite viciously which essentially blocked me from deciding how to wrap up this story arc. I have no plans of starting a new story at the moment, given that I have two already active, but my mind refused to let the idea drop until I had put some effort into fleshing that story out. Maybe once I wrap this story up, I will put that idea up in a poll with a few of my other partially written stories.

Only one chapter remains after this one before I return my focus back to Naruto and his return. (Maybe two if I dislike how long the chapter drags but no more than that.) As for the rest of this story, we are nearing the final arc where I will reveal all the final pieces to the puzzle and begin wrapping things up for the climax and subsequent epilog. At first guess, I would say there are, at least, 10 chapters remaining with 20 chapters being the max.

 **Chapter 73**

 **Hinata Hiden: Beguiling Light Hides Preying Shadows Part 4**

 **One month later – Tanada City – Ta no Kuni**

* * *

Hinata sat in a dango shop, listening to a few of the patrons who were talking boisterously in the outdoor cafe next door. She had been sitting at this particular location for a few hours now, hoping to gleam some information about the former Ōtsutsuki compound. So far, her surveillance had turned up nothing and she would have to move soon before she drew too much suspicion onto herself. Resisting the urge to adjust the ill fitted contact lenses she had hiding her Byakugan eyes, she allowed her eyelids to slide shut so she could try and alleviate the discomfort.

Sneaking into the region known locally as Oto no Kuni (Though the Fire Daimyō refused to recognize it as such) had been quite an easy feat for their task force. Considering that Oto would be expecting retaliation from Konoha, it seemed quite strange that there would be fewer patrols along the border. The few villages and towns they had scouted briefly had zero shinobi presence and even the standard samurai garrisons that most Daimyō had stationed throughout their lands were surprisingly absent.

There was evidence of some type of struggle, but the state of the abandoned barracks made it obvious they had been left to decay long ago. All the evidence they uncovered suggested that the city was left to its own devices shortly after Orochimaru's fledgling village of Oto assassinated the Daimyō and began seizing control of the small farming nation. A token force of shinobi had remained in the village up until the invasion of Konoha. Since then, however, there had been no shinobi or samurai to police or guard the province, so the mayor had formed a militia.

Hinata, Shino, and Kurenai were all posted in different areas of the city, trying to pick up rumors about any nearby Oto bases and troop movements. Anko had pointed out that Orochimaru had a penchant for concealing his most important bases underground, so she was assigned to sweep the outskirts of the village along with Kiba. Kakashi assigned himself to flush out any covert spies in the city and keeping watch for any shinobi patrols that might pass through the area.

Opening her eyes, Hinata fought back a sigh and stood from her table. Leaving behind sufficient ryō to cover the cost of her dango and tea, she made her way towards the final observation point assigned to her. Making her way down the main road, she turned at the next side street and made her way towards the local hot springs. At least she would get to soak in the steaming mineral waters during her surveillance and she wouldn't need to act in order to maintain her cover.

If there was one thing Hinata hated more than anything, it was acting. She _hated_ behaving contrary to her personality. As the Hyūga heiress, her entire life had been one big act. As far back as she could remember she had been pushed to be disciplined, confident, and above reproach. Hinata couldn't remember the last time she was able to simply relax and allow herself to think and react without considering the opinions of others. Every action had to be analyzed and measured from every possible angle. Each interaction she had with others had to be governed by status and politics.

If a visiting dignitary told a joke during after dinner tea, she had to go through a mental list before she could decide how to laugh.

If the joke was too offensive, she was to remain stone-faced and exude a sense of disapproval. If she didn't find the joke very funny, she had to temper her laugh so it was polite but still conveyed a lack of enthusiasm. If the joke was very funny, in her opinion, she _still_ had to temper her response. No teary eyes, no gasping for breath, she had to cool her response so that she remained dignified and proper in all circumstances.

For once she wanted to, literally, roll on the ground in laughter gasping for breath. Maybe she would even snort a few times and get embarrassed. She wanted to scream when she was angry and cry when she was hurt or sad. Hinata wanted to run wild in the forest, disregarding the state of her hair and clothing. When it rained, she wanted to dance in it; maybe splash in the mud a bit and ruin a fancy kimono.

In short, she wanted her childhood back.

Hinata paid the entry fee for the small- but well maintained- onsen in the center of the city before making her way towards the communal sinks. Unlike most of the larger hot springs she was used to this one only had smaller faucets and buckets for washing instead of full showering facilities. She allowed her guard to drop a bit as she noticed the washing area was empty and silently hummed a small tune as she prepared herself for a nice long soak. Once she finished scrubbing her body and tying up her hair, she stepped towards spring and sank into the heated waters. Hinata couldn't help but let out a sigh of contentment as the mineral water covered her body. As her eyes drifted shut, Hinata began thinking about everything Tsunade had revealed to her during their last confrontation. It had plagued the young heiress to the point that she eventually decided to confront her little sister about Tsunade's insinuations.

A few days before the scouting mission began, Hinata opted to escort Hanabi home from the Academy. With a few threats to Neji, she was able to gain the privacy needed to have a secure and private conversation with her sister.

What she learned that day had surprised her.

 **Flashback**

* * *

"Onee-sama? What are you doing here?" Hanabi asked with surprise.

"I arranged to escort you home for today, Hanabi-chan," Hinata said with a soft smile. "Come, let us visit the bakery. It has been awhile since we have simply enjoyed each other's company."

Hanabi merely nodded before falling into step with Hinata.

Once the pair were away from the rest of the parents and students milling about outside of the Academy, the sisters allowed their "masks" to relax. At Hinata's request, Hanabi gave her a run down of everything they had studied in class for the day. Hanabi naturally vented about Konohamaru's antics and her contempt for the idiot civilians she was stuck dealing with in class. Soon the pair reached their favorite spot to escape from the clan elders. A bakery that had zero ties to the Hyūga clan.

Soon they were sitting down to a sample platter of various pastries and a nice pot of tea.

"So, I heard you're going on a long term mission soon," Hanabi asked after taking a sip of tea.

"Yes. I have been assigned to a scouting mission along our borders in preparation for the war." Hinata replied before taking a bite of her cinnamon roll.

Hanabi frowned a bit. "How long will you be away?"

"At least two months," Hinata answered after swallowing her bite. "There might be more tasks for us to complete, but only the team leader is privy to those side objectives."

"Why?"

"For mission secrecy, of course," Hinata answered in a chastising tone. "I can't really say much more without getting either of us in trouble, but I was told to expect the mission to last longer than two months."

Hanabi tried to hide a frown behind her tea cup, but Hinata noticed it anyways. Assuming it had to do with her prolonged absence, she didn't question Hanabi about it.

"I'm surprised father allowed it, considering the circumstances," Hanabi stated quietly.

"You mean the courting period I was forced to endure?" Hinata said with a hint of venom.

"I thought it was more than just that. I heard that the betrothal was all but ensured at this point." Hanabi said with a furrowed brow.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Hinata muttered to herself.

"Did you find some way to get the contract voided then?" Hanabi leaned forward as if anxious to hear the answer.

"I have a few options at my disposal." Hinata said, easily slipping into her "Hyūga persona" when a couple walked past their table towards the counter.

Hanabi stole a glance at their surroundings for a brief moment before she locked an oddly serious gaze on Hinata.

"So you _are_ using this mission to buy yourself time then?" Hanabi's tone was more akin to a statement, but Hinata could sense the question behind it.

Hinata raised an eyebrow at Hanabi's odd behavior. Her sister had never bothered to press for details this much in the past. Was it due to her recent addition to the politics classes, or was there something else on Hanabi's mind? Once again, Tsunade's words echoed in Hinata's head and she wondered if the Hokage had some hidden insight on her little sister's true feelings on the subject.

"I will admit that extra time is welcome, but I have always had a way to avoid this whole mess," Hinata said with some amusement.

She wouldn't admit that she only had one option at her disposal should the mission end in failure, but Hanabi didn't need to know that. In the past, her sister hardly seemed to care about anything beyond clothing, her various children shows/movies, and her doll collection.

'Now that I think about it more, the last time the latest My Little Hime show came to town, Hanabi expressed no interest in attending it at all. She never missed a showing in the past.' Hinata thought.

Hanabi was silent for a moment before she narrowed her eyes at her older sister.

"Why bother dragging this out if you have a way to end it already?" Hanabi hissed. "You say you hate all that double-dealing and political posturing but aren't you essentially doing the same thing by drawing this whole mess out? What about Toneri and the rest of his clan? Don't you owe it to them to be straightforward to them so they can move on to someone else?" Hanabi sat back and with a prominent frown on her face.

Hinata barely kept the look of shock from appearing on her face.

"Why do you care about how I handle this mess?" Hinata asked in a terse tone. "I never had a choice in this matter, so I might as well make things as difficult for them as possible. The whole point of making things complicated for the elders is to show them that they can't always get their way!"

"Like you always do?" Hanabi muttered quietly, but Hinata had heard it clearly.

"How dare you say that to me!" Hinata growled before looking around to see if there were any people within hearing range. It wouldn't do well to be seen behaving in an uncouth manner in public.

"You, of all people, have no right to insinuate that _I_ am spoiled when you have had _everything_ handed to you!" Hinata spat. "On your seventh birthday, you had a fancy dress up party, attended a movie, then had a sleep over. You received toys and kimonos as presents and ate plenty of cake and ice cream. I had to sit inside and watch other children play games because they were too afraid of me being kidnapped again! All my presents were political gifts that were designed to show respect to or gain the favor of our clan. Most of them were immediately stored away only to be displayed when certain visitors came around. I only got _one_ gift that was intended solely for my happiness. One!" Hinata ranted.

"Of course I was spoiled!" Hanabi snapped. "How else were they going to distract me from the fact that my future was hopeless? How else were they going to stop me from trying to escape my fate? The only thing I have to look forward to is being branded as a slave, married off to some wrinkled old pervert, or, Kami forbid, both! At least you have some measure of control over your life. Me? I have _nothing_ to look forward to. Nothing!" Hanabi said in a shrill tone before she mastered control of herself.

After looking around to ensure no one had spotted her outburst, Hanabi continued with her argument in a calmer tone.

"I won't say that I understand what you had to go through, onee-sama, but don't you think it was a fair trade off for what you would get in the end?" Hanabi said coldly. "Even if they tried to force you into marrying Toneri, at least you still had the option of fighting against it. What option do I have?"

Hinata scowled a bit but let her mask slip back into place quickly.

"There are too many things going on in the background that you don't understand," Hinata said coldly. "If you had to go through the things that I went through as a child you might have an inkling, but you have no idea about the danger involved with this contract."

Hanabi looked like she was about to argue, but Hinata stopped her by raising her hand.

"It's not that you are inept because you were allowed to enjoy your childhood. To be honest, Father has taken steps for both of us to be ill prepared for what is coming. My marriage to Toneri is not the opportunity you think it is." Hinata stated firmly.

"What do you mean by that?" Hanabi asked.

Hinata looked around cautiously once more, even activating her Byakugan to be certain there were no observers nearby. Only when she was certain there were no eavesdroppers did she begin relaying some of the details she had learned from Tsunade. Hinata was careful not to mention how, or when, she received this information. It was safest to let Hanabi suspect that she had a more extensive information network than expected. If her sister _was_ beginning to make moves against her she would either approach their father with this news or would become more cautious about making power plays behind her back. Either way, their plans would be delayed as they speculated and investigated their suspicions about Hinata's source of information. By the time Hinata was finished divulging the information, Hanabi's face was grim.

"Father was the one that encouraged me to begin taking the classes for the heiress position, you know." Hanabi lightly rapped her fingers on the table top as she spoke. "He was confident that you would be joining the Ōtsutsuki clan as their heiress, leaving me to take over our clan in your stead. If what you say is true: Why even bother? Why wouldn't he simply focus on finding me a husband outside of the clan?"

"He is probably just trying to cover his bases," Hinata said with a shrug. "I haven't been very discreet in my opposition to this contract and he knows I don't want to wed anyone but Naruto-kun. If my plans succeed, he might be forced to brand me and push you forward instead."

"I don't think so," Hanabi said before looking out the window of the bakery. "Father didn't force me to take those classes, he _encouraged_ me to. In fact, he stated quite firmly that it was my choice to make." Hanabi looked down at her tea cup and fiddled with her napkin for a moment before sighing and looking Hinata in the eye.

"At the time, I was just starting to realize the truth about my situation. I jumped at the opportunity to escape an unwanted marriage or being branded as a slave. I couldn't help but be grateful that you would be out of the way." Hanabi said with guilt. "I didn't want to feel that way, but I couldn't help it. I have to worry about my life too, you know."

Hinata merely nodded. Her eyes were a bit moist, but she really couldn't blame her sister for feeling that way. She knew that feeling of being trapped quite well and was a feeling a bit guilty that she didn't even consider that Hanabi might be suffering from the same thing.

Hinata was drawn out of her self-recrimination when Hanabi continued speaking. "Father went out of his way to ensure that I was given the accelerated learning program in both Politics and Leadership. When I began showing advanced proficiency in the Jūken, he asked if I wanted to reduce my training hours so I can squeeze in Business Management as well. When I refused, he didn't even question me about it, he simply let the matter drop." Hanabi looked over to Hinata after that statement.

"I should have suspected something then, considering how father is. Even though I had been able to do whatever I wanted when I was younger, Father never lets something of importance like that go so easily. Instead of forcing me to do something he would try to encourage or pressure me into it instead." Hanabi said.

That statement forced Hinata to recall Tsunade's words about the differences between a person that performs their duty through obligation or desire. It might be true that she had far more training and preparation for her duty, but it seemed that Hanabi had taken it upon her self to desire the position. Hinata knew that, while spoiled, Hanabi was no slouch when it came to intelligence and skills. It wouldn't take long for her little sister to get up to speed when it came to scholarly knowledge.

Practical knowledge, however, was another matter entirely.

Hanabi poured herself another cup of tea and took a long sip before she spoke again. "Look. I know you never had much of a choice in how father raised you, and you were right to say that I don't know what that's like _yet_. If you refuse to accept the fact that you have a choice to do something else, however, then my only chance at _having_ a choice will be taken from me." Hanabi looked up at Hinata once more. "Maybe I am just being selfish in wanting you to accept this contract, but I can't help but be afraid when I look at what you had to go through."

Hinata stared at her sister for a moment as she considered her words. It was so contrary to how Hanabi usually behaved that she was certain it was some sort of ploy. In fact, it seemed quite familiar with one of the advanced lessons on persuasive speaking she had studied in the past. That was when Hinata realized that Hanabi had actually structured this whole conversation from the very beginning. Hinata had never, truly, suspected her sister of being capable of such machinations; believing her to still be in that childish and naive mindset. Now it was clear that Hanabi was stepping into the Grand Game (as her father had called it) and was making her opening moves know. The fact that she was acting now only meant that she had other plans in the works and probably had a few contingency plans drawn up as well.

It was quite a clever move on Hanabi's part. Perhaps she had been wrong about Hanabi being unprepared to deal with the elders.

"That was pretty good, Hanabi-chan," Hinata said with amusement. "You almost had me convinced."

Hanabi scowled slightly at her sister before pouting.

"So you saw through my ruse. I can't say that I am surprised, considering your training. But I am serious about all this, you know." Hanabi grumbled.

"I know you were nee-chan, but this is one contract that I can't accept," Hinata replied smoothly.

"Why not?" Hanabi hissed in frustration. "Even if the plan is to integrate our clan into the Ōtsutsuki clan, I wouldn't have to fear being branded or married off to some noble jackass! It would solve everything."

"Because Toneri and the elders can't be trusted and I am certain that Father can't be trusted with this either." Hinata sighed before leaning forward and speaking lowly. "Remember this clearly, Hanabi-chan. The last time the elders were united with the clan head on a course of action, it was in support of creating the current version of the Caged Bird Seal to put down the Branch members." Hinata emphasized her statement by lightly tapping Hanabi's forehead with her index finger. "Nothing but trouble comes from a unanimous decision within our clan."

Hanabi slumped in her chair and Hinata could tell she was trying to fight back tears of frustration. Once again Hinata wanted to rage against the elders and her father for forcing them to suffer like this. All this misery and pain in their family just to fuel their ego and maintain their sense of superiority as their bodies and skills began to fail them. Most of those wrinkled old bastards deserved nothing more than to fade away into obscurity before death claimed them. A fate that would be considered worse than hell to most of the elders.

With a sigh, Hinata decided to try and offer her little sister some comfort. Even though she now knew that Hanabi wasn't above trying to maneuver her out of the clan for her own safety, she still cared for her little sister dearly. She would just have to actually watch her back around Hanabi as well.

Such is the life of a Hyūga in this day and age.

"Don't worry, Hanabi-chan. If everything goes well with my plans, you will still have your chance." Hinata said in a placating tone. "Even if things go badly, I still have a way for both of us to get through this mess intact. You just leave it to your aneki. (sis)"

Hanabi nodded with a pout before she reached out and snatched up the last cinnamon roll. It was spiteful of her, but Hinata merely laughed it off. Hanabi was still young, even if she was on the verge of becoming a genin already.

"How cruel of you, nee-chan," Hinata said with a sigh.

"Well, I gotta take what I can get, onee-sama," Hanabi said petulantly before smirking at Hinata and biting into the cinnamon roll.

Both of the sisters shared a laugh before finishing their sweets and making their way back home. Despite the terse situation beforehand, the sisters took comfort in each others presence before they were forced to don their masks once more.

 **Flashback End**

* * *

Her relationship with Hanabi had changed that day. When she returned to the village, things would be different between the two of them. While she knew that Hanabi still cared for her, it was clear that her little sister couldn't help but view her as an obstacle or rival to be overcome. She would have to be very careful about what she let slip in the presence of her sister now.

Not that she had confided in her very much in the past since she wanted to shield her little sister from the drama and troubles of the clan. For once, her kindhearted nature had actually been beneficial. Usually, such kindness only got her into trouble with her family, and Hinata had been resigned to save it for the select few that she could trust not to abuse it.

Now that she knew her sister was determined to truly knock her out of her position, however, it made her readjust her view on things. Hinata could now admit that she had been blinded by her duty to the clan. If it weren't for her infatuation with Naruto, she might not have even noticed Toneri's true intentions.

Hinata tried to picture where she would be if she hadn't fallen head over heels for the whiskered blond. It was a struggle for her to erase his presence from her mind completely, but she managed to shunt his image aside and picture her life without him. His absence for these past three years had helped put things into perspective for her. When considering all the other prospective suitors within Konoha or Hi no Kuni, Toneri's suit would have appeared as the best- and most palatable- option in her mind; even if it was made clear that the Hyūga clan would be forcibly integrated into the Ōtsutsuki clan within a few generations. Hinata could easily see herself forsaking Konoha complete for an ironclad guarantee that the Caged Bird Seal would be permanently abolished.

In fact, Hinata could easily see herself scheming for a secondary Branch compound to remain in Konoha for the "undesirables" to remain in. Once Toneri was done siring heirs on her, she might even retreat to this place under the guise of overseeing the protection of their bloodline. She would leave Toneri to his mistresses and find a lover of her own.

The main issue with that plan, however, was that Hinata wasn't certain that she could prevent members of her clan from being exploited even with the abolishment of the seal. While she wasn't familiar enough with how the Ōtsutsuki clan operated, it was obvious the main family had some other form of control over the "lesser" members of the clan. Their hierarchy was very similar to the Hyūga clan, that much was certain. It was easy to see that the servants were closely related to their masters. In fact, Hinata had been certain that the servants were direct blood relatives if not first or second cousins. Despite the close relations to their servants, the Ōtsutsuki clan members treated them as lesser beings that were barely worth their notice. In turn, the servants also behaved similarly to the Branch members of her own family.

Silent, subdued, and unremarkable. The only difference was there was no visible indication of their enslavement.

Toneri and his entourage certainly had the arrogant superiority complex down pat. So much so, that the elders genuinely enjoyed their company whenever the clan came to visit. After a large and extravagant meal, the elders always spent hours discussing fine goods, politics, and the state of the world at large with the Ōtsutsuki clan elders. Hinata could barely stop herself from rolling her eyes whenever she had to endure lunches and dinners with the two groups. It was so obvious that both groups held nothing but condescension for each other and tried to prove themselves superior at every turn. Even though it was obvious that each group needed the other to guarantee the survival of their lifestyle, they still did their best to grind the others beneath their heels.

Hinata couldn't help but wonder if both groups were so steeped in that poisonous lifestyle that they weren't able to truly enjoy themselves unless they were participating in petty, vicious, and underhanded behavior.

She couldn't help but shudder when she considered a long life of exposure to such. Would she eventually become like that hideous old bat Kimiko? A spiteful and petty bitch that punished any female servants that had better hair, nails, or skin than her own. It was well known to the Branch family that if Kimiko deemed any part of a servant superior to her own, that servant would be sentenced to long hours of hard labor until they were worn and scarred enough to satisfy the vengeful old hag.

Even if things worked out with Toneri, and she was able to prevent the elimination of her clan, would she really be able to endure such a life? A life of false smiles and concealed hidden daggers. A life of venomous thoughts covered by honeyed words. A life of constant scheming and vigilance as everyone close to you sought to tear you down and humiliate you at the very first sign of weakness. A life that pitted sister against brother and father against son.

Once again she was torn between happiness and duty, but this time it seemed like duty was beginning to give way towards happiness.

Hinata let out a sigh as her longing for Naruto swelled once more. A part of her knew that her lurid dreams of him were likely far off from how he truly looked now. It had been almost four long years since she had seen him. Even if he was only slightly as handsome as he appeared in her dreams, she would be more than satisfied.

Would it really be so bad to take that leap with him? To leave all that drama and pain behind for her sister to deal with?

Would it really be bad to be selfish for once? Especially when her sister was almost encouraging her to do so?

Hanabi might not fully know what she was getting into, but the truth of the matter was anything would be better for her sister than being the second choice. If Hanabi truly wanted to deal with that burden, then who was she to stand in her way when a much better option presented itself?

The only problem with making such a leap was the uncertainty of it all. Hinata had encouraged Naruto to be open to the possibilities around him, hopeful in the fact that he would comeback healed of his trauma and ready for a true relationship with her. After the events in the Root base, Hinata had seen Naruto attempting to squelch that hidden warmth and kindness within him. She feared that he would become as cold and distant as he tried to act with his stoic facade. With the trauma of the invasion and torment of Orochimaru's mark, Naruto had _changed._ There had been a subtle darkness lingering within his aura ever since that event.

Naruto hadn't seemed effected by it outwardly. During that one wonderful evening they shared, Hinata could say that his inner light had seemingly been restored. Yet, Hinata suspected that the insidious nature of Orochimaru's mark could have left lingering damage on his soul. It was for that reason she pushed him to make that promise to her, even though it made her heart bleed with the thought of losing him

While she had maintained a confident belief that she could win his heart, there was always that niggling doubt that she wouldn't. The fear that Naruto had found another woman and fallen madly in love with her was ever present. Her greatest fear was to see Naruto returning to Konoha with his future wife in tow, knowing that she had been responsible for pushing him away. Even though she would be suffering, Hinata knew she wouldn't be able to hate him for taking her advice. It was a calculated risk she had made, a gamble that she could always lose.

'As long as he is happy.' she thought, trying to comfort herself from the pain that was rising within her. 'Even when his rejection of me is just a figment of my imagination, it still hurts so much.'

Hinata was drawn out of her thoughts when a group of women entered the hot spring from the shower area. She had been fortunate enough to have to the spring to herself for this long considering the size of the town they were in.

'Back to work it seems.' Hinata said mournfully, before turning her attention to the conversations drifting between the women.

Most of it was mundane chatter, talks about the weather, shopping, husbands/boyfriends, and other nonsense that she briefly took note of before discarding. Once the group finished washing their bodies and entered the spring itself, however, the topic began to change.

"What do you mean he's a shinobi!?" the girl named Matsu shouted. "Don't you know how dangerous they are Niwa-chan?"

"Don't worry so much about it, Matsu-chan~" the girl named Harukiku said with a giggle. "That just makes him more exciting, ne?"

"We all know that you enjoy taking such risks, Haru-chan, but I can't help but be worried about Niwa-chan's safety. Who knows what kinds of things that _brute_ could be involved in." Matsu growled.

"That is true." One of the quiet girls said in support of the loud girl. "Chiyo-chan saw them outside of the city. From what she told me, it sounded like they were up to no good."

"What do you mean, Uta-chan?" the girl named Niwa asked.

"Chiyo-chan was out gathering herbs for her grandmother when she heard a big commotion coming from the other side of the plum orchard." Uta lowered her voice before she continued and Hinata was forced to channel chakra to her ears so she could hear the details.

"Chiyo-chan said they were women and children all chained together and the men were dragging them down into the gorge. She followed as quietly as she could but when she peeked over the side, the whole group of them had vanished."

The women all let out a series of gasps once the girl named Uta finished with her story.

"Maybe what Chiyo-chan saw were just spirits. My father told me there was once a great massacre in that gorge and everyone believes that place is haunted." The girl named Niwa said with a trembling voice.

"I don't think so," Uta whispered. "Chiyo-chan was certain it was real because she saw the drag marks left behind. She even said that there was some blood!"

"How frightening."

"Do you think we are in danger here? We have no samurai to protect us anymore!"

The women began talking over each other rapidly and in hushed tones, so it was difficult for Hinata to make out what they were saying. She was tempted to move closer to the group so she could listen in, but they had intentionally chosen the side furthest from her position so they could have some privacy. If she moved towards them now, they would only change the subject.

As Hinata began pondering her next move, she heard a suspicious sound coming from the outer wall of the spring. It was very silent, and if she hadn't been channeling chakra to her ears she wouldn't have picked up on it. She briefly activated her eyes and peeked through her closed lids, scanning the surrounding area for any disturbance when she saw that someone had been spying on the group.

She couldn't make out an accurate description of the spy since they were concealed by a very powerful genjutsu. The only reason she even noticed the eavesdropper was because his tenketsu points were very subtly glowing. That could only mean that this person was not only highly skilled, but they were immensely powerful as well.

Usually, the Byakugan could see through genjutsu with ease. Only high A and S ranked genjutsu were enough to fool their eyes. The fact that this person's tenketsu were still visible through such a powerful genjutsu could only mean their reserves were beyond the level of the genjutsu concealing them.

That meant that his particular person was probably S ranked or a Kage level shinobi.

The girls were still whispering to each other in hushed tones, so Hinata was certain they were unaware that they had a silent observer. For a moment, the bluenette was torn between gathering more information that might be important, or making her getaway before she was detected.

If the spy was a sensor, it was likely her presence had already been detected. If she were to leave now, they might be aware that she had noticed him as well and would move to silence or capture her. On the other hand, they might be more concerned about their operations being exposed by the group of civilians. The spy might decide to stick around to gather more information before tracking her down. It might buy her enough time to make her escape and track down Kakashi before the spy came after her.

Hinata decided the best course of action was to leave and notify Kakashi that there was a major threat in town. They were all separated and vulnerable at the moment and if her assessment was correct, this shinobi could take them all out easily while the remained apart. Kakashi might be able to handle the threat on his own, but it was best to avoid a confrontation if possible.

Hinata slowly rose out of the water and did her best to remain casual as she wrapped herself in a towel and made her way to the locker room. Dressing quickly, she risked activating her Byakugan again and noticed that the spy had moved from his position slightly. While they had shifted closer to the group of women, they were also closer to the entrance of the hot springs as well. Hinata took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves before making her way out of the springs at a sedated pace.

Making her way towards the rendezvous point where Kakashi was waiting, Hinata risked another peek with her Byakugan. Her heart almost stopped when she noticed that the hidden figure was _following_ her at a distance. Doing her best not to stumble or rush herself out of fear, she continued making her way towards the outskirts of the city. Despite the brisk chill in the air, she took off her light jacket and tied it around her waist. This served to signal Kakashi that she believed she was compromised and was being followed.

It took her around ten minutes to reach the run down inn that also doubled as their center of operations. Her nervousness and fear abated a little when she spotted the window to her room open with the curtain partially hanging outside. This meant that Kakashi was not only near but was aware of her tail. Hinata's eyes drifted towards Anko's window and saw that her curtains were partially drawn to the left, indicating that she had an ambush set up at prearranged location.

Hinata briefly entered the inn, making a show of asking the attendant at the front desk if they had a message for her. She knew that they wouldn't be, considering the circumstances, but this would allow her to lure her stalker into the trap that had been set. Hinata exited the inn and made her way towards a small street that ended abruptly where it met the high stone walls of the mayor's estate. Her heart began to pound as she neared the dead end for she would have to confront the person following her and despite her confidence in her skills, she wasn't foolish enough to believe she would be a threat to someone of this level. All she could do was try her best to stay out of Kakashi and Anko's way and make sure that any openings she tried to exploit weren't actually traps set up to lure her into range.

Once Hinata could move no further, she whirled about and took a defensive stance. Her Byakugan flared to life and she locked onto the person who had stopped a short distance away from her. She saw Anko and Kakashi in position and allowed herself to breathe a bit easier before she challenged the concealed stranger.

"I know you are there, so you might as well reveal yourself," Hinata said with more calm than she felt.

"Noticed me, did you?" the man said with amusement.

Hinata was certain she had heard that voice somewhere before, but she couldn't recall who it belonged to at the moment. She was saved from having to guess, however, when Kakashi revealed himself and strolled toward the person in a nonchalant manner.

"Stand down," Kakashi ordered before directing his attention to the hidden individual. "I didn't expect to meet you here, Jiraiya-sama."

'Jiraiya?' Hinata thought with surprise. 'If he is here then that means...'

Hinata's heart began racing for an entirely different reason.

Jiraiya dropped his Tōton Jutsu (Transparent Escape) revealing himself to Kakashi and Hinata. He appeared completely at ease, leaning up against the wall of the alley with a salacious grin on his face.

"Well, well. Looks like the little Hyūga hime has grown a lot over these past few years-" his voice took on a somewhat sleazy tone. "and in more ways than one." Jiraiya eyed her with an appraising gaze making Hinata tense up with nervousness and unease.

"Naruto is in for quite the surprise when he gets a load of you," Jiraiya said with a wink and a chuckle.

A huff rang out behind Hinata announcing Anko's presence. "To think I threw away perfectly good dango to set a trap up for this bastard. What a shame that I won't be able to use it on him." Anko grumbled before she muttered. "Kami knows that pervert deserves it."

Before Hinata could ask Anko about what she meant, Kakashi spoke up.

"It's quite impressive that she managed to detect Jiraiya-sama's presence at all." Kakashi complimented.

"It wasn't so easy, actually," Hinata said demurely. "If I didn't hear a strange sound and activate my Byakugan, I wouldn't have noticed him at all."

"You actually saw me with your eyes?" Jiraiya asked incredulously.

"Only some of your tenketsu," Hinata admitted. "It was enough for me to notice that someone very powerful was there, but I wouldn't have been able to identify who you were or anything."

Jiraiya hummed in response to her answer but didn't say anything further.

Before Hinata could ask Jiraiya about Naruto's whereabouts, however, Kakashi pulled the Sannin aside and began debriefing him on their current mission. Even after a month, not much had been accomplished towards her particular goal.

The first task had been to sweep the borders and note any new fortifications or construction taking place. There hadn't been any major changes of note, but their orders were to document any changes. Even if it was as simple as extending a wall around an outpost or increasing the number of shinobi stationed within. Once that task was complete, they began infiltrating all the major villages and towns within ten miles of the border. Tanada City had been the third target on the list with two smaller villages remaining.

Only after they finished sweeping those villages for the presence of Oto shinobi could they move onto the secondary objective of finding and searching the Ōtsutsuki clan's former home. Her fears of not finding any evidence to meet Tsunade's demands only grew further when they received information that the Ōtsutsuki clan grounds had been converted into some kind of base by Orochimaru himself. While Anko had emphasized that her former master preferred to have numerous smaller bases that were minimally staffed, there was always the chance that an important project had been assigned to that location. If that was the case, then Orochimaru would have an elite guard stationed there along with a handful of support troops. Something that was beyond the capabilities of their group to infiltrate and outside of the mission parameters laid out by Tsunade.

Maybe now that Jiraiya was here, there was a better shot at finding something that Tsunade would deem acceptable. Everyone knew how good Jiraiya was when it came to infiltrating a rival village, and the fact that he was well known and still capable of performing such a feat was a testament to his skills. She might even get some private time with Naruto without having to worry about Toneri, Neji, or her father interfering. It wouldn't be the best surroundings for their reunion, but she would take whatever she could get at this point.

Once Kakashi was done with his report, Jiraiya seemed to be deep in thought. The Sannin's demeanor had changed from playful to serious as Kakashi spoke. Now he was stroking his chin in thought as he stared off into the distance. Hinata had moved up to stand next to Kakashi once he had finished speaking and was waiting for the opportune moment to question Jiraiya about Naruto's location. Technically, she should have remained back until it was clear that they were finished with whatever debrief was taking place. Since Kakashi hadn't driven her off, she believed it was safe for her to listen in.

"I'm afraid there isn't much more I can tell you at this point," Jiraiya said before looking back at Kakashi. "Orochimaru would be willing to let this country burn on a whim if it got him what he wanted. The lack of foreign shinobi bolstering his ranks only confirms what my sources have told me. Oto won't make a move unless we draw Orochimaru out with something he deems is irresistible."

Kakashi let out a resigned sigh. "That's what I suspected, but Hokage-sama made it clear that I was to get your opinion on the plan if we came across you during our mission."

"Of course she did, she can't help but be worried," Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "Don't worry about giving her the bad news, though. I'll be heading back to Konoha in a few weeks and will deal with it then."

"So Naruto's training trip is over then?" Kakashi asked.

"Pretty much," Jiraiya confirmed. "He's been with the toads now for just over a month. I don't expect him to take much longer to master sage mode, to be honest."

Hinata's heart sank when she heard that Naruto was in the summoning realm. At least she knew that he would be returning to Konoha soon.

"So soon?" Kakashi said with a hint of surprise. "I heard it took you almost a year to master the imperfect form."

Jiraiya gave Kakashi an irritated glare before replying. "While I might not be able to avoid gaining some of the toad-like features that come from sage mode, that doesn't mean I haven't mastered the important aspects of utilizing natural chakra."

Kakashi merely shrugged off the glare. "I'm just repeating what I heard from Tsunade-sama."

"Yea, well, unlike Naruto, I didn't have _someone_ helping me with the process." Jiraiya huffed, "While it won't take long for him to get the chakra ratios down, it will still take him a while to adjust to all the changes that come from sage mode. The toads will also demand that he show proficiency in Kawazu Kumite (Toad Sage Fist) before they declare him a sage."

"Taijutsu was never really his strong point," Kakashi replied before leaning back against the wall behind him. "At least he can use his shadow clones to make up for his deficiency."

"I doubt he will make use of the style very much, to be honest," Jiraiya said with a pout. "Naruto still avoids attacking an opponent directly unless he is absolutely certain his skill in kenjutsu or taijutsu is superior to theirs. Even then, he relies heavily on his kenjutsu training now and avoids using taijutsu as much as possible." Jiraiya shook his head in exasperation. "It's a shame, considering that both the taijutsu styles that he has mastered are quite devastating. If he applied the secrets of Kawazu Kumite to those styles, he wouldn't even need a sword."

Hinata decided to speak up at that point. "Is it really so bad that he prefers to fight practically, though? I don't see a problem with him being a ninjutsu specialist."

Jiraiya looked over at Hinata before answering. "Ninjutsu specialists are a dime a dozen these days. While Naruto's- _unique_ situation gives him a major advantage in that field, the reality is that ninjutsu specialists don't take down as many shinobi as people believe. The killing blow is almost always delivered through a simple kunai or sword strike."

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "As a ninjutsu specialist, I can attest to Jiraiya-sama's words. A battle between ninjutsu specialists is more akin to a game of shoji. Because most jutsu take a long time to prepare and even more time to hit your target, they are easy to avoid or counter. To be successful in such a fight, you must use an effective strategy to ensure that your target is properly immobilized or unable to react to your attack. If you fail to control the field and maneuver your opponent where they need to be, the fight will drag on until you are dangerously low on energy and chakra. In a full-scale battle, controlling the field is impossible because there are too many variables to account for with other shinobi on the field."

Hinata saw Jiraiya nod at Kakashi's logic but wasn't entirely convinced. Before she could argue her point, Kakashi had continued with his impromptu lecture.

"Naruto's fighting style works well for small skirmishes with a coordinated team to support him. Luring opponents into a killing zone and overwhelming them with combination jutsu works well in guerrilla warfare or with a tactical strike team behind enemy lines. In a true battlefield, Naruto can't rely on his strengths because his power is a danger to his allies. Once the first volleys are sent, the battlefield always devolves into chaos and friend and foe are scattered throughout the battleground in close proximity to each other. One mistake and Naruto would be eliminating as many friends as he was foes." Kakashi concluded.

Jiraiya grunted in agreement before speaking his thoughts, "A person's style is indicative of their personality traits. Naruto is very intelligent and prefers a challenge so he is naturally drawn to the strategic nature of ninjutsu battles, but he is capable of being far more than a simple ninjutsu specialist. If he had been more focused on his taijutsu or kenjutsu skills instead, he could _literally_ overwhelm an enemy battalion or two with just his clones and dodging skills."

"I don't understand why he couldn't use the same method to overwhelm the enemy's barrage teams with his own clones and combination jutsu," Hinata argued. "From all the battles I studied, it was clear that both forces unleashed a barrage of jutsu while the close ranged fighters moved to close the distance with the enemy forces. I don't see why he couldn't be just as effective staying back and using a supply of chakra seals to keep the pressure on the enemy jutsu line."

"I'll admit that Naruto can be very devastating when he unleashes numerous combinations in succession. He even has the ability to perform a few wide area jutsu that would be difficult for any army to evade completely, but it's an inefficient use of his chakra." Jiraiya stated firmly. "If he focused more on his taijutsu styles- like he should have- he would be far more effective than he is now."

Hinata shook her head in disagreement but decided to remain silent. She didn't understand why Jiraiya was being so harsh on Naruto's choice. Kakashi saw that Hinata wasn't convinced by their arguments and decided to try and clarify their arguments with a concrete example.

"Think of it in these terms, Hinata. As a ninjutsu specialist, the amount of chakra a person has correlates directly to how much damage they can cause to the enemy. At the start of the battle with full chakra, Naruto and his clones can cause a great deal of damage for quite some time; more than most Kage probably could. The more shadow clones Naruto creates, however, the more his chakra is divided amongst them. While the clones can extend their lives by using chakra seals, at some point they will use up all the chakra they have at their disposal and disperse. Naruto will not regain any chakra from those clones and will be forced to fall back and mold more chakra before he can attack again. This means that Naruto is effectively taken out of the battle completely until he can replenish his reserves once more. Even if Naruto uses chakra storage seals to reduce the amount of time he spends molding chakra, he will never be able to restore his chakra completely. With each round of attacks, Naruto will be unable to create as many clones and the number of jutsu his clones can use will also continue to diminish lowering the amount of damage he can inflict with each wave of attacks. In addition to causing less damage each round, Naruto will be forced to mold chakra for longer periods of time because more of his reserves have been exhausted. Do you follow me so far?"

Seeing Hinata nod, Kakashi continued.

"If Naruto were a taijutsu or kenjutsu specialist, his clones would be more capable of surviving longer without using as much chakra to begin with because they would have the knowledge and skill to dodge and evade attacks more effectively. Even if they met a superior enemy right away and were destroyed, the remaining chakra the clone held would simply be returned to Naruto. He could use that chakra for his own benefit, or create more clones to continue battling with. While the damage inflicted by his clones and himself would be more localized and small scale, Naruto would be capable of maintaining a sustained assault on the enemy for a much longer period of time. With his stamina, his healing capabilities, and his massive chakra reserves, Naruto would be able to continually field half a battalion of clones without his chakra reserves dipping to dangerous levels. All of his clones would be capable of enhancing their speed and strength for longer periods of time with less chakra, allowing them to be more effective."

Hinata had a contemplative look on her face for a moment before she spoke. "I understand your reasoning. While I don't fully agree, I will concede to the fact that I have never truly experienced warfare like either of you have."

"I had hoped that your generation wouldn't have needed to learn things the hard way, but it seems like that won't be the case this time." Jiraiya said solemnly before he looked up into the darkening sky. Hinata thought he had finished speaking but she heard the aged Sannin speak quietly as if talking to himself.

"I don't think peace between nations will ever be possible when we can't stop war from breaking out with every single generation. All I can hope for is that this generation sees things differently once everything is said and done." Jiraiya concluded cryptically.

"If it were that simple, war would have ended long ago." Kakashi replied. "There are too many people who think only of their personal grudges, fear, or power. As long as people maintain that mindset, conflict will always exist."

Hinata looked between the two older shinobi as they both seemed to fall into a somber mood. She couldn't help but feel that Jiraiya's words had a double meaning of some sort. After all the lessons they had from Kakashi about "looking underneath the underneath" there was something in Jiraiya's tone of voice and the way he worded that last statement that triggered suspicion in her mind.

On its face, the statement seemed like one that would be commonly made by any war weary person. A tenuous hope that all the bloodshed, suffering, and needless death would eventually cause both parties to desire an end to it all. Hinata knew that no matter how atrocious the books painted war to be, she could never, truly, understand how terrible open warfare was until she experienced it herself. Like anyone else dealing with a tragedy, however, her reaction to it couldn't really be predicted until the circumstances were in front of her.

Team 7 had learned, long ago, about Kakashi's own tragedies during the 3rd shinobi war. She couldn't imagine how she would feel if she saw Naruto struck down in front of her. Oh, her mind could certainly conjure up the pain of such a loss, but even Hinata knew that her imagination could only go so far.

Would she be struck frozen with grief and lose her will to live completely?

Would she move on after a period of grieving bearing her losses with the admirable grace her station dictated?

Would she become a hollow woman who cast aside everything in pursuit of vengeance?

Hinata couldn't honestly say which of those three options would become reality in that scenario. Her mind seemed to lean towards the third option, her heart claimed the first option, and her pride demanded the second.

Hinata's gaze moved towards the Sannin as she pondered if he truly did hide a message under his words, and what it could mean. She wasn't surprised when the Sannin looked back at her the moment her eyes landed on him. Jiraiya studied her with a calculating gaze before a small smirk appeared on his face and he returned his gaze to the sky. For Hinata, that was more than enough confirmation that he was keeping _something_ from them.

Then again, Hinata was certain that Jiraiya was always keeping _something_ from _everyone_. She wondered, briefly, if Naruto was privy to all the information this man held. In the end, she decided that not even his apprentice would know everything about the master. Naruto might know a great deal more than anyone else, but Jiraiya was likely too ingrained into his way of life to let all of his secrets slip.

"At any rate, I think I have a lead for you guys to follow regarding the secondary objective." Jiraiya said to Kakashi before shooting a pointed glance at Hinata. "Meet me in your room in two hours time so we can discuss the details and bring the Hyūga with you."

"What about the others?" Kakashi asked.

"The only one I was ordered to bring along was Hinata. If you want me to bring anyone else along, you will need to be very convincing." Jiraiya said curtly. "It isn't safe to go into any more details here, so just make sure you are on time if you want to remain in the loop." Jiraiya finished before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Kakashi merely shrugged before turning his attention to Hinata.

"You heard the man. Consider yourself off duty until it is time to meet with Jiraiya-sama." Kakashi said before he also disappeared with a Shunshin.

"I wonder why Jiraiya-sama wanted me to be there for the debriefing." Hinata said mostly to herself, but Anko overheard her and decided to answer.

"Probably because that old pervert wants to stare at your rack some more." Anko said with a scoff.

Hinata let out a scandalized gasp before replying. "I doubt Jiraiya-sama would do such a thing. Especially to someone like me!"

Anko raised an eyebrow at Hinata's statement. "What do you think that perverted old bastard was doing at the hot springs in the first place?"

"Gathering information?" Hinata said in an uncertain tone.

While she had heard rumors about Jiraiya's _numerous_ indiscretions, Hinata had never put too much faith in rumors. She had heard many nasty rumors about Naruto in her youth, and all of them had been completely unfounded. Considering how much the elders in the clan liked to stretch the truth when they could, Hinata was certain everything she had heard about Jiraiya was exaggerated to some degree. Still, a part of her was starting to grow suspicious since she was aware that he was the author of a book series that was infamously questionable in nature.

Anko burst into laughter at Hinata's answer. "Yea he was gathering information alright. Information on the size of your tits and ass so he can feature you in his next book. If you're lucky, he will actually put in some effort into changing your name and likeness so that people don't immediately recognize you. When he used me as inspiration for one of his characters, the only thing he bothered to change about me was my name." Anko said with a snort. "I made sure to send a few dozen snakes his way for not paying me any royalties and for naming my character something as stupid as Anzu."

Hinata's face paled at the thought of having her privacy violated in such a manner. Then the rest of Anko's words registered and Hinata began to run through a gamut of emotions. Fear, shock, anger, disgust all flashed across her face causing Anko to laugh.

"If you're smart you'll make sure to Jūken the pervert's legs before you start to beat the living shit out of him. Trust me when I say he is a slippery little bastard. I can't count the number of times that asshole has given us the slip when we caught him peeping on us in Konoha." Anko said before she disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Hinata stood shock still for several minutes before she decided to simply make her way back to the inn. Despite the fact that she would finally be able to take action on fulfilling her goals, her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of a different nature: To trust that someone of Jiraiya's stature was above such vile acts or to simply pummel the Sannin in a violent manner for violating her privacy in such a deviant manner.


	75. Hinata Hiden: Beguiling Lights Part 5

**Disclaimer** : Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon Thoughts**_

 _Naruto mental reply_

 _ **!**_ \- dattebayo

Edit 5/9 reposting due to error on publish.

A/N: It certainly has been awhile since I have managed to update this story, hasn't it. I wish I could say that I will be able to update more frequently, but that would be a lie. As it is right now, I still work 6 days a week leaving me with little to no free time on my single day off to do more that write a few paragraphs at a time. As a result, when I get close to finishing the chapter and reread what I have managed to cobble together, I have to do a great deal of rewriting or editing to get everything to sync together properly. I had most of this done earlier, but I kept changing my mind about how to wrap this up without dragging the Hinata Hiden series for longer than it should be. (Too late for that I think)

While this is the last chapter in the Hiden series, it will not fully resolve the issues between Hinata, Toneri, and her clan because Naruto will be playing a big role in all that.

 **Chapter 74**

 **Hinata Hiden: Beguiling Light Hides Preying Shadows Final Part 5**

 **Two Days Later – Border of Ta no Kuni and Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Water)**

* * *

Jiraiya, Hinata, Shino, and Anko stood on the edge of a crater looking down at their target: The converted Ōtsutsuki clan compound that was apparently serving as one of Orochimaru's numerous hidden bases.

The group was weary, despite having a full night of rest and little to no contact with enemy shinobi or missing-nin. The inhospitable and jagged terrain of Yōgan no mori (Forest of Lava) had lived up to its infamous reputation as being a treacherous death trap and their journey to this location was both taxing and highly dangerous in more subtle and unfamiliar ways.

The border region between the placid farmlands of Ta no Kuni and the hot spring laden resorts of Yu no Kuni was a small mountain range that made up for its small stature by being practically impassible to all but the most determined and intrepid explorers. In spite of its infamous name, the Yōgan no mori didn't appear as anything more than a barren, steaming wasteland of volcanic lava and ash.

To the untrained eye, the area looked no different than a dense, lush forest tucked away in a rugged mountain range. Underneath that facade, however, lied numerous hidden lava flows, mud pots, and sink holes. The ground in this area had been formed entirely by various magma flows and lava tubes over the years. These layers of volcanic tunnels were then made unstable by the numerous earthquakes that constantly rocked the region. As a result, there were tons of massive caverns and lava tubes that were ready to collapse at the slightest disturbance. All the ones that had collapsed in the past were difficult to navigate, forcing the team to pick their way through steep ravines, steamy hot caves, and dense underbrush.

Hinata had been tense and jumpy ever since the first night in this wretched forest after witnessing just how dangerous the area truly was. When Jiraiya had warned them to stay close to camp, Hinata had assumed the warning had been a simple protocol for standard infiltration groups. Kakashi had often mentioned that Anbu teams might forego gathering firewood or foraging for food if the area they were camping in was an active hot zone. It was for that reason that Team 7 had been trained to carry slightly over double the rations and supplies they needed for each mission. Seeing a few others begin spreading out to establish their campsite, Hinata had moved a short distance away to gather some firewood. A small rustling in a nearby bush drew her attention and her Byakugan revealed a pair of rabbits that Hinata decided would be perfect for dinner.

Shinobi were opportunistic after all. Why waste rations when you can have a fresh meal.

Her first kunai struck true, killing the larger rabbit instantly but the second hare had chosen to hop a short distance away shortly before her attack. Spooked by the dull thud that announced it's partner's death, the smaller rabbit began to flee and Hinata gave chase. Just as she prepared to launch a kunai in its trajectory, however, the rabbit fell through a deceptively thick layer of soil and landed into a small pool of seemingly placid water.

At least it _seemed_ placid until Hinata watched the rabbit get rapidly dissolved in the, apparently, _highly_ acidic water. The rabbit had let out a brief, but loud strangled shriek ostensibly proving that its death was still quite painful even though it had ended quite quickly.

Hinata had been forced to leap backward as the ground beneath her feet began to give way, revealing that the small pool was actually much larger than it appeared. After that little escapade, Hinata followed Jiraiya's example of using a large walking stick to test the ground around her feet while Anko was content to simply follow in their footsteps. Shino had eventually been placed in the lead position by Jiraiya once the Aburame had established contact with a few native insect species. After an hour of communing with the local bug populations, Shino learned of a safe route to the areas that had been disturbed by humans recently. Considering the fact that no villages existed in this region, it was easy to deduce that the area of disturbance was likely to be the former Ōtsutsuki compound and current base of one Snake Sannin.

Hinata scanned the converted base in front of them with some admiration. Most of the buildings were tucked neatly against the walls of the massive crater, hidden from view until one was practically on top of the concealed compound. The architecture was unlike anything Hinata had seen before; highly ornate multi-story domed buildings that were intricately carved from the shimmering, speckled gray, black, and white stone that surrounded the area. Many of the buildings were ostentatiously decorated with intricate colonnades and high arches that were cut with moon and star motifs or statuaries that consisted of the various Kami, mystical animals like dragons, and people that Hinata assumed were of historical importance to the Ōtsutsuki clan. Even a few of the larger buildings in the center of the crater seemed to be more akin to large shrines or shiros (Japanese castles) that held a fusion of the odd columns and arches of the surrounding buildings combined with the traditional architecture of Hi no Kuni's capital.

Sadly, Orochimaru's presence had done much to diminish the impressive ambiance by adding crudely constructed wooden palisades, guard towers, and fencing that surrounded several ramshackle wood buildings that lined the central courtyard area. Hinata was immediately reminded of the debriefing the Toad Sage held before they set out on their journey to this location.

Jiraiya had mentioned that the former Snake Sannin used this location as a storage facility and prison for things that were deemed important enough to keep but unimportant enough to guard heavily. While the more lucrative prisoners, jutsu, and other items of interest were always kept close at hand, Orochimaru had an infamous tendency to hoard anything that was remotely rumored to provide power, immortality, or even leverage against anyone of slight importance. It was one of the main reasons that Orochimaru had established so many underground bases spread throughout the world.

Not only did it help him avoid detection from the numerous enemies he had accumulated during his life, but it allowed him to fixate completely on whatever held his interest in that region before he ultimately deemed it useless and tossed it aside to deal with later. Holding the snake contract only made it easier for him to construct such bases on short notice and his penchant for manipulating people into becoming his pawns ensured that each base was staffed with a minimum of disposable guards to keep watch over his interests until he could secure the more important ones with competent pawns.

"I can't believe Orochimaru would keep a presence in a place like this. It isn't nearly macabre enough for his tastes." Anko said with a sneer.

Jiraiya gave the Tokubetsu Jōnin a chastising look. "Orochimaru has always been a bit of a snob. A place like this would easily attract his interest even if it weren't the hidden compound of a prestigious clan. The fact that this place is hidden in a highly remote, treacherous, and practically inaccessible would just be a bonus to his tastes."

"I suppose it is _technically_ underground; enough to satisfy his fetish for maintaining the whole snake theme, at least," Anko said with a snort.

Jiraiya chuckled a bit at Anko's statement. It was true that his former teammate had been overzealous about honoring the contract he had obtained, but the original reasons for Orochimaru's behavior on that front had actually been noble. Ironically enough, Orochimaru would have never intentionally betrayed the snakes because of that loyalty. Instead, his unyielding desire for immortality became the vessel for the Snake Clan to betray Orochimaru in favor of the younger Uchiha.

Considering all the other people Orochimaru stepped on to achieve his goals, Jiraiya considered it a just reward for the former snake sage. He just wished he could have been present to see the look on his former teammate's face when learning that the Snake Clan had turned its back on their loyal summoner.

"What is our plan of approach?" Shino asked calmly.

The Aburame was more than willing to linger in this place longer so he could obtain more insect specimens, but he felt it was prudent for them to achieve their objective while the enemy still hadn't detected their presence. There would be more time to collect and gather the interesting species of bugs during the return journey. He had already convinced a few breeding females from the most promising species to integrate with his main hive and there were several more compatible insect breeds that he had yet to establish contact with in the immediate area. Shino made a mental note to convince his father on sending an expedition to the region in the future.

"My contact couldn't provide me with much information or details about this place, but he did mention that there was a prisoner that would be of interest to the Ōtsutsuki clan in particular," Jiraiya said with a knowing glance at Hinata. "In addition to the person of interest, we are pretty much going to raid whatever jutsu and important documentation we can find and seal it all away."

"What about the rest of the prisoners?" Hinata asked. "I can see, at least, twenty people scattered throughout the compound. Even if less than half of them are prisoners, that is still plenty of people we will need to evacuate in some manner."

"We can't worry about them at this point," Jiraiya said dismissively. "The most important thing we need to do is eliminate any of Orochimaru's guards. After that, your group's task will be to sort through and organize the documents and scrolls you run into so I can pour through them later."

Anko had fished out a kunai and was cleaning her nails during the conversation. Now she looked up at the white haired Sannin and spoke with an impatient tone.

"Now that we have that settled, how about you answer the question?"

Jiraiya leveled Anko with another glare before turning his attention on Hinata.

"What are the levels and status of the chakra signatures that you can see clearly?"

"There is one S-ranked level threat in the central building, but his chakra is- _weird_. It seems like he has multiple chakra sources within his body. Each one of those signatures is comprised of a different element as well." Hinata replied. "The second highest threat is in the far northwest building where most of the other chakra signatures are located. I would guess that person to be between a high B or low A rank jōnin in terms of threat level, possibly a support shinobi."

"What makes you think that?" Jiraiya asked.

"His chakra reserves don't appear very large, but his tenketsu and pathways are highly developed. That could either mean he is an average genjutsu specialist who is nearing Jōnin rank in skill, or he is a highly skilled Iryō-nin with combat training."

Jiraiya hummed in thought for a moment before he bit his thumb and rapidly flipped through hand seals before slamming his hand on the ground. A cloud of smoke briefly hid his appearance from the rest of the team before it dissipated to reveal two smaller toads standing before him. Hinata immediately recognized Shima from the time Naruto introduced the elder toad to her team after the Suna/Oto invasion.

"Jiraiya-chan? What's going on?" the male toad asked. "If you summoned both me and Shima, something big must be happening."

"Do you have to get yourself into trouble so early in the morning? I got tadpoles to feed!" Shima grumbled.

Jiraiya laughed sheepishly before replying, "I'm sorry to bother you so early, Ma, Pa, but we couldn't delay on this any longer. My informants are confident that Orochimaru is hiding a dangerous and powerful summoning contract in this base."

Shima made a displeased noise while Fukasaku stroked his goatee in thought.

"There are very few summoning clans that would accept him after what he has done," Fukasaku said. "Of the ones that _might_ accept him after his crimes, only one or two could possibly teach him sage mode. I doubt he would survive their methods of passing on the skill if he couldn't handle Hakuja's venom. The Snake Clan has always preferred to use the quick and easy method of teaching sage mode, even if it has a much greater risk to the summoner. These other clans are far too prideful to accept someone so easily; especially if they have been rejected by the Snakes."

"Those unscrupulous Monitors probably would. Damn lizard brains have no sense of dignity or honor." Shima spat.

"Monitors?" Jiraiya asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Large carnivorous lizards that are similar but unrelated to crocodiles." Shino supplied.

"The Monitor clan has been an even bigger enemy of the Toads than the Snake clan has," Fukasaku added. "They are one of the few summoning clans that have forces that are consistently larger than the toads and will go out of their way to devour our kin because of a dispute over the lands of Myōbokuzan when we first settled in those lands."

Jiraiya gave a low whistle at the news. The Toads were famous for being among the largest summoning creatures due to their claim on the most chakra-rich region of the summoning realm. If these Monitor Lizards were consistently larger, their constitution must be naturally inclined towards being larger and stronger. The fact that they would actively try to devour the Toads instead of forcing them to reverse summon themselves could only mean that they were aggressive and predatory by nature.

Shima scoffed at Fukasaku. "It wasn't a dispute. They tried to muscle us out of our territorial claim and failed! They might be large but most of them are nothing more than dumb brutes. Only a handful have ever displayed the capability of speech or advanced thinking."

"It doesn't matter how smart they are if we claim that contract for ourselves," Jiraiya said blandly. "If we secure the contract for Konoha, we can ensure that any future summoners tied to that clan will not use them against the Toads."

"Better to just destroy the damn thing and be rid of those troublemakers," Shima muttered

"Why would you need us for something so trivial?" Fukasaku said in a guarded tone.

"I have a suspicion that someone very dangerous is in the base currently," Jiraiya replied. "Someone who was able to stand toe to toe with the Shodaime and live to tell the tale," he added in a grim tone.

That statement caused the rest of the group to stiffen in shock before their gazes were drawn back down to the base in question. One S-rank threat with an A or B ranked partner was not beyond their skill level to deal with. Jiraiya was one of the strongest shinobi in the bingo books currently so even the threat of another high-level missing-nin wasn't too frightening. To face someone who had managed to fight the Shodaime and live, however, was another matter entirely. While the Shodaime was known to avoid conflict as much as possible, those foolish enough to ignore his overtures of peace and drag the man into a fight didn't usually live to regret their actions.

When the Mokuton wielder actually committed to a fight, it was _always_ for keeps.

"That strong?" Shima said quietly. "You might be quite strong in sage mode, but do you really think you are at _that_ level?"

"To have fought the Shodaime means that this man must be quite old," Fukasaku said thoughtfully. "While that wouldn't diminish his power by much, his stamina would be affected. Jiraiya-chan might be able to outlast this person if his skill set counters their own."

"Only one way to find out for certain," Jiraiya said pointedly.

"Why not take your usual approach to this mess?" Fukasaku asked with a frown. "You are more than capable of avoiding detection. Even from someone with that level of skill."

"I would if we had the time to make a slow infiltration of this base, but my informant was adamant that Orochimaru would be moving to claim that contract right away. From what the Hyūga hime over there told me," Jiraiya said with a gesture towards Hinata which earned her a brief analyzing gaze from the elder toads. "I am certain that Orochimaru sent Kakuzu and his little henchman Kabuto here to recover it. We have to move now since it won't take long for a spy of Kabuto's skill to find what is needed and prepare his escape plan."

"Fine, fine, but if I think things are getting out of hand, I will return you to Myōbokuzan," Shima said firmly before looking at the rest of the team. "I won't bring any of them to our home, so they will have to make their own escape if things go badly. It would probably be best if they stay far away from the battle anyways, especially if we need to go all out."

Jiraiya plopped down onto the ground into a meditation pose to begin gathering Natural chakra. Contrary to popular belief (1), Jiraiya did _not_ need the elders to enter Sage mode. Many of his enemies and rival spy masters had only assumed the Senpō: Ryōsei no Jutsu (Sage Art: Amphibian Technique) was necessary because Jiraiya never entered combat in Sage mode without the fusion technique active. In truth, Jiraiya was more than capable of entering and fighting in Sage mode without the elder toads but needed them to keep gathering and balancing natural chakra in order to extend the active time of Sage Mode. Without the elders, Jiraiya would lose the benefits of natural chakra enhancement after five minutes; with the Senpō: Ryōsei no Jutsu he could remain in Sage mode indefinitely.

As the toad elders leaped onto his shoulders to speed up the process of entering Sage mode, Jiraiya relayed the plan of attack to the entire group.

"If Kakuzu _is_ down there, I will lead him away from the base and engage him directly. The man is infamous for his bounty hunting habits; there is no way he will be able to resist trying to claim my head for profit. The rest of you will take out that other shinobi and search the base for the contract and any other pertinent documentation."

"What if it isn't the man you suspect?" Hinata queried.

"I doubt there is anyone else that matches the description you gave me, but if it isn't him then I will take him out quickly and rejoin you in clearing the base." Jiraiya replied.

"What about the prisoners?" Anko asked.

"Unfortunately there isn't much we can do about them," Jiraiya said with a sigh. "Even if we manage to eliminate all the threats inside of the base, chances are most of them are either too weak or too dangerous for us to escort with such a small team."

"So we aren't going to release any of them?" Hinata asked with a frown.

"I bet most of them are highly dangerous and unstable experiments that he grew bored of messing with." Anko pointed out to Hinata. "Orochimaru has never thought much of civilians or nobles. To him, they are nothing more than annoyances to be used up and eliminated."

Jiraiya opened an eye and gave Hinata a pointed glance as he spoke. "Our priority is to find any summoning contracts and any documents the Ōtsutsuki elders and leader left behind. Eliminate your target and focus on searching for your objective first. Unless we stumble onto a high-value prisoner, we will leave them for the cleanup squad to deal with."

Hinata bowed her head in acceptance, recognizing Jiraiya's words as an order, not a suggestion. She might not like leaving the prisoners to their fate, but Jiraiya was in charge and she did want to find anything that could help her end Toneri's bid to secure her as his wife. She had to worry about her own freedom first.

Hinata knew it was a bit selfish of her to think in such a manner, but, for once, she was putting her own desires first. She took a little solace in the fact that Anko had greater knowledge on how Orochimaru operated, so the odds of the prisoners being helpless and innocent were low. It didn't do much to dispel the twinge of guilt she felt for leaving to them fate, but it did allow her to push it aside and focus on her objective. Hopefully, the cleanup team would be able to save those who deserved freedom.

The group stood in silence as Jiraiya and the elder toads sat in meditation for several minutes. Soon the white haired Sannin opened his now golden eyes and stood from his seated position. As he focused his attention on the base below, Hinata studied the sage with a keen eye.

Her Byakugan easily detected the boost in potency to his chakra system. Not only did his tenketsu and pathways stretch to accommodate a larger and faster chakra flow, but each part of his chakra system became reinforced to better handle any additional strain. Hinata could also see every organ, muscle fiber, and bone being reinforced by the denser chakra that flowed through Jiraiya's body. It was no wonder that people spoke of sages in such reverence and awe. If what Hinata was seeing was any indication, a regular shinobi would become exponentially more powerful when using this ability.

A muttered curse from Jiraiya drew Hinata out of her study and she allowed her Byakugan to fade.

"Just as I suspected. Kakuzu _is_ here." Jiraiya said with displeasure. "I can't believe Orochimaru is willing to shell out that much ryō to keep him as a retainer."

"I can see why you were so cautious now, Jiraiya-chan," Fukasaku stated as he also studied Kakuzu's unique chakra signature. "It won't be an easy fight, but I think you can defeat him."

"His chakra signature is very strange," Shima mumbled. "Most of it seems foreign; like he has some type of chakra stealing jutsu or has created a way to store chakra from other sources and use it for his own benefit."

Jiraiya remained silent for a few more moments before speaking.

"I haven't heard much about what the man can do, but what I _have_ learned is that he is seemingly immortal and is a ninjutsu specialist of immense power. If I had to guess, I would say that the strange discordance we are sensing in his chakra is tied into his supposed immortality."

Jiraiya turned his gaze onto Hinata. "Were you able to study his body and chakra system in depth from here?"

Hinata shook her head as she answered. "From this distance, I could only pick up on subtle details of his chakra signature. If you want me to study his internal organs in depth, I would need to be within 50m of him at most."

Jiraiya crossed his arms over his chest as he mulled over her response.

"I will just have to figure out what the deal with his chakra is on my own then." Jiraiya looked over at Anko and continued speaking.

"While Kakuzu is known to ignore anyone that doesn't have a significant bounty on their heads, the fact that Hinata is an unmarked Hyūga might attract his attention. I also don't want to leave a genin and a chūnin to face that other threat on their own. If it is Kabuto, he will be far too much for them to handle. Even if he is only technically a B ranked shinobi, his ability to successfully infiltrate and conduct long-term espionage missions in every major village just shows that he is far more cunning and skilled than suspected."

Anko huffed before making a snide comment. "If you think we would only hold you back, just flat out say it. None of us are stupid enough to think we are in your league."

"I had only intended to have Hinata with me to study Kakuzu for any vulnerabilities that I could exploit before sending her to join in your fight," Jiraiya said smoothly. "Ideally, none of us would fight alone because there could be other threats that can appear without warning. Without another Jōnin on hand, however, I have to consider her safety first. I can handle myself on my own, even against a threat like Kakuzu. You, however, will have your hands full if that other signature is Kabuto."

"If you say so," Anko said in a disbelieving tone. "Don't worry, we won't get in your way."

She didn't believe for a moment that Kabuto was any threat to her. While she knew he had intentionally failed the Chūnin exams several times, Anko still believed Kabuto was as inept and forgettable as his former teammates. Both Yoroi Akadō and Misumi Tsurugi were mediocre, destined for a life as barely chūnin level shinobi that considered B rank missions to be life threatening and scary. Spies were never known for their combat skills after all, and only the ones that managed to work hard enough or find the right tools were capable of rising above such mediocrity. Jiraiya was a perfect example, in her opinion, of a spy that got lucky and worked hard enough to ascend beyond that skill cap. While Jiraiya was powerful, Anko was under no illusion that the white haired Sannin would be anywhere close to the level he was now if it weren't for the Toads and Sage Mode.

Now if she could only convince the Snake Clan to give her full access to the contract instead of the partial access that Orochimaru had given to her. Anko knew that if she could get the Snakes to accept her fully, she would finally be able to get out of the rut she was stuck in and ascend to the full Jōnin rank and, possibly, push into A rank overall. If she survived Hakuja's venom and learned Sage Mode herself, then she would finally obtain her goal of becoming one of the few S ranked kunoichi in history.

"Eliminating the lesser threat in a timely fashion will only ensure that we have more time to search for our objective." Shino commented. "It's only logical that we focus on our main goal while Jiraiya-sama provides a distraction to the greater threat."

Anko smirked at Shino. "I've never heard an Aburame get snide with someone before. I'm impressed. If you had put a bit more snark into that comment, it would make you seem less like a drone while getting your point across more effectively."

"I will take your advice into consideration."

"Alright, here is the plan of attack," Jiraiya interjected before Anko could antagonize Shino any further, "I will charge in and draw the attention of the base's defenders. Once Kakuzu decides to show himself, I will lure him away from the base so that I can go all out. You guys will follow in shortly after me and pick off any of the lesser guards that try to follow after me and Kakuzu. If a handful or two slip through your attacks, don't concern yourself with them. Focus on getting into the base and eliminating your target instead." Jiraiya said firmly.

"None of that trash will slip through my fingers," Anko said with a sadistic grin. "You can count on that."

Jiraiya simply nodded before continuing, "Have a few of your spy snakes hang out around this area so they can warn you if my fight with Kakuzu goes badly."

Anko nodded in response before summoning a trio of young black mambas. The small snakes slithered off into opposite directions in a blur of speed, barely visible to the naked eye of a trained shinobi. The young snakes spread out, forming a loose triangle around the current clearing and maintaining a respectable distance so they could easily avoid any stray jutsu. Jiraiya made a note of their positions to avoid dispelling them inadvertently before reaching into his gi top to unseal several storage scrolls.

"Use these scrolls to store anything of interest that you find. Focus on anything that might look like a summoning contract, clan journals, or any certified documentation on the Ōtsutsuki clan. Do not open any sealed scrolls or activate any storage seals, regardless of how benign they appear. Just seal them away and let me deal with them later on." Jiraiya ordered.

Anko snatched up the scrolls and tossed a few towards Hinata and Shino, who quickly tucked them away into their jacket pockets.

"Any last minute questions for me before we start?" Jiraiya asked.

When he saw the trio shake their heads in the negative, a small grin spread on his face. Making a dramatic show of crouching slowly and entering one of his infamous Kabuki poses, Jiraiya waited until he saw Anko prepare to make a snide comment before he pushed off with a mighty leap, cratering the ground beneath him, kicking up a large cloud of dust, and stunning the group with the sheer amount of power behind his jump.

Anko snorted at the ostentatious display before sprinting off after the Sannin at top speed.

"Guess we start now," She called out over her shoulder. "You better keep up with me, brats."

Hinata and Shino scrambled after the purple haired Tokujō, rushing to catch up after gathering their wits. The sheer amount of distance Jiraiya had covered in a single bound was unfathomable to the pair of chūnin. If there were any doubts about just how powerful sage mode was in their minds before, that little display by the Gama Sannin wiped them out completely. Hinata had expected a significant boost in strength, but not on the level that Jiraiya displayed. She couldn't imagine just how strong Naruto would be when his training was finally complete.

 **With Jiraiya**

* * *

Jiraiya landed in between a pair of guard towers near the entrance with a massive boom, leaving a large impact crater and kicking up a cloud of volcanic ash and dust. One of the towers began leaning precariously, spilling out a pair of unprepared civilian mercenaries that impacted the ground in front of Jiraiya. The white-haired sage dismissed them without a thought since they were severely crippled and likely to die in a few short minutes. The tower toppled completely a minute later, kicking up an ever larger cloud of dust and wood fragments and reducing visibility even further.

Shima waved a foreleg in front of her face and let out a slight cough before lashing out at Jiraiya's head.

"Stop showing off!" she chided.

Jiraiya allowed a small pout to appear on his face before he clasped his hands together to prepare a jutsu. He never could resist making a large and flashy entrance, especially when he was excited about being able to push his limits in a fight. While a part of him was a bit nervous about facing someone of Kakuzu's skill level, Jiraiya had always enjoyed a challenge. His fights against Sasori and Deidara in Yuki no Kuni were very anti-climactic because the Akatsuki duo had seemed to be reticent to engage him fully. At the time, he was grateful for their moderation because of Naruto's presence.

With Kakuzu being nothing more than a money hungry mercenary, there was no need for him to hold back at all. Once he got the former Taki shinobi at a safe distance, he would be able to truly test himself against someone who was known to be on the next level.

While Jiraiya had long since held the rank of an S level threat in the bingo books, he had always wondered how his own skills would stack up against the numerous legendary shinobi that had defined the rank. Kakuzu was one of the few who had attained such a status simply because he _survived_ an encounter with Hashirama Senju. As one of the fledgling legends to join Konoha's distinguished ranks of top tier shinobi, Jiraiya had always wondered where he truly ranked amongst the elite.

In many ways, Jiraiya wanted to be known as something more than one of the Sannin. While many held him in high regard for facing down Hanzō, the truth was that his pride had been dealt a blow with the title he was given. Most legendary shinobi weren't remembered because of their _failures_ in battle, not unless they had managed to inflict severe damage to their enemies against overwhelming odds.

True, Hanzō the Salamander was a beastly shinobi of immeasurable strength, and to be granted a title by a man capable of withstanding armies on his own _was_ an immense honor. Yet, Jiraiya had always wanted to distinguish himself as a legendary shinobi on his own merits. To rise up from a nameless, clanless orphan background and firmly plant himself as a legend based on his hard work and skill alone. Sure most people respected the title he was given by the former leader of Ame, but it was still intrinsically tied him to his former team. When one looked upon or thought about a Sannin, their minds immediately included the other two members of the group.

Orochimaru had done much to tarnish the title of Sannin with his treacherous exploits and constant backstabbing, and Tsunade's reputation- while still respected on some level- was clouded by her failure to continue the Senju line as was expected of her. It wasn't entirely fair that people overlooked her immense strength in favor of her medic skills and ability to produce children, but such was the way of a world dominated by men. Kunoichi were not nearly as respected as they should be, but it was hard to change that misconception when so few of them ever ascended to the heights of the average male jōnin. It was exceptionally rare that a Kunoichi obtained an A rank in the bingo book _without_ being a highly successful courtesan that assassinated a famous nobleman or the relative of a Daimyō.

Tsunade was only one of four that had succeeded throughout history.

Jiraiya's own reputation, legendary perverseness aside, was still tainted with that accursed dead last title he had been given in the Academy. Despite all he had done to rise up and become one of the most powerful shinobi in existence, people still viewed him as beneath the traitorous prodigy that was Orochimaru and of a lesser status than Tsunade of the Senju. That label of a being a clanless orphan and dead last clouded his legacy, even if no one had the balls to say such things to his face anymore.

Now was his chance, without the interference of any others, to firmly reject the misplaced belief that only clan born shinobi were capable of attaining the status of true legends. That only shinobi with powerful bloodlines or weapons were capable of rising above limits of the common mortal and attaining a near Kami like status in the eyes of humanity.

Jiraiya quickly flipped through hand seals before taking a deep breath of air. The first wave of startled guardsmen were quickly incinerated with a sage-enhanced Katon: Karyū Endan (Dragon's Flame). The remaining tower and many of the hastily erected palisades were quick to catch fire; rapidly crumbling into ash under the intense natural chakra enhanced flames.

Confident that the large conflagration had caught the attention of all within the base, Jiraiya engaged the rest of the disorganized mercs and shinobi with sage enhanced taijutsu to conserve his strength. Fukasaku and Shima were quickly picking off more than their share of opponents with spearing tongues, small blasts of cutting winds, and searing flames. The elder toads, being much more efficient in sensing and gathering natural chakra, had no need to conserve their energy, capable of gathering more than they expended in combat while fused with their summoner.

A few minutes later, Anko, Hinata, and Shino finally joined him in assaulting the rapidly dwindling defenders and it wasn't long before Jiraiya sensed the two largest signatures making their way towards the front of the base with a moderate sized group of reinforcements.

"We've got more incoming from the south," Jiraiya called out to the others as he shattered the jaw of a kusarigama wielding Oto chūnin with a chakra enhanced cross. "Both of our targets and a group of about twenty trash backing them up," Jiraiya added as he turned to palm thrust a merc trying to sneak in an attack from his flank. The merc flew several feet back with a collapsed rib cage and massive internal bruising.

Hinata deftly disabled her current opponent, opting to leave the man crippled but alive at the moment. Odds were that Anko would just slit the man's throat in a few minutes but that was one less death on _her_ conscious. Might as well let the blood thirsty woman get her fill of killing Orochimaru's followers while she could. Hinata could care less about keeping them alive or not, but that didn't mean she wanted their blood on her hands.

Her Byakugan easily picked up the incoming group of attackers as they emerged from a building at the far end of the crater. Her eyes landed on a strangely familiar silver haired young man with round wire-rimmed glasses and an Oto hitai-ate. His sliver hair was tied in a low pony tail with trimmed, cheek length bangs that were parted down the center. The mysterious shinobi was wearing a purple high-collared sleeveless shirt over a white, short sleeved undershirt. His hands were covered with forearm length finger-less arm warmers and a cream sash held his matching purple loose fitted pants in place.

Hinata knew she had encountered the man before, but her mind couldn't place exactly where she had seen him. It seemed as if this young man held a position of authority within the base, however, because all of the reinforcements were seemingly looking to him for direction.

Next to the young man was the S ranked missing nin that Jiraiya had labeled as Kakuzu. The first thing Hinata noticed was the strange black sclera and glowing green pupil-less eyes. His hair and neck were shrouded in an off white hood and his face was covered by a black mask. His body was covered in a tattered, sleeveless green vest that matched the ragged pants that covered his legs. All along his exposed arms, Hinata could see large black stitch marks that seemingly bound the man's body parts together in a patchwork fashion. At this distance, she could see his chakra system and internal organs in more detail and was nauseous at the sight of five different hearts beating within his chest. There also seemed to be living worm-like creatures crawling throughout his entire body, a sight that was both unnerving and disgusting to the Hyūga heiress.

Just as Hinata opened her mouth to relay this information to Jiraiya, however, the group of lower level shinobi received the order to attack and charged in. Jiraiya was quick to leap forward and engage Kakuzu directly, taking him out of hearing range. Forced to avoid a hail of shuriken and arrows from the attacking forces, Hinata had no choice but to focus on defense instead of warning the Sannin about what she saw. She could only hope that Jiraiya was savvy enough to figure out Kakuzu's strange circumstances and find a way to end that monstrosity.

Just as Jiraiya had anticipated, the S ranked threat was quick to chase after the "fleeing" Sannin, leaving Hinata, Anko, and Shino to face the rest of the defenders as the silver-haired man stood back with a cocky smirk on his face. A few of the defenders tried to reinforce Kakuzu, but Anko was quick to subdue them all with a wave of snakes that erupted from her coat sleeves. The mercenaries quickly diverted their attention onto the trio of Konoha shinobi, leaving the Sannin to fight his battle alone as he desired.

Hinata dodged and weaved between attacks, keeping a wary eye on the leader as she quickly dispatched the attackers with precision Jūken strikes to vital organs. There was no longer any purpose in holding back and subduing any of her attackers, not when so much was at stake. With her panoramic vision, Hinata was easily able to keep tabs on both her teammates and the mysterious leader that Jiraiya had labeled as Kabuto.

She knew he was familiar but still didn't recall where she had seen the man before. Judging from earlier conversations, it seemed as if he was a spy of some sort. That would place the man in Konoha at some time, but Hinata could not recall when or where she had seen him before. It was frustrating to have that vague sense of recollection and be unable to focus on recalling knowledge that was seemingly on the tip of her fingers, but now was not the time to focus on that. Even if it only frustrated her further to have to set that aside for the moment.

Soon the assembled defenders were all dead or dying at the feet of her team, but Kabuto seemed to be unphased by the fact that he was now alone against three opponents. Hinata could practically sense the smug superiority radiating off of their enemy and briefly wondered if this was how other people felt in the presence of her clan. She was drawn out of following that line of thought when the man began to speak.

"I don't know how you managed to track us here, but I can not afford to fail Orochimaru-sama in this mission." The teen said with a smirk as he adjusted his glasses. "As much as I would like to put trash like you into your proper place, I just don't have the time to play around with my prey this time. Orochimaru might be displeased at me for taking your life Anko-chan, but I think he will get over it in time. You were nothing more than a passing diversion to him anyways."

"Tch. You think that little bullshit statement of yours is enough to piss me off?" Anko said with a sneer. "I can guarantee that my bastard of a sensei put more time and effort into me than some random cast off spy he picked up. Just be glad you were useful to him at the moment because you are nothing more than a disposable tool for him to play with."

"I am far too valuable for Orochimaru-sama to simply discard. Of all his servants past and present, I am the most competent, the most dependable, and the most effective in aiding him in his goals. He can't afford to lose me and he trusts me implicitly." Kabuto said calmly. "None of your have the talent or power to stop me here, and I find myself tired of wasting my breath on trash like you. I'll end you all here and now and return the contract to my master as ordered."

"Well, aren't you quite full of yourself," Anko said with a sadistic laugh. "Let's see if you can back up that arrogant little attitude of yours."

 **Anko, Shino, Hinata vs Kabuto**

* * *

Before Hinata and Shino could get a word in edgewise, Anko dashed forward and began lashing out at Kabuto with a pair of kunai. It became apparent to Hinata right away that Anko was slightly less skilled in taijutsu than Kabuto. The silver haired man was effectively dodging and avoiding all of her attacks with that same insufferable smirk on his face. The fact that he didn't even bother to equip kunai in an attempt to level the field was only serving to piss off Anko even more, making her attacks become increasingly sloppy.

Shino was quick to dispatch a wave of insects to try and slow their target down, but Kabuto quickly leaped back from Anko and flipped through hand seals at a speed Hinata had only witnessed Kakashi accomplish when he was serious.

A purple cloud emitted from Kabuto's mouth, and Shino's insects were quick to scatter before returning to Shino's body.

"He's surrounding himself with poison," Shino warned Hinata before he dashed off to his right to try and find another angle of attack.

Hinata merely nodded in response before placing her hands in a ram seal and using a small amount of chakra to coat her lungs so she wouldn't fall prey to whatever poison was being used. She didn't know what Shino was planning to do now that his insects were seemingly neutralized for the moment, but she had no time to worry about him. Anko needed her help and it was time to show this arrogant upstart that he would regret writing her off as a non-entity.

Hinata's moment to intercede in the fight came when Kabuto lashed out at Anko with a kick and sent her flying back a few feet. Hinata could see the chakra building up in his hands and recognized the technique immediately. It seemed that her suspicions of him being an iryō-nin were correct as only medical shinobi were capable of using chakra scalpels on that level.

Hinata cut off Kabuto's follow up attack with a lightning fast series of finger jabs to disable the chakra flow in his arm. The chakra scalpels sputtered out almost immediately, sparing Anko from a debilitating blow that would have rendered her arm useless without healing.

Kabuto glared at Hinata before lashing out with his other hand to try and sever Hinata's outstretched arm. Hinata managed to parry the attack with a controlled Jūken blast designed to counter the hidden blade of chakra that outstretched from Kabuto's hand.

Kabuto lashed out with a snap kick in retaliation, forcing Hinata to step back and create some distance instead of continuing her assault on her target. Normally, Hinata would have side stepped the attack and continued with a counter attack, but Anko had inadvertently blocked that angle of attack by stepping in to cut off Kabuto's follow-up strike with her own. It was a bit annoying, but Hinata couldn't blame Anko for her move because she was following the standard formation for a duo engaging an opponent in close combat.

Once again Hinata silently cursed the Hyūga's practice of keeping their techniques completely secret from the rest of Konoha's forces. If they at least revealed the basic level footwork and counters, their own attack flows could be safely integrated with the general forces without compromising their advanced techniques. As it was set up now, the standard teamwork formations and procedures often hindered more than aided a team that worked with a Hyūga, forcing them to discard the standardized training and adapt more specific techniques through trial and error.

The elders had believed that such a system was more than sufficient in integrating with the rest of Konoha's forces, but the problem with such short shortsightedness became glaringly apparent when a newly promoted Hyūga began to work with other teams. This problem was only further compounded when one took into account the flexibility of the Jūken style- or the highly classified name it truly went by the Hakke no ken (Eight Trigrams Fist)

The Eight Trigrams of attack and defense formed the basic foundation of the Jūken style. If drawn on a paper, it appeared as a series of slim triangles contained within a pair of circles. Each cardinal direction and angle held a line of kanji representing the eight fundamental principles of reality. These principals included the five basic elements of nature (Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, and Lightning) and the three most prevalent environments in the world: Heaven (or Sky), Marsh (Wetlands), and Mountain. These themes held a direct correlation to the style of attack and movement used with each trigram and, in many cases, completely different forms of footwork and kata. The first trigram was the cone of attack directly in front of the user and each subsequent cone was labeled in a clockwise numerical fashion ending with the eighth trigram that was the front left angle of attack.

Anko was obviously trying her best to adapt, but whatever Hyūga she had worked with in the past had apparently focused more on the first, second, and fifth trigrams of countering and attacking while Hinata followed the third, forth, and eight trigrams instead. Unfortunately, this placed them in direct conflict with each other when trying to entwine attacks in close range. There was no way for the snake user to know that fact, however, and it was only serving to frustrate them both as Kabuto took full advantage of this flaw to gain enough distance to unblock the tenketsu Hinata had managed to seal and heal the few cuts and poisons that Anko had managed to inject in his system.

"Tch. Sloppy and underwhelming, as expected of Konoha. Of course, it doesn't help that you are both kunoichi as well. Everyone knows that women just aren't as capable as men." Kabuto goaded while taunting them by adjusting his spectacles in a casual manner.

Hinata adopted her best Hyūga haughty tone of superiority when speaking with Kabuto.

"Those are the words of a peasant that can only cry and moan about their inferiority. It must irk you badly that the greatest medic of all time is a kunoichi who is so far beyond your talent level and skill. A clanless loser like yourself will only seek to comfort yourself by belittling and or attacking those of superior skill and station. That is, of course, the proper decorum for commoner filth like you. One that lacks the proper talent to ascend beyond the rank of a peon in the eyes of their betters." Hinata declared.

A glint of malice and rage appeared on Kabuto's face before he managed to master himself. Anko let out a low whistle to further antagonize the Oto spy when she saw that Hinata's words had managed to strike a sensitive part of the silver haired man's ego.

"Boy, she sure has you pegged," Anko said with a laugh. "Orochimaru always did tend to attract those with delusions of grandeur or an ambition of greatness beyond their level."

"You would have intimate knowledge of that fact, wouldn't you." Kabuto snapped.

"Please, Orochimaru chose me amongst all the other graduates because of my potential. Too bad I couldn't see him for what he truly was, but such is the way of young and naive genin." Anko said dismissively. "If I had to guess, Orochimaru simply picked your ass up like a stray after your previous master discarded you like the trash you were." Anko said before she started laughing when she saw Kabuto flinch at her accusation.

"It doesn't matter what you pathetic kunoichi think about me. The facts are that both of you are irrelevant in the greater scheme of things. You might belittle me or write me off as a cast off when both of you were nothing but pawns in the General's Game. I may not be a king, but at least I can be the rook or the bishop and I do a very damn good job at being both. You two can only consider yourselves lucky to even be recognized as pawns, but that won't matter any longer. As of now, I am eliminating you from the game entirely because you aren't even worth capturing. Not even the Hyūga bitch will be missed when her clan can so easily use her sister to whore themselves out to the Ōtsutsuki clan." Kabuto spat before he launched forward to attack Anko directly.

Hinata moved to intercept Kabuto and try to set the pace of the battle. It was her hope that Anko would fall back and briefly observe her movements so she could better coordinate her own attacks. She could see that Shino had moved into a flanking position to prepare some form of attack, but Kabuto was quite aware of his presence. Hinata could see it in his body language, even if the gray-haired man didn't spare a moment to glance in Shino's direction.

Kabuto's lunging jab was swiftly knocked away by Hinata, but it turned out to be nothing more than a ploy to lure Hinata into range of his poison jutsu. Kabuto spewed a dark purple cloud into Hinata's face, expecting her to fall back choking and partially blinded while he pushed Anko back from closing the distance with him. Turning to face the trio of snakes that attempted to bite into his body, Kabuto was unprepared for the controlled bursts of cutting chakra that severed parts of his heart and lungs.

Hinata still had her anti-poison shroud active when she engaged Kabuto directly, expecting him to try and use the poison cloud on her. It would have been an appropriate guess for any other Hyūga since the elders viewed such training with contempt. Luckily, her father had seen the wisdom in allowing her to learn from Tsunade, even if it was nothing more than a premeditated political ploy to ingratiate a member of the Hyūga clan with the future Hokage.

Unfortunately, the self-proclaimed right-hand man of Orochimaru was not so easily defeated by a simple tactic. Kabuto was known for his backup plans to support backup plans and had prepared his In'yu Shōmetsu (Pre-Healing Jutsu) to layer medical chakra around areas commonly targeted by Hyūga clan members. Hinata couldn't withhold the gasp of surprise when she saw his seemingly fatal wounds simply seal up rapidly.

Meanwhile, Kabuto rapidly slashed at the snakes that tried to poison him before flipping through hand seals rapidly and spinning around to release his jutsu behind him. His target, another wave of kikaichū that Shino had sent towards him in an attempt to drain Kabuto's chakra.

The Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet) was effective in scattering the cloud of insects that had been flying towards the Oto spy, but it hadn't been the only avenue of attack that Shino had employed. While Kabuto was focused on controlling the stream of water shooting out of his mouth, the burrowed kikaichū beneath his feet managed to erupt from the ground and began traveling quickly up his legs.

Kabuto was forced to cancel the jutsu as he couldn't risk shooting a jet of water that strong into the fragile ground beneath him. While he was aware of the complex system of lava tunnels underneath the base, the Konoha shinobi weren't. It was a knowledge that he didn't want them to become aware of just yet because it might hinder three of his five escape routes should he manage to lose this fight.

Using controlled bursts of chakra through the tenketsu that the kikaichū were targeting, Kabuto managed to eliminate most of the bugs that had latched onto his body. While he was no longer losing his power at a rapid rate, such a controlled burst of concentrated chakra was still draining. With his reserves now nearing his mental warning limit, the silver-haired medic was forced to rethink his previous estimates about how this fight would play out.

As much as he hated to admit it to himself, Kabuto was aware of the fact that he wouldn't be able to quickly defeat this group as he had originally planned. The Hyūga heiress had proven herself to be far more competent than his intelligence gathering had led him to believe. While he had been aware of her medical training with Tsunade, his perusal of Tsunade's private notes had led him to believe that Hinata was mediocre at best. His sources within the Hyūga clan had also labeled her as nothing more than a false heiress created to lure the Ōtsutsuki clan into merging with the Hyūga clan in some convoluted plot to eliminate the Caged Bird Seal. That information had fit into the profile he had created on Hiashi since the man was desperate enough to resort to such a scam, even if it meant the eradication of the Hyūga clan in its entirety. The elders were far too hidebound and arrogant to see their doom coming before it was far too late, and most of the clan would care less about their absence since they were constantly belittling everyone else.

Instead, Hinata had actually been properly trained in the Jūken style instead of being simply being trained as a pretense to make her marriage contract more valuable. If Hinata was able to maintain a chakra shroud to counter his poison, then she had to be far more competent at Iryō jutsu than he first believed.

He really should have taken Tsunade's bias into greater account when building his profile on Hinata, but Kabuto had seriously expected the Senju to be far more professional.

Hinata alone wouldn't have been a problem. Even with Orochimaru's failed apprentice backing her up, Kabuto was confident he could lead the women into a trap and eliminate them both with time and patience. When he factored in the Aburame kid, then Kabuto realized he was out of his comfort zone when it came to combat.

He could kill all three of them if he _really_ wanted too, but it would take him a great deal of time and energy to lure them into a trap and finish them off. Not only would it take awhile, but he would also be significantly depleted of chakra and energy afterward. That was something he would _never_ allow to happen, not when there was a chance for Jiraiya to defeat Kakuzu and come after him next.

While the odds of Kakuzu winning that fight were about even with Jiraiya's, Kabuto had not survived as a spy for as long as he had by taking risks. While the very thought filled him with distaste, he would have to consider this mission a failure and escape to live another day. Orochimaru would be displeased, but not enough for the former Snake Sannin to lash out at someone as valuable as him. Even Orochimaru had commented that it was likely the Monitor clan would reject him as a summoner since he had previously been affiliated with the Snake clan. The only species of summons they hated more than the Snakes were the Toads.

It would be no big loss to his master, but he needed to destroy anything in this base that Jiraiya could use to track Orochimaru down. To do that, he needed to fight these annoying pests for a bit longer. It would also serve as a fitting revenge against the mouthy Hyūga bitch since he would effectively destroy anything that she could use as leverage against Toneri. If Kakuzu managed to survive his fight anyways, then Orochimaru would take his displeasure out on the merc instead and save himself a hefty sum of ryō. Not that Orochimaru had ever intended to actually pay Kakuzu, but the Sannin had held a passing interest in the Jiongu for some time before discarding the technique as something worthy of his focus.

Kabuto was forced to focus on evading instead of plotting an elaborate escape when Hinata and Anko assaulted him with a pincer maneuver. A cluster of snakes flew towards his back in an attempt to bind and poison him while the blue haired "heiress" dashed forwards with glowing palms to unleash a flurry of Jūken strikes at him. Kabuto was able to dodge the cluster of snakes and dispel them with a slash of his chakra sharpened palm before being forced to block the incoming palm thrust that plugged his pathway and forced his scalpel to sputter out again. With a bit of luck, Kabuto managed to avoid having several organs sliced into with Hinata's follow-up combo, but several more tenketsu were plugged again as a result of his failure to create distance.

Ducking low to try and sweep the Hyūga female off her feet, or at least disrupt her foundation and weaken her attacks, Kabuto snarled when another fountain of kikaichū erupted in his face and began latching onto his body. Not bothering to stop his leg sweep, Kabuto spun around, forcing Hinata to shuffle back a bit, before he rose up to his feet and sent out another costly pulse of chakra through his tenketsu. Anko was already charging in to take advantage of his momentary lapse in defense, but a massive explosion caused the ground to tremble precariously beneath their feet.

The former combatants turned their eyes from their enemies to study the cracking ground below them. For a moment the ground seemed to settle and stabilize before another explosion rang out in the distance and shook the ground even more ferociously. As the trembling began to gain intensity, the stunned group of fighters remained frozen for only a moment before, in a flurry of activity, the group scattered towards the walls of the crater compound.

Through her Byakugan, Hinata was able to nimbly dodge between the scattered rocks and debris that rained down around her as she sought out more stable ground. Already the area they had been fighting in previously was beginning to collapse, taking a few nearby buildings down with it. Fortunately, the rumbling stopped shortly afterward, and the ground quickly began to settle. While they no longer had to worry about the ground disappearing beneath their feet, however, there was still the dislodged rain of rocks and dirt from the crater edge above them to worry about.

Hinata was quick to duck into a covered patio of a nearby building that was several feet from the newly disrupted ground. With a quick sweep of her panoramic vision, she noticed Anko follow suit in a building to the northwest of her position. Shino, who had been standing further back near the canyon wall, had managed to make his way up the cliff face and tucked himself into a rocky depression.

As for Kabuto, Hinata noticed the silver haired teen flipping through familiar hand seals for Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu) to make his escape. With a scowl on her face, Hinata quickly flipped through her own hand seals before planting her hands on the ground and unleashing Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder) in his direction. It was a desperate gambit on her part, considering that Kabuto was a significant distance away from her and the ground had already proven to be unstable. Still, Hinata was loathed to let the arrogant bastard escape so easily.

The charged bolt of electricity ripped up the ground between Hinata and Kabuto, discharging the Doton chakra that the spectacled man had saturated the ground with to facilitate his escape. Left with no other choice but to emerge from the ground lest he is electrocuted or trapped, Kabuto scowled at Hinata as he dispelled a burst of chakra to leap free of the attack.

Flipping to plant his feet against the wall of a nearby building, Kabuto prepared to spring off towards Hinata but was forced to stop the flow of chakra and fall to the ground when a rain of kunai and shuriken fell towards him.

Shino continued tossing projectiles towards the spectacled enemy, mixing a few of the standard kunai and shuriken with specialized hollowed versions that contained more of his kikaichū hidden within. He knew that using any more of his direct methods of dispersal would only result in further colony losses, so he opted to use a more subtle means to sneak the insects onto his opponent without them noticing.

Anko also joined in Shino's assault from a distance, sending a wave of poison-laced senbon and shuriken towards Kabuto as she tried to pick her way through the upturned ground towards Hinata. The area they had previously fought in was now a small oval shaped canyon that was between 15' to 30' feet deep at some points with a width of 3' feet at the shallow ends and 8' at the widest point. There were also large gouges and cracks branching out from the deepest portion of the collapsed section, marking further areas of potential instability in the ground surrounding her.

Cut off from his subterranean escape route, Kabuto was forced to rethink his plans. With the formerly hidden entrance now destroyed and the tunnels exposed, it would be easy for the Konoha-nin to follow him below and potentially trap him in a situation he couldn't escape from. While he could simply trigger everything to explode as a secondary measure, Kabuto didn't feel confident that his previously plotted escape routes were still structurally sound. Even now the ground was beginning to rattle once more from the massive battle between Kakuzu and Jiraiya and Kabuto knew it was only going to get worse. There was no telling how many tunnels had collapsed from the backlash of their fight, and based on how distance the chakra flares he was sensing were, it was likely that most of his planned routes were already compromised. His chakra was already dangerously low for his tastes, and it was only a matter of time before that damned Aburame managed to sneak more insects onto his body to drain him even more. At this point, Kabuto knew he wouldn't be able to dispel them so easily, not if he still wanted a healthy buffer of chakra to ease his retreat.

With a grunt of annoyance, Kabuto decided to cut his losses and leave immediately. If he was lucky, Kakuzu would succeed and wipe them all out. If not, then he could always pin the blame on the mercenary and use this unfortunate incident as a way to encourage Orochimaru to let him document and inventory each of his bases for "convenience". Of course, anything of use to Kabuto himself would mysteriously disappear, but it wasn't like the former Snake Sannin would even know it was missing anyways.

Knowing that a massive ninjutsu battle between two powerhouses like Kakuzu and Jiraiya would only result in further earthquakes and instability, Kabuto didn't have to wait long for his opportunity to escape. He had already retreated into a nearby alcove to rest up and mold more chakra while avoiding the annoying rain of metal that was being sent his way by the Aburame and Orochimaru's failed apprentice. The Hyūga heiress was pretty much worthless outside of close range, so he didn't need to concern himself with her at the moment. He knew they were slowly moving towards his position and planning to try and corner him at the moment, but their plan had already failed.

He was two moves away from freedom and there was nothing they could do to stop him.

As soon as Kabuto had hidden away in a nearby building, close to the wall of the crater, Hinata had regrouped with Anko to form a plan of approach before signaling the Tokujō's plan to Shino.

The Aburame had positioned himself along a second level walkway that was carved into walls above them in an attempt to cut off any escape routes through the many passageways carved into the side of the crater. Anko had positioned herself towards the side of the building that had partially collapsed into the sunken ground in the hopes of preventing Kabuto from using the lava tunnels below to escape.

Hinata was to enter through the same window that Kabuto had used to enter the building and either tie him up in close combat battle or flush him out for Anko and Shino to engage. A simple flare of her chakra to the hidden flash tag outside would act as the signal for Anko to enter the building, should Kabuto choose to engage her directly. It was a risk on Hinata's part, but she had insisted that she take the lead in hand to hand combat since Kabuto had shown signs of actively avoiding her in direct confrontation.

Their plans were halted momentarily as the ground began to rumble again, and Hinata couldn't help but look up with a scowl on her face. The battle between Jiraiya and Kakuzu was causing a severe amount of damage to the area and had constantly hindered them in their own fight. Not only had Kabuto managed to exploit the unstable ground to his advantage, but any evidence that she was hoping to find was likely to be destroyed if their battle continued to rock the very foundations around them. If that fight continued for much longer, Hinata was certain it would bring this place down around her head.

With a growl of frustration, Hinata could only watch on with her Byakugan enhanced vision as Kabuto made his escape. Unable to chase after him or stop him because she was trying to prevent herself from falling on her face, Hinata saw Kabuto use a combination of Shunshin (Body Flicker) and Kawarimi (Replacement) to appear at the rim of the crater before he took off towards the west with a cheeky salute in her direction to add further insult.

 **Two Hours Later**

* * *

Hinata's frustration and anger at the current situation hadn't cooled much as she was now forced to navigate unstable tunnels in an attempt to salvage something from this mission. After Kabuto made his cowardly escape, Anko had ordered Hinata and Shino to clear the remaining buildings and subdue any remaining minions of Orochimaru before taking off to see if she could assist the Sannin in his battle.

It had not taken long for the pair of Chūnin to subdue and contain the remaining threats as most of the cowardly mercenaries had fled after the first few explosions rang out. The rest of hired guards were no major threat for shinobi of their skill level or were simply resigned enough to surrender considering the circumstances.

Jiraiya had come back on the arm of Anko about twenty minutes after Kabuto had fled, and it looked like the Sannin had been through the ringer. Low on chakra with most of his clothing torn or burned, the Toad Sage looked like death warmed over. Hinata had spent the better part of an hour healing the numerous fractures/breaks, sprains, and lacerations/burns Jiraiya had acquired during his battle with Kakuzu.

Apparently, the former Taki-nin turned mercenary had found a way to retain multiple hearts within his body so he could utilize all the chakra natures with ease and prolong his own life. It had taken all of Jiraiya's formidable strength and intellect to eventually wear the man down and finish him off, but it was a long an arduous battle. Jiraiya had even admitted it had been the most challenging and dangerous fight of his life, easily comparable to the battle against Hanzō in Ame. Hinata found it interesting to see Jiraiya admit, with some pride, that if it weren't for a few tricks he had recently learned from Naruto, he would have lost that fight and probably his life as well.

Hinata and Anko had tried their best to question Jiraiya on what he meant, but the Sannin merely shook his head in refusal before handing them several seal tags. With instructions to plant the tags in certain areas within and around the base and a warning not to screw up the search, the Toad Sage simply plopped himself down on the table Hinata had been treating him on and promptly fell asleep, much to their annoyance.

Because of her Byakugan, Anko had determined that it was safer for everyone if Hinata took the underground tunnels to search. This order, combined with her own analysis of her fight with Kabuto was the primary reason Hinata was still fuming over the current series of events.

Her performance against Kabuto had been underwhelming in her mind. Sure, Kabuto was a high-level Jōnin from her own observations, but he was still just an over glorified Iryō-nin in her mind. She should have held the advantage against him in close combat, but Kabuto had proven to be more than capable of evading all of her attacks unless something else was distracting him. All of her successful hits were due to Shino or Anko's direct interference.

Not only that, but Hinata was also certain that Naruto and Sasuke had grown by leaps and bounds at this point, and Hinata did not want to be left behind. Jiraiya's comment about Naruto had only further emphasized the point that both Sasuke and Naruto had been training hard for the past three and a half years while she had been stuck dealing with political backstabbing and the machinations of her clan, Tsunade, and Sakura. Her training time had been divided and made less effective by the increase of political training and research she had been conducting to find a valid reason to reject Toneri's suit and prove that Naruto would be a worthy husband for the clan instead.

Only for her to find out that such actions were moot since her father had been undermining her choice from the very beginning, possibly before she was even old enough to think about marriage in the first place.

Hinata was drawn out of her brooding by a chakra signature entering the range of her Byakugan. When first entering this area, Hinata had already discarded the thought of finding anything of value or interest. Most of the rooms had been scavenged and left in disarray with a thick layer of dust over them. Several of the rooms had appeared to be converted to prisons with hastily installed metal bars, many of which were rusted beyond functionality at this point. A few of the cells even contained desiccated remains of the former prisoners, corpses that remained for so long that the stench of decomposition had no longer remained. Hinata had already anticipated reaching the end of this impromptu cell block with nothing to show for her actions and even less time to search for something to liberate her from her impending doom.

From what her eyes could see, the prisoner appeared to be female and had been trained in the past. Their chakra system was well developed by greatly depleted, signifying that the person had gone without practice or exercise for quite some time.

Hinata made her way towards the signature carefully, scanning the area with heavy scrutiny as she advanced forward. It was very strange to see a single prisoner remaining unguarded in a lone cell so far underground, and everything in her mind screamed "trap" until she got closer.

Most of the rooms in this area had been buried under rubble due to Jiraiya's battle with Kakuzu. Even now, Hinata could see drying blood that had seeped out beneath the rubble of each of the rooms to her side. Her eyes had been unable to see the difference between debris and bodies because the chakra had long since faded from their bodies by the time she reached this area. The lone prisoner had only escaped the same fate because her room had been reinforced with solid marble arches and pillars.

A symbol of her importance or status, if Hinata had to guess.

Hinata stepped forwards and was easily able to dislodge the door with a chakra-enhanced punch since the door had already been partially dislodged by falling rock from the partial collapse in this section. The metal door fell to the stone ground with a loud, echoing clang revealing a small, but lavishly decorated room inside.

The prisoner was sitting on a large cushion in the middle of the room, seemingly at ease considering the circumstances. Her manner of dress reminded Hinata of Toneri's own clothing. A Light gray and voluminous kimono top with a high collar underneath a gray tabard decorated with silver magatama along the borders. Her head was covered with a matching dark gray wrap that held a black silk veil that draped down over her face, stopping just above her lips. Hinata couldn't see what color the woman's hair was, but from the bits of skin peeking out from her outfit, Hinata could tell she was just as pale if not even paler than Toneri's complexion.

"Are you alright?" Hinata asked almost uncertainly. "I'm a Konoha shinobi sent to free you and the others here."

"I noticed." the woman replied with a quiet voice that cracked with disuse. "I watched as you and your team fought your way down here. I didn't think they would send anyone for me, _especially_ a Hyūga from Konoha. What's even more surprising to me is that they would send _you_ , considering Toneri's plans."

"You watched us?" Hinata asked suspiciously. "What do you know of Toneri's plans and how do you know who I am!" Hinata demanded.

The woman seemed far too calm and nonchalant for a prisoner that was recently liberated. She also seemed to know far too much for someone who was supposed to be restricted. Was it possible she was an accomplice of Orochimaru's?

"My name is Kyūsai Ōtsutsuki for I was to be the salvation of our clan. As for what I know about Toneri and his plans- Let's just say I know far more about them than he thinks." the woman said with a smile before removing the veil that covered her face from view.

Hinata gasped as the all too familiar trademark of the Hyūga clan stared back at her.

The Byakugan.


End file.
